Earning the Cut (Riding the Line Series, Prequel) (12 page)

Ryder trussed the man up good, and dispatched the three other guards quickly, knocking them senseless, and binding their hands and feet. He almost felt sorry for the dedicated group of men who guarded Seacliff. The men had just been doing their duty, as they were sworn to protect the girl, Johanna. Ryder would do no killing on Blackhawk’s behalf.

He took in the overseer’s angry, incredulous face and then saw his expression go from disbelief to abject fear. Ryder followed his gaze. He looked to the north tower, where a candle had burned most of the night through. While Ryder had been occupied cleaning up the mess the other two had created, the two henchmen had nearly fallen over themselves in their haste to get to the girl first, no doubt wanting to curry Blackhawk’s favor.

Sighing, Ryder checked the guards’ restraints, and then raced up the stairs, two at a time. It would do no good to have the girl injured. Blackhawk had given strict orders that she be untouched, but Ryder knew that bad things could happen in the heat of the moment. He expected that they would catch the girl off guard, and that she would be frightened and perhaps more cowed than she had been on the previous attempt to take her. Ryder had just reached the top of the stairs, when a shrill scream issued from the farthest chamber in the hall.

Johanna shivered in the darkness, clad only in a thin muslin gown. She had been dozing fitfully in her window seat when the alarm had sounded. Raiders! Lisel was already opening the heavy wardrobe door, and Johanna had flown inside, finding the small lever behind her riding cloak, and slipping into the hiding space in the wall. As she hid in the small alcove behind her wardrobe, she struggled to keep her teeth from chattering. One small sound could alert them to her whereabouts.

Suddenly, she heard the door to her chamber fly open. Through a crack in the wall, she could clearly see her maidservant, Lisel, who was no bigger than a mite, being hauled to the center of the room by a man so tall she could not see his face because he rose higher than the fissure permitted her to see. Lisel’s feet dangled six inches from the ground.

“I’ll ask you again,
where
is she?” A raspy male voice, coming from behind the behemoth who held Lisel, demanded that the maid reveal her mistress’s whereabouts.

Milos grasped the young maid by her shoulders. By virtue of his sheer size, he was intimidating to most grown men, which was surely why the young maid shook with fear.

“Pretty!” The larger man said, licking his lips as he pulled the serving girl up by her arms.

“She’s not here, I say!” Lisel insisted. “Mi’lady is far gone…you will never catch her!”

“Perhaps we aren’t being persuasive enough,” the second man said.

Johanna heard the unmistakable hiss of a whip being pulled from the man’s boot. He raised it to strike poor Lisel, who squeaked in fear.

Johanna could bear no more. She sprang from her hiding place, startling the two men. They wore dark cloaks and hoods, but she was certain they meant to deliver her to this Blackhawk character. Johanna quickly assessed the situation. The larger man looked slow and cumbersome. She could easily outmaneuver him. The smaller man was cause for alarm; he was swarthy and had a mean glint in his eye. But, although she and Lisel were smaller and female, two against two were odds she thought she could beat, if luck were on her side. After all, she had done it before. She just needed to hold them off until Rolf arrived with reinforcements.

To Johanna’s surprise, her chamber door flew back on its hinges, slamming into the wall behind it, and a third man burst into the chamber. Johanna’s face fell. Now, there seemed no escape. The third man was also quite tall, and he moved with the easy grace of a large feline. The commotion startled the other big man, and he looked back and forth from Johanna to Lisel, seeming confused.

Johanna wasted no time. Leaping in front of her maid, she grabbed the whip straight out of the shorter man’s hands and faced the giant who held her maid by her wrists.

“How dare you?! Let her go this instant!” She brandished the whip and tried to appear menacing, unaware that her thin gown left very little to the imagination.

“Mi’lady no!” Lisel gasped. “Please….run!”

“Milos! Grab her!”

The big oaf dropped Lisel to the floor like a sack of grain, and took a step toward Johanna, who stood her ground defiantly. Her mind spun. She could sidestep the brute, and get a good slice into the smallest of the three, perhaps, but then she would still be left to deal with this third man, and he seemed the most dangerous. Where in god’s name was Rolf?!

The third man spoke then, and his voice was deadly calm.

“Milos. Halt.”

The most recent intruder had not moved a muscle. Instead, he stood staring at her, a hint of amusement in his icy blue eyes. Well, he had another thing coming. She snapped the whip against the floor with practiced ease.

“Get out of my chamber immediately you…you…whoreson!” Facing the third man, Johanna spat out the most insulting term she could muster, as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She tossed her long auburn hair out of her face.

Now the third man broke into a wide grin. In fact, he seemed downright amused by her display. Johanna felt hot anger bubbling up in her blood. The whip sang through the air like a striking snake, laying open his cheek.

Ryder blinked, and then his grin slowly disappeared. He put his hand to his cheek and felt his blood dripping. His eyes narrowed. While her beauty far surpassed the descriptions he had heard, the lord’s daughter was no simpering cowering female.

“You will most certainly regret that.”

Ryder reached for her and she snapped the whip again. He disarmed her easily. In three short strides, he had her backed against the wall. She pulled back to strike him, but he grabbed her wrists swiftly, and pinned them to her sides, feeling an unexpected pang of guilt as she squeaked in pain. Then, he tossed the struggling girl over his shoulder, and strode unchallenged out of the castle, the two other louts following closely behind him.

Johanna pummeled the man’s back with blows, but soon found that her struggling was futile. All of her resistance did nothing but sap her energy. She must remain strong and alert! Johanna could hear Lisel’s traumatized screams echo down the stairs after her. At least Lisel had not been hurt, Johanna thought miserably. But what of Rolf? Only death would have stopped the kindly overseer from coming to her aid. Fighting the bile that rose in her throat, and the tears that pricked her eyes, Johanna forced herself to go limp. She would play possum until she was able to escape.

***

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