The Duke's Hammer (The Duke’s Guard Book 5) by C.H. Admirand

Author:C.H. Admirand [Admirand, C.H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Melinda shrank back into the corner of the carriage. She’d never expected her cousin to come after her. What a fool she’d been! How could she not have seen the blackness eating away at his soul? The first time he’d hit her, she noticed the darkness creeping into his eyes. She’d seen the evil in his gaze—and nothing else—right before he brought the thin wooden rod down across her back.

She vowed not to show her fear to her cousin. “You cannot abduct a woman off the streets of London and expect to get away with it.”

He stared at her from where he sat opposite from her. Why did he seem more menacing in the dim interior of the carriage? When didn’t he answer her question, she asked another: “Why did you come after me?”

“Why do you think?”

Undeterred by his answering her question with a question, she asked, “Where are you taking me?”

He chuckled. “Where do you think?”

The first hint of fear speared through her. “This isn’t a game!”

“That depends on whether you are the prey,” he told her, “or the predator.”

“I refuse to be drawn into your twisted games!” she said. “Just as I refused to be sold to the highest bidder at your tavern!”

She reached for the door, and he grabbed hold of her wrist, crushing it in his grasp. “You do not have a say in the matter. You are coming with me, and you will do as I say—with whomever I choose.”

The lack of inflection in his voice chilled her far quicker than his words. He still planned to sell her body as he’d threatened.

Dear God! How could she possibly escape him now? Her thoughts swirled around and around until her head swam. She’d left the safety and comfort of the duke’s town house, and the man who’d rescued her—the man who’d asked her to marry him! The man who turned her head and had her thinking that he might truly care for her despite her awkward limp and reduced station in life.

Even if she did not want to marry James—which, to be honest, would be an unattainable dream—she should have stayed where she was safe. Why did it not occur to her that her cousin was desperate enough to come after her when she had done the work of three people? And what did she receive in return? A lumpy pallet filled with old straw, questionably clean water, and one small meal a day.

He’d gone back on their agreement that first month she worked at his tavern. Cutting back on her meals the first time she refused the attentions of a customer. When she continued to refuse his customer, fresh water was replaced with what had to be the water she’d washed the glasses, pots, and pans in.

Still she did not complain—she’d known early on that if she left the village and the life she no longer had, there would be no turning back. Lord how she prayed for a savior to come and rescue her.

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