“How dare I abuse your son?” Daniel hissed. “You weak-kneed bastard, you have tormented and abused your daughter since her birth and allowed your sons to do the same and you ask me how I dare mete out some retribution.” Daniel sucked in a much needed breath. “You could have killed my wife, your own daughter, when you had someone shoot at my carriage.”
“That was Huxley, not me!”
Daniel believed that. Winchcomb was an idiot and capable of blackmail, but he could see Huxley committing murder.
“I have no wish for my wife’s name to be dragged through the courts. Therefore you will leave England with your sons quietly and never return. Only then will I not see you hung.”
“I only took what was rightfully mine. She owed me.”
Disgusted, Daniel wondered how something so sweet could have come from such a man.“How my wife has remained such a beautiful person whilst living in your household is beyond me, Winchcomb. She is everything that is good in this world and I will protect her with my life from scum like you.”
Daniel heard Eva sniff and Reggie murmur something. “Know that she belongs to me and what is mine I treasure,” he continued, once again in control. “You are a bully, Winchcomb, but in me you have met your match.”
“Nicely put, your Grace,” Simon said.
“You’ll not abuse me and walk away without a fight!” Winchcomb declared as he and his sons stood together, forming a wall.
“I hoped you’d say that.” Daniel knew his smile was feral. “Eva, take Reggie from the room.”
“Not a bloody chance,” was his wife’s reply.
If anyone deserved to see their family thrashed, it was the two youngest Winchcomb siblings.
“Your father was a man of few moral standards, Stratton, weak to his soul. It was I who saved your inheritance.” Spencer played what he believed to be his trump card.
The silence in the room hung heavy as only the harsh sounds of Reggie’s breathing could be heard. Then Daniel spoke.
“My father’s actions were his alone, Winchcomb. Do not think to visit his sins upon me.”
“Damn you, Stratton!”
Daniel met Spencer as he ran at him. He jabbed him in the nose, then landed a blow to the stomach. The man crumpled to the floor at his feet. Simon bent over as Bartholomew Winchcomb ran at him. Catching him in the stomach, he flipped him over his shoulder and sent him sailing through the air to land in a heap against the wall. Montague closed his eyes and did the same. Daniel stuck out his foot and sent him toward his brother. They lay together, a whimpering mass of tangled limbs.
Daniel stood before them, watching as they moaned and writhed on the floor at his feet. It wasn’t the fight he had wanted and yet he was conscious of the fact that Eva was in the room and had no wish for her to experience any further bloodshed.
“Now I am going to state some conditions and it would be advisable for you all to listen carefully and heed my every word.” He looked at each of the Winchcomb men as he spoke. “Never speak my wife’s name again in anything other than reverence. If any of you approach her in any way or upset her, then this -” he swept his arm around the room “ - will be heaven compared to the hell I will bring down upon your heads. Do you understand?
The brothers nodded. Their father said nothing.
“Huxley will be dealt with as soon as I catch him. Therefore, if you know his location, it would pay you to tell me now.”
Spencer Winchcomb remained mute.
“Do not mistake me, Winchcomb.” Daniel leveled him a look that would have wrought fear into a more sensible man. “I will not hesitate to rid the earth of vermin like you and Huxley, if the need should arise.”
“Y-you cannot th-threaten me,” Spencer blustered. “And Lord Huxley will see you pay for your actions.”
Daniel took a step forward, landing directly on his father-in-law’s hand. “Heed me, Winchcomb.” He held the man’s pain-filled gaze. “This is one fight your particular brand of thuggery will not win and as I told your daughter earlier, I, too, can use a sword with some skill.”
Lifting his foot, Daniel turned and saw Reggie held upright by Simon and Eva. Replacing it, he added, “Your youngest son is now under my protection also. Therefore, what I have said relates to him, too.”
“Bastard! I’ll see you in hell for this day!” Spencer roared, spitting out several vile curses.
Before Daniel could react to his father-in-law’s words, his wife rushed past him and kicked Spencer hard in the leg. “Never speak to him like that again!”
Daniel didn’t stop her, just stood waiting to step in if she should need him. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her body rigid with fury. He could imagine the fire that filled her eyes. It humbled him that it had taken an insult to him before her anger overcame her.
“Bitch!” Spencer howled.
