Page 3 of Saved By the Cruel Highlander
But the two men had served to distract Patrick.
Peter Mitchell snuck up behind him and stabbed him in the back. Patrick grunted, then turned around and pulled his own dirk, stabbing Peter in the throat. Peter gurgled his last words before falling to his knees, then face-first onto the floor.
Only then did Patrick collapse.
“Nay! Papa!” Holly screamed, finally breaking free from the rope around her waist.
She quickly untied the ropes around her ankles and rushed over to her father, falling to her knees beside him.
“Papa! Papa, talk to me!”
Patrick Taylor raised a trembling hand and cupped her cheek. He smiled slowly, but then his hand dropped, and his eyes clouded over.
“Nay! Papa, dinnae die! Dinnae leave me!”
But it was too late. He was gone.
The driver rushed into the building, his face white. He looked at the scene before him and squatted down beside Holly. He reached out to touch her shoulder but then quickly pulled his hand back. He couldn’t look at Patrick.
He didn’t say a word. He stood and waited for Holly to look up at him before gesturing with his head for her to go outside. She did as she was told. Her body moved as if someone else was using it. She got into the small wagon, sitting in the front, for she knew what would go in the back.
Harold, the driver, exited the building with her father in his arms. Her father looked so small and unreal as Harold carried him to the rear of the wagon and lowered him down. Holly stared straight ahead, letting out a small whimper when the wagon rolled down.
Harold got in the front beside her, not saying a word. Even the horse pulling the wagon had its head down, as if it knew what had happened. Each bump in the road numbed Holly. Each clip-clop of hooves felt like a hammer against her heart. She looked at the driver once on the way back and saw that he was crying, too.
When she finally got home, Ivy, her mother, ran out of the house, the relief at seeing her evident on her face.
“Holly!” Ivy cried. She lifted her skirts as she ran to the wagon.
Holly climbed down and pulled her mother into a big hug, both of them crying.
Ivy broke the hug and looked around, her eyebrows drawn down in confusion. “Where’s yer faither?”
Fresh tears leaked from Holly’s eyes. She glanced at the back of the wagon and then at her mother.
“Papa saved me,” she said quietly.
Ivy paled, shaking her head, crying just as Holly cried. She walked around to the back of the wagon and started screaming. Holly could only sob louder for what had happened. She didn’t know how they would deal with life anymore.
“Papa saved me,” she muttered. “Papa saved me.”
CHAPTER ONE
Holly Taylor was in a good mood. The sun was shining brightly, and she’d had a delightful day in town. While shopping wasn’t something she usually appreciated, she had enjoyed it that day. She was to be married soon!
“Holly and I shall be wed in just a sennight.”
She stopped walking and looked around. She’d been on her way home and had taken the back way out of town. Now, she stood at a corner of the entrance of an alley.
That voice… She’d know that slightly nasal voice anywhere. It belonged to her betrothed. And he was talking about her.
Curious, Holly pressed herself up against the brick wall and leaned her cheek against it, trying to remain invisible but still able to hear. Here was her chance to discover what Felix told others about her. A smile spread across her face at the thought of praises and declarations of his feelings for her.
“And how long after that before ye and I can be together?”
Holly frowned. Although she could barely hear the other speaker, that was a woman’s voice.
She wants to be with Felix? Me Felix?
