Free Love's Savage Bonds by Jeb Page B

unutterable...” Cathcart
seemed not to have words enough to describe the man. “Well, the sheriff will do
for you. I had my sister summon him and his men—thank heavens for her curiosity
about your fancy coach. I will keep my eye on you until they arrive.
Catherine!” he called out. “Can you— what in —?”
     
    Faster than Catherine's eye could
follow, Lefanu had shaken his sleeve, and a tiny single-shot pistol appeared in
his right hand. In what seemed but a single motion, he leveled his arm and
fired.
     
    Catherine screamed into the gag as she
saw the bullet's impact on Cathcart's chest, staggering the old soldier, blood
gushing down his tunic. There was another explosive report as Cathcart got off
one shot, which seemed to graze Lefanu's arm, before collapsing to the floor.
     
    “ Merde! ” Lefanu’s voice was an
animal snarl.
     
    Catherine could hear confused voices,
and feet pounding toward them. Servants? The sheriff? No matter, Lefanu wasn’t
planning to wait to find out.  The Frenchman threw aside his tiny pistol,
then grabbed up the revolver he had shot Philip with. He reached out, and once
more plunged his fingers deep into Catherine’s long hair, twisting his grip
savagely.
     
    “Now, you English bitch—if you’ll not
be my bride, you will at least be my passport out of here.” He raced for the
door, the pain in her scalp forcing Catherine to scramble along in his wake,
her bound arms making every step agony. She tried to raise a cry, but gagged
whimpers were all she could manage.
     
    The black brougham was still waiting
outside. Lefanu yanked open the door and threw his captive inside; Catherine sprawled
to the floor, landing painfully on her shoulder.
     
    Lefanu shouted something in French, the
driver spurred on the horses, and they were off like a shot. Lefanu turned
around in the seat, glaring savagely at the woman who lay bound and gagged at
his feet.
     
    “Now, Lady Catherine,” he sneered over
the leveled revolver. “I want you to imagine every depredation that a man can
visit upon a woman's body and soul...” his eyes burned into her as he leaned
closer... “ because you will taste them all before I have finished with you. ”
He traced the barrel of the gun along her cheek, the oily metal as cold and
hard as his countenance. “When we reach Paris, I will have you kept a prisoner
in the house of a Madame who is indebted to me. There, your insolent mouth will
learn the taste of more than a gag. And that will be just the beginning.”
     
    Catherine pointlessly shook her head,
her eyes filled with tears of despair. Lefanu had been about to resume his vile
threats when he stopped, cocking his head at a sound…
     
    A sound that Catherine now heard.
Hoofbeats… and did she dare imagine that they seemed to be the beats of an
unusually large horse? Large, and black, and bearing on its back…
     
    “No—Charles Redmond? Fils de pute !”
The Frenchman cursed, and moved to the window, aiming his revolver. “Very well, monsieur , you shall share your brother’s fate after all.”
     
    Catherine could hear the pounding hoofbeats
nearing, and saw that the Frenchman was ignoring her for the moment. As Lefanu
seemed to find his target, she used all her strength to swing her legs up and
kick him hard in the back!
     
    Lefanu let out a grunt of pain... and
Catherine saw the gun fly from his hand, out the window of the coach!
     
    “You miserable slut!” he bellowed.
Catherine screamed into her gag as he once more seized her by the hair,
dragging her to the window, and producing a knife from his belt.
     
    “I'll slit her throat!” he called out,
loud enough to be heard over the two sets of thrumming hooves. “Back off and
let us go!”
     
    Catherine tried to somehow deflect the
knife as she had the pistol, but it was no use: her bonds, and Lefanu's grip in
her hair, rendered her helpless. She tried to look through the window for
Charles, to scream a warning through her gag. At