Cates, Kimberly Read Online Free

hell.
    The merest glimpse of that woman poured steel down Juliet's spine.
    "There she is, lads!" Mother Cavendish cried. "There's the woman who's stolen what's ours!"
    "We've come for our women!" a half-pay officer of about thirty called out, brandishing his walking stick in the air. "Violet!" he bellowed at the window. "Come out here at once! You know I've got just what you need tucked beneath the flap o' my breeches!"
    "Violet has made it quite clear she doesn't want anything to do with you or your breeches," Juliet said steadily. "You've no right to continue harassing her this way."
    "No right? I've spent a bloody fortune on that greedy little piece—sapphire bracelets, silks, and satins. Her bill at the dressmaker's is twice as large as my wife's!"
    A roar of laughter erupted from the crowd. "At that price you should own the girl, body an' soul, Percival!" a portly man with missing teeth blustered. "By damn, this bonneted thief stole three of my favorite wenches! I'm not leaving till I get 'em back."
    "You'd best get used to sleeping on the cobblestones then. I'll not surrender one of them back to you."
    "Then maybe we'll have to take them!" A brutish little man shouldered his way to the front. "I vow, we could tear this place down brick by brick with you inside it, and no one would lift a finger to stop us!"
    It was all too true. The danger was, her neighbors would come out with their garden wheelbarrows to help.
    "We don't want any trouble," Juliet said.
    "Then ye shouldn't o' stole from us!" Missing Teeth blustered. "Damnation, I'll not be turned away without Millicent! No bloody interfering thief in petticoats will stop me from taking her!"
    Juliet glimpsed Mother Cavendish's sly eyes, her car-mined lips twisted in a triumphant grin. "They're mine," the old woman murmured. "Body and soul. And they always will be." The bawd wheeled to the mob. "Fling 'er out of our way, Percival, and let's get what we came for!"
    Dread thrummed through Juliet's veins, and it was as if she could feel Elise's terror, as she cowered behind the door. She'd promised she'd keep her safe....
    The man called Percival took a threatening step toward Juliet.
    She thrust the parasol toward him. "Come one step nearer, and I'll—I'll stab you!"
    "Be careful, or she'll skewer your man-parts so you won't be shaggin' anyone, Percival!" Mother Cavendish jeered.
    "I'm bone-deep terrified, so I am! Take a hell of a lot more t' drive me off than a parasol!" The man laughed, a nasty sound. It erupted into a howl of pain as the parasol smacked dead-on into his nose. Blood spurted out, a roar of fury echoing from the rest of the crowd.
    Juliet stumbled back a step, her back colliding with the door to Angel's Fall. She didn't dare ask Elise to open it. If she did, these animals would pour into the corridors and chambers.
    In a heartbeat, Juliet heard a swish of steel as a sword-stick was unsheathed, Percival's features twisting into a brutish snarl. "You'll pay for that, woman! I swear—"
    "You're absolutely right, Percival," a rich baritone rang out. The crowd split in the wake of a man's massive shoulders. "Someone should definitely take the woman in hand."
    Juliet gaped at the daunting figure that jostled toward her. A giant who seemed carved of stone cliffs and midnight. He towered above the other men. His ebony hair was drawn back from a face that was hard as granite, all stark planes and angles. Eyes black as the devil's soul seemed to pierce past the rigid shoulders and determined set of her chin to where her knees were wobbly with terror.
    Which one of the poor ladies of Angel's Fall had been at this monster's mercy? Juliet wondered faintly. His mere presence was so overwhelming she could scarce draw breath.
    Percival shot him a fulminating glare. "Who the devil are you? And what's your business here?"
    "I've come to fetch a lady, just like you. She's led me the devil of a chase." White teeth flashed in a dangerous smile. "As for my name—they call