Page 39 of A Duke Under Her Spell
“Yes.”
“Then you will come with me now before my son and heir bleeds out upon the forest floor.”
“You left a wounded man out in the forest alone?” Marybeth questioned in disbelief.
“He could not be moved without risking his life and he is not alone. His brothers are with him as is my best huntsman. Now we must go.” Lord Enfield took ahold of her arm once more and dragged her from the room. Mr. Wheatly attempted to stop him but got a black eye for his trouble. Lord Enfield drug her from the house and threw her up on to the back of his horse, mounted behind her, and kicked his steed into a run.
“My supplies,” she cried out in protest as she bounced hard on the saddle in front of him.
“You have all the supplies you need at the croft just as your grandmother and mother always did. You can gather what you need there.”
“How did you know where to find me? How did you know of my existence? How did you know about my grandmother’s croft? How do you know anything about me at all?” The questions poured from her lips as rapid and uncontrolled as a waterfall over the side of a cliff.
“I have my ways,” was all the answer he would give.
Has he been spying upon us all of these years? How could he possibly have escaped our notice? I do not remember ever having met him. Can any of this be real?
Marybeth’s mind whirled with the information she had learned in but a few moments time. One moment she had been asleep, the next her entire world had changed. She would have cried had she not been in such a state of shock. She knew the tears would come later. For now, she wanted nothing more than to drive her knife into the thigh of the man who held her captive against her will. Her disappointment was keen when she realized that she did not have a knife to stab him with.
Father or no, I will allow no man to treat me thus.
“Did you truly rape my mother?” she asked unable to get Lady Cordelia’s words out of her head.
“Yes, I did,” he admitted without shame or remorse.
“I will kill you at the earliest opportunity,” she warned him, anger burning through her in waves of white-hot rage.
“I would expect nothing less of a daughter of mine, little witch.” He laughed in delight at her words as if she had just announced something wonderful instead of threatening his life.
“Do not call me little witch!” she gritted out between her teeth wishing more than anything to rip the tongue out of his head with her bare hands.
“It is what you are.”
“No, it is not.”
“I see that you have both mine and your mother’s stubborn determination,” he noted as if he had not just admitted to violating her mother in order to create her.
“I am nothing of you. I want no part of you.”
“In that you have no choice whatsoever. You are my daughter, whether you care to be or not, and nothing you say or do will change that.”
“I would rather die than have any part of you within me,” she protested searching for any kind of a weapon that she could stab him with.
“That was your mother’s choice, but you have too much fight in you to end your own life. I can see it in your eyes. Yet another strength you received from your sire.”
Marybeth’s stomach turned over and she nearly vomited on the back of the horse’s head, but just barely managed to hold it in. “You are a cruel, heartless, ruthless man.”
“Yes, I am,” he replied with great pride.
“I want nothing to do with you.”
“You will fix my son, your brother, and then you may do as you wish. Whether you return to Arkley Hall or remain at your grandmother’s croft alone is of no consequence to me, but you will do so on foot as I will not be carrying you back.”
“The moment we get down off of this horse, I will kill you.”
“You may try, but you will not succeed.”
They rode on in silence for the remainder of the journey crossing over from the Arkley Estate to the neighboring Enfield Estate. Just over the line, they came across a truly gruesome scene. “What happened?” she asked in horror momentarily forgetting her threat to kill him.
