Lords of Honor (86 page)

“Libby scream!” Gabriel demanded.

She shook her head
.
“He means to kill Micah
!
Micah doesn’t know he’s here, Gabriel!
”

Davitt’s
fisted
hand connected with her wounded cheek
.
Gabriel winced knowing the pain it brought her
.
He saw Davitt move one hand to
his
unfasten
ed
trousers
.
“This will make you scream!”

Gabriel spoke to her
.
“Libby
listen to me
.
Scre
am
.
Damn it, Libby
,
scream!
And keep screaming
!
I will warn Micah, right now
.
For God’s sake, Libby, scream
!
I’m on the way
.”

Sophia crawled up the stairs
on her hands and knees
.
Her
face and
head hurt so badly
.
Crow cold-cocked her
.
Afterward, he hit her over the head with something
, a
candlestick she thought
.
She was too dizzy to stand
.
Where had the man gone
?
She
slowly and gingerly
turned her
aching
head to look behind her
.
She saw two
black
boots
.
Her gaze moved
up
ward
.

“By all means, Lady Amesbury
, l
ead on
.
I merely wish to find your husband so I might slit his throat.”

Sophia stopped
.
She managed to
turn and
sit upon the stair
.
She gingerly brought her hand to her head
to stop the
intense
throbbing she felt
.
“I’m staying
right
here
, Crow
.”
She exhaled heavily.

Crow reached down and roughly grabbed her thick braid
.
He yanked her head back
.
“Scream
.
Scream for your husband, or I’ll cut
your
throat
.”
He moved a knife to her throat
.

Sophia felt the cold steel against her neck
.
She shook her head
.
“No
, you’ll have to k
ill me.”

“My pleasure…”

A loud piercing scream rent the
silence of Wychcombe Hall
.
A
nother
sounded
, a
nd
yet
another.

“Libby?” Sophia cried out
in alarm
.

Somewhere above stairs a door opened
.
Sophia
heard male voices
.
Was it
Micah and Lyon
?
Charlie and Tristan
?
She tried to turn her head
.
She needed to shout, to warn them
about Crow
.

“Saved by Lady Wincanton
, ah, a
lmost.” Crow
easily
pushed Lady Amesbury from the step she sat on with his booted foot
.

Sophia
felt
woozy and off balance
.
She could not
keep
herself from falling
, nor could she right herself once she tumbled
.
She thought she heard her husband call her name
.
She fel
t her head hit something, next
her shoulder
,
then
h
er knee
and
h
er wrist
.
Her last coherent thought as she tumbled down the stairs was a prayer to save her husband
.

“
There’s something wrong, Lyon
.” Micah
stated as an
uneasy feeling
suddenly came
over
him
.
He realized Lyon must have
experienced the same warning
, for he
was
head
ed
toward the
parlour
door as well
, a grim expression on his face
.

The two reached the door at the same time
.
There was no guard in the hallway
.
No Charlie
.
No Tristan.
No answer when Lyon called their names
.

“I’ll get
guns
.
Tell George to stay with the ladies upstairs.” Lyon said as he entered his bedchamber.

Micah
nodded and calmly
stuck his head
back
in
to
the parlour and instructed
George to stay with the ladies.

He closed the door to the parlour behind him
.
It was then
Micah heard the voice of Gabriel Chynoweth
.
“Get downstairs, Micah
.
Davitt has Libby
.
He’s trying to make her scream for you, and she won’t
.
He’s about to rape her
!
She’s in the long gallery
.
Go
!
Now
!”
Micah swallowed. H
e
next
heard his wife’s voice
inside his head
,
“Micah
!
He means to kill you!”

“
Libby
!”
He
felt the warning chills
at the same moment
.
Again he heard Libby’s voice
.
Micah, help me, Davitt is here
!
He’d put a pistol
in his coat
earlier
.
H
e headed for the stairs just about the time Lyon came out
of his room
.
“Give a pistol to George, Lyon
.
There’s something wrong
, I feel it
.
Libby needs me
.
I’m going down
.”

Lyon
entered the parlour and
removed two pistols from his coat
.
He left
one
with Rowena
.
“Shoot to kill, Rowena
.”
He handed the other to George.

Rowena paled, and nodded.

“Lock the door when
I
leave
.
Our guards seem to have disappeared.”

George
hurried to lock the door after Lyon left
.

Micah did not see Tristan or Charlie
. He
reached the head of the
stairs.
Silently, his pistol drawn, he moved down the first set of stairs
.

As he came
to
the landing
and peered
around the corner
he saw a man holding a knife to Sophia’s throat
.
H
e heard
a bloodcurdling scream
.
Libby
!
It
chilled
Micah
to the b
one
.
Lyon came up beside him. “Crow
!”
Together, t
hey hurried down the st
airs
to reach
Crow
and Sophia
.

Both Lyon and Micah watched in horror as
the man pushed Sophia down the stairs with his foot
.

“
No
!
Sophia!”
Lyon
shouted
in fear
and anger
as he watche
d his wife roll downward
.
He stopped
.
Rage
, raw and red surged through him
.
“
Crow!” Lyon bellowed as he raised his rifle.
His
voice echoed in the immense entry hall.

Crow’s eyes widened
as he
registered that
Lyon point
ed
a rifle at him
, and he held
only
a knife in his hand
at that moment
.
His hand moved to his coat
pocket
.

Lyon aimed for Crow’s head
.
He squeezed the trigger
.
His aim was true
.
Crow toppled over the banister and
landed with a thud on
the
marble
floor below.

Lyon
hurried
to
ward
the still form of
Sophia
at the bottom of the stairs
.

Another scream
rent the eerie darkness of the main floor
as Micah
passed
Sophia
.
“Lyon, you must get Sophia upstairs to safety
!
Stay with the ladies and George!
” h
e
shouted as he
headed toward
the long gallery.

Lyon
knelt beside Sophia
.
He
wasn’t even certain his wife wa
s alive
.
“Sophia
?”
He saw
a nasty bruise and some blood at her temple
.
A
bruise
darkened
her cheek
.
Her lip was bleeding
.
She was so pale
.
He laid his
shaking
hand on her chest
.
Felt it rise
.
Just to make certain he put his ear near her nose and mouth
.
He sighed with relief when he felt her warm breath
.
“My God, Sophia
.”
Lyon
stood and
opened the front door and
shouted to
alert the
ir
guard
s there were intruders
inside
and to hold their posts
.
He
lifted h
is wife
gently into his arms and carried her
slowly and with much difficulty
up the stairs
.
He feared his leg would give out on him if he pushed himself.
He had to get Sophia upstairs
, make certain George and the ladies were safe
then get back downstairs to
help
Micah.
He wondered what had become of Tristan and Charlie
?

Micah saw the still form of his
wife up
on the floor
.
There appeared to be another
motionless
form crumpled on the marble
further down
the gallery
beyond her
.
In the
gloom
he could not see
enough to make out who it was
.
His heart wrenched in his chest
.
Was
Libby
dead?
Hurt?
He remembered Gabriel’s words
.
Did
Davitt
rape
her
?
Anger and rage filled him
.

He
felt a rush of energy crackle along his shoulders at the same moment he
heard a warning in his head
.
Move!
He jumped aside quickly when he heard the
whoosh
of a
large
blade slice through the air
.
Only a big blade could make a noise like that
.
A sword
!
Just like Libby’s dream
!