REGENCY: Loved by the Duke (Historical Billionaire Military Romance) (19th Century Victorian Short Stories) Read Free

his body. Emma heard a strangled scream escaped her lips.

Chapter 2
    The figure staggered drunkenly toward them again; his body swaying unsteadily as if his mind could not decide on which way to walk. Emma was numb. Her mind raced with questions and indescribable fears. He seemed unperturbed at his sickening crime as he came to inspect the quivering figure of her husband. Charles was still alive and breathing. A fact both Emma and the attacker knew very well. His anguished moans possessed the air disturbingly so.
    Her terrified eyes were engrossed at the assailant stepping ever closer to her husband; the smoking gun precariously aiming at the Duke’s body slumped on the ground. Emma jumped up instinctively scrambling to his side. She rushed at the violent stranger and barged brutally into him, knocking his aside and causing the gun to discharge again; a deafening whistle took over her senses and she was suddenly deaf to her surroundings. She was all too aware of his presence and she span around to ensure he was incapacitated. He rolled on the floor, groaning slightly; his state of mind meant he was unable to compose himself with any speed so Emma rushed to her husband’s side. Any chance of escape was now.
    The scene before her was sickening and unbearably gruesome. Emma gaped at the pulsing hole in the left side of his chest. Warm gushing blood spurted horrifically out of him and he wailed quietly at the agony of his wound. The skin surrounded the hole was a bloody pulp and the metallic smell burned Emma’s nose and churned her stomach. Her shaking hands clutched his face and his eyes, wide with alarm, met hers and she knew he was conscious.
    Emma said nothing but attempted to pull him up into a sitting position. His body, although lanky, was heavy under the delicate strength of Emma’s arms. But her persistence to escape the violent man, groaning behind them, did not falter at any point. She squatted desperately beside Charles and pulled his arm over her shoulders. His gasps of pain were distressing and Emma struggled not to cry. She was amazed at his incredible strength as he heaved himself up with Emma’s help. He murmured words in a tongue she could not make out and her emotional heart and mind forbade her to speak without the need of tears so she kept ever silent and did not enquire of what he said.
    After a fatiguing struggle, they finally were on their trembling feet and hobbled erratically toward their frightened horses. Emma heard mumbled shouts behind her but her terror prohibited her to turn around and she fled ever more incessantly toward the promised safety of the giant beasts.
    The Duke ceased to move suddenly and she was forced to copy him. He unsteadily turned around, freeing the grip he had on her but Emma could barely move; the horses were but metres away and she was unable to face whatever danger was unfolding behind her. Her body shook violently in the unparalleled panic of the situation. It could not be real. She was certain of it. Emma closed her eyes; a drowsiness overwhelming her. Her fists balled up tightly as she willed herself to leave. She could sense the sticky blood stains splattered across her dress and it made her feel dizzy.
    “Leave the woman be,” she heard Charles speak calmly.
    His voice was so unafraid and she was in awe of him once more. Emma turned her head a little to catch a glimpse of the Duke urging the maniac to show some mercy, some compassion. His hands were extended forward in an empathetic surrender.  A screeching howl erupted from the man’s throat; a strangled cry of pain and anger and Emma was distressed by it; her body jerking at the sudden outcry. She was even more afraid to move now.
    The warm feel of her fingers being interlocked with another hand sent another wave of panic through her. She felt certain she would now be doomed to a premature death in a most violent manner. Though the affectionate sense of not being alone and the knowledge that she had somehow