Page 90 of The Duke's Only Desire

Gunshots pierced the silence, followed by shouts and the thundering of hooves. The team jerked into a run as a whipcracked over their heads. Malcolm was tossed back against the squabs.

Now!Sophie grabbed for the knife in Malcolm’s hand.

He gasped in surprise but held firm, then slashed it forward toward Sophie with a growl, even as her hands attempted to wrestle it away. The blade slid across the heel of her hand and sliced into the soft flesh. She let out a cry of pain but refused to let go. With all the determination she possessed, she bit his wrist as hard as she could.

Malcolm howled and let go of the knife just enough that Sophie could twist it from his grasp. Her hand wrapped around the handle so fiercely her knuckles turned white, and her ears reverberated with the pounding of blood coursing through her veins and the screams of the terrified child. But she never moved her eyes from Malcolm as she held the knife ready between them and wrapped her free arm around the little girl, tucking her safely between her body and the seat. He would have to attack her to get to the child, and Sophie would kill him if he tried.

“You bitch!” he bit out as he wiped the blood from his wrist onto his trousers. He lunged toward her, only to find the knife blade slashing up beneath his chin. He sucked in a breath between clenched teeth and collapsed back against the seat. “You’ll regret this!”

Sophie kept the knife pointed at him.Never.

A rider on a horse flashed past the coach at breakneck speed toward the tiring team whose pace slowed rapidly despite the incessant crack of the whip over their heads. Sophie darted her gaze outside just long enough to recognize Chase Maddox, Duke of Greysmere. And behind him, following on his heels—

“Shay!”

He rode low on his horse, urging the gelding into a flat-out run as he sped past Chase toward the front of the team. He leapt from his mount onto the lead carriage horse in a bold attemptto grab the harness and stop the team. The crack of whip split the air as the driver struck the metal-edged tip at Shay, joined by a furious curse that tore from one of the men’s lips as the team began to slow. Chase jumped from his racing horse onto the carriage, leaving the two riderless horses to race behind, and grabbed the startled driver. The henchman’s body plunged toward the ground and landed in a heap in a snow bank at the side of the road, left to curl up in pain as Chase pulled the team to a full stop.

Malcolm made a desperate grab for Ruby.

“No, you bastard!” Sophie slashed the knife at him and stopped him. “You will never take her!”

With a fierce growl of fury, Malcolm shoved open the door. He leapt outside, then ran as fast as he could toward the two saddle horses who had halted behind the coach.

“Stop him!” Sophie shouted and followed out the door after Malcolm, leaving Ruby safely behind in the carriage. “He’s getting away!”

Shay leapt off the carriage horse and hurled himself across the short stretch of wintry ground like a cannonball just as Malcolm put his foot into the stirrup to mount the gelding. Shay grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. He jumped on top of Malcolm and began to pummel him with pounding fists until his uncle lay on the ground, unmoving except for the rise and fall of his chest. He knew enough not to fight back.

Shay’s arms fell to his sides as Sophie approached cautiously, his broad chest heaving hard from exertion.

Through gritted teeth, Shay ground out, “I’m stopping only because I’m not a murderer.” He leaned down to hiss an icy warning into his uncle’s ear, “The next time you try to harm the people I love, I won’t stop.”

He pulled off his neck cloth and tied Malcolm’s hands so he couldn’t escape, cinching the knots with a hard yank. Then he gestured for Chase to lock his uncle in the carriage.

With one last hard shove of Malcolm into the ground, he climbed to his feet. He turned toward Sophie and silently spread open his arms.

She rushed into his embrace with a soft sob. Shay folded his arms around her and held her close, tightly enough she could feel the pounding of his heart against her bosom.

“Are you all right?” he demanded, setting her away just far enough to check over her for any signs of wounds. He saw the blood dripping from the shallow cut on her hand, and Sophie felt new rage boil up inside him. “He did this?”

“I did that trying to escape.” She wrapped her arms around his waist to keep him with her. “It’s nothing. What matters I that Ruby and I are safe.” Her voice choked from intense emotion. “You saved us.”

His shoulders sank with relief, and he wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling his scarred cheek against her hair.

A high-pitched cry reached them only a few seconds before Ruby threw herself against Sophie. Her little arms clasped fiercely around Sophie’s legs, and she buried her face in her skirts.

Shay placed his large hand on the girl’s head, a gesture that was both soothing and paternal. She knew he would do anything to protect Ruby, just as he had sworn to do for her.

Sophie cupped his face between her hands and placed a kiss to his lips, then slid her mouth back to whisper into his ear. “This proves it, without any doubt,” she said with such determination and belief that she trembled from it. “Youarea hero, Shay, in every way, and you deserve me and my love.”Please, God—let him believe that!

She heard him whisper, the soft words piercing her heart—“I do love you, Sophie. I always have…always will.” His arms tightened around her, as if he never wanted to let her go. “I love you, andnothingwill ever keep us apart.”

Tears slipped down her cheek. She could do nothing more than cling to him as sobs of happiness overwhelmed her.