“Nay, Fergus, I’ll not go home with you.” Bridget tried to loosen from his grip, but he held fast.
“I’ll be taking no more disobedience from you!” He backhanded her.
Bridget fell away, sobbing, but the grip on her arm kept her from hitting the ground. Fergus snatched at her, hauling her once more toward the gate.
Maggie shrieked in outrage. Without thought to her own safety, she launched herself at the oaf and knocked him away from Bridget.
Releasing Bridget, who instantly crumpled to the ground, Fergus stumbled back only a few steps. Maggie, on the other hand, repelled off his massive chest and fell backward, hitting the ground dazed as if she had just bounced off a wall.
She quickly pushed herself to her feet, and moved to face the man who stood a full head and shoulders above her. Her own shoulder throbbed and her heart pounded in fear. The man really was tall. Much, much taller than she. And about twice as wide.
Still, Maggie would never stand by and watch someone be hurt. Not if she stood even a tiny chance of helping. “You leave her be,” Maggie warned.
Fergus drew back to hit her.
Maggie tensed in expectation of the blow, but before his hand could make contact with her face, his arm was grabbed, and he was spun about.
Braden held Fergus by the front of his saffron shirt, and the fury on Braden’s face would have quelled an ogre’s wrath. “If you want to take issue with the women, Fergus, you’ll have to come through me to do it. I’ll not have you abuse a woman in such a fashion so long as I breathe.”
Fergus curled his lip as he shoved Braden away from him. “Bridget be my wife. I’ll do with her as I please.” He made a move for Bridget who was now on the ground crying uncontrollably while Pegeen and two others held onto her.
Braden and the Englishman stepped between the two of them. Their spines rigid, it was obvious they were ready to fight Fergus if he made another move toward his wife.
“You should take better care of your wife,” Braden said. “If you treated her more kindly, she probably wouldn’t have locked herself up with the others.”
Fergus snorted in derision. “What would you know of it?”
Braden’s gaze hardened and sent a chill of foreboding up Maggie’s spine. “I know enough to take a stick to your arse if you don’t heed my words. Now get yourself home before I yield to that temptation.”
Fergus’s nostrils flared. He glared heatedly into Braden’s cold, deadly gaze.
For a moment Maggie feared he would push Braden into the fight, but he must have come to his senses for he looked from Braden to the other three men.
Fergus’ shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Very well, I’ll return home, but she’d best be getting herself there afore much longer.” Fergus took a step away.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Braden asked.
Fergus turned around with a frown. “Forgetting what?”
“You owe your wife an apology,” the Englishman said before Braden could answer.
His jaw tense, Fergus glared at the men, but as his gaze swept over Ewan, Braden, Lochlan and the Englishman, he realized he’d have to fight them all unless he complied. Straightening his shirt with a tug, he looked to Bridget.
Maggie saw the indecision in his eyes until Bridget looked up at him, her pale face marred by an ugly red handprint.
The anger fled Fergus’s face as he knelt by Bridget’s side. “I am sorry, Bride. I dinna mean to harm you. But you shouldn’t have pressed me so.”
Braden bellowed in rage. “Leave her, Fergus. Now!”
Maggie swallowed in fear of the tone. She sensed Braden was only one finger away from seriously hurting Fergus. Not that she would have minded if he had. Men like Fergus deserved to be beaten. She had always hated such bullies.
In fact, all four men looked as if they were an inch away from harming him. But it was Ewan who stepped forward and quickly removed Fergus from the yard.
Maggie waited until the gate was firmly shut behind Fergus, and Ewan was headed back toward them before she turned to face Braden.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice carrying the full depth of her gratitude.
Braden nodded, then went with Lochlan to check on Bridget. Braden knelt by Bridget’s side and gently touched her swollen, red cheek. His eyes hardening, he looked up at Maggie. “How many such attacks have there been since you started this?”
