Free Soldier of Fortune: The King's Courtesan (Rakes and Rogues of the Retoration Book 2) by Judith James

dusting of snow. The air was cold and sharp to breathe, but Kate Bishop the dairy maid had kissed him, and he didn’t feel the cold.
    The moment his parents left to visit his uncle he’d hurried to the village to stand vigil by her door. His patience had been rewarded. He caught her first, and claimed her as his Valentine, blushing as he offered her a pretty blue paper with her name writ on it in gold. He’d labored over it for hours in secret, knowing his parents would not approve. It was well worth the effort. She stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him, and it warmed him all the way home.
    He stopped in the middle of the field, as happy as he’d ever been in all his twelve years. The woods were still. The silence so deep he could hear the excited beating of his own heart. And then a distant shriek. A night owl, he thought, desperately hungry to be searching for food so late. He heard it again. A panicked scream, coming from the manor house. Caroline!
    He raced through the field and skidded across the stone-flagged courtyard, only to be brought short by the sight of five blooded horses wandering loose in front of a smashed and broken door. Heart pounding, his terror for Caroline a sick lump in his throat, he eased into the entrance hall and inched his way along the corridor. The servants must have fled or hidden and there was no sign of his father’s men at arms. As he neared the drawing room he heard Caroline sobbing, and the sound of hoarse shouts and the laughter of drunken men.
    He leaned against the doorjamb and peered around the corner. The drawing room was littered with broken furniture, shredded hangings, and paintings that had been torn from the walls. A lone man at arms with a sword in his back lay sprawled across a table. Caroline huddled in a corner in a tight little ball. Her dress was ripped, her favorite blue ribbons were torn from her hair and her face was bloody, bruised and beaten. For a moment, he thought he was going to be sick.
    There were five men wearing the brightly colored garb and plumed hats that marked them as His Majesty’s cavaliers, but under their elegant trappings, they reeked of unwashed clothes and alcohol. They were ignoring Caroline for now, tapping at walls with the butts of their swords and digging at the floorboards. He considered darting in, grabbing her and making a run for it, but he didn’t even know if she could walk. He should have been there to protect her. He wished he had a way to let her know she wasn’t alone.
    The guilt, the terror, the boiling rage at seeing Caroline so abused gave way to icy calm. His breathing slowed, his heart steadied and his attention focused to a razor’s edge as he assessed his opponents. A bullet-headed man next to Caroline, without his sword. A handsome black-haired man dressed finer than the rest, commanding the center of the room. A rat-faced fellow and a blond man with a split lip knocking on walls, and a bookish-looking fellow with a wickedly curved dagger poking at floorboards in the corner. He observed each in turn before slipping past the doorway and continuing down the hall.
    The longsword was mounted on the wall in his father’s study. He’d eyed it many a time, fascinated by its lethal beauty and the chilling inscription etched into the blade. Lex Talionis, the law of revenge.
    The blue steel blade snicked and hissed as he slid it from its mounting. Gripping the wolfs head pommel with both hands he laid the weapon cross-shoulder and went back for his sister. He arrived just in time to see the bullet-headed man grab Caroline by her arm and wrench her to her feet. His fingers itched and he brought his weapon forward, silent, shifting his grip so he held it like a spear for stabbing. Not yet, though. He waited for them to turn away.
    “Come, little mistress.” The man gave Caroline a shake. “Tell us where it is, or what you’ve heard, and we’ll leave you in peace to play with your dollies.”
    “Speak for yourself,