Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Quim laughed. “You know us too well, Dru.”
“I heard a rumor I thought you fellows might have started—that Phelan, a mercenary, caught Autumn.”
“Sax started that one,” Atley said. “He got mad when some woman he tried to have his way with one night complained to his wife. She made him pay for that discretion and Sax wanted revenge, so he made sure Phelan was pointed in the woman’s direction.”
“And since she was new to the clan, no one could say otherwise,” Olin said. “Even Sax’s wife believed it and blamed the woman for the incident with her husband. And with no one confirming who she is…” Olin shrugged. “She’s doomed.”
“What makes you think she’s not Autumn?” Knox asked.
“Everyone knows that Autumn’s dead. She died shortly after her mum and—”
Quim rushed to disagree. “That’s a tall tale, Fyfe.”
“A true one,” Fyfe argued.
Olin chimed in. “She’s buried with her mum.”
“That’s nonsense,” Atley said, shaking his head. “Someone would have dug up the grave by now to see if that was true.”
“Maybe we should,” Quim said. “That information could bring good coin.”
“It’s not right to desecrate a grave,” Olin warned.
Quim laughed. “Afraid the occupant will protest.”
His other brothers laughed along with Quim.
Olin jumped to his feet. “Are you calling me a coward?”
“He’s not calling you a coward, Olin,” Dru said, trying to prevent the sparks that flew between the brothers from erupting into a fiery battle.
“I don’t have to call him a coward. His reluctance says it all,” Quim said with a smirk, clearly enjoying himself far too much.
Knox watched Dru step away from the pair and he stepped closer to her prepared to shield and whisk her away, sensing the brothers were about to explode.
“Dru…” he murmured, low enough that only she could hear, “we need to go.”
She nodded, familiar with how tempers could flare quickly and senselessly between the brothers and doing her best not to get caught up in it.
“No one’s a coward,” Fyfe said, lifting his hands in an attempt to calm the situation. “So, what if Olin wants to avoid—”
No sooner had the words left his lips than Olin lunged.
Quim met him head-on with a grunt, and they both went down, knocking over one of the small barrels of ale that spilled into the fire with a hiss.
“Bloody arseholes, you spilled the ale,” Atley shouted and cursed at the pair as he tried to rescue what was left in the barrel.
He stumbled and fell into Fyfe who spun and swung before knowing who’d touched him. In the span of a breath, all four MacTavish brothers were tangled in a mess of limbs, curses, and grunts, fists flying without much aim and less sense.
Knox moved fast, tucking Dru behind him just as Quim’s foot kicked a spray of embers from the fire.
“Stay close,” Knox ordered, his voice calm but firm, his eyes scanning for the safest path out.
They began to edge away when Olin landed a punch on Quim that sent him flying right into Knox. Dru barely managed to avoid the fall, stumbling but keeping on her feet. Not so Knox. He and Quim went down.
Knox avoided a couple of wild punches from Quim before making it to his feet. But he had no choice to throw a fierce one himself when Quim stood and swung again. He missed. Knox didn’t, and Quim went down hard.
Dru shook her head. She knew what came next. The brothers could battle each other but they didn’t dare let anyone raise a hand to their brothers.
The fighting stopped suddenly.
Knox took a fighting stance, confident that he could finish off each of the three remaining drunken brothers.
His wife flew past him and out of his reach to stand between him and the three MacTavish brothers.
“Enough!” she shouted. “I won’t have you beating up on my husband. Quim swung at him first and got what he deserved.”
“Dru’s right. Quim swung first,” Atley said.
“You take another’s side against your brother?” Olin asked and swung.
Atley moved missing the punch and it hit Fyfe sending him reeling.
“Now look what you did,” Atley accused, and wildly thrown punches started all over again along with curses and accusations as Fyfe got to his feet and joined the melee.
Knox didn’t waste any time. He got hold of his wife, circling her waist with his arm as he guided her past the frenzied fighting, shifting her as they went to avoid flying limbs and boots,
They made it safely past the brothers and heard what sounded like a loud thud behind them.
It was followed by a sharp oath and someone yelling, “You’ve broken my nose!”
“I didn’t touch your nose, you idiot!” someone else shouted. “That was Atley!”
“I am Atley!”
Knox couldn’t help but laugh. “How did you ever befriend that bunch of idiots?”
“I saved them from drowning,” she said.
“All four?”
“Aye,” she said and hurried ahead to Star, tethered to a tree branch, calm and unbothered by the ruckus in the clearing.