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)
He snickered teasingly. “As for perfect? She needs a bit of work on that one.”
Dru jabbed him in the ribs. “What have I warned you about praising in one breath and stealing it in another?”
He smiled and poked her back. “You’ve also warned me about being truthful.”
She puckered her lips as if stopping herself from responding.
He kissed her puckered lips quickly. “Perfection is boring. I love you just the way you are—tenacious and irritating.” He laughed as she jabbed at him again and grabbed her hand, letting his laughter fade. “You are everything to me, Dru, and I love everything about you. Whether it was luck or fate that brought us together that day, I am forever grateful to whoever did. You are the best thing that ever happened in my life.”
Her heart fluttered at his loving words, and she whispered, “And you, dear husband, are a gift I will cherish forever.”
She thought he would kiss her since their lips were so close. But his head shot up and turned sharply away from her, then it tilted, and his eyes narrowed.
He heard something.
She sat up straight as he slowed his mare, leaving the warriors to pass him, some who looked to be dozing.
Knox pressed his finger to her lips, a silent warning to remain quiet.
Her stomach knotted.
His hand reached over his shoulder for his sword.
“ATTACK!” Knox shouted, and Torrance’s warriors barely got to their weapons before men poured out of the woods with vicious roars and brandishing weapons.
CHAPTER 25
Steel clashed before Knox’s boots hit the ground. The enemy poured from the trees like a dark tide, far more than he’d anticipated. It wasn’t a skirmish. It was a slaughter in the making.
He didn’t wait for the weight of the battle to shift. It already had.
“DRU!” he shouted over the roar of steel and shouts, his eyes cutting through the madness to find her.
She dismounted, defiance carved into her lovely features ready to fight.
“Nay,” he growled, pushing past two of Torrance’s men already locked in a desperate stand. He reached her just as a wild-eyed brute charged from the left.
Knox struck fast—blade meeting bone with a sickening crack—but the man was only the first. More were coming.
“This is a slaughter,” he said low, grabbing Dru’s arm. “We need to go. Now.”
Her mouth opened in protest, but he didn’t let her speak. Not here. Not with blood soaking into the ground and warriors falling fast.
The leader of Torrance’s warriors fell against Knox, his face bloody. “Go and let Lord Torrance know what happened here.” He turned and blocked a wild-eyed warrior from reaching Knox.
Knox yanked Dru toward the mare, pounding the earth agitated.
“Up!” he barked, shielding her as an arrow struck a tree behind them.
He slashed another attacker who managed to reach them as Dru swung up into the saddle, then he vaulted up behind her in one smooth motion.
“Hold on,” he warned, gripping the reins.
Then they were gone, hooves pounding and the shouts of battle fading behind them as the forest swallowed them whole.
Branches whipped past them, scratching Knox’s arms as he leaned low over Dru, urging Star faster. The mare responded, hooves pounding the ground, her breath loud and ragged in time with their own.
Behind them, the sounds of battle still rang out—shouts, screams, steel—but they were distant now. Not distant enough.
Knox risked a glance back.
Three riders.
No—four.
Dru twisted to look, but he growled, “Eyes forward. Hold tight.”
She obeyed without question, tucking low against the mare’s neck, her hands gripping the reins as Knox shifted his weight, pulling his blade free again.
“Faster, lass,” he murmured to Star, his voice low but firm. The mare surged forward with a burst of speed, weaving through the trees with wild grace.
A shout rang out behind them, and the thundering of hooves grew louder.
“They’re gaining!” Dru yelled.
Knox didn’t answer. There was a bend in the trail ahead, a narrow ravine just beyond it. He remembered passing it… a drop too steep for horses.
“Hang on,” he said again, and this time there was warning in his voice.
They reached the bend. Knox hauled the reins hard, jerking Star left off the trail and into the underbrush. The mare stumbled but recovered, crashing through low ferns and brambles.
The ground tilted. Dru gasped.
“Jump!” Knox shouted, and a heartbeat later, the world dropped away.
Star leapt.
They landed hard—down the slope and into the narrow ravine—mud spraying, rocks skittering beneath hooves. Knox threw an arm around Dru, keeping them both steady as Star struggled to stay upright.
The shouts above faltered. One rider tried to follow, but his horse balked and reared. Another wasn’t so lucky—horse and rider tumbled down the slope in a flurry of limbs and screams.
Knox didn’t wait to see the outcome.
“Go!” he urged Star again, and the mare bolted forward, splashing through a shallow stream as arrows hissed past them from above.