Dark Duke (14 page)

“What the hell did you expect?” she snarled. “Forcing me to
marry you. Kidnapping my best friend—”

“That was not I.”

“Making my brother do it then. Holding his debt over his
head.” With each accusation she stepped closer, and with each of her advances,
he retreated, until he was flat against the wall. “You, sir,” she poked him in
the chest and glared up at him, “are a
brigand
.”

He blinked. “Hardly a brigand.” This, he said in a tiny
voice.

She crossed her arms. “I have delivered myself into your
clutches. Release Violet at once.” The silence in the hall following her demand
settled in. She spun around and glared at the thunderstruck men. “And you lot,
get back to work or I will have your guts for garters.”

A rather frenetic activity resumed.

The McCloud looked down at her from his towering height with
a glint of humor lighting his eyes. “Kaitlin MacAllister,” he said. “You, I
fear, are something of a termagant. No wonder you and Violet are friends.”
Something in the way he said it made her belly lurch.

As though he liked a she-devil.

Lovely.

The last thing Edward expected when he awoke the next day in
an inn outside Dundee was to find himself staring into a pair of
chocolate-brown eyes so like his own. And a button nose. Spattered with
freckles.

“He’s awake.”

“Of course he’s awake, Tay.” Malcolm, from his left. “You
were breathing on his face.”

“I just wanted to see if he was alive.”

“Of course he’s alive. He was sleeping.”

“But he wasn’t moving.”

“He was tired.” Ah. Ned was here too. And Sean and Dennis
and Hamish. He could see them from the corner of his eye. “We were all tired.
And we needed to gird our loins for today.”

“What happens today?” A horrifying voice warbled over the
din.

Oh dear lord. Hortense was in his room as well? How many of
them could this tiny chamber hold?

All of them, apparently.

Kaitlin, at least, had had the manners to not intrude. And
damn, she was the one he really wanted to see. In his chambers. First thing in
the morning.

“Do you mind?” he asked.

“Not a’tall.” Hamish hopped onto his chest and began
bouncing up and down.

“
Oof. Oof. Oof
.” Edward captured him mid-bounce and
set him on the floor. He sat up, clutching his blankets over his naked chest
like a swooning virgin, and glared at all in attendance. “A little privacy
please?”

“Come boys.” Hortense clapped her hands. “His Grace requires
privacy.”

Tay poked a finger in Edward’s nostril. “What do you require
privacy for?”

Edward carefully removed the digit. “I should like to get
dressed.”

Tay tipped his head to the side and scrunched up his face,
as though this concept was utterly unfathomable.

“So we can go get your sister.”

“Oh. All right then. Why didn’t you say so?”

Edward blew out a breath and glared at Hortense. “Did you
need to bring them all?”

“They insisted.”

“They are children.”

She gored him with a look. “Are they?”

Well. Perhaps not. There were moments when he wondered if
the other demons in hell ever missed their playmates.

“Do hurry, Moncrieff,” Hortense chirruped as she herded the
horde into the narrow hallway. “The boys are anxious to fetch their sister
back.”

The thought of taking those boys—his
brothers
—into a
den of thieves curled his toes. Then again, the idea had merit.

McCloud would never know what hit him.

He dressed quickly—he was anxious to beard the lion in his
den and retrieve Violet, but thoughts of Kaitlin rode high in his mind as well.
He couldn’t wait to see her again. It had been but a day and he ached, fairly
ached, to hold her.

He came down the rickety staircase of the inn, still tying
his cravat, to see his family—his
family
—filling the tiny dining room
devouring their breakfast. But—

“Where’s Kaitlin?”

Hortense went red. The boys all looked elsewhere.

“Where is she?”

“Apparently she left.”

“Left?”
Hell.

“We woke up yesterday morning and she was gone.”

Yesterday?
His heart did an odd flippity-flop then
pounded as panic rose bitterly in his throat. “W-where did she go?”

“I can only imagine she went to Callum.” Malcolm dug at his
sausage as though it was an enemy.

“Callum?” But he’d told her not to go! He’d told her to
trust him. To let him handle it. “Fuck!”

“Really, Moncrieff. Small ears.”

“Fuck!” parroted Hamish. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Edward scrubbed his face with a palm. Callum would take her
to McCloud. If she weren’t already there. Damnation. Now he had two of them to
rescue.

Edward glared at Transom. “We’d better go.”

“At once, Your Grace.”

But they didn’t go at once. It took an eternity to load the
coaches. And despite Edward’s insistence that the boys remain behind, they did
not.

They simply refused.

* * * * *

He was holding Violet in the tower.

This, Kaitlin pried from a young scullery boy named Pippin.

Her betrothed had sent Callum on his way and ensconced her
for the night in a drafty chamber on the second floor of the keep and—with an
ominous expression—bade her to bar the door. Kaitlin had merely snorted. She
had a dirk. She knew how to use it.

At first light she began her reconnoiter and, after finding
Pippin and discovering where Violet was being held, headed for the tower.

The tower.
How cliche.

She met the McCloud coming down the spiral staircase as she
was going up. He was buttoning his shirt.

His chin dropped as he spotted her. “What the hell are you
doing here?” he sputtered. “I told you to stay in your room.”

“I’m going to see Violet.”

He blanched. “You most certainly are not.”

Kaitlin narrowed her eyes. “I must know she is all right.”

“She’s fine.”

“Wonderful. Let me see her.”

His lips flapped.

“Let me see her
now
.” She flailed him with a
ferocious glare. “Consider it a wedding present.”

With a dark glower, he turned around and started back. “You
really are a harpy, you know.” This he threw over his shoulder.

“The worst sort. We shall be so happy together.”

He snorted.

They tromped up the stairs. It was a long way to the top. “I
can’t believe you’re keeping her in the tower,” she muttered.

He flicked a look at her. “She’s safer here. The men would
never—” He broke off, recalling to whom he was talking. “She’s tried to escape.
It’s either the tower or the dungeons, and the dungeons are in terrible shape.”

“Unlike the great hall?” She couldn’t resist. She just
couldn’t.

He chuckled.

“Will we always live here?”

He stopped stock-still at her question. He looked at her and
the oddest expression flickered over his face. He opened his mouth then closed
it again. Then finally said, “I have a house in Perth.”

“Is it as charming as this? And will your men all live with
us? Because they are charming as well.”

“No. They are only here to— Why am I explaining myself to
you?”

“Because I’m to be your bride?” Really, where the sarcasm
came from, she had no clue.

His fisted his hands on his hips. “Are you always this
difficult?”

She offered a toothsome smile. “Didn’t Callum warn you?”

The McCloud blew out a breath and without another word,
continued the upward climb. He stopped at a heavy oaken door on the landing.
“Wait here.”

Of course she did not.

She followed him in.

The solar was round and, unlike the rest of the miserable
keep, quite opulent. A large draped bed dominated the room, flanked by a plush
divan and an intricately carved table and chairs. A bottle of wine and the
remnants of a meal sat on the table.

The McCloud approached the bed and poked his head through
the curtains. “Violet,” he whispered. “You must wake up.”

“Hmm?” A drowsy murmur emanated from the bower.

“Violet. Wake up.”

“Ewan. Not yet. I’m sleepy.”

Kaitlin stilled. The tone of Violet’s voice was not that of
a wretched prisoner—it was loverlike. A sultry purr.

The blood in her veins turned to ice.

When she’d run into him, the McCloud had been descending
from this chamber—the only chamber at the top of the stairs. He’d been
buttoning
his shirt
.

Holy hell.

He had seduced Violet.

The dastard!

He’d kidnapped her best friend and seduced her. And now he expected
Kaitlin to marry him?

The perfidy of men was boundless.

“Come on, get dressed. Someone’s here to see you.”

“What?”

Kaitlin cleared her throat. “He said, someone’s here to see
you.”

The McCloud whipped around, a fierce glower on his face. “I
told you to wait outside!” he boomed.

“I’m disobedient.”

“Why, I ought to—”

“What? Beat me?”

He flinched. “I don’t beat women. Where did you get the idea
I beat women?”

“You’re a villain!”

“But I don’t beat—”

“Kaitlin?” Violet thrust her head out between the curtains.
Her eyes were wide and shadowed, her cheeks hollow. “Oh, Kaitlin! Is that you?”

She emerged from the bed, wrapping a blanket around her
body, and flew across the flagstones to fold Kaitlin in a hug.

“Darling. You look…” She looked awful. There was an ugly
brown-and-yellow bruise on her cheek and her eyes were puffy and she’d lost
weight. Had he even been feeding her? And then… “Are you naked?” Kaitlin gaped.
She turned to the McCloud and fixed him with a scorching look. “Is she naked?
Why
is she naked?”

He frowned and shuffled his feet and didn’t respond. The
cad.

Violet tugged the blanket more tightly around her. “Oh
darling, it’s so good to see you. But what are you doing here? You’re supposed
to be in London.”

“I came to rescue you.”

“You really shouldn’t have come. Now you will have to marry him.”

The McCloud cleared his throat. “I’m standing right here.”

“I
had
to come. I couldn’t bear the thought of you
being held in his evil clutches because of me.”

“I’m in the room.”

“I know, but darling, how can I ever bear it? Knowing you
gave up your freedom for mine? That you surely face a fate worse than death—”

“I can hear you!” the McCloud bellowed.

They both turned to him.

Kaitlin frowned, reminded. He had never answered her
question. “Why is Violet naked?”

He scratched his beard. His gaze flicked from one to the
other. “To…keep her from escaping.”

Holy God. How like a man.

“You are a brute. An absolute beast. And you want me to
marry you? I swear to God in heaven above. I shall make your life a living,
breathing hell.”

He opened his mouth and closed it again. He was, all in all,
looking quite like a trout. A scratch on the door saved him from answering.

“What?”

“Sir, there are visitors,” Pippin’s voice wafted through the
wood.

“Stinking hell. More visitors?” He raked his fingers through
his hair. “This place was supposed to be remote.” He stomped to the window and
peered out. “Fuck.”

“What is it, Ewan?” Violet called.

Kaitlin shot a look at her friend. She clutched the blanket
to her neck, but the look on her face said it all. She was positively mooning.
Over the McCloud.

Kaitlin’s
betrothed.

The man she
didn’t
want to marry.

What a mess.

“Your cousin, the duke, I presume,” the McCloud snarled.
“And he’s brought a battalion.”

Edward stormed the castle with Transom and Ned at his side.
He put his foot down and insisted that Hortense and the younger boys remain on
the bank. Ned, he could not deter. The guards at the pier were not at their
posts so they took the skiff and rowed across the river themselves.

They entered the great hall, preparing to battle McCloud’s
men at every turn, but it was quite a different scene from the day before. The
entire chamber had been scrubbed from top to bottom and it was deserted, but
for a boy working by the hearth. It looked almost pleasant. Even as this
realization hit home, the McCloud came thundering down the stairs.

He gaped at the empty hall as well. “Pippin!” he bellowed.
“Where are my men?”

The boy glanced at the visitors and shrugged.”They all
left.”

“They left?”

“Said they’d had enough of
her
. Went to town to drink
in peace.”

“Hell.”

A curl of satisfaction wedged in Edward’s belly. Good. Ewan
was here alone. If he wouldn’t hand over Violet, they would simply overpower
him and take her. They had the Wyeths to do it.

“McCloud. We’ve come for Violet.”

“Where is she?” Ned stepped forward. His fingers were
twitching again.

Edward stepped between him and his target. “Please, Ned. Let
me handle this. The McCloud is a reasonable man.” He shot Ewan a speaking
glance. “I trust you considered my offer.”

Ewan’s gaze flitted over the bristling boy. “Perhaps we
could discuss this in private.”

“In private?”

“These are sensitive matters.”

What the hell could be so sensitive, Edward couldn’t fathom,
but he nodded. “Fine.” He turned to Transom and Ned. “Wait here. And don’t
interrupt.” This last bit was directed at Ned.

The two men crossed to the plank table by the hearth and sat
facing each other.

“Well?” Edward said. “Did you consider my offer?”

“I did. It was very generous. Trouble is…” Ewan dropped his
voice and sent him an odd look. “I can’t give them both up.”

Edward’s heart skittered. Was he being asked to choose?
Between Violet—his sister—and Kaitlin? Because he couldn’t. “It’s a damn lot of
money.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

Something in Ewan’s tone gave him pause. “What do you mean?”

“I…have a sister, you know.”

“I did not.” Edward frowned. Where exactly was this going?

Ewan blew out a long breath. “Everything I’ve ever done—the
good and the not so good—has been for Sophie. I’ve built my fortune, but it’s
still not enough for entrée. And she deserves a season.”

Edward blinked. “You want me to arrange a season for your
sister?”

“If you take away my highborn bride? I must insist on it.”
The McCloud’s eyes glittered. “It is the only way I can assure Sophie the
chance of landing a decent husband. Of assuring her future.”

Edward cringed at the thought of yet another innocent living
under his roof. But if it would gain Violet’s freedom and release Kaitlin from that
damn betrothal, it would be worth it. Besides, he could empathize with Ewan’s
concerns. Now that he had a sister—well, now that he
knew
he had a
sister—he would move heaven and earth to assure a good match for her. “Agreed.”

“Excellent. She will stay with you, of course. I will take a
house in London nearby. I assume you have an adequate chaperone?”

Edward tried not to snort. The last thing Sophie would lack
would be chaperonage. “My aunt. She’s a battleaxe. And the boys will be there
as well.”

“The boys?”

“Violet’s brothers. They all live with me.”

Ewan blinked. “How…many are there?”

“Six.” Edward winced when he said it.

“Six?”

“It’s quite a full house.”

“That will be fine then. We shall arrive next month.”

Edward nodded. “And the money I owe you?”

The McCloud leaned forward, intensity thrumming from him.
“If you do this for my sister, I will call us even.” The two men stood and
shook hands.

A bustle at the top of the stairs captured their attention.
Edward glanced up to see both Violet and Kaitlin rushing down toward them.
Something feral snarled in his gut. Kaitlin—
his Kaitlin
—was nearly
naked. She wrapped in a blanket and—good God!—wearing a man’s shirt. Her legs
were bare. Her hair was askew. She looked like… She looked like she’d just been
tumbled.

Absolute blinding fury racked him. He turned to his
once-friend and the howling beast within him roared.

If the McCloud had so much as touched her, he would rip him
limb from bloody fucking limb.

“What the hell?” Ewan muttered beneath his breath. He took a
step toward Kaitlin. “I thought I locked you in the tower?”

And a red tide descended. Edward’s vision blurred.

The McCloud had stripped his woman. Locked her in the
tower—and hell, he hadn’t even bothered to mention she was here!

A growl emanated from the depth of his being. Without so
much as a thought, he did what Ned had been threatening to do for a week. He
planted his fist squarely in Ewan’s face. As the big man fell with a resounding
thud, absolute satisfaction scudded through him.

Kaitlin stopped at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the
fallen hulk. “Edward! You hit him.”

He stormed to her side and dragged her into his arms. “He
locked you in the tower!” His brain couldn’t move beyond that thought. That and
the fact she was nearly naked.

She grinned. “It was a very old lock. I have hairpins.”

Annoyance and then anger replaced his relief. Why was she
here? “What the hell are you doing here?” he snarled.

She nibbled her lip, dropped her gaze. “I came to marry him,
of course.”

He growled.

She was not fucking marrying him. No. She was not. “The hell
you are. And what are you wearing? I swear to God, if he so much as touched
you, I’ll kill him where he lays.”

“It’s the McCloud’s shirt.”

His vision blurred.

“Oh relax.” Violet patted his arm. For some reason that
didn’t soothe him in the slightest. “Kaitlin gave me her dress. Mine was…torn
and this was all we could find.” Edward’s attention snapped to her. His
sister
.
God. He hadn’t even given her a thought. Once he’d seen Kaitlin, everyone else
had faded away.

His heart thudded painfully. He yanked Violet into a harsh
embrace and held her close until she squirmed. “Thank God you’re safe,” he
muttered, over and over again. He buried his face in her hair to hide the tears
prickling his lashes. When he’d recovered, he pulled back and cupped her face
and looked at Violet again. Just looked at her.

She was so beautiful. He’d never noticed quite how beautiful
before.

It took a moment for the hideous bruise ravaging her cheek
to filter through his joy. His mood turned. He thumbed it gently. “What
happened here?”

She swallowed. Her features arranged themselves into a very
brave configuration. “I fell.”

Like hell.

He glanced back at the McCloud. Maybe he should have killed
him after all.

Violet put her hand on his chin and turned his attention
back to her. “I. Fell.”A certain expression flitted across her face and his
pulse stuttered.

“And how did your dress get torn?”

Violet sighed and glanced at the mound of man motionless on
the flagstones. “Never mind.”

“Violet. Damn it—”

“Please, Edward. Let it go.” Her shoulders drooped. She
looked exhausted. She looked—

Edward frowned as a nasty suspicion curled through him. “Are
you…all right?”

She nodded, then glanced at the McCloud once more. Shivered.
“Can we just go?”

“Yes,” Ned snapped. “Let’s go. Before he wakes up.”

Well, yes. That was a good idea. “We won’t all fit in the
skiff. Ned, You take Violet and Kaitlin and then come back for Transom and me.”

“I’m not going.”

Three words in a soft, sad, sweet voice. They were like
knives in his gut.

Edward spun around and fixed Kaitlin with a glower. She
winced. “What do you mean, you’re not going?” he snarled.

She shook her head, dashing at the tears gathering in the
corners of her eyes. “I promised to marry him.”

“You’re not marrying him.”

“I promised!”

“You’re not fucking marrying him! You’re marrying
me
.”

Several gasps shot around the stony chamber. Edward wasn’t
entirely sure where they all came from, and he didn’t care.

“You’re mine.” He yanked her into his arms and crushed her
lips in a brutal kiss. He’d been starving for this, aching for this. He
invested every bit of his love, his passion, his need into the gesture.

Still, when she pulled away—pulled away to fucking walk
across the hall and stand next to the unconscious man on the floor—there were
tears on her cheeks. “I will love you forever, Edward. I will. But I made a
promise. He agreed to release Violet because I came.”

All of that nonsense ran through his mind like whiskey
through a funnel—all but one little bit. He stalked to her side. “You love me?”

“Of course I love you.” She gazed up at him and he saw it
there. In her gorgeous smoky eyes. “But I am betrothed to him.”

He kissed her. Couldn’t not. “He released you from the
betrothal.”

She blinked. “He did?” A frown furrowed her brow. “But he
was adamant…”

“I offered him something he wanted more. Come now, Kaitlin.
Let’s leave this musty keep and find a chapel or a blacksmith or something.”

“That is so very sweet, Edward. But we can’t really be
married.”

His heart plunged. “Why not?”

“You’re a duke.”

“I’m aware of that.”

She sighed. “You’re a duke and I’m a…”

“A what?” An angel? The woman who rescued his soul from
oblivion? The reason he drew breath?

“I’m a
fallen woman
.” This, she hissed.

He laughed. Hell, he’d debauched her plenty himself. He’d
really like to do it again. As her wedded husband. Tonight. “You think I give a
fig about that?”

Her expression took on a mutinous light. “Society will.”

He laughed harder. “Society gets even fewer figs. No figs,
in fact. They are figless in my estimation.”

There it was. Her smile.

He’d missed it.

“Marry me, Kaitlin. Be my wife. Make me the happiest duke in
Christendom.”

She tipped her head to the side. “I can be quite a shrew at
times.” She leaned in. “Just ask the McCloud.”

“Were you a virago?” A smile crept over his face at the
thought.

“Why do you think his men fled?”

A guffaw escaped him, unbidden. He loved that she could make
him laugh unexpectedly. He kissed her. The kiss deepened. Threatened to become
something else entirely.

“Your Grace,” Ned called. His tone was not deferential in
the least. “We need to go.”

Kaitlin turned her head—ending the kiss—and glanced at the
McCloud. Why she had to keep glancing at him, Edward could not fathom. “We
should go.”

“Yes. We should.” They had a big day ahead of them. A bigger
night.

Perhaps they could find a willing smithy in Dundee who had a
hankering for performing a marriage.

One thing Edward knew for certain, he was not waiting any
longer than he absolutely had to, to have her again.

* * * * *

He did have to wait, as it happened.

He had to wait until Hortense could find Kaitlin a dress of
some kind. The vicar they’d discovered was staying at their inn refused to
perform a marriage when the bride was not clothed.

Damn Scots and their prickly customs.