“Ye lie,” Sean hissed an inch from her face. “That Duncan MacDonald looked at ye as if he believed ye belonged to him.”
“I’ve told ye that I can’t help if men look at me.”
“Other men look at ye as if they want ye,” Sean said. “But that man looked at ye as if he’d touched every inch of your skin and memorized it.”
Moira shivered as Sean slid his hand around her neck in a menacing caress. His thick fingers curved around the back of her neck as he rubbed his thumb up under her chin, forcing her head back.
“Don’t, Sean. Please.”
“Ye made a fool of me for all these years.” He kissed her roughly on the mouth.
She squirmed and tried to push him away. When he began to slowly squeeze her throat, she tried to scream, but it came out as a pathetic muffled sound against his mouth. Finally, she managed to sink her teeth into his bottom lip.
He jerked back with a yelp and released her. “Goddamn ye!”
She gasped for air. But then he punched her in the eye so hard that everything went black. She felt herself falling. Sean caught her and slammed her against the wall. Her head bounced against it, dazing her again. She blinked to clear the stars sparking across her vision in one eye. The other eye she couldn’t see out of at all.
“You’ll never see Ragnall again!” Sean shouted. This time he hit her in the jaw. Pain jutted upward and exploded inside her head.
Moira felt as if she were watching herself from a distance.He’s going to kill me this timedrifted through her thoughts, but she felt indifferent to it.
“Did ye hear me?” Sean shouted. His face was only inches from hers, but she could not see it clearly.
When her head lolled to the side, he gripped her chin and held it. His fingers dug into her cheek, sending shooting pains from her injured jaw to her ear. She tasted the tang of blood on her tongue.
“I’m going to kill your son, too,” Sean said.
“Ragnall?” Her voice was a scratchy whisper. “No, ye can’t!”
“I will,” Sean said. “And when he’s dead, there will be nothing left of ye on this earth.”
Moira fought her way through the layers of fog in her head. She knew she must do something, but her body was slow to follow her commands. She had to concentrate to hit her fists against Sean’s chest, but her efforts were feeble.
“I’ll bring Ragnall home and squeeze the life out of the little bastard,” Sean said through clenched teeth. “Just like this.”
As Sean closed his hands around Moira’s throat, panic surged through her and blasted away the fog that had debilitated her. She had to live so she could protect her son from Sean. She scratched and clawed at his hands around her throat. When that did not stop him, she kneed him in the groin.
“Huh!” Sean grunted and doubled over.
Moira sucked in lungfuls of air. When he came at her again, she fought him off, kicking and raking his face with her nails. But Sean was far heavier and stronger, and soon he had his hands around her throat again. His eyes were wild and bulging. Drops of spittle came from his mouth like a mad dog.
Her lungs burned as she fought for air against his ever-tightening hold. The bright sparks crossed her vision again, and she knew she was close to blacking out.Please, God, help me!
Something hard poked her stomach. The hilt of his dirk! Her hands were going numb as she closed her fingers around it and jerked the dirk free. Then, with a last surge of strength born of desperation, she plunged it into Sean’s side.
“Argh!” Sean made a loud animal sound between a roar and a groan and threw his hands up.
Moira’s throat burned, and her head pounded with a violence that made her stomach roil. Still, she held on to the hilt of the blade when Sean jerked away. He staggered and bent over, holding his side. Blood seeped between his fingers.
But Sean kept his feet. He was not badly injured.
When he raised his head, rage glowed in his eyes like a demon from hell. If she was very lucky, she would have one more chance. Only one. She still held the dirk, but she had no idea where to stick him. She cursed her father and brothers for not teaching her how to protect herself.
Her head was starting to spin, and she was weaving on her feet. With desperation clawing at her belly, she held the dirk in front of her.
Then everything happened at once. Sean roared and launched himself at her with such force that she was hurtling through the air backward. Her screams echoing off the walls seemed as if they came from someone else. The back of her head banged on the floor, jarring her injured jaw and setting off a burst of blinding pain. An instant later Sean slammed on top of her, his weight forcing the air out of her lungs with anoof.
God, no. She did not want to die with Sean lying on top of her.
