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Greta quickened her pace as the moon, which had been casting a pale glimmer of light on the ground before her, disappeared behind a cloud, plunging the world into inky blackness, which fell on her like a shroud. There it was again! That sound, like someone clearing their throat! Greta’s heart hammered in her chest, and, for a moment, she wondered if that was the sound she’d heard, but the next time the noise came, it was unmistakable.
Now she was sure someone was following her, and as she picked up her skirts and started to run, she had a good idea who it might be, too.
Sure enough, she’d only been running for a few seconds before he was upon her, the hand he placed over her mouth failing to hide the stench of his fetid breath. Tam, the man from the tavern. He must have followed her when she left, and now his hand was blocking her airway, making it impossible for her to scream.
“Refuse Tam a kiss, would ye?” he hissed in her ear, his lips grazing her skin and making her stomach turn with disgust. “Well, we’ll just have to see about that….”
Greta tried to struggle, but her attacker was surprisingly strong for one so inebriated. A kiss, she knew, would not be where this would end, so, remembering something she’d heard from her husband many years ago, Greta allowed herself to go limp in his arms, letting him think she’d either fainted or decided to submit to his desires.
Tam grunted in appreciation, and Greta waited until he removed the hand covering her mouth and bent to lower his lips to hers before raising her leg and kneeing him sharply in the groin, with every ounce of strength she had left.
Then, as he staggered forward, letting her go as he clutched at his groin, moaning in pain, she grabbed the few seconds she knew she had before he came after her again, and ran.
Chapter 2
As the woman’sscream shattered the silence of the night, Warren felt almost as if he’d been expecting it.
He’d been on edge ever since he’d left the tavern, torn between the desire to make sure the maid — Greta, she’d said her name was — got home safely, and the need to protect his daughter, who’d been terrified by what she’d witnessed.
In the end, he’d chosen the latter. Still, even as Isobel snuggled contentedly in his arms, already half asleep despite the chill in the air, he couldn't help but wonder if he’d abandoned the woman too soon. When he heard the scream, he had no doubt it was hers.
Dammit.
Warren glanced around the village street, which was almost hidden in the darkness that had fallen, looking desperately for a safe place to leave his daughter. Seeing nothing but the blank windows and closed doors of the small stone cottages that lined the street, he hesitated for a moment. Then, as the scream rang out again, he hurried towards the nearest building, placing Isobel carefully down its doorway.
“Sweetheart, I need ye to stay here, d’ye understand? Dinnae ye move a muscle; I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Isobel nodded, then shrank back against the closed door, frightened. Warren hated leaving her there, but, seeing no other choice, he turned in the direction the screams had come from and ran blindly towards them, hoping desperately that he was running in the right direction — a question that was abruptly answered for him when he collided suddenly with someone coming the opposite way.
“Please, sir, help me! Oh, please help me, I daenae ken what to do!”
Warren recognized the tavern maid immediately. He would not have forgotten those green eyes of hers in a hurry, even had they not been the exact shade of the jeweled pendant she’d allowed Isobel to play with. In the few moments it took for her pursuer to reach them, he thrust her quickly behind him, using his body as a shield so that when the man approached, he almost ran straight into Warren’s broad chest.
“Tam,” Warren said easily, speaking as if this were a perfectly normal meeting between the two men. “I guessed it would be ye. Ye couldnae take the warning, could ye?”
Then, without another word, he drew his fist back as far as he could, then slammed it directly into the other man’s face.
There was a gasp of horror from the woman behind him as Tam slumped silently to the cobbles, his body making a sickening crunching sound as it fell.
“Is he… is he dead?” she whispered, peering fearfully out from behind Warren’s back, then withdrawing again as the moon chose that moment to reappear from behind its cloud, illuminating the bloodied face of the man on the ground.
“Nay,” said Warren, having bent to check for a pulse. “He’s alive. Not that he has any right to be, mind ye. Happen it would be better for everyone if I’d killed him.”
Greta took a faltering step towards him with her eyes still fixed on Tam.
“Ye cannae say that,” she said, without conviction. “Tis a sin to wish a man dead, much less to make him so.”
“Aye, mayhap it is,” Warren agreed. “But if so, then I’m glad to be a sinner, for I’ve nae time for a man who preys on defenseless women.”
He thought of his daughter and how scared she’d looked when he left her in that doorway. If ever any man tried to touch her the way he’d seen this one try to touch Greta, he knew nothing would keep that man from knowing the extent of his wrath. But for now, the man on the ground could be of no danger to anyone, and Isobel needed him, so he straightened up, abandoning him to the cold night air.
“Quick,” he said, turning to Greta as he started back down the street. “Come with me. I need to get me daughter.”
* * *
Isobel ran sobbing towards her father as soon as she heard his footsteps coming towards her, and Greta held back, feeling suddenly guilty as she realized the man must have left his child here to go to her aid. She had followed him as he'd asked her to, not wanting to be left alone in the street once more, but now she felt uncomfortably aware that she had no business being here, with this man and his daughter, and no right to expect him to protect her any longer. He had done more than enough for her already.
“There, there,” Warren said softly, smoothing Isobel’s hair back from her forehead. “Yer safe, sweetheart. Yer faither’s here, and look whom I’ve brought with me!”
