Page 62 of Taming the Scot
“My laird, ye’re no’ dressed.” Martin stared down at his bare feet. “Is your valet ill?”
“Where is Hector? Did he take her?” Euan demanded, ignoring the butler’s questions. There was no time to worry about his clothes.
Martin gaped, alarmed now. “I have not seen them,” Martin said, at the same time two footmen stumbled around the corner from the dining room, looking as if they’d been roughly handled.
“They’ve just left,” one of them called out, breathlessly.
Martin rushed to the front door and wrenched it open in time for Euan to see the driver alighting to his post and taking the reins in hand.
“Stop!” Euan shouted, and the driver looked over his shoulder and then narrowed his eyes—one of which had been blackened.
In an instant, he recognized the bloke as one of the heathens from the alleyway who’d attacked Bronwen. This was no ordinary visit from Hector. And at that moment, Euan realized this went so much deeper, with nefarious roots that threatened to yank them all under.
Understanding the urgency, Martin had called for several footmen to come out. Even though the driver tried to snap the reins for the horses to ride on, three footmen leapt before the horse, stalling his progress. One settled the horse while the other two yanked the driver from his perch, holding him down on the gravel.
The door to the carriage burst open, and another thug barreled out, the second one from the alleyway. Good God, Bronwen had been captured by his cousin and the men she’d been running for her life from?
Every part of him ached for her. What betrayal she must have felt at his promises of protection…and this was what she’d gotten from him. Complete failure. Twice. The men she’d been terrified from and his criminal cousin who must have something to do with what happened to her in the past. There was no other explanation as to how these arseholes would do his bidding.
Bare feet planted in the gravel drive, and ignoring the pain of the stones cutting into his skin, Euan braced for the man’s attack. The villain ran at Euan as if he was going to take him through the wall of the house. But Euan was ready and side-stepped at the last second, feeling the wind gush past him as the brute lurched headlong toward the ground and tried to catch his footing.
The bastard whirled on Euan, muttering expletives as he launched into another attack. Only this time, Martin grabbed him from behind, putting a hold on the man’s neck. He might have been a butler, but when Euan wasn’t sparring with his friends, he sparred with Martin.
The arsehole’s face turned purple as he spewed obscenities in Euan’s direction until Martin squeezed a little tighter, cutting off his string of nastiness.
“My laird, I must apologize,” Martin was saying. “I never saw any of them come in, else I would have stopped him.”
“I’m certain Hector wanted it that way.”
With two of the footmen holding the other ruffian down, Euan ordered the third footman to get the magistrate. This time he wasn’t leaving these men out in the open to harm again. Clearly, they’d already left the area when the magistrate searched for them the night before. They’d be arrested now and held in prison for their crimes, of which he was certain there were many.
Now it was time to deal with the real monster.
Euan returned to the coach, wrenching open the door to find his cousin Hector backed into a corner, Bronwen beside him. Hector had his arm around her shoulder and the glint of a blade pressed to her throat. Good God…nay!
A slice of pain gutted Euan at seeing her in such a precarious situation. Her eyes were wide with fear but also with anger. Lips twisted in a rage, she looked ready to spew venom not only at Hector, but at Euan too. And he couldn’t blame her. It had been his idea for her to come to Edinburgh. The promises he’d made were total rubbish in her eyes—and in his. But he wasn’t going to fail her now.
“Remove that blade from Miss Holmes’s throat,” Euan said calmly, hoping she’d not yet divulged they were to wed. At least he could keep her safe from his cousin. Knowing about their betrothal would give Hector a bigger incentive to end her life.
There was a gleam in Hector’s eyes that Euan had never seen before. Pure malice. He’d known him to be unlawful, arrogant, conceited, rude, selfish and downright cruel most of their lives. But this…this was bordering on something different. Maniacal.
In a flash, Euan seemed to understand a lot more of what was at work here than he would have ever guessed. Hector was the creditor for Bronwen’s parents—responsible for their deaths. And now he’d come to collect payment in the form of Bronwen. It would seem the criminal activity his cousin had been involved with went a lot deeper than Euan had thought. Good God… when Bronwen mentioned her parents had been involved with gambling, that they’d been murdered for their debts, he never had thought that his own blood could be involved. He’d been so busy protecting his sisters from Hector, he’d never even thought that Bronwen might need protection from the bastard too.
The fact that she and Euan had become acquainted was pure coincidence, and he was certain, very convenient for Hector.
“Back away and shut the door, Euan,” Hector said, his voice coming out in biting clips. “And the lass will no’ be harmed. Let my men up off the ground, and we’ll be on our way.”
“I’m afraid I can no’ do that.” Euan kept his tone calm, even, and his gaze on Bronwen’s steady. “Let her go, and I’ll consider letting ye go without consequence.”
Of course, that was a total lie, and if Hector were as smart as Euan thought he might be diabolical, then he would know it too. Still, it was better than the alternative.
Hector shook his head slowly. “She belongs to me, cousin,” he hissed. “Afraid there’s no negotiating that.” He yanked her a little closer to him, but miraculously, Bronwen barely flinched.
Hector had always wanted what was Euan’s. What a boon it must have been to realize the very woman who owed him money was the same one Euan had under his protection—and might have guessed he had feelings for her given last night’s events. The bastard would not have been able to resist taking her. Hector had been so intent upon having her for himself that he’d been willing to break into Euan’s house to get her.
Euan had to hold himself back from ripping his cousin to shreds as that would only put Bronwen in further danger.
“The magistrate is on the way,” Euan said, as smoothly as he could when he wanted to rage. “Ye’ll no’ be able to get out of here with her. Your men are down, and before ye have a chance to go three feet, I’ll have ye under my boot.”
