Page 121 of Captured by a Laird
She gagged as the smell of leeks on his breath and the rank odor of his unwashed skin filled her nose. When she turned her head, he took it as an invitation to kiss her neck.
She swallowed back her disgust and used his distraction as an opportunity to tap her heel against the base of the wall. When Patrick grasped her breast, she pushed his hand away and squirmed to the side, where she tapped her heel against the wall again. He was so absorbed in slobbering on her that he did not seem to be aware that she was scooting along the wall, inch by inch, as she tried to find the stone that opened the tunnel door.
“I’ve wanted ye for so long,” he said.
Ach, no, his hand was under his tunic now, working the tie to his breeks. She had to do something.
“Not like this,” she said. “Please, Patrick, not like this.”
“Just like this,” he said. “I imagined it a thousand times.”
When she tried to fight him, he held her wrists against the wall on either side of her head.
“My brother expects ye to treat me with respect,” she said. “We’ll be wed in due course, and ye must wait until then.”
“Ten years is long enough to wait,” he said.
He pulled open his loosened breeks, revealing his erect member. God help her now.
She had suffered degradation for ten years to satisfy the vanity of a cruel and contemptible man. She told herself she could suffer one more time to save the life of a good man, the man she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
But when it came to it, Patrick reminded her too much of her former husband. The rage she had suppressed all those years when she could not escape burst inside her.
“Ye want me too,” he said, pulling up the skirts of her gown. “I know ye do.”
“I don’t!” she said, and kneed him in the groin.
Everything seemed to happen at once then. Patrick was shouting a string of curses in her ear. She brought her foot down to catch her balance, and the wall gave way behind her heel. A moment later, the tapestry beneath her outstretched hand felt as if it had nothing behind it, and a gush of cold air hit her feet.
She had opened the door to the tunnel.
If Patrick realized it and discovered the tunnel, all was lost. The Hume warriors would be killed one by one as they came through the tunnel, she would never escape Patrick, and David would die a slow and agonizing death in the dungeon.
She must get Patrick out of this room. While he was still doubled over, she ran for the door, knowing he would chase her. But he caught her before she reached it. His hard gray eyes were seething with a violent fury as he slammed her against the wall.
“It’s because of him, isn’t it?” he shouted, shaking her. “He’s ruined ye for me!”
She feared he was going to kill her.
“Nay.” Belatedly, she remembered the dagger strapped to her leg and tried desperately to reach it. “I only want ye to wait for the marriage contract.”
“Ye wanted me before. All those years, ye wantedme,” he said, his eyes wild. “’Tis Wedderburn ye want now.”
“Wedderburn forced me to wed him,” she said, struggling to pull her skirt far enough up the side of her leg to reach her blade. “I had no choice.”
“He’s chained in a cell,” he said through bared teeth, “and you’re still loyal to him!”
“I swear it’s true,” she said, and plunged her dagger into his side. “I am still loyal to him.”
CHAPTER 49
Patrick clutched his side. With a shocked expression, he looked down at the blood seeping through his fingers, then up at her and the dirk that was still in her hand.
Alison had never tried to kill a man before, and she clearly had not succeeded. With a roar, Patrick launched himself at her. She fell backward under the force of the impact, and they crashed into a side table and the wall. Stunned and bruised, she scrambled to her feet.
Patrick lay unmoving on the floor. He had a gash on his head and her dagger in his belly. On instinct, she must have brought her blade in front of her when he charged into her. Good God, had she killed him after all? Fearing he would leap from the floor and attack her again, she prodded him with her toe. He still did not move.
How long before one of his men came to look for their laird and found him dead? She could not wait for the Hume warriors to arrive and help her. She and David must escape through the tunnel now.
