The Highlander's Bride(101)
“You are both fools,” Balford shouted. “You will be the ones who suffer, and as for my daughter? She deserved what she got for giving herself to a commoner, a simple man—”
“He is a warrior!” Sara shouted back. “Courage, integrity, loyalty, something you know nothing of!”
“Power and influence bring far more rewards than what you speak of,” Balford said. “If my daughter had done her duty and obeyed me, she would not have died. Her death was of her own doing, sheer stupidity. As your deaths will be.”
“And your death?” Sara asked calmly. “Will it not be out of your own doing?”
“My dear, you are in chains, and while Cullen may have slipped past a guard or two, there are many more who will make certain that neither of you leave here.”
“You said yourself that my husband is an honorable man. He tells me he will not let you hurt me, and I believe him.”
“What makes you think he can do for you what he couldn’t do for Alaina?”
Sara grinned. “He’s already done it.”
“Such foolish confidence,” Balford said, shaking his head.
“It is good that you finally realize that instead of continuing with this folly,” Sara said.
Balford glared at her. “I am eager and impatient to see that tongue of yours cut out of your mouth.”
“Not even an hour with him, and he wants to rid you of your tongue? That’s my Sara,” Cullen said, grinning proudly.
“Enough!” Balford shouted.
“My exact sentiments to her at times,” Cullen teased.
“I’ve had enough. Guards!” Balford yelled.
Cullen slipped his arm around her waist and she released her full weight against him. Exhaustion was fast claiming her, along with the burden of the heavy chains.
“You’ll be free soon enough,” he whispered, and kissed her cheek.
“Guards!” Balford bellowed again, and retreated several steps into the room.
“You overestimate your guards’ abilities, or perhaps you underestimate mine. Your guards are presently occupied and will be for some time.”
Sara smiled at the pint-sized woman who had entered the room and spoken. She wielded a sword and was garbed in men’s garments. She had heard tales of the infamous outlaw Storm.
Balford sputtered and shook a fist and sputtered some more before finally spitting out one word: “You!”
Storm gave a pretentious bow. “That it is. You didn’t think that I would slink away and not see you get your due, did you? And while I would so love to be the one to wreak retribution on you, I’ll leave that to one who deserves the privilege more.”
“I’ll see you dead!” Balford screamed.
“That is not going to happen.”
Sara wasn’t surprised to see Cullen’s brother Burke enter the room. Though Cullen was taller and wider, both were handsome men, and she could see the resemblance there between them.
“He really needs to die,” Burke said when his glance rested on Sara.
“Cullen will see to it,” she said proudly.
Burke nodded with a grin. “Good, you do love my brother. It’s there in your eyes for all to see.” He hugged Sara gently. “We will all make a fine family and live a good long life in America.”
“Hear that, Balford?” Storm asked. “We’ll all live, and you will die.”
“You know, Cullen, I was thinking,” Burke said. “With the earl’s death, your son will be sole inheritor of his grandfather’s estate and holdings.”
“Never,” Balford warned. “Never will a bastard inherit my wealth.”
Cullen grinned and drew his sword. “You won’t be around to object.”
Chapter 36
“I love you, husband,” Sara said as Storm helped her from the room.
“And I love you, wife,” Cullen said echoing her sentiments, his heart in pain for what she had suffered to see him and his son safe.
“We’ll be waiting,” Burke said, and was gone.
Cullen knew they remained close by, along with a score of hired men, if he should require assistance, but this was a chore he had chosen for himself. He did this for Alaina. But first he had something to tell the Earl of Balford.
“I am unarmed. I thought you an honorable man,” Balford said.
Cullen grabbed a second sword from the sheath strapped to his back and rested the weapon against a chair, stepping away from it.
Balford went for it, and once it was in his grip, he laughed. “You truly are foolish. Don’t you know I’m an expert with a sword?”
“I’ll take my chances,” Cullen said, keeping a distance until he delivered his news.