My Lord Deceived (14 page)

“Right, time is
up,” Jonathan snapped. His boot landed with startling accuracy on
Colin’s wrist and the boy screamed in pain as the bones in his
wrist crunched under the force of the kick. Kat’s arm was released
and she began to prise at Brian’s fingers with her nails. When his
hold didn’t loosen, she scratched at his face with her free hand at
the same time that the tavern door opened and the customers spilled
out onto the street to the side of them.

“Let her go,
Brian,” Harry snarled. “I’ll not have the likes of you threatening
my staff.”

“Brian, your
mother would be ashamed. You have stepped over the line this time
and that’s a fact,” one woman chided from just inside the
doorway.

Jonathan sighed
and shook his head. His gaze was caught by Wally’s furtive movement
as the boy tried to use the darkness of cover to creep around
Jonathan’s other side. With two swift thumps to his face and a kick
in the ribs, Wally went down with a dull thud.

Jonathan turned
to Colin who stood to one side, his arm held protectively against
his chest.

“You bastard,
you have broken it,” Colin snarled in disgust. “How am I supposed
to work now?”

“You should
have thought of that before you laid hands on Kat,” Jonathan
replied dismissively. “Now, unless you want the other one breaking
too, I suggest you get the hell out of here.”

He turned back
to Brian who continued to twirl his fishing knife. Jonathan knew
from the gleam in his eye that the boy was going to throw it.

Despite the
number of people that were gathered on the dockside, silence
settled over them as everyone watched and waited to see what would
happen.

“Let her go,
Brian, or it won’t only be your wrists I will break,” Jonathan
warned. He threw a warning glance toward the three young sailors
who had moved to stand closer to Brian. Everyone waited.

Brian glanced
around at everyone, clearly unprepared to lose face in front of so
many villagers. The belligerent look that settled over his spiteful
face was enough to warn Jonathan that a fight was on. With a shake
of his head, he wondered how much worse this night could get. His
lip curled in an arrogant smile of contempt before he held out his
arms in wide invitation. He almost relished this battle; if only to
teach the boy a lesson.

Brian lunged
forward. The flash of the blade in the moonlight was all Kat saw as
it whizzed past. She staggered at the speed she was released. She
gasped for breath as hands immediately dragged her out of danger
and she was pushed behind the protective line of Harry and some of
the male regulars from the tavern. They all turned and watched as
Jonathan kicked and punched Brian while holding the boy’s knife. A
collective gasp swept through them as they watched the rapid
succession of the bone crunching thumps Brian received as he was
pounded relentlessly backward toward the harbour wall.

Nobody made any
move to stop the fight and watched when, at the last moment, Brian
teetered on the brink of the dockside, bent over and charged
forward in an attempt to tackle Jonathan, who merely sidestepped
and kicked the boy up the backside on his way past. The forward
momentum propelled Brian into the wall of the tavern and he went
down with a thump.

Jonathan was
about to turn away when a snarl from Brian warned him that the
fight wasn’t over yet. He was heartily reassured that Kat was safe
now and mentally rolled up his sleeves. He sidestepped the second
charge but was caught by the punch Brian aimed at his midriff. The
boy was no match for Jonathan’s size and dexterity though, and was
unable to dodge the foot that landed on his thigh that knocked him
off balance, or the heavy fist that was planted in his stomach.
Once; twice; the boy gasped and staggered backward. A final kick to
the chest was enough to topple him backward, into the darkness of
the harbour. The dull splash was met with the shocked silence of
the villagers that was broken by hearty cheers and whistles.

Jonathan shook
his head and watched the three sailors peer over the wall. However,
nobody made any attempt to help the boy who was now forced to swim
to safety. Jonathan turned toward Kat and found her in the middle
of the melee of exuberant villagers. The crowd parted as he moved
to stand before her. He held her hands in his and studied the
bruises on her wrists and arms.

“Are you
alright?” The gentleness on his face was in stark contrast to the
last few minutes. The change in his demeanour was so swift that Kat
struggled to take in what she had just witnessed with her own
eyes.

She pointed
vaguely at the harbour wall and stared blankly at him. She wasn’t
at all sorry for Brian, the young oaf deserved every moment of the
last few minutes, but she was stunned that Jonathan was capable of
such ruthless calculation.

“Did they hurt
you?” A dark frown gathered on his brow.

“No, I am
fine,” Kat replied after a moment. “Just a few bruises. How?”

“I will tell
you another time. Right now, let’s get you inside.” She didn’t
bother to argue, or glance back to check on Jonathan’s victims as
he led her inside the tap room.

A couple of the
locals were scolding Colin and Wally, while someone else threw a
bucket of sea water over the still unconscious Robert. Nobody
bothered to check on Brian, who still splashed about in the harbour
as he tried to find a way out.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

“Can someone
send for the doctor?” Jonathan ordered as he pushed back the sleeve
of Kat’s shirt to study the red marks around her wrist. Even in the
dim candle-light the bruises were plain to see. He shook his head
at the damaged flesh and felt his anger surge at just how close she
had come to being ruined. If he hadn’t chosen to come to the
village to check on her, God only knows what would have
happened.

He had spent
the last day or so by himself in an attempt to try to figure out
what he was going to do about Kat, his work with the Star Elite,
and his responsibilities to the estate. He had taken some time at
Dentham Hall, by himself, to consider what he really wanted in
life. Asking anyone to become his wife was one of the most
momentous occasions of his entire life. Unfortunately for him, it
also had serious implications for his intended because he wasn’t
exactly in a position to be able to offer her a life together with
any degree of certainty. His work with the Star Elite was
dangerous, involved being away from home for unspecified periods of
time while being incommunicable throughout the entire time. Any
wife would have to have the patience of a saint to be prepared to
accept such conditions.

Was it fair to
expect it of Kat? She hadn’t been raised with the expectation of
needing to be able to run a house the size of Dentham Hall. How
could he expect her to learn how to run Dentham all by herself,
while he dropped in and out of her life ad hoc, without any
promises that he would remain alive and be able to return to her at
the end of his mission? He couldn’t ignore his uncle’s warning that
Kat wasn’t gentry and hadn’t been born to expect luxuries the like
of which he could easily afford. Would she be able to adapt to the
massive changes in her circumstances, and the expectations placed
upon her?

He had spent
many hours thinking the matter over and had ridden his estate over
and over many times in an attempt to come up with a workable
conclusion. The truth was that there was no answer. Not until he
left the Star Elite. He couldn’t exactly postpone his future to
fight an endless war with his colleagues until one of them, if not
all of them, wound up dead. Nor could he take a wife knowing that
he could not, in all honesty, offer her any degree of security. He
knew that Kat was likely to marry at some point in her life, and he
wanted her to consider him as her future husband.

His thoughts
turned to his colleagues and their marriages to their wives. They
all made it work. But did that mean it would automatically work for
him and Kat? He knew that Pie was considering leaving the Star
Elite, and could understand the man’s desire to be at home with his
wife, especially after his near-death experience at the hands of
Beaulieu. At some point Jonathan knew that he would to end up in a
skirmish that would put his life at risk – then what? What would he
actually leave behind to show that he had been alive?

His thoughts
returned to Brian’s question of what he was going to do when he
wasn’t around to protect her. He couldn’t just go back to work with
the Star Elite and leave her to her own devices, not with the ever
present threat of Brian in the area. As soon as the boy knew that
Jonathan was away, he and his cohorts would hound Kat mercilessly,
and undoubtedly her family too, just to spite Jonathan and try to
restore their status as thugs everyone needed to be afraid of.

He turned his
attention back to Kat, and watched Harry carefully hand her a mug
that contained a liberal dose of rum. Her hands shook and he knew
it was a mixture of shock and fright that had upset her so. He
could only hope she wasn’t horrified by his actions. He was aware
of the curious scrutiny of the patrons, and the whispers from
behind him as they discussed what they had witnessed and tried to
figure him out. Still, if it warned everyone to stay away from Kat
or face the consequences, then he couldn’t entirely regret what
they had just witnessed. If only she wasn’t so badly shaken.

“I’m here,” the
doctor called as he made his way over to them. After several
moments of careful study, he declared her wrists were just severely
bruised but placed bandages on them to support them while they
healed.

“On the
house.”

Jonathan
glanced down at the mug of rum Harry held out to him and accepted
it with a grateful smile.

“Some fierce
fighting moves you have there,” Norman remarked. He eyed Jonathan
with wary respect. “Not seen fighting like that since I was in the
army.” The calm statement drew the attention of everyone within
earshot. Silence settled over them while they waited for Jonathan’s
reply.

“I have been in
the army,” Jonathan sighed.

“Aye, we know
that. But you must have done a heck of a lot of fighting to know
how to fight dirty like that.”

“All is fair in
love and war,” Jonathan replied obliquely. He knew that the
evening’s actions would be gossiped about for the next several
days. Still, if it kept everyone’s eyes on Brian, and his cohorts
until Jonathan could his plans into action, then good.

“Tonight, Kat,
no work,” Harry ordered as he pushed to his feet. He glanced at
Jonathan. “Would you be able to escort her home again, or should I
do it?”

“I am fine,
Harry, really.” Kat mentally shook herself out of her stupor and
stared at Jonathan in consternation. She wanted to ask him so many
questions but couldn’t put the words in the right order. Her mind
kept replaying what she had just witnessed and, if she hadn’t seen
it with her own eyes, she would never have believed it.

Who was he?
More importantly, what was he? How had he learned to fell four men
without even breaking out into a sweat? She realised then that she
knew even less about him than she had ever imagined. A part of her
wanted to raise her hand and ask for the real Jonathan to stand up
and make himself known. The man she had just seen outside was
completely different to the kind and caring nephew, and the
thoughtful and attentive neighbour, even to the irresponsible fop
who used his house as a half-way station. The Jonathan she had just
seen was a cold and ruthless warrior who was capable of being as
deadly as necessary to win a fight. It just didn’t make sense – he
just didn’t make sense.

Her thoughts
whirled around and around. She was so busy trying to make sense of
it all that she didn’t realise that she had consumed the liberal
dose of rum that Harry had pushed into her hand until she glanced
down at her empty mug. Her cheeks began to glow with a mixture of
alcohol and heat from the roaring fire.

She smiled
reassuringly at Mrs Langdale, who murmured soothing noises and
wished her a speedy recovery. “Someone ought to speak to his mother
about that one,” the woman said loudly, and shook her head in
disgust at Brian’s behaviour. Everyone murmured in agreement.

“Aye, it’s
about time that lad was forced into the army. It will either make
or break him,” the grizzled old sailor seated on the opposite side
of the fire added darkly.

“Damned shame
he doesn’t go out to sea and not come back,” someone else snorted
in disgust.

“Aye,” a lady
replied from her corner of the tap room. “Let’s hope he stays in
the harbour tonight and the gulls get him in the morning.” That
drew everyone’s ribald laughter and, as though everyone needed to
lighten the tense atmosphere, more and more outlandish fates were
put forward and discussed as everyone began to join in.

Jonathan shook
his head in amusement, and eased Kat out of her seat before he
carefully escorted her to the door.

“What just
happened?” She asked as she stared blankly at the cobbles beneath
her feet. The heavy door of the inn closed behind them and
enveloped them in eerie silence.

“There is a lot
I need to talk to you about, Kat; a lot that you don’t know about
me, but I promise you that I will tell you another time. Not just
now though. Needless to say, I am far from the irresponsible
wastrel you think I am,” he drawled and held an elbow out to
her.

Kat couldn’t
argue with that and lapsed into thoughtful silence as they slowly
made their way around the cobbled streets toward her house. Within
minutes they were at her front door and she quietly let herself in.
She sighed and stood back when Jonathan followed her inside without
invitation.