Still, she knew that they had a responsibility to bring the goods in along with everyone else. Other women would be there. It wasn’t as though she was the only female smuggler. It was just that she was sick and tired of being cold and wet while she had to look over her shoulder throughout her sleepless night.
She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the dark shadow appear at her right elbow, but a flurry of movement on her left did draw her attention. She gasped when her elbows were captured from behind in a ruthless grip. She felt the solid length of a man directly behind her, and cursed fluidly at the sight of Brian Meldrew’s spiteful face right beside hers.
“I thought you had been told to stay away from me,” she snapped and started to struggle to get her elbows free. They hurt fiercely but she refused to let the pain show on her face. After several moments of futility she stopped struggling, but also planted her feet firmly on the floor so Brian couldn’t shove her around. She hauled her body weight backward to stop him as he tried to push her toward the alleyway at the side of the tavern. She knew that nobody used the alleyway while the pub was open. It was dark and quiet. Nobody would be able to hear her scream through the thick stone walls of the tavern and the noise of the singing from within.
She eyed the blackness of the alleyway in horror and kicked out at Wally, who immediately let go of her foot to clutch his painful shin. She elbowed Colin in the mouth and winced when pain exploded in her elbow. She took advantage of Brian’s distraction to yank her arm out of his grasp only for him to grab a firm hold on her wrist before she could get away.
“Get off me,” she snapped and twisted her arm in an attempt to break the ruthless fingers that encircled her other wrist. She tried to free their hold with a desperation that threatened to give way to panic, especially when she couldn’t get her nails between their fingers and her bruised flesh.
“You are going to come with me,” Brian smirked. “What’s wrong, Kat, aren’t us local men good enough for you anymore? You are free and easy with your kisses with the rich man. What about giving us locals a go, eh?”
Kat began to struggle with renewed vigour. Panic threatened to overwhelm her as she became aware of the presence of the others as they tried to overwhelm her. She kicked out behind her and was awarded with a curse.
“Let me go!”
She hated any one of them seeing any weakness, but she was horrified at the thought of what they would do with her if they succeeded in getting her into the alleyway. She had heard so many vile rumours about their behaviour toward other females who lived nearby, none of which had been proved but, given their behaviour tonight, was more than likely true.
“Grab her legs,” Brian growled.
Her scream was cut off by one large, grubby palm against her mouth. Fear overwhelmed her as hands grabbed her ankles and she was lifted off her feet. She began to squirm, twist and writhe. She didn’t care if they dropped her onto the hard cobbles as long as they didn’t succeed in their aim.
“Put her down!” Jonathan snarled as he emerged out of the shadows by the side of the tavern. Kat froze and whimpered with a mixture of relief and pain. The hold they had on her was fierce but she was so bloody relieved to see Jonathan, who stood tall and ferocious on the edges of the shadows. Tears pooled in her eyes and she tried to suck in a breath around the foul smell of the fingers that threatened to smother her. She wrenched her head to one side, and twisted her arms to try to get her captors to release her, but to her consternation they held firm.
“I will give you one last warning.” Jonathan’s voice was as deadly as the merciless eyes that moved slowly over the youths. He stared at Wally, the smallest of the group, until the younger boy dropped the leg he held.
Kat immediately yanked on her other leg and slammed her foot on the ground at the same time that she dug her teeth into the fingers that covered her lips. She was rewarded by Colin’s painful yowl.
“Or you are going to do what, rich man?” Brian snarled. “You are nothing more than a dandy boy.”
“You know nothing about me, boy,” Jonathan replied as calmly as if he was reading aloud from a broadsheet. “I strongly recommend that you consider Kat strictly off limits to your kind of bully-boy antics.”
“Or what? What can you do about it?” e He He shared an amused glance with his cohorts who all stared belligerently at Jonathan.
Jonathan merely lifted his brow and studied Kat for a moment. Even in the gloom he could see the dark marks around her wrists and felt his stomach churn with anger. His fingers clenched with the need to lash out. He knew that his years of fighting experience were no match for the young boys before him. They needed to learn that appearances, and gossip, could be deceptive.
“I will warn you once more, Brian. Put her down or you will go to go for a swim to cool down that arrogant, hot head of yours.” He watched with disinterest as Robert sidled carefully around him, clearly with the intention of attacking from behind. But Jonathan was far too experienced to fall for such tactics. The boy had only reached his shoulder when one long arm shot out and cruel fingers clamped tightly around Robert’s throat.
“Go away, this is village business.” Despite his bravado, he frowned at the choking noises that came from Robert as he clawed desperately at Jonathan’s unrelenting hold.
“I am the village,” Jonathan snarled. He was dangerously close to losing his temper: something that he had learned many years ago never to do while in the midst of battle. But the strain of carrying out his decision to stay away from Kat over the past few days had taken its toll on his patience. Now, he relished the prospect of being able to vent his frustration.
“Jonathan,” Kat gasped as she stared at Robert’s mottled face. Did Jonathan plan to kill him? She watched in a mixture of awe and horror as Jonathan immediately let go and Robert slumped to the floor while he coughed and gagged, and desperately tried to suck in huge gulps of air. One swift kick to the young man’s jaw and he was out cold on the floor without a murmur.
“I warned you to stay away from her.” Jonathan’s voice dropped to a deadly snarl that matched the ruthless intent on his face.
Kat had never seen this side to him before and wasn’t sure what to make of it. All trace of the gentleness she had seen on his handsome features when he had been dealing with his uncle had gone, and was replaced with a deadly intent that made her immediately want to step back. She would have done too, if Brian hadn’t grasped her elbow and drawn her to his side.
“Brian, don’t be a fool,” Kat snapped and watched as Brian drew out a filleting knife from his boot and began to finger the wicked-looking blade.
“Shut up,” Brian snarled. “You are nothing but this nabob’s whore. You consider yourself too good for the local men in this village, do you? Well, let’s see how you feel about him when he has been cut up a bit.”
Jonathan shook his head in mock sadness. He glanced at Kat and took note of the hold Colin and Brian still had on her wrists. Wally stood to one side and stared avidly at him. Indecision was evident on his face and he rocked on the balls of his feet while he decided whether to stay and fight or run for his life. When Wally began to ball his fists in preparation for a fight, Jonathan sighed and knew that he was going to get considerably colder, and wetter, before the night was through. He studied the distance between them and the harbour wall, and judged that he could just about make it, as long as the boys let go of Kat first.
He had to keep his gaze carefully averted from Kat’s terrified face. The sight of the fear on her beautiful features hampered his concentration and, right now, he needed to be able to think about the battle that was ahead. All of his years of Star Elite training and experience came to the fore, and with a ruthless twist of his lips, his eyes locked on his first opponent: Colin.
“Let her go,” Jonathan drawled in a voice that was softly authoritative.
“Go to hell. You are nothing more than a rich boy, here for a dalliance with the local whore. You will be off as soon as you
have got what you wanted. Who will be around to protect her then?” Brian snorted and began to turn the knife in his hand over and over. His implied threat did little to intimidate Jonathan, who merely flicked a disinterested glance at the blade.
“What happens to Kat is my concern, not yours.” He cursed when three young men walked up to them seemingly out of nowhere. At first glance they appeared to be fishermen and not part of Brian’s gang, thank God. They stared at the affray and sidled around everyone, clearly undecided as to whether they should get involved or not.
“Kat? You alright?” One of them asked as he eyed the boys’ hold on the barmaid.
“No, I am not. Get these bastards off me, will you? Or fetch someone from inside.” She snapped. One of them disappeared inside, and Jonathan cursed fate for being so bloody minded. The last thing he wanted, or needed, was the entire tavern outside to watch. He had enough control of the situation to be assured that Kat would escape from this skirmish unharmed but, with the villagers crowding the harbour side, God only knew what would happen.
“Right, time is up,” Jonathan snapped. His boot landed with startling accuracy on Colin’s wrist and the boy screamed in pain as the bones in his wrist crunched under the force of the kick. Kat’s arm was released and she began to prise at Brian’s fingers with her nails. When his hold didn’t loosen, she scratched at his face with her free hand at the same time that the tavern door opened and the customers spilled out onto the street to the side of them.
“Let her go, Brian,” Harry snarled. “I’ll not have the likes of you threatening my staff.”
“Brian, your mother would be ashamed. You have stepped over the line this time and that’s a fact,” one woman chided from just inside the doorway.
Jonathan sighed and shook his head. His gaze was caught by Wally’s furtive movement as the boy tried to use the darkness of cover to creep around Jonathan’s other side. With two swift thumps to his face and a kick in the ribs, Wally went down with a dull thud.
Jonathan turned to Colin who stood to one side, his arm held protectively against his chest.
“You bastard, you have broken it,” Colin snarled in disgust. “How am I supposed to work now?”
“You should have thought of that before you laid hands on Kat,” Jonathan replied dismissively. “Now, unless you want the other one breaking too, I suggest you get the hell out of here.”
He turned back to Brian who continued to twirl his fishing knife. Jonathan knew from the gleam in his eye that the boy was going to throw it.
Despite the number of people that were gathered on the dockside, silence settled over them as everyone watched and waited to see what would happen.
“Let her go, Brian, or it won’t only be your wrists I will break,” Jonathan warned. He threw a warning glance toward the three young sailors who had moved to stand closer to Brian. Everyone waited.
Brian glanced around at everyone, clearly unprepared to lose face in front of so many villagers. The belligerent look that settled over his spiteful face was enough to warn Jonathan that a fight was on. With a shake of his head, he wondered how much worse this night could get. His lip curled in an arrogant smile of contempt before he held out his arms in wide invitation. He almost relished this battle; if only to teach the boy a lesson.
Brian lunged forward. The flash of the blade in the moonlight was all Kat saw as it whizzed past. She staggered at the speed she was released. She gasped for breath as hands immediately dragged her out of danger and she was pushed behind the protective line of Harry and some of the male regulars from the tavern. They all turned and watched as Jonathan kicked and punched Brian while holding the boy’s knife. A collective gasp swept through them as they watched the rapid succession of the bone crunching thumps Brian received as he was pounded relentlessly backward toward the harbour wall.
Nobody made any move to stop the fight and watched when, at the last moment, Brian teetered on the brink of the dockside, bent over and charged forward in an attempt to tackle Jonathan, who merely sidestepped and kicked the boy up the backside on his way past. The forward momentum propelled Brian into the wall of the tavern and he went down with a thump.
Jonathan was about to turn away when a snarl from Brian warned him that the fight wasn’t over yet. He was heartily reassured that Kat was safe now and mentally rolled up his sleeves. He sidestepped the second charge but was caught by the punch Brian aimed at his midriff. The boy was no match for Jonathan’s size and dexterity though, and was unable to dodge the foot that landed on his thigh that knocked him off balance, or the heavy fist that was planted in his stomach. Once; twice; the boy gasped and staggered backward. A final kick to the chest was enough to topple him backward, into the darkness of the harbour. The dull splash was met with the shocked silence of the villagers that was broken by hearty cheers and whistles.
Jonathan shook his head and watched the three sailors peer over the wall. However, nobody made any attempt to help the boy who was now forced to swim to safety. Jonathan turned toward Kat and found her in the middle of the melee of exuberant villagers. The crowd parted as he moved to stand before her. He held her hands in his and studied the bruises on her wrists and arms.
“Are you alright?” The gentleness on his face was in stark contrast to the last few minutes. The change in his demeanour was so swift that Kat struggled to take in what she had just witnessed with her own eyes.
She pointed vaguely at the harbour wall and stared blankly at him. She wasn’t at all sorry for Brian, the young oaf deserved every moment of the last few minutes, but she was stunned that Jonathan was capable of such ruthless calculation.
“Did they hurt you?” A dark frown gathered on his brow.
“No, I am fine,” Kat replied after a moment. “Just a few bruises. How?”
“I will tell you another time. Right now, let’s get you inside.” She didn’t bother to argue, or glance back to check on Jonathan’s victims as he led her inside the tap room.
A couple of the locals were scolding Colin and Wally, while someone else threw a bucket of sea water over the still unconscious Robert. Nobody bothered to check on Brian, who still splashed about in the harbour as he tried to find a way out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Can someone send for the doctor?” Jonathan ordered as he pushed back the sleeve of Kat’s shirt to study the red marks around her wrist. Even in the dim candle-light the bruises were plain to see. He shook his head at the damaged flesh and felt his anger surge at just how close she had come to being ruined. If he hadn’t chosen to come to the village to check on her, God only knows what would have happened.
He had spent the last day or so by himself in an attempt to try to figure out what he was going to do about Kat, his work with the Star Elite, and his responsibilities to the estate. He had taken some time at Dentham Hall, by himself, to consider what he really wanted in life. Asking anyone to become his wife was one of the most momentous occasions of his entire life. Unfortunately for him, it also had serious implications for his intended because he wasn’t exactly in a position to be able to offer her a life together with any degree of certainty. His work with the Star Elite was dangerous, involved being away from home for unspecified periods of time while being incommunicable throughout the entire time. Any wife would have to have the patience of a saint to be prepared to accept such conditions.
Was it fair to expect it of Kat? She hadn’t been raised with the expectation of needing to be able to run a house the size of Dentham Hall. How could he expect her to learn how to run Dentham all by herself, while he dropped in and out of her life ad hoc, without any promises that he would remain alive and be able to return to her at the end of his mission? He couldn’t ignore his uncle’s warning that Kat wasn’t gentry and hadn’t been born to expect luxuries the like of which he could easily afford. Would she be able to adapt to the massive changes in her circumstances, and the expectations placed upon her?
He had spent many hours thinking the matter over and had ridden hi
s estate over and over many times in an attempt to come up with a workable conclusion. The truth was that there was no answer. Not until he left the Star Elite. He couldn’t exactly postpone his future to fight an endless war with his colleagues until one of them, if not all of them, wound up dead. Nor could he take a wife knowing that he could not, in all honesty, offer her any degree of security. He knew that Kat was likely to marry at some point in her life, and he wanted her to consider him as her future husband.
His thoughts turned to his colleagues and their marriages to their wives. They all made it work. But did that mean it would automatically work for him and Kat? He knew that Pie was considering leaving the Star Elite, and could understand the man’s desire to be at home with his wife, especially after his near-death experience at the hands of Beaulieu. At some point Jonathan knew that he would to end up in a skirmish that would put his life at risk – then what? What would he actually leave behind to show that he had been alive?
His thoughts returned to Brian’s question of what he was going to do when he wasn’t around to protect her. He couldn’t just go back to work with the Star Elite and leave her to her own devices, not with the ever present threat of Brian in the area. As soon as the boy knew that Jonathan was away, he and his cohorts would hound Kat mercilessly, and undoubtedly her family too, just to spite Jonathan and try to restore their status as thugs everyone needed to be afraid of.
He turned his attention back to Kat, and watched Harry carefully hand her a mug that contained a liberal dose of rum. Her hands shook and he knew it was a mixture of shock and fright that had upset her so. He could only hope she wasn’t horrified by his actions. He was aware of the curious scrutiny of the patrons, and the whispers from behind him as they discussed what they had witnessed and tried to figure him out. Still, if it warned everyone to stay away from Kat or face the consequences, then he couldn’t entirely regret what they had just witnessed. If only she wasn’t so badly shaken.
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