Page 59 of Bound to a Scot
Maddox turned and saw the two men on the bank staring at him. If he was going to get to the man in the water holding Emmeline, he was going to need to get through those two quickly. His sword was still bare in his hand and upon seeing it, the two men unsheathed their daggers and with scowls on their faces, advanced on him.
Seizing the initiative, Maddox leaped forward, the point of his sword leading the way. The first man threw himself to the side, avoiding being run through, but the second man, who was coming up behind him, wasn’t as quick. His eyes widened as a low grunt bubbled out of his mouth as Maddox drove his bladethrough the man’s chest. Blood poured from his mouth and his dagger fell uselessly to the ground with a hard thud.
Sensing the other man rounding on him, Maddox jerked the blade out of the man’s chest, letting his limp body fall to the ground in a heap, a scarlet pool spreading out beneath him. Maddox turned to the second man, narrowly parrying the thrust of the man’s dagger. He was obviously an unskilled swordsman as he let his momentum carry him forward clumsily. He moved in close enough that it allowed Maddox to drive his fist into the man’s face with a hard crack, violently snapping the man’s head backward.
As the man stumbled several steps back, desperately trying to keep his feet, Maddox pressed forward. Just as his attacker managed to regain his balance, Maddox slashed left to right, feeling the blade sink into the man’s flesh and slice through it with the ease of a blade parting paper. The man dropped his dagger and pressed his hands to his belly as his blood and innards came spilling out of the gash. He sank to his knees and looked at Maddox with wide eyes a moment before he slumped forward and fell face first into the dirt, dead before he hit the ground.
The man in the pond turned to him with a scowl on his face, his eyes narrowed and tight with rage. Emmeline’s head broke the surface again and she gasped, desperately trying to breathe. The man shoved her head back down roughly again, his lips curled over his teeth.
“Who in the bleedin’ hell are ye?” he sneered.
“The man that’s goin’ tae kill ye if ye dinnae let her go this very second.”
The man hesitated, his eyes shifting to his two compatriots, dead on the ground. Maddox quickly sheathed his sword and took a step into the water.
“I said, let her go,” he growled. “Dae that and ye’ll live.”
Another long, painful moment ticked by and the man finally let go of Emmeline’s head, letting her break the surface. She wheezed and gasped, choking on the water she’d swallowed. The man put his hands up, palms facing Maddox.
“There. I did as ye asked. Now, I’ll go,” he said, his voice deep and gruff.
Maddox looked at Emmeline. Her hair hung over her face like a curtain and she continued to choke and gasp between bursts of tears. The rage bubbling inside him overflowed and in one fluid movement, he unsheathed his dagger and launched at the man with all his strength. The blade bit deep into the man’s throat and a wide-eyed look of surprise crossed his face as he gurgled wetly.
“Ye dinnae put yer filthy hands on her,” Maddox grumbled.
The man fell backward with a splash, the water turning red around him. Maddox rushed forward and scooped Emmeline up then carried her back to the shore. He collapsed onto the dampbank of the pond with her in his lap, holding her tightly as he stroked her hair.
“I’ve got ye, lass. I’ve got ye,” he said. “Everythin’s all right now. Ye’re all right now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Emmeline laid in his arms, taking comfort in the solidness and warmth of his body. She trembled and shivered, partly from being soaked through and the cold, and partly from the terror that racked her body. She stared at the heavens above her and watched as clouds rolled in from the east, turning the sky into a mottled patchwork of varying shades of gray. Thunder growled in the distance, promising that a storm was on its way.
In a way, the coming storm summarized her day perfectly, going from bright and happy to dark and stormy in seemingly the blink of an eye. It hadn’t just been that they’d attacked her that had left Emmeline rattled. It was how they had tried to kill her. Her fear of the water was overwhelming on a good day. But to be dragged out into a pond like that… it was more terrifying than she could have ever imagined. It justified every fear of the water she’d ever had and somehow, made it even stronger.
As she realized how close to death she had come, Emmeline choked back a sob, struggling to understand what had happenedand why. Why to her. And what she had done to bring it upon herself.
“Dae ye ken who those men were, lass?” Maddox asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen them afore in me life.”
He looked back at the bodies that lay strewn on the bank of the pond and frowned. Something was troubling him. Emmeline’s eyes were drawn to the man floating in the water, fixing on the silver handle of Maddox’s dagger protruding from his chest. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and Maddox gently brushed them away with the pad of his thumb.
“They were probably just some bleedin’ cutpurses,” she offered.
“Could be. But I dinnae think so,” he said softly. “Cutpurses would’ve just taken yer things. They wouldnae have taken the time tae drag ye out intae the middle of the pond like that. Nay, they werenae just cutpurses.”
“Then who were they?”
He shook his head “I dinnae ken.”
Still shuddering and gripped by the fear of what had just happened, Emmeline felt an enormous weight on her chest. Her breath came in short, stuttering gasps and she felt like she was beginning to hyperventilate. Maddox stroked her hair gently, being more tender with her than she thought possible from him.
“Just breathe, lass,” he said softly. “Breathe slow and easy.”
Emmeline drew a deep breath and tried to get herself under control. Thunder crashed, closer this time, making her flinch and a cold breeze swept in, making her shiver.
“We need tae get ye somewhere where we can dry ye off and get ye warm,” Maddox said.
