HisLadysKeeperfinal.wps

by test

  How had they gotten into the castle unnoticed? What the hell was going on?

  Hart.

  She wanted Hart with every fiber of her being.

  “Hey, we aren’t supposed to hurt the lass, Stan. We were just supposed to take her into our custody so she could be put up for ransom.”

  Ransom?

  Saliva gathered in her mouth. She swallowed past the dread and fear building inside of her.

  “Humph,” Stan muttered, obviously displeased. He lowered the dagger, instead pressing it to her side. “Don’t get any new ideas of getting away from me, lady. I’ll give you a cut deep enough to make your next few days miserable. Just don’t try me.” He still had his hand clamped tightly over her mouth.

  She had to do something. She couldn’t let them take her from this place—if they did, she had a feeling she’d never see Hart again. Not alive anyway.

  Summoning all of her strength, and hoping that his dagger wouldn’t actually do that much damage, she bit his hand.

  He let out a yowl of pain. He hadn’t knifed her yet, thank God. She let out another scream. He pushed her down to the floor.

  “You shut her the hell up, or I swear I’ll be carving into her kidneys.”

  “Yeah.” His companion reached down toward her, touting a gag in his hand.

  “I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Richard was using the tone of Don Herrer. She shivered.

  Help had arrived. Just not the sort of help she wanted.

  “Who the hell do you think you are? We aren’t alone, mate. I’d go off and hide in your rooms until we finish carting off the Countess here.”

  “I don’t hide,” Richard declared, the air crackling with energy.

  She had to hand it to Richard, he sounded pretty threatening. But hadn’t she seen three shadows? Where was the third brute?

  Gunfire deafened her. She tried to move out of the grasp of the man holding her.

  Stan went down, howling with pain. He didn’t look like he was going to survive the shot that Richard had put into him. Her stomach rolled.

  Then, another shot rang through the air. She hoped Richard’s aim was true since she was so close to the man holding her down.

  She waited.

  Instead, the man pulled her up and tied her hands. When her eyes focused, her heart did a triple jump.

  Richard.

  Dear God. He’d been shot.

  The third man finally stepped out of the shadows. Her eyes widened, and her heart froze.

  Kilworth.

  HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 140

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Hello, Lady Gemma.” Kilworth’s voice made her insides twist. She had to get a hold of herself and control her raging emotions. Her eyes went to Richard again. He was still awake, and breathing heavily. He clutched his right arm, the pistol he held had fallen somewhere out of sight.

  He was losing a lot of blood, and his face just kept getting paler.

  “Grab the Spaniard and let’s get moving.” Kilworth motioned his hand for a few more thugs to step forward.

  This couldn’t be happening to her. Where were all of Hart’s men? Ah, yes, Hart had probably taken them with him when he’d gone to see Mallory. Where had Kilworth come from?

  “I am truly sorry for what I am about to do, Gemma. I hope you forgive me.” He nodded to someone that stood holding a handkerchief. They came toward her and though she struggled like a hellcat, she couldn’t get loose from the man holding her. The man pressed the handkerchief over her mouth, and within seconds, she fell into darkness.

  * * * *

  Hart rode against the squall force of wind from the Atlantic that now buffeted the inland coast of the island.

  Rain opened up from the heavens, fortunately, he’d donned his greatcoat before setting off.

  He could see the ships in the distance. Jollyboats had been brought up onto the beach. Slowing his horse down in the sand, he dismounted.

  Holding his hand up, the men that rode with him stopped and stayed at a safe distance.

  The mournful wind ripped through the clearing making it hard for him to hear the voices of the people that approached. He didn’t have to hear Mallory’s voice though to recognize him. There was someone walking closely beside him. At the last moment, Mallory pulled her close to him, keeping her from falling in the sand. He didn’t know why Mallory had taken Elizabeth along for the journey. Squinting his eyes through the downpour, he focused them again. It wasn’t Elizabeth. The woman was far too tall and though not quite as slim as Gemma she was of a slighter build than Elizabeth.

  Who was the mystery woman?

  “Ann, I told you to remain behind on the boat,” Mallory almost shouted.

  “I didn’t want to because I feared you’d throttle Hart. I know Gemma loves him

  .…” Her voice trailed off. She’d finally looked up past the rim of the hat she wore.

  “Is that him?” she asked, her voice slightly choked.

  At that moment, Mallory looked up. Their gazes met. He saw Mallory rest his right hand comfortably on the hilt of his cutlass.

  Hart did the same.

  “No weapons!” Ann ordered, studying him more closely as she gained ground on him.

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  Mallory didn’t listen to her, his hand still rested firmly on his cutlass.

  “I think you should turn back. Go back to Seamus, he’s waiting to row you back to the Valiant.”

  “No,” her voice didn’t waver this time. He marveled at how alike she and

  Gemma sounded. If he didn’t know Gemma so well, he’d have a difficult time telling the difference between hers and Ann’s voice. By her stubborn refusal to return to the ship, he could tell that the same single-minded mule headed attitude was a character trait shared by many of the St. Martin women.

  “Where is she?” Mallory demanded. “I thought you would have been smart

  enough to bring her with you, to protect you from me. This time, I’ve brought enough men to squash your little empire here on the island.”

  “I’m quite certain you have. Alas, my wife has instructed me to make peace, not war with you. She wishes for me to relay a message to you. She says that the prince must always bow to his princess.”

  At his announcement, Ann pulled on Mallory’s arm. “There! You see! I told you Gemma had fallen for him. Look at him! How could you think he would do anything to our dear Gemma?”

  “He married her no doubt against her will. No matter, that marriage can be annulled once we get everything sorted out between us.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to go over well in Gemma’s camp,” Hart said, smiling.

  “I should kill you were you stand, MacKinnon,” Mallory roared.

  “If you did, you’d have Gemma out for your hide. I don’t think you’d like having her on your back for the rest of your life. I’m telling you, she wouldn’t be the merry widow.”

  “Stop it, this instant, Mallory. Mother told you to settle things in a calm headed manner. There’s no point in blowing a gasket, especially since we know that Gemma has not been hurt, nor held against her will.”

  “Indeed, she has not.” Hart relaxed his grip on the hilt of his cutlass.

  “What do you expect me to do, Ann? Return to his castle and dine with him?”

  “Who are those men riding at a breakneck speed toward us, Lord MacKinnon?”

  Ann asked.

  “Hart, please.” He smiled at her.

  He looked back. They weren’t all men. Maeve was among one of the riders.

  Instantly, apprehension prickled along his scalp.

  “Gemma,” he whispered, fear stabbing his heart.

  He ran toward the riders.

  Maeve quickly dismounted, holding her reins as if she was anxious to get back on.

  “The Countess has been taken.”

  “What?” Mallory and Hart both bellowed at the same time.

  “Taken by whom?” Ann as
ked in a trembling voice.

  “We don’t know. Whoever it was, Richard, I mean Lord Richard managed to kill one of them. In the scuffle, he was shot and taken prisoner.”

  “How do you know he was shot?” Mallory asked suspiciously.

  “Because he left behind the pistol you gave him for his last birthday, your Lordship,” she explained, speaking directly to Hart whilst ignoring Mallory. “Plus, we HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 142

  tracked a trail of blood through the castle, and we found this.”

  She handed him Richard’s signet ring.

  He swallowed, hard. He couldn’t let them get off the island with Gemma. They wouldn’t take Richard with them that he felt for sure. Instead, they’d dispose of him before setting sail.

  “You don’t have any idea who it could have been?”

  Maeve reached inside of her coat. “We did find this.” She handed a handkerchief to Hart, and Ann snatched it out of his grip before he could get a good look at it.

  “Kilworth,” she breathed. “Just as I thought. That sick little bastard. I told you he was no good, Mallory. If only you’d allowed me to show you the evidence I had stacked against him, we would have been able to stop this from happening.”

  “We still can, Ann.” Mallory turned his attention to Hart. “Tell me where

  Kilworth could possibly have a ship docked.”

  “You’ll need horses.” He gestured to two men. “Callum, Scott, please dismount and ride back with the others to Skylark Castle. Lord St. Martin and Lady Ann will need these mounts.”

  “I .…” Ann’s voice trailed off nervously.

  “Ann, you can stay behind, or ride with me,” Mallory offered.

  She drew in a deep breath. “No. Gemma needs me. We shall all ride together. I can do this—I’m not a novice when it comes to horseback riding.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Mallory said gently, helping her up onto one of the abandoned horses.

  “Yes, I do. Gemma would do the same for me. We stick together … that’s one thing the St. Martin’s have always been known for. Family never abandons family.”

  “Maeve, get back to the castle and be ready to attend to Richard, when we return.

  I’m going to kill Kilworth for this attack against me and mine.”

  “No. You aren’t.” Mallory looked over at him already astride on his horse.

  “And why not?” Hart asked.

  “Because I’m going to kill him first.”

  “She’s my wife!”

  “She’s my sister!”

  “My Lords!” Ann chastised. “If we continue arguing, Kilworth will get away with Gemma, and your brother will be tossed into the sea.”

  “She’s right,” They both said.

  With that, they set off to save Gemma.

  * * * *

  “Gemma, Gemma, wake up! For the love of God open those eyes!”

  She woke up. Her head was splitting in half with pain.

  “Hart?” she mumbled, a bit disoriented. Her mouth felt as if someone had

  crammed cotton into it. She licked her lips.

  “No, it’s Richard. Wake up, now! I think they’re going to take you away soon onto a ship. We have to think of something before that happens.”

  She wearily cracked her eyes open. “I still feel so sluggish.”

  “Fight it. Whatever was on that handkerchief has addled your senses.”

  “You shouldn’t want to help me anyway,” she muttered, trying to fight past the pain and tiredness coursing through her.

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  “You are my brother’s wife. I’m a low down dirty rotten bastard, but God help me, I love my brother. I wouldn’t do anything to you … it would shatter him.”

  She shook her head, moaning when more pain cracked through her skull.

  “Where are we?”

  “We’re almost off the island, that’s where we are. I don’t know why Hart hasn’t tracked the carriages Kilworth has yet. That damn little bitch, the Widow Baker must have given Kilworth all of the information he needed. I’m going to kill that slut.”

  “You were shot.”

  “What an astute observation. Unfortunately for you, I think I’m going to live.”

  She tried to smile. Instead, it only made the agony worse. “I feel like I’m dying.”

  “So do I … but you have to fight through the pain, Gemma. Come on! Get your back up! Your ex-fiancé just kidnapped you. For money! I would have thought that in itself would have rankled the ever loving shit out of you.”

  “Language.”

  “I don’t see you talking with a clean mouth. In your disorientation, you were spewing out a few winners before you finally came to. I’m surprised your vocabulary even includes some of those words. They are even worse than what you called me back at Mallory Hall. If you give into the pain, you will never see Hart again.”

  Her attention was caught on that one.

  “Besides, how did you shoot that Stan? I thought you’d be so foxed that you wouldn’t be able to shoot straight.”

  “My dear sister-in-law, I’m never that drunk. Defending one’s family has a way of sobering a man up.”

  “My head is so cloudy,” she moaned.

  “Think of clear skies and smooth calm waters. Try, to work past it, Gemma. We only have so much time before Kilworth finishes fucking the Widow Baker seven ways to Sunday. He knows he’s working on a time constraint. I feel that. I’m really good at predicting what bastards are going to do next. When they do take you, they’ll make sure they kill me first so I won’t be able to say a word to anyone. Hart will think that Mallory has taken you, and killed me. He will go after Mallory with everything he has—and Kilworth will bide his time. He will wait to ask for the ransom until either Mallory or even worse, until my brother is dead. I can’t let that happen. So get up. They untied you—heaven knows why, but you’re free and I’m not. I can’t help you unless you get me untied.”

  She struggled to move. She had to focus on Hart, and Hart only.

  “I’m trying.”

  “That’s it, Gemma. You’re doing it.”

  She sat up. Her head started humming again, but she ignored it, just like Richard had urged her to.

  “Turn your body so I can untie your arms.”

  He did so. She inhaled deeply when she saw all of the blood on his hands and on the seat.

  “They didn’t even tie a hanky around your wound?”

  “Not even close. I’m sure they’re wishing I’d bleed to death and save them the trouble of slitting my throat open.”

  She shivered. Reaching down to untie his legs, she waited while he flexed his HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 144

  fingers. After she’d untied his legs, she ripped off some of her slip, and tied it quickly around his wound.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled. His eyes rested soundly on her face. “Your eyes are bloodshot. Gads, you look like you’ve walked straight through hell.”

  “You don’t look so great yourself.”

  He grinned at her. “You’re feeling a bit better, I see.”

  He moved toward the carriage door. “Cocky son of a bitch, he didn’t even lock it.

  Stay behind me, just in case one of his shit heads is guarding the door. If they are, hopefully, I’m still quick enough to disarm them, and then you must get onto a horse.

  Don’t wait for me, just ride like the wind back to the castle, and sound the alarm, just in case they haven’t already noticed what went on. Though I have to say, my mother probably noticed it. I’m hoping she’s already sent someone to get Hart.”

  “I hope you are right,” she whispered, moving back when he told her to do so.

  “Christ’s Teeth,” he swore, after creaking the carriage door open. “That sod is coming back here. Quick, take this thing off my arm, and make it look like I’m still tied up.”

  “Did you hear that?” She asked.

  “Hear what?” he said,
as she followed all of his instructions.

  “I think I hear horses coming our way.”

  “Hopefully, it’s Hart.”

  “And Mallory.”

  “Maybe.” Richard frowned at her. “Be a good little actress and act as if you’re a half-wit when he comes up into the carriage. He’ll expect you to be out of it, he’s not going to expect you to be as alert as you are now.” She nodded her head.

  They could hear Kilworth letting loose with a colorful line of expletives as he came toward the carriage.

  “Get us down to the docks on the double,” he ordered. “I think we’ve got

  company coming and we have to be on the jollyboats before they get here. Good thing I had the foresight to have the ship waiting out at sea, we’ll be able to get started on our voyage that much quicker.”

  He stopped talking and pulled open the carriage door. Her heart started racing in her chest again. She darted a quick glance at Richard, and then, slumped against the satin squabs.

  “Ah, Gemma, I see you are awake,” Kilworth murmured. “I’m sorry I had to

  induce your slumber like that, I wanted you to remain asleep until we set sail. Alas, it is unfortunate you’ll have to see me do what I have to do.”

  Her heart leapt up into her throat when he pulled out a pistol. “Of course, the drug in your system has slowed down your reflexes. You won’t be able to stop me, and that little shit is tied up. Ah well. My father used to say the only good Spaniard was a dead one.”

  He was going to kill Richard. The realization made time stop for her. She couldn’t allow him to murder Hart’s brother. Not while she still drew a breath.

  “Once we get onto the ship, I’ll be sampling what you have to offer, Gemma, since your husband has no doubt already deflowered you. I don’t really like virgins, but since you’re not one anymore, I’ll have to see what Hart has taught you.”

  Richard let out an animalistic growl.

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  “He sounds like a demon spawned from hell, doesn’t he?” Kilworth laughed, and aimed the pistol at Richard. In the next few moments, everything went by in a blur. She lunged at Kilworth, Richard moved into action, and shouts and screams were heard from outside.