Page 91 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
The fact of the matter was this: Daniel cared deeply for Alison. In fact, as he pushed his horse along the snow drenched road, as he tamed the worry and fear that swelled inside of him, he knew that simply caring for her was not at all accurate, that it did not begin to touch on how he truly felt.
And it was as he rode, as he imagined Alison, as he thought of what he would do to see her to safety, that Daniel finally admitted to himself that which he had always known but had been too scared to concede: he loved Alison, and it really was that simple.
I only wish I had told her last evening… last week… the moment that I met her. And if something should happen to her and I do not get the chance… no, I cannot allow myself to think that way.
So it was that relief swelled inside of Daniel when he finally came to what he had to assume to be where she was being kept.
The track marks led to a small cabin which sat on the outskirts of Whitehaven. It was built against the tree line, the roof covered in snow, the shrubs from the forest growing up its timber and around its frame as if swallowing the cabin whole. Had he not been looking, Daniel might have missed it.
Outside the cabin sat a single cart and two horses. They shivered in the cold, suggesting further at exactly who these men were… or what they were.
When Daniel spied the cabin, he considered staying back and waiting for support. At the very least, scouting the cabin, perhaps sneaking up and peering through the window so that he would not be running into a trap or putting Alison in any more danger than she was.
Pickle, however, had other ideas…
Daniel climbed down from his horse a solid one hundred feet away from the cabin. He clutched Pickle to his chest, but the dog began to yap and wiggle wildly, desperate to free itself. It had Alison’s scent and like Daniel, it was desperate to get to her.
Despite his best efforts, Daniel dropped the little terrier, and it took off in the direction of the cabin, barking its head off the whole while.
“Pickle!” Daniel cried after it. “Come back!”
He cursed under his breath and looked around as if for help… or an idea. Nothing came to mind and by then, Pickle was almost at the cabin, still barking frantically. With no choice, he ran after it.
Daniel trudged and tripped through the thick snow, his blood surging and his mind racing with possibilities of what he might find. When Pickle reached the front of the cabin, it started to scratch at the door, and its barking grew louder.
A moment later the door swung open, revealing the tall burglar who Daniel had already scared off once. Seeing him in the doorway, Daniel wasted no time.
“It’s her mutt!” the tall burglar said. “How’d he…” His eyes widened when he looked up to see Daniel charging for him. “Hobbs! We got –”
Daniel barged into the tall burglar, picking him up around the waist and tossing him into the cabin as if he was a sack of wheat. His body tumbled through the air and crashed hard into the floor; this had the cabin shaking.
“Oi!” a voice cried out. “How did you –”
Daniel was on the second burglar without so much as a pause. He was the shorter one, the leader, and Daniel reached him, grabbed him by the collar, and drove his fist into the man’s already-broken nose.
“Argh!” the shorter burglar cried out, head snapping back, blood spraying through the air. “Wait, I can –” Another punch caught his nose and his head snapped back again.
His blood was up. His body was shaking. Fire pumped through his veins and in that moment, Daniel might have very well killed both men without a second thought. But in his rage, he managed a quick glance around the cabin, and that was when he saw her.
“Alison!”
She was lying on a single cot in the corner of the cabin, eyes closed as if she was fast asleep. Daniel gasped and shoved the shorter burglar down, then swept to where she lay.
“Alison!” He fell to his knees, panicking as he gently touched her shoulder. He saw that she was breathing, and that had him exhaling with relief. Then he saw the bruise on her right eye…
He spun about and snarled like a wolf. He pushed himself to his feet, hackles rising as he stalked across the cabin where the shorter man was on his knees, blood dripping from his nose, body shaking with fear.
“Please…” the man begged.
“What did you do to her?” Daniel seethed.
“Nothin’, I swear!”
“Tell me!” Daniel grabbed him by the collar again as he raised his fist as if he might hammer the man into the ground like a rusted nail. “What did you do!”
“I barely touched her!” he squealed. “Honest! She wouldn’t shut her yapping. And she was wiggling about, fighting us off. I tripped is all. Dropped her and -- argh!” Daniel’s fist broke across the man’s face for a third time.
It was then that the taller burglar came at him. He threw himself at Daniel, wrapping his arms around Daniel’s shoulders to try and pull him away. And it might have worked, was it not for Daniel’s rage. He roared his fury and flipped the man over, tossing him onto his back, at which point he drove his boot into the man’s face with a crunch.
