Bride of the Beast Read Online Free PDF

fair sister," he called over his shoulder as his companions fell in behind him. "May God have mercy on the perpetrators if aught has befallen her."
    Without further ado, he rode beneath the raised portcullis, its steel-ended spikes benign and useless hoisted as they were and without a watchful guard to drop them in place should an enemy dare attempt to breach this first crucial defense.
    But the only eyes to witness their passing were those of roosting gulls and a few fleet-footed rodents.
    In the distance, the dog's barking issued anew, closer this time, and Marmaduke kneed his horse, impatient to close the remaining distance to Dunlaidir's impressive but unmanned curtain walls.
    There, too, a second portcullis was locked into a fully useless position near the arched ceiling of yet another tunnel, this one carved into the very rock upon which the fortalice was built.
    And here, too, no one barred the way. Nor did vile-reeking refuse or boiling oil come sailing down from above to impede their passage.
    Nothing stopped them at all until they clattered into Dunlaidir's inner bailey and Marmaduke came face to face with the lady whose heart he meant to win.
    The woman he so hoped would banish his long years of loneliness and put an end to countless nights spent sleeping in a cold and empty bed.
    She stood not far from the outer stairs, a tiny golden- brown dog clutched in her arms, a look Marmaduke could only call serene resignation clouding what would surely be an angel's face if only she would smile.
    His men drew up beside him, reining in their smaller garrons in well-rehearsed formation, two to his right, two to his left. Marmaduke took scant notice of them, so blinded was he by the vision before him.
    The indrawn breaths of his companions left no doubt that they, too, were struck witless by the lady's stunning beauty and grace.
    In truth, two lovely damsels stood before them, one tall and fair, the other pleasingly rounded and dark, but Marmaduke knew instinctively which one was his.
    The fair one.
    He knew it deep in his gut, and not simply because of the faint resemblance she bore to her sister.
    It was the look of vulnerability in the depths of her dark blue eyes that skewered his heart and gave away her identity. The invisible burden of long-borne unhappiness, an unseen but palpable air of resignation weighing on shoulders she held so proud and straight.
    His liege and his wife had spoken the truth. Here was a gentlewoman in dire need of a champion, and perhaps in more ways than they'd been aware.
    And with a driving urgency Marmaduke hadn't felt in more years than he cared to count, he wanted to champion her, burned to chase the shadows from her face and replace them with the glow of happiness ... of love.
    His heart thumping against his mailed hauberk with the exuberance of a green and untried youth, Sir Marmaduke swung down from his saddle and strode purposely toward her. At his approach, she set the small dog upon the cobbles. The wee animal immediately bared his teeth and growled at Marmaduke, but scampered behind Lady Caterine's skirts as he drew near.
    Recognizing the MacKenzie colors flung proudly over the approaching knight's shoulder, Caterine steeled herself
    against the man's formidable appearance and offered him her hand when he dropped to one knee before her.
    Caterine's old nurse, Elspeth, the woman who'd raised her and her sisters, had e'er impressed them never to judge a man—or woman—by appearance alone.
    What mattered was the goodness of one's soul, one's inner worth. The scar marring this champion's otherwise arresting face was surely the remnant of some noble deed or a battle worth fighting.
    Even though she'd rather he hadn't come at all, she knew Linnet would never send her a man she could not trust, a man she could not rely on—even if his countenance might prove a bit difficult to gaze upon.
    More than scarred, he appeared blind in one eye as well, but the expression in his good eye, a fine