Chapter 2
Daniel frowned to himself and placed his mug of ale on the table before making his way across the room, trying to hurry whilst not arousing any suspicions from any of the guests.
He’d seen Melissa leaving through the open doors, but the man she had been with was nowhere to be seen once the doors had closed.
He’d thought for a second that the scream had been his mind playing tricks on him, but the silence that came from beyond the doors made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
Although he had enjoyed Melissa’s annoyance with the unwanted attentions of the young lad, there was something about him that didn’t seem right.
The way he carried himself had spoken of arrogance in a manner that didn’t sit well with Daniel.
What was worse was the fact that he hadn’t recognized the man as anyone he’d seen before.
There was every chance that an uninvited guest had wandered through the open doors.
Daniel briefly wondered why he cared about Melissa now, when he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as her at any given time. He reassured himself that he would do the same for any lass that was followed by a strange man.
Making his way across the room to the closed doors, he quietly pulled them open before stepping into the warm evening air and shutting them behind him.
The courtyard was empty, with no one to be seen. He hurriedly scanned the corners before his eyes were drawn to the shadows behind a pillar.
His breath caught in his chest at the sight of the unknown man pinning the sister of his best friend’s wife against the wall in a more than unsuitable position.
Struggling to fight back, Melissa scratched at the man’s face, trying her best to gain the upper hand by using her knees to aim for his groin. The man, however, was far superior in strength, holding her in place with one hand while stifling her screams with the other.
Seeing red, Daniel flew across the yard, yanking the man by the shoulder and causing him to stumble back, falling to his hands and knees before flipping him over again with a kick.
There were many things he would tolerate in life, but seeing a man take advantage of a young lass unleashed his inner rage.
“What the devil…” the man yelped in pain, from his position on the floor, his eyes widening as he caught sight of Daniel and the anger on his face. Jumping to his feet, he quickly attempted to flee across the courtyard and into the shadows.
Daniel was, however, quicker, as he reached the man in a matter of seconds, gripping the back of his coat and yanking him to the ground in one quick motion.
Melissa gasped from where she still stood as Daniel raised his fist in the air, pulling on the lapels of the man’s jacket and pinning him to the ground with his knee on his chest.
“I didnae mean any harm,” Ethan pleaded with his arms covering his face.
His vision became blurry as Daniel lost control, punching him in the face with quick successive blows. His fist made contact with soft flesh more times than he could count, landing sickening blows that drowned out the sound of the man’s protests.
“Stop, you’re going to kill him!” Melissa’s panicked voice broke through the fog, bringing Daniel back to his senses.
Pausing with his fist in the air, Daniel let go of the man’s collar.
Pushing himself up and taking a step back, he looked down at the man, whose face was barely recognizable beneath the wounds and blood.
His chest rose and fell with each labored breath as he struggled to regain control of himself.
Clenching his fists at his side, he took another step back, allowing the man to roll to his side.
Blood spilled from the man’s mouth and nose as he struggled to his feet, carefully backing away before turning to run, disappearing into the shadows before Daniel had a chance to change his mind.
“Bloody bastard,” Daniel cursed under his breath as he watched the man run away. He would have beaten the life out of him if it hadn’t been for Melissa pulling him off. Remembering why he had beaten the man in the first place, he turned to look at her.
Her body was trembling as she stared into the dark with a wide-eyed look of disbelief and panic on her face.
Her hair was messy and disheveled, while the front of her dress was partially torn down the front, exposing the milky flesh of her round breasts.
Yet, he couldn’t see that the man had inflicted any kind of physical wound on her.
Realizing that she was exposed, Daniel quickly removed his coat and placed it on her shoulders in an attempt to cover her up.
His hand gently brushed the curve of her shoulder, causing her to flinch away from his touch.
“Ye dinnae have to be scared anymore, lass.” He lowered his voice to a gentler tone in an attempt to soothe her nerves.
Taking a deep breath, Melissa pulled his coat over her shoulders and held the fabric in front of her breasts. “I wouldn’t think it would have been you who came to my rescue,” she said in a half-hearted attempt to lighten the mood.
Daniel felt a sense of pride at the fierce way she tried to make light of her current situation, hiding her fear. “Did he hurt ye?” he asked, gently placing his finger under her chin, and examining her face.
“No.” She shook her head, allowing him to make sure that she was fine. “You came just in the nick of time. He was about to…” She shut her eyes and winced at the thought of what would have happened if Daniel hadn’t come along when he did.
“Try an’ nae think of what may have happened,” he gently replied and led her over to the bench where she’d been sitting before Ethan had come. “Take a deep breath an’ relax, I’ll wait for ye to catch yer breath ‘afore we go back inside.”
“I can’t go back inside like this,” she said, almost panicked at the idea of having to face the guests in her current state. “Everyone will know that something happened.” The color drained from her face. “Everyone will think that I was ruined.”
“Calm yerself, lass.” He forced her to sit before taking a seat at her side. “I ken this castle as well as I ken me own. I will sneak ye back in through the back door, naebody has to ken what nearly happened here.” His jaw clenched as he thought of the man. “Do ye ken who he was?”
Melissa shook her head again, pulling his jacket back over her chest as the shoulder slipped past her arm.
Daniel was a great deal bigger than her, making his jacket an ill-fitting garment to cover herself.
“He never said where he was from, only that his name was Ethan McGregor. I hadn’t spoken to him until my mother introduced us. ”
“Yer maither needs to do a better job with the men she chooses for her daughter,” he said almost angrily, remembering the hand Daphne had played in bringing the man to Melissa.
Melissa was quick to come to her mother’s defense. “Don’t blame her, she means well.”
Daniel furrowed his brow as he racked his brain for a family name. He’d never seen the man at any of the gatherings before, yet he had to have come from somewhere if he had been invited. That was if he had been invited at all, there was still every chance that the man had wandered in by chance.
“I’ll ask Darragh if he kens who the man was. We can deal with him in the morning.”
“No!” Melissa’s eyes filled with panic once again as she reached for his hand. “You must promise me that what happened here tonight will stay between the two of us,” she pleaded, squeezing his fingers in an attempt to convey the urgency she felt.
“I ken that yer worried, lass, but we will have to deal with the bastard…” he trailed off as he saw the fear in her eyes.
Behind the feisty rule breaker and the thorn in his side for all those years hid a woman who was deeply afraid for her reputation. He took pity on her for that, not wanting to ruin her chances of finding a suitable match.
“Please keep this between the two of us… I don’t even want Avery or my mother to know.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“Aye,” he relented against his better judgment. “I willnae say anything to anyone.” He took a deep breath, biting back the anger he felt toward a man that would take advantage of a woman on her own.
“Thank you.” Relief flooded her face as she shut her eyes, sinking back into the bench. “I owe you a great deal for coming to my aid.” She took a deep breath. “And now for keeping my secret like this.”
“Will ye watch where yer going from now on?” he asked seriously, a mischievous glint in his eyes betraying the jest underneath. A trait they seemed to share despite the hatred they both seemed to harbor toward one another.
Looking down, Melissa spotted the section on his coat where the ale had left a fist-sized stain.
She rolled her eyes before smiling at him.
“Don’t you think that’s asking a bit much?
I mean you nearly saved my life.” She gave him a fake glare.
“It’s not as if he had done anything yet.
I would say yes to your request if you had actually earned that much. ”
Mumbling under his breath, Daniel shook his head at the irritation she managed to arouse in him once again.
The woman was more insufferable than anyone he had ever met in his life.
Even in her current state, she managed to bring the worst out in him.
Her only saving grace was the fact that his anger was focused on the man who was probably far away by now, that was if he hadn’t passed out from the amount of blood he had lost.
Daniel had a very strict code that he lived by when it came to women: he never wanted to marry or sire an heir, so he would lie with one whenever he pleased and continue on with his life.
Yet, that didn’t mean he agreed with men taking advantage as they pleased, despite his reputation for being a rake.
He clenched his jaw once again in anger at the memory of what had taken place.
“I am truly thankful. What made you come after me?” Melissa said gently, placing her hand on his knee.
Looking up again, he saw the sincerity in her beautiful brown eyes. Melissa was a truly beautiful woman, despite the fact that she drove him up the wall on a regular basis.
Searching her face and the honesty in her eyes, he asked himself why he had noticed that she’d left the room without a chaperone.
He could reason with himself that he’d heard the scream, but why had he been paying such close attention to her in the first place?
It wasn’t as if she had been close enough for him to hear her conversations, yet he’d kept an eye on her from the moment she’d set foot in the hall.
“I had to keep an eye on ye to ensure that ye werenae assaulting any of the other guests,” he said a little more gruffly, his failure to find a reason grating on his nerves and rousing his anger.
Sighing heavily, she shook her head and looked away from him.
“Of course, you were. At least you’re acting normal now.
” She stood in an attempt to walk away from him, allowing the shoulder of his jacket to slip down her arm once again.
“I will endeavor to never get into a situation like that again.” She glared earnestly this time.
“If you promise to never try and save me again.”
They both seemed to lapse back into their usual state of bickering.
Reaching for the part of the fabric that had once again slipped from her shoulder, he attempted to cover her breasts as he stood. Wanting to save some of her modesty for the unlucky soul that would one day become her husband.
Whoever the poor bastard may be.
“Ye have a deal, may ye never need me help again,” he snapped.
“I’ll do that myself,” she answered hotly, yanking the lapels of the coat from his hands, and further exposing her chest before she could cover herself again.
“Melissa!” someone suddenly gasped, causing them both to look up.
A small crowd of people stood at the now open doors, looking from one to the other as Melissa quickly folded his coat over her chest. She and Daniel blushed a bright red as they both realized how it would seem to their audience.
Avery and Daphne stood at the front of the crowd with shocked looks on their faces as the guests whispered to one another in hushed tones.
The thing that bothered Daniel the most wasn’t the fact that everyone had now seen him in a compromised state with a woman he despised, but the look on his best friend’s face.
Right beside Avery and her mother stood the irate figure of Darragh Ramsay, the accusation clearly written across his face as he held his friend’s gaze. His blue eyes were cool beneath the single scar on his eyebrow and his neat black hair.
Daniel gulped as he held his best friend’s gaze, trying his best to think of a way out of the mess. All he had wanted to do was stop an attack on Darragh’s sister-in-law, a woman that made his blood boil by simply existing. Yet now he stood accused of an unforgivable rule among men.
Any woman that was related to a friend, in any way, was not to be touched…
“I would like to see the two of ye alone,” Darragh growled in a deep voice, his gaze never leaving his friend’s face.
Daphne seemed to be the first to come to her senses as she turned toward the guests. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for all of this.” She gave a nervous laugh as she ushered the throng of onlookers back into the hall before shutting the doors.
“There better be a good explanation for all of this,” Darragh growled again as the anger grew on his face.
“This is Melissa,” Avery attempted to calm him down as she looked at her sister and Daniel. “Let them speak before we jump to any conclusions.”