Lords of Honor (46 page)

All three ladies nodded
.

Libby
did not want to be separated from her husband
.
“Micah
?”
She stepped toward him.

Micah bent and kissed her
temple
.
“You’ll be fine, sweetheart
.
Here take this pistol?”

“But you need something to defend yourself,” Libby protested
, holding up her hands
.

“I’ve got arms in my wardrobe
.
Rowena, you want a pistol?”

She nodded.

“Sophia, can you use a firearm?”

“No
.”
S
ophia paled
.
She
shook her head.

“Here
.”
Micah pulled his knife from his boot
and offered it to Sophia
.
“Jab, stab or wound wherever you can if someone is trying to reach for you
.
Stay here,
ladies,
I’ll be right back
.
Light the candles.
”

Micah returned with a pistol for Rowena
.
He left two more knives on the small table
along with
two more pistols
.
“If something should happen to us, and the Brown Coats come for you, shoot to kill
; aim for the h
eart, head,
and
gut
.
Knives work well on the face, neck and hands
.”
Micah moved to leave the priest hole
.
“
Keep
safe
.
I’ll be right outside.”

Rowena nodded
.
Sophia leaned against her
.
Libby ran toward Micah again, “Micah
!
Let me stay outside with you
!
I’m a good shot.
”

“No, sweetheart, y
ou can’t
.
You must stay safe
.”
He saw
the determination
in her luminous sapphire eyes
.
He bent to w
hisper
in her ear
, “
I need to know you are safe, Libby.
Stay
in the safe room
with Rowena and Sophia
for me
, please
?
I couldn’t think straight
if you were
with
me and there was trouble.
”
He walked her back into the priest hole.

Libby
nodded
.
H
er eyes
misted
as she turned to face him once again
.
Libby didn’t like the thought of Micah being left outside the priest hole alone, but she realized he would not have it any other way
.
She gave him a small smile.

Micah looked at
his wife
once more then
turned
his gaze
to
ward
Rowena
.
She gave him a nod
.
Micah
closed the
door
.

“Come here, Libby.
” Rowena held out her hand to her friend
.
“
Ladies this is something you shall have to get used to
.
I learned during the trouble in Glastonbury that our men do not allow their ladies to remain in danger
.
It can be
annoying
at times, but there’s no arguing with them I’ve found.
” Rowena motioned for
Libby
to join
her
and the
teary-eyed
Sophia
.
“We have to stick together, we three
.
Let’s sit
.
I should like to call upon the Archangel Michael to give us all strength and protect
us all this night
.”

“And
keep
our husbands
safe
,” Sophia sniffed.

“Yes,
keep
all of us
safe
,
”
Libby added.

Micah watched from the window
.
It was still too dark
outside
to see much
.
He didn’t have a clear shot
at the Brown Coats he could see from his vantage point
, so he didn’t take any
.
H
e did not
wish
to draw any undue attention to this
particular
room
for the safety of the ladies
.

Occasionally he would step into the hallway and yell down
for updates
.
Someone would always answer him
.
Harry once
.
Owen once
.
Simmonds, his butler once
.
Simmonds assured him
early on
the female serving staff
remained safely
above stairs
in their rooms
.

It was well before dawn, but the sky lightened considerably
as the time passed
.
Micah
count
ed
about seven
Brown Coats
from the windows in his and Libby’s room
s
.
He saw two of those receive fatal wounds, and another
took
a shot in the leg.

After a time, Micah saw some of the Brown Coats move toward the side of the house
.
He called down to
warn
Harry.

Micah did keep the ladies informed.

The shooting eventually died down.

Harry came upstairs
a
while
later
.
“We think they are gone
.
Let the ladies out
.
Have them join us downstairs.”

Micah was hugged by three very happy
and relieved
ladies when he opened the door
.
“Get your weapons
.
You must bring them downstairs with you.” He left his arm around Libby’s waist
.
When Rowena and Sophia disappeared through the door
and turned into the hallway,
Micah paused long enough to
quickly
kiss his wife
.

Libby sighed deeply
.
She h
eld
tightly
to her husband
’s hand
as they descended the stairs behind Rowena and Sophia.

Rowena and Sophia rushed to the drawing room which seemed to be the
nucleus of
the sound of
raised male voices
.
They deposited their weapons on a table
.

“Harry!” Rowena rushed to her husband who opened his arms to embrace her.

“Lyon?”
Sophia didn’t see him at first
.
She
let out a sigh of relief when she
spotted him in the corner talking to Lord Wyldhurst
.
She
rushed to him
.
Lyon smiled
at her
and
lifted one
arm
toward her
.
He tightly
pulled
his lovely Sophia
against him
.
He kissed her
on the
temple
.
“I’m fine, Sophia
.
Fine.”

“Owen?” Libby left Micah and rushed t
o he
r brother
.
She
gave him a hug.

“I’m fine, pet
.”
Owen
kissed
his little sister
on the top of the head
.

“Was anyone
wounded?” Libby asked
.

“One of the stable lads was killed, my Lord,” Si
mmonds informed Micah
.
“Y
oung Luke
, sir
.”

Micah nodded
.
He frowned
.
“Simmonds, have
some of
our
men take him to his mother in
the village as soon as can be
.
Dawn is
upon us
as we speak
.
Take
a year
’
s worth of wages from the safe to give to his mother
.
I’ll write a letter to her later
.
But you send
one
with Luke’s body
telling her that Luke died fighting off intruders
here at the Hall
.
Explain that
Luke was
one of our most loyal
staff
, and a great help to
me, please
.
Have Cook send a basket of food for them.”

“Of course, my Lord
.”
Simmonds nodded and left the drawing room.

“Everyone else is fine, Libby,
” Owen assured her
.

“Elveston is still outside,
”
Charlie said as he
entered
the room
.
“
He was winged in the arm
.
I don’t think it
’
s too bad
.
We have seven dead
Brown Coats
.
Wyldhurst and Newt are
securing
two
of their
wounded
in the cellar for questioning
.
That makes
nine
.
F
ive
or more
got away
.
I counted
seventeen
at one point and Elveston swore he counted
twenty-one
when it began.
”

“I’ll go to the kitchen to get some linens and hot water
, a
nd
see if there is
some salve for Lord Elveston,” Libby offered
.
She turned and headed for the door.

“Libby I’m coming with you
.”
Micah followed her
.
His long legs ate up the space between them
.
He reached out, took her hand, entwin
ing
his
long
fingers with hers
.
“Sweetheart, you’ll have to have myself or Owen with you at all times
from now on
.”

Libby nodded.

“The ladies cannot go anywhere alone or be left alone,” Harry ordered,
with
his wife Rowena still by his side
.

Lyon stood with his arm about the
slender
shoulders of
his wife
.
He
gazed at
his
little hell-cat
and
offered her a smile
.

“Cleve
and
Lachlan
, go help Wyldhurst and Newt
interrogate
th
e
two
prisoners
.
The four of you ought to scare the devil out of any man
.
I want names and anything you can get on this Mr. Crow
or anyone else involved
.”

Lachlan
brandi
shed a grin
.
“I’ll get that and more
.”
He balled his large hand into a fist.

True, Sophia thought, the Scot was th
e
largest man she
ever saw
.
His
wild, unruly
sandy
hair
was
kissed with
lighter
golden streaks
.
H
is light
, pale
blue eyes gave him an otherworldly appearance
.
She shuddered, thinking what he and the others would do to get information from the prisoners.