Page 54 of To Defy a Highland Duke

“Yer a verra bad mon.” Cora glared up at Lorne, her little fists rubbing at her wet face. “Ye say bad words too.”

Lorne shook her. “Shut up.”

She burst into a fresh round of sobbing.

“Shh,” Marjorie warned again, her eyes wild as she worked at the ropes. “Don’t move, darling. Stay quiet for Mama. Please.”

Desperation leeched into her anxious, ragged tone.

Where in the hell were the Kennedys and the sentries?

“They made it so easy for me.” Lorne cocked his head and scoffed as he jabbed the tip of his blade between Marjorie and her daughter. “The brat was wanderin’ the passages lookin’ for her kitty. Once I had her in my grasp, her mother was only too willin’ to allow me into her chamber. If she’d done that the first night, there’d have been nae need for any of this.”

Horseshite.

Pausing, a calculating look replacing his irritation, Lorne gave a sardonic shake of his head. “Och, that’s no’ entirely true. I canna have ye weddin’ anyone, ye see. Why, ye might have bairns. Sons. And I canna let anyone inherit, now can I, Brother? I’m older than ye, ye ken, and I should’ve been the Duke of Roxdale all along, no’ ye.”

Pushing the terrified child before him, using her as a human shield as only a despicable coward would, Lorne angled to the center of the room.

Cora’s wee pink toes stuck out from beneath her night rail, and she looked so helpless Keane fought the urge to charge Lorne and squeeze him by the throat until he’d snuffed the life from the rotter.

Something brushed his leg, and he glanced down.

With their predatory yellow-green eyes affixed on Lorne, Chimera and Sphynx padded past him.

“Kitties,” Cora breathed. “Stay there, kitties. The bad mon will hurt ye.”

As if understanding, Chimera sat, but Sphynx circled Lorne, stalking him.

Good girls, Keane silently praised.

Lorne lashed out with a booted foot, but, with an angry hiss and arched back, Sphynx leaped out of his reach.

Chimera stood, arching her back in warning as well.

“Get those damned cats out of here,” Lorne demanded, eyeing the large wildcats warily. Real fear glinted in his eyes. He clutched the dagger with the tip thrust outward as he pointed the blade to the door. “Get them out!”

In less than a blink, hell broke loose.

Sphynx soared onto Lorne’s back, sinking her claws and teeth into him at the exact moment Chimera launched herself at his face.

By God, what an extraordinarily orchestrated ambush.

Arms flailing, Lorne shrieked and cursed as he tried to dislodge the furiously attacking felines.

Keane didn’t hesitate. He rushed forward, shoving Cora to safety with one hand while knocking the blade from Lorne’s hand with the other.

He pounded to Marjorie and, in three deft strokes, cut her free. With an anguished cry, she scooped Cora into her arms, burying her daughter’s face in her shoulder to shield her from the ghastly scene playing out.

Lorne crumpled to his knees amid the cats’ furious growls and hisses as they tore at him, unrelenting in their ferocity. Rivulets of blood covered his face, neck, and hands. Yet the cats hadn’t gone in for the kill bite, ripping his throat open.

No child should witness such violence and gore.

“Get Cora out of here, Marjorie,” Keane ordered, kicking Lorne’s dirk across the room. He wasn’t taking any chances.

With a swift nod, she fled the room.

“Down,” Keane ordered and, at once, the cats sprang free. In truth, as enraged as they were, he hadn’t been certain they’d comply.