Page 34 of Captivating the Countess
Bell lifted her simple office skirt and petticoat and hurried to keep up with him. The cries of women and shouts of men joined the grunts and punches of a brawl. The slamming doors slowed, as if the ghost had what she wanted by catching their attention. Bell wrinkled her nose at that prospect.
“Stay here.” Rain dropped her hand and loped ahead to the grand marble entryway.
A ring of billowing skirts and black coats prevented Bell from seeing what was happening, but she could figure it out for herself. She’d grown up around men who didn’t know how to express themselves except with fists. And then there had been her drunken stepfather...
Alicia stood to one side, fingers clenched and looking furious. Her sisters were trying to draw her from the fray. At Bell’s approach, Alicia grabbed her hand. “Stop them, will you? Rain doesn’t need to be breaking his hands on the curs.”
No, he didn’t, and yes, she could, but in front of all their guests? She had some experience with simple rural folk. Rain wouldn’t appreciate her methods in his elegant home. Neither would the gentlemen apparently beating each other into pulps.
She hesitated long enough to see the marquess collar one of the young men and fling him backward. The combatant leapt back up and swung at Rain. The other tried to get through Rain to reach his opponent.
Bell gave them a few more moments to settle this without broken bones, but at the same time, she made her way to the large pot of exotic greenery cut from the conservatory. Alicia followed.
She was more accustomed to unbreakable pails of water. She risked fainting and smashing the pot on the stairs, but since she would probably break the ceramic for the cause, what difference did it make?
“Are you sure you want me to do this?” Bell asked as she hefted the vase.
Catching on quickly, Alicia helped her. It was really quite heavy. “I don’t know what got into them. They were bickering over a card game, the doors started slamming, and they ran to find out why. And then there was pushing and shoving... I’ll never marry. Men are quite ridiculous.”
“I’m fairly certain your brother can crack both their heads, but I suppose their families might object.” Carrying the pot up to the landing, Bell studied the action below. Rain was definitely holding his own, but he was trying not to damage the guests—while they were definitely trying to damage him.
“Percy already has a broken nose. It won’t get any prettier.” Alicia helped her lift the pot to the railing. “Estelle, move the ladies back!”
That was all the warning they gave. Rain glanced up in time to step away in a manner that left the two combatants to dive at each other—directly in the path of the water and greenery that spilled in a cascade from the upturned pot.
Upturned palm fronds and gardenia branches slid down soaked frock coats and wilted collars.
With Alicia’s aid, Bell didn’t have to drop the pot. They gently set it on the floor.
The drenched gentleman glared upward. Alicia waved at them.
Rain grabbed their collars and shoved the soggy warriors into the hands of other male guests. “Take them down to the boxing ring. Let them kill each other out of sight of the ladies.”
“Boxing ring?” Bell inquired in surprise.
Alicia shrugged. “Rain can’t always escape his duties to ride, so he installed a gymnasium in the cellar. I think we frustrate him often.”
So that was how he managed to look like a Greek god. “I cannot think encouraging them to fight is a wise idea.”
“One can assume we’ve cooled them off, and they’ll use gloves.” Alicia made a moue of distaste. “I should look for men who prefer the library, I suppose.”
“Your brother apparently likes both. I don’t think that’s a qualifying factor. Do you think we can discover why they were fighting?” The fight and the now silent doors seemed a little too coincidental but Bell couldn’t determine cause or effect.
They descended to where the ladies were drifting back to the drawing room to hush the squawking parrot and screeching monkey, while the maids cleaned up the mess. Bell wanted to apologize for creating the extra work, but the maids were laughing as if it were all a jest.
Rain had left with the gentlemen. The doors had stopped slamming. Bell touched Alicia’s arm and kept her from joining the others. “I want to check on your father. Find out what precipitated the brawl and let me know, please? I don’t know if it’s important, but I feel as if your haunts are trying to tell us something.”
“You should let us hold a séance,” Alicia insisted.
As Bell trailed up the stairs, she wondered if Rain’s sister wasn’t right.
Thirteen
“Quit snickering.”Lombard, Rain’s lawyerly brother-in-law, elbowed him. “Had Alicia dumped that pot by herself, you would have taken off her head. Admit it, you’re smitten by the countess.”
Recalling the image of his normally cautious steward and his baby sister slopping an entire urn of stinking flower water on a baron and a viscount, Rain struggled to keep a straight face. The inexperienced combatants circling the ring were still damp.
“I don’t know if smitten is the word.” Rain couldn’t help grinning. “That requires being hit. I don’t think the lady hits people, precisely.”
