Page 25 of Brutal Serpent

Then I saw a knife appear in his hand, flashing between his fingers faster than I could see where he had hidden it. He took a step toward the robber and tore him away from me.

The knife flashed in the sunlight and the other man sagged.

Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and Liversedge had taken out a substantial revolver of his own and shot at the second robber.

The third robber tried to put up his gun, but St. Erth whirled on him, gripping him by the cloak and running him into the side of the carriage before twisting him around and slashing the knife across his throat.

Bright crimson blood appeared under the other man’s neckerchief and I screamed, the tightness on my throat suddenly loosened.

St. Erth turned to me and I wanted to run away, but I couldn’t force my legs to move.

He seemed to have grown to enormous proportions as he loomed over me, holding the dead robber in one hand.

“Look at him,” he said, yanking on the front of my dress with bloody hands. “See what happens when you touch another man.”

“You’re a madman!” I burst out desperately, tightening my thighs together so I wouldn’t fall on the ground in a faint.

St. Erth smiled at me, and I couldn’t help remembering the serpent in the Garden of Eden again. Beautiful and deadly.

He drew fingers through the blood on the dead man’s neck again, then, as I watched in horror, he suddenly moved them toward me, dropping the corpse on the ground.

The Viscount dragged his bloody fingers across my cheek, then down my throat, as I screamed as loudly as I could, screamed until I was hoarse.

But nothing stopped my madman of a husband.

He grabbed my chin with his hard hands, pulling me closer to him. “Touch another man only if you want him to die,” he warned me, releasing me so suddenly that my head began to swim with panic and adrenaline.

“Dispose of these bodies,” he ordered Liversedge and Gilly. “Turn the horses free. They’re most likely stolen and they’ll head back instinctively to their owners.”

They both got down from the carriage and began to bicker between themselves as they rolled the bodies efficiently into a big tarp and then began to haul them away.

The blood moved from a sticky wetness to a taut dryness on my cheeks, and I resisted the urge to claw it off my face, scrub every place that St. Erth touched me.

CHAPTER 13

St. Erth

Ihad never felt rage this deep before, my blood pounding harshly in my ears.

I should bepleasedthat Catherine was so desperate to escape. It only emphasized my power over her, my triumph over the Wendovers. Each frightened squeak, every palpitation of her heart, was a sign of my revenge.

But I wasfurious.

Running away and hiding in the barn was one thing. But that Catherine woulddareto try and entice another man to take her away from me!

It made my blood boil.

Had I not made itvery clearto her that she was mine? To do exactly what I pleased with?

I put my hand on her, my fingers tightened on the back of her neck, and I felt the heat rise uncontrollably inside me as the long strands of her hair whipped and dragged across my fingers.

The leather strap that tied the luggage to the top of the carriage caught my eye and I ripped at it, causing suitcases to fall beside me on the ground, but I didn’t care. I yanked the leather strap free, flipping Catherine around and shoving her face-first against the side of the carriage.

Then I ripped up her dress, tightening the long length up in my fist until her little pink undergarments were all that was left.

I ripped those down too, sending them down around her ankles, and my wife began to wiggle around now, trying to escape. The motion made the tantalizing roundness of her pert cheeks wiggle and the rush of lust I felt made me furious.

“Stay still,” I warned her, pressing Catherine harder into the side of the carriage.

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