Page 110 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
‘I apologise, Able. Iwas distracted.’
Able’s eyes followed the direction of his glance. ‘Women.’ He spat out a curse. ‘Who brought her in?’
Charles. He was already pulling her by the arm, trying to drag her away. Didn’t he realise the damage bringing her into Jackson’s would do to her reputation? Xavier was going to have strong words with the fellow. Very strong words.
As his temper subsided to dull rage, the pain from his bruised and battered body made itself known.
He accepted that pain as his due for his own lack of skill. But there was another pain in his chest he didn’t recognise. A tightening around his heart that was somehow more painful that any of the blows from his opponent’s fists.
Put there by the horror he had seen in her expression. Horror at seeing what sort of man he really was. The brute.
How could any woman understand that the only thing that kept him from being the brute he could be if he lost control was the give and take of blows he received in the ring?
Even he didn’t understand it.
He wiped his face on the towel Able handed to him and made his way to the changing room, where he allowed Able to minister to his cuts and bruises. He hardly noticed the sting of the ointment applied to a cut on his cheek.
‘Careless, Your Grace. Very careless. If I didn’t know better, I would say you had never set a foot in the ringbefore. Mr Jackson, he’s gonna ban you again. Good thing Pimm kepthishead after that nasty hit to the jaw.’
‘Tell him I apologise.’ He pulled a few guineas from his pocket. ‘Hopefully this will make it right.’
‘Ah. It might do at that. Though I think that hit to your ribs gave him considerable satisfaction.’ Able chuckled.
Devil take it. The thought of Barbara watching all of that made him shudder.
By the time he was cleaned up and dressed, there was no sign of Barbara and the Count, but the gossip hadn’t ceased.
Julian, who had not been there earlier, approached him. ‘Did I hear aright? The Countess came to watch you box? What the devil were you thinking to invite her here?’
He glared at his friend and clenched his fist. Then slowly released his fingers. Control was everything.
He’d already let his control slip once today. It wasn’t going to happen again.
‘She was here?’ He hoped he sounded as dismissive as he intended. ‘Not at my invitation.’
‘Once this gets out, she won’t be accepted anywhere.’
He inhaled a deep breath and enjoyed the sting of pain. ‘No.’
Julian looked puzzled. ‘Don’t you care?’
Of course he cared. Deeply. Far more than he should, given that he had already decided that she was not the wifefor him.
And yet…
He pushed the thought aside. He needed to get to the bottom of why the blasted Count would knowingly ruin her. Because he must have known it would.
‘No. I don’t care.’
Julian’s eyebrows shot up. ‘And here was me thinking you had finally met your match.’
‘Why the hell would you say that?’
‘Because she is the only female you have ever looked at with any kind of interest and the only one who seemed to stand up to you.’
She was. She had been. And she was the only female he had actually wanted to offer for, if he told himself the truth.
If only she hadn’t had such a scheming unpleasant father and a tendency to do things that put her beyond the pale.
