Page 37 of A Very Roguish Boxing Day
She started as she realized that while she had been gazing down the street, someone had stolen up behind her.She turned, and her heart went cold as she saw a familiar face.
Her brother was smiling, but not in a nice way.“Merry Christmas, sister.”
Chapter16
After returning the bowl to the salop seller, Tom hurried down the street.He hated to leave Gwen standing out in the cold, but he couldn’t very well deprive the street vendor of her bowl.Based on her tattered clothing, she didn’t have a shilling to scratch with and could ill afford to replace it.
He turned down a side street but didn’t see Gwen.Damn it, he wasn’t very familiar with these fancy neighborhoods on the west end of London.He jogged back to the edge of the park.It was probably the next street over.
He was surprised by how enthusiastically she’d joined the snowball fight.He’d hoped she wouldn’t mind watching the spectacle, seeing as there wasn’t much else to do on Christmas Day.But when they arrived at Green Park and he saw how unruly the crowd of children was, he’d started second-guessing his decision to bring her there.She was quality, after all, and he figured most ladies wouldn’t want to hang around a park crawling with street urchins.Most toffs would look at those children and see nothing but a crowd of pickpockets.
But Gwen had surprised him once again.She hadn’t minded being in the park with the unwashed masses, hadn’t minded getting clocked right in the face with a snowball, and hadn’t been too stuck-up to join right in.Not that she’d had much of a throwing arm, but it was the thought that counted, wasn’t it?She’d even said it was one of the best Christmases she’d ever had!
This was a problem, all right.Because Tom was really starting to like this bird.As in,reallystarting to like her!Their bedsport couldn’t be topped, for one.
But the thing that was really dangerous was the way she treated him—like a normal bloke.Not like a notch in her bedpost or a ravaging brute she only needed to fulfill some unspeakable fantasy.
But like an ordinary fellow, one she liked having around.
That was dangerous.Tom’s outsides might be honed to iron, but his insides were starting to feel as soggy as his grandmother’s Christmas pudding.Which wasn’t supposed to be soggy, but God love her, Nan had never been able to cook for shit.
But the point was, he liked Gwen too much.He’d obviously loved fucking her last night, and it had felt far too natural to chat with her over the breakfast table.It had been so nice, in fact, that his brain kept coming up with cracked suggestions for things to say like, “This was fun.Shall we do it again?Say, every day for the rest of our lives?”
Pull yourself together, Talbot.Gwen was a lady!She was educated!She knew all that apiara… apiari… that bee science.What in seven hells would she want with a great oaf like him, whose only talent was punching people in the face?
He was distracted from this dreary train of thought by someone calling his name.“Mr.Talbot!Mr.Talbot!”A trio of boys came sprinting up to him.“You know that lady you was with earlier?”the tallest one asked.
“The one who joined in our snowball fight,” another boy added.
“Of course.What about her?”Tom asked.
The tall boy pointed down the street.“There’s five coves over there trying to snatch her!”
“What?”Tom took off at a run, the boys right on his heels.
He turned on the street they indicated and surely enough, there was Gwen.Two men had her by her arms.She was struggling for all she was worth, but she was significantly smaller than the cunts who’d grabbed her, and they were making steady progress dragging her toward the plain black carriage parked nearby.
“Gwen!”he shouted, charging down the street.
The men peered at him, surprised.“Fuck me,” one of them said, pointing.“Isn’t that Tommy Talbot?”
“Sure is,” Tom replied.He handed his hat to one of the boys and raised his fists.“Let her go!”
Four of the men stood frozen, blinking at him.
The fifth, a rat-faced fellow who, in spite of his posh clothes, managed to give off a distinct “grave robber” sensibility, waved frantically at Tom.“Get him!”
Two of his goons looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison.
“Good decision.You don’t really want to do that,” Tom agreed.
Rat-face’s voice grew shrill.“If you don’t do as I say, you won’t get paid!”
One of the men swallowed, then made a hesitant charge.Tom brushed his punch aside and gave him a push.He stumbled into the side of the building.
Rat-face pulled a knife out of his boot and thrust it at one of his goons.“Here, use this.”
The man snorted.“Like that’s going to help.”
