Page 3 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke
Colin looked directly at the intruders. “Take whatever money you want. Jewels, silver, the safe upstairs. I do not care. Just do not harm my family or my guests.”
One of the masked men laughed.
Another crossed the room in three long strides and punched Colin viciously across the face.
Jane gasped.
Her brother hit the floor hard enough to rattle the nearby table.
“Colin!” her mother screamed.
The Dowager Countess of Wynten surged forward from the crowd before Jane could stop her, terror twisting her features. “My son!”
A pistol swung toward her instantly.
“No!” Jane lunged between them without thinking.
The movement happened so quickly she barely registered it.
Still, that didn’t stop Jane from jumping in front of her mother, shielding her with her body, her chest heaving and her hands trembling violently at her sides.
The man aimed straight at her heart.
Jane let out a shaky breath.
The ballroom went deathly still.
Behind her, she heard her mother’s sharp, frightened breaths.
“Please,” Jane managed, “Please do not shoot her.”
The masked man tilted his head. For one horrifying moment, Jane thought he might pull the trigger anyway.
Instead, he laughed. “Brave little thing, aren’t you?”
Another man beside him snorted. “Or stupid.”
Jane forced herself not to step back. Fear crawled beneath her skin, sending ice through her veins. She held the gunman’s gaze. If she moved, if she faltered…she didn’t want to find out what would happen.
Her mother clutched the back of Jane’s arm hard enough to hurt.
The leader sauntered closer, his boots crunching over shattered glass. “Well,” he said, looking Jane over slowly, “this explains why Wynten was so eager to cooperate.”
Jane wanted to spit at him. Instead, she said, “Please, let our guests go. We can discuss this like civilized people”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple, sweetheart.”
He gestured lazily toward Colin, who was still dazed on the floor. Two men hauled him upright by the arms. Colin groaned softly, blood visible at the corner of his mouth. Something inside Jane nearly broke.
Her mother sobbed behind her. “Please! He has done nothing wrong.”
“Quiet!”
The leader did not even raise his voice, yet the word sliced through the room. Lady Wynten flinched, becoming immediately silent.
Jane swallowed past the lump growing in her throat. “If you tell us what this is about, we will cooperate.”
“Will you, now?” The man gave her a hard look.
