Free A Duke in Shining Armor by Macy Barnes Page A

for a response. 
    “Men, Papa, I don’t know who they are, they have swords and they are stabbing everyone, please go help Mama, she made me run!” 
    Her father had a look of terror upon his face. “It’s happening, damn them to hell! Hide yourself daughter at once!”
    Her father ran from the staircase towards the direction of the dining hall.  As she reached the top of the stairs she heard the shrill scream of females and knew that the men had reached the kitchen where the women were working.
    “Please Lord, be with my mother.” Emily urgently prayed as she ran into her father’s study and dove under his desk.  She curled herself into a tight ball not even daring to breathe.
    Minutes slowly ticked by and she heard no more screams.  She started to peek out from under the desk when she heard the door slowly creak open.  Boots shuffled on the floor as men entered her father’s study. 
    “It’s got to be in here somewhere boys, that rat-bastard didn’t have the couth to hide his stolen bounty away from his house.” She heard a deep and menacing voice directing the men to pull down books and portraits in search of what they were hunting.
                  Emily held her breath and tried to be as inconspicuous as she could possibly be when a heavy boot slammed down in front her.  Terror unlike any she had ever known gripped her.   A huge hand reached under and grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her roughly from her hiding place.
    “Well looks what we have here boys, this here is the real loot, another fine young girl to seek our pleasure on.” A disgusting bearded man with rotten teeth and tattered clothes held her up for all the other men in the room to get a good look at. “Hope you can hold out longer than blondie did downstairs, went and died on us before all of us had a rut.”
                  Tears flooded her eyes; she knew that the man was speaking of her mother.  “Please!” she sobbed, “Please let me go, I won’t tell anybody anything.” The rotten tooth man threw back his head and laughed heartily.
    “What do you take me for gal a fool?” He slung her towards the other men who all began laughing and grabbing at her clothes.  They ripped the front of her gown down and exposed her breasts.  She fought them trying to cover herself.
    “Well she is just ripe for the picking boss.” A tall skinny pocked faced man said, “She’s just now starting to bloom, and we can break her in nice and good.”  Emily fell back towards the desk in an attempt to get away from them and as she caught herself she found something hard, long, and cold beneath her hand.  The skinny man lunged for her and she swung her arm about with her father’s letter opener with all her might towards his neck. “Ow! You stupid little bitch!” he screamed in agony.
                    “Get her boys!” she heard the bearded leader shout.  She swung her weapon out in front of her and slowly backed towards the wall and the window behind her father’s desk.  “The first one of you who lays a finger on me will get to feel what skinny over there just felt.” she hissed at them in anger.
                  Something had taken over her.  She was in a blind rage.  Her mother, her sweet, sweet, mother left this world with the feel of these foul creatures pawing at her.  She would not suffer the same fate; they would have to kill her first.
    “Now you little spitfire, we can make this a whole lot easier on you, but we can beat you real good if we have to.” another man said as he cautiously approached her.  She felt the window pane hit the back of the legs and in that single moment she made the decision which ultimately saved her life.  Saying a slight thank you to her father for enjoying a cool crisp breeze by opening his windows that morning she fell backwards from the second story window.  She hit a pile of snow with a hard thump, momentarily dazed, before she