Page 38 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
“Do you mind if we use the room?” Juliana asked, although she was already pushing past Prudence as though her response didn’t entirely matter.
“Of course,” Lady Prudence said, following them in. “What for?”
“Matthew is, apparently, going to teach me how to use a knife,” Juliana said as she walked toward the center of the room while Matthew stopped and stared.
The room looked like Angelo’s Fencing Academy, a place he had been only once before upon invitation from a friend, but it was even more tidy and organized. The walls were covered in navy blue fabric, while skylights at the top of the room allowed light to enter, leaving crisscrossed patterns on the floor. Along one wall was specialized wooden shelving holding a number of swords of various heights – although most were for those of a person of rather short stature.
“If you wanted to learn to use a sword, you know I could have taught you,” Lady Prudence said, her hands on her hips.
“A sword is much different than a knife,” Juliana said, although Matthew doubted she knew much on the subject. It seemed Lady Prudence, however, was something of an expert.
“Perhaps, but some of the principles are the same, are they not?” Lady Prudence said, this time her words directed at Matthew, who shrugged.
“I suppose so,” he said, “although most fencing I have partaken in is for sport. Fighting with a knife… is for other purposes entirely.”
“That is true,” Lady Prudence said, although she had a look to her that made Matthew suspect that she had perhaps seen more than she would ever admit. She paused as though wondering whether or not she should stay, but then finally she seemed to make up her mind and started for the door. “Perhaps we shall have to spar later, Jules.”
And with her glib farewell, Matthew and Juliana were left alone.
Matthew placed a bag on the floor, unfastened the clasps, and pulled out a sheathed knife. He took it from its case, grasped the blade end of one in his hand and held it out to Juliana.
“For you, my lady,” he said with a small smile and mock bow.
She took it with the same approach she had kissing him – little expertise but enough enthusiasm to make up for it.
She held it up by the hilt with enough of a thrust forward to have him stepping backward a bit.
She grinned at his response before placing a hand on her hip.
“Well?” she said, “shall we get started?”
CHAPTER14
Juliana was teasing him on purpose – mostly to distract herself from her nerves.
Nerves from spending time alone with Matthew (she prayed Prudence wouldn’t say anything to their mother), and nerves at the fact that he was teaching her how to use a weapon.
If anyone had told her a short time ago that she would be wielding a knife with the intention of possibly using it on a person one day, she would have laughed in his or her face.
Added to that was the fact that the very man teaching her the skills was one she couldn’t stop dreaming about, and she was in a world of trouble.
She watched with interest as he walked to the center of the room, where Prudence practiced her daily fencing regime. Juliana’s sister had taken up the skill as a child after watching their brother, Giles, learn the sport from their father, who had been infatuated with fencing. But when Giles had left them, Prudence had continued on without him.
Juliana could never understand why her father had allowed Prudence to take part, but then, he was such a fanatic for the sport that she imagined he was happy to have some kind of connection to it, someone to pass down his love for it to, as Giles refused to have anything to do with him or activities he enjoyed.
The sun glinted off Matthew’s cheekbones, pulling Juliana from her reminiscing as she couldn’t focus on anything but Matthew’s magnificence. She had acknowledged how handsome he was the first time she had seen him – they had all commented upon it – but it wasn’t until more recently that she truly appreciated how striking he was.
“So tell me,” she said, feigning nonchalance as she strolled over to where he stood in the center of the sunshine, “how do you plan to teach me such a sport?”
“It’s not a sport,” he said gruffly as he knelt and reached back into the bag. “This is a game of life or death, Juliana.”
The seriousness of his words sobered her, and she stopped teasing and waited. When he stood, he was holding pieces of fabric with pins that he placed on his chest and in the center of his abdomen.
“These are targets,” he said, and then reached out and used his hands to grasp her shoulders and move her into position. When he finished arranging the two of them, he was standing about half a length away from her – much farther than she would have liked.
“Shouldn’t we be closer?” she asked, wrinkling her nose at him, and he shook his head.
“Not yet. Proximity is of the utmost importance in a knife fight,” he explained. “Now, the first thing to understand is what to do if someone comes at you with a weapon.” He lifted the back of his jacket and pulled out a sheathed knife of his own, lifting it between them. “If you can, take the option to run.”
