Free Enemy Sworn by Karin Tabke Page A

hoped he would. As much as she felt like a fool for falling for Dark and Dangerous two nights ago, she didn’t want him dead or maimed, she wanted him gone! Gone because she was attracted to him. Gone because she knew if given half a chance she would fall in love with him. Gone because it was highly likely that if he managed to carve out a place here among her family, the power would consume him and she would lose him to it.
    Sophia’s gaze narrowed at the crazy stranger. Why was he really here? Not for her, she was certain. No man, not Javi, who had untold power to gain, nor her father, who should have, out of love for his child, had ever put himself out for her. Certainly nothing close to what this lunatic was wagering. But for what? To earn her father’s respect and by doing so maneuver himself into the family? Sophia was no fool; she knew her father was a powerful man, with connections throughout the world. His business empire aside, he had amassed a billion-dollar fortune in gold doubloons he’d discovered three decades ago off the Cabo coast. He was benevolent to the town’s people. But demanding. And protective. She used to think it was because he loved them, but he loved the power more. And so too would the man standing beside her.
    Mateo looked hard at Sophia. He didn’t want her, she decided. Not the way she wanted to be wanted. He wanted what came with her, and he was a fool to think he could convince her father, by his show of bravado, that he was here for her and somehow deserving of a place in the family. Alexander Dumas was never fooled. He lived and died by the blood-for-blood code. Despite her newfound hatred for this fool, she was not like her father. He would find a way to dispose of her foolish suitor, much sooner than later.
    And that she could not bear.
    Raising her gaze to the only man ever to challenge her father, Sophia shook her head. “I’m not worth it,” she softly said. “Give my father the vambraces, then leave here while you still have all of your body parts.”
    â€œYou’re worth both hands.” He stuck them out toward her father. Sophia gasped. He was loco!
    Grabbing his right hand by the vambrace, her father pulled the crazy man over to a tall table by the stairway. He slammed it down, palm first, and kept it immobile with his iron fist. “Eduardo, my machete.”
    â€œNo, Papa!” she screamed, running to the table and placing her hand on Loco’s.
    â€œStand back, Sophia,” Dark and Dangerous said, looking past her.
    Grabbing him by the chin, she yanked the stranger’s face around to look directly at her. “There is still time! Please, renounce your blood claim, give my father the vambraces and leave!”
    Sophia shot Eduardo a steely glare when he handed her father his gleaming machete.
    â€œStep back, Sophia,” the stranger firmly said, holding her father’s glare with a level stare.
    â€œDo it, mi hija ,” her father said stonily.
    Long seconds ticked by as Sophia stood frozen to the floor, her hand clutching the stranger’s, as her eyes pleaded with the man who held insurmountable power in her world.
    â€œPapa, please,” she whispered desperately.
    When he didn’t respond she felt nauseous. But she did as she was told and released Mateo’s hand. She made the sign of the cross but remained beside him. “He is no good to me with one hand, Father!” she cried, grabbing her father’s forearm in one last-ditch effort. “Please, Papa, for me, your only child, I beg you, don’t do this ,” she pleaded softly. She had never asked him for anything. Would he give her this or would he set the example to anyone who dared to do what this assassin had dared to do: call the mighty Dumas out in his own game?
    The stranger had played his hand brilliantly. Her father had charged each and every one of his soldiers with the task of tracking down Javi’s killer and