The Marriage Spell Read Online Free PDF Page B

doesn’t need courting?”
    Taking Abby’s arm, the duke guided her across the room to where Lord Frayne lay. “Jack, we have a proposition for you.”

Chapter
III
    E ach time Jack drifted into darkness, he expected not to emerge from the shadows, for they grew steadily darker, more determined to suck him into ultimate blackness. This time he was pulled back to awareness when Ashby said, “Jack, we have a proposition for you. Miss Barton is a talented healer, and she will undertake the risks of conducting a healing circle in return for the honor of becoming your wife. It seems a fair bargain to me. Do you agree?”
    Jack blinked, wondering if he was out of his head. “Are you
insane
?” he whispered, his voice rasping. “Better dead than enthralled by a damned wyrdling!”
    Ashby leaned closer, his green eyes fierce. “That’s the sort of thing one says when healthy. Would you
really
prefer death to marrying an attractive, intelligent, well-bred young woman?”
    His friend had a point, damn him. Now that Death was rolling the dice with his bones, Jack realized that he wasn’t yet ready to make his final throw. But marry a bloody female
wyrdling
? He blinked fuzzily at the figure standing next to Ashby.
    Female, yes, rather extravagantly so. Tall and robust, with brown hair and a square jaw. Not the sort of woman one would notice if passing in the street. He supposed that men who liked Amazons might find her attractive, but Jack had always had a fondness for petite, ethereal blondes. Preferably blondes who didn’t dabble in even the mildest, most acceptable forms of girlish magic.
    And yet, his life was in the balance. He closed his eyes, feeling too weak to make such a decision. Marriage? He wouldn’t want to marry a woman who was a complete stranger even if she wasn’t a wyrdling. Granted, Ashby was generally a good judge of character, but maybe his judgment was warped by the sight of Jack’s dying carcass.
    Dying.
His body seemed to have disappeared except for the tormented struggle to draw breath. He had seen enough men die in Spain to recognize the signs of mortal injury. Bit by bit, his life force was fading away.
    He wasn’t ready yet!
Dear God, there were so many things he wanted to do, places he wanted to visit, friends he needed to see! With sudden, desperate ferocity, he craved life like a man perishing in the desert craved water.
    He opened his eyes and stared at the Amazon. “If you try and half succeed, would I be left a helpless cripple? I truly would prefer death to that.”
    She bent over him, and suddenly she wasn’t an abstract idea but a real woman, one with thoughts and feelings, whose eyes became the whole world. They were a pale clear blue with dark edges. Magical eyes, strange and compelling. Eyes that would not allow him to look away. “That will not happen, Lord Frayne,” she said with compelling calm. “Either you will survive and eventually heal, or you will die. You will not be left a broken man dependent on others. I promise you that.”
    As their gazes met, he sensed that she understood his unspoken message. If she couldn’t heal him, she would let him go. The knowledge was soothing.
    But still…“You’re a wizard. Can’t marry a wizard.” He almost called her a wyrdling again, but managed to change the word. Didn’t want to be rude.
    â€œCome now, Jack,” Ransom drawled from somewhere outside of the narrow range of Jack’s vision. “Think of how amusing it would be to horrify certain people by doing something so outrageous.” The faintest of trembles sounded in his voice. “You’ve always rather liked being outrageous.”
    Jack choked out a laugh. Leave it to Ransom to make the idea of marrying a wizard sound like a delightful last way of thumbing his nose at society. Though the point of marrying this woman—Miss Barton?—was so