Page 57 of An English Rose for the Highlander
“I am nae so proud that I cannae accept a fine idea. Fetch them and return. We will need to put up a fight as those men funnel inside.”
“Aye.” Oskar was off after that, rushing down the halls to fetch the healer’s apprentice and their indispensable Eilidh. He took Rose to the Great Hall, then ordered the servants near her to help her assemble the tables to be makeshift beds. In minutes, Fiona and Eilidh entered, sprinting to Rose’s side and immediately getting to work. Already, men who had patrolled outside were entering the hall in need of healing, and he sent them to the women before hurrying back to the front entrance with Oskar.
The flames soared higher, consuming the wood and attempting to stretch inside the keep and along the stone walls. Oskar stood at his side, helping him to coordinate the servants who had been bringing water, creating a line of people who could rush the buckets back and forth quicker. Smog and char burned in Dominik’s lungs. Despite their efforts, a massive crack split through the door on the right, giving the hollering men outside the opportunity to enter.
“Defend this keep! Let the intruders taste yer steel!” Dominik called out, and a resounding cry from his men shook the hallway.
In seconds, the men under Lord Egerton’s control rushed inside the building, leaping through flames. Dominik stood shoulder to shoulder with Oskar, several more of his guards coming to their aid.
The clang of swords clashing filled the room, echoing around the tangled mess of bodies who stood in defense at the door. Dominik slashed down through the arm of one man, hearing his scream ring out before spinning to dispatch of another who attempted to be so bold as to strike down the Laird of this castle.
“We’ve been getting nay rest since our dear Laird wed. Wouldnae ye say Angus?”
One of Dominik’s guards stood on Oskar’s other side, shaking his head with a single laugh as the man-at-arms joked. Dominik simply rolled his eyes at his friend, knocking him with an elbow and then yanking him backward by the scruff of his shirt when a blade came down. They spun around each other, trading sides, and in two quick blows felled the men who’d shoved through the broken doors first.
But more were coming, and Dominik had not seen any sight of Egerton.
“This way!” A feminine voice called out, and he turned over his shoulder to see Peggy escorting children into the Great Hall, keeping them out of harm’s way.
The Laird could not help but be impressed by her actions, the move unexpectedly brave and selfless. He nodded at her as Peggy passed by, rushing into the Hall as the doors opened a crack. Through that opening, he could see Rose, and for just a moment, Dominik’s attention lingered on her.
Her back was to him, and he could see his wife furiously tending to the injured, under Fiona’s direction. Eilidh stood near the door, immediately helping Peggy with the children. He met the woman’s eyes for a brief pause, and there in her wise stare, Dominik could see the admiration and respect she held for these two Englishwomen who had only been with them all for a few short months.
“Dominik!” He spun around, blocking an attack headed his way as Oskar warned him. “Yes,andlook!”
As the man fell, Dominik tracked where Oskar pointed, following the gesture to a window at the side of the building. Through the small slit, Dominik could see a smaller squadron of men rushing toward the rear of the castle. They couldn’t be left there unchallenged. They would set fire to the doors there, pressing inside the keep with little to stop them.
“Three to me!” Dominik commanded, and Oskar, as well as Angus and Malcom, hurried to his side. He led the men down the long corridor that would take them to the kitchens.
Something stood out in his mind’s eye as well, the particular look of a reedy blonde man heading to the rear of the keep. Lord Egerton was with these men, and he would face the weasel head-on—no more slinking about like a rat. The man would learn the feel of Dominik’s sword.
As they all arrived at the kitchen, Dominik could hear shouting outside the door. He rushed for it, his men following instinctively, and before the bastard could set flame to the wood, the Laird smashed into him bodily, knocking him to the earth.
“There ye are ye coward. If ye would seek to harm me, I’d have ye do it to me face. Nay slither about, spreading rumors.”
Lord Egerton looked up from the ground, his group of shoddily trained soldiers skirmishing with Dominik’s expert swordsmen.
“Foul Scottish savage!” the Viscount screamed, his expression mad and furious. “I will have what’s mine, what is due to me! You and your heathens will not keep me from the dowry I was promised!”
Dominik glared daggers, on guard as Egerton rose from the ground, his fine clothes smeared with dirt.
“Yer dowry, eh? I daenae believe that ye have any claim to one, I’m afraid. What ye stole from Rose cannae be reclaimed, and ye willnae have the land, however ye came to learn of it.”
“You think I will just stand by and let you ruin what I had sought to accomplish! Never!”
Lord Egerton leaped forward, slashing his sword with surprising precision. The men he brought with him might not have been expertly trained, but the same could not be said for the villain himself. Dominik lunged to the side, dodging the attack by the skin of his teeth.
“No! Leave him be!”
Fear shot through Dominik’s spine, and he frantically looked over his shoulder at the sound of the familiar voice. Rose ran from within the kitchen toward them, her eyes wide with terror and her clothes stained with blood.
“Oh, and there’s our little minx.” Lord Egerton sneered, pulling Dominik’s attention back to him just in time to sidestep another jab. “I will end your bloody Scottish oath right before your eyes!”
Steel clashed loudly as the two of them fought, rolling and tumbling about in the night air, wet seeping into Dominik’s clothes from the earth. He needed to end this, but Lord Egerton had practiced with a blade, and for every lunge to stab the man Dominik made, he was blocked, forced to dodge slash after slash. Exhaustion pulled at the edges of his consciousness; his breathing labored.
Thankfully, Egerton tired as well, and they had changed positions now enough to let Dominik see Rose out of the corner of his eye. She stood off to the side, watching the horror unfold, and even from his distance, Dominik could tell that she was fighting the urge to rush forward.
“Stay back, lass! I will deal with the Viscount.”
