‘Get behind me, Dora. You should know, gentlemen, I’m trained in the art of knife fighting. If you come at me, more than one of you will die tonight.’
Oh, thank you, Percy. What a brilliant way to defuse the situation: threaten them with death!
With a sigh, Dora pulled out her pistol from her reticule and levelled it at the ruffian who had grabbed Percy.
‘Step back, gentlemen, or I will fire.’
‘You brought a pistol to a knife fight?’ muttered Percy with sardonic amusement.
The man thought for a moment, then swaggered, taking a pace forward. He was an unprepossessing individual with a shock of greasy hair and unshaven chin. ‘What you going to do, eh, whore? You’ve one shot and there are many more of us than you.’
Dora lowered the muzzle to point at his groin. ‘But do you really want to sing soprano for the rest of your life? Trust me, I can get off the shot before your friends reach me and you really won’t care what happens next, will you?’
He hesitated but decided to be stupid. ‘She’s bluffing. Lads, get ’em!’
Damn. She was going to have to shoot him. She tightened her finger on the trigger.
Just then, Alex pushed out of the bushes, sword already released from his stick. He slashed it across the space between Dora and the louts, halting them in their tracks. Dora pulled up the muzzle and discharged the pistol in the air, barely avoiding getting Alex in the back. Everyone flinched in surprise that she actually had a loaded gun.
‘Dammit, Alex, I could’ve killed you!’ She trembled with the near miss.
‘But you didn’t.’ He sent her an apologetic look. ‘Gentlemen, as you have discovered, she wasn’t bluffing and, fortunately foryou, I arrived in time to save you from her ire. I’d rather not waste my evening explaining to a magistrate why we needed to rid the world of you and your idiot friends, but I will if you don’t stand down.’
‘Who the hell are you?’ jeered the lout.
Alex looked magnificent as he made a salute with the weapon. ‘Lieutenant Colonel Smith, 1stbattalion 2ndFoot Guard, at this lady’s service and not yours. Now get going before I teach you a lesson learned on the battlefields of Europe.’ Alex cut at the man, slicing a button from his waistcoat.
‘Oh, I like this one,’ murmured Percy to Dora.
‘Hush, you,’ she warned.
The leader was still not ready to back down, his blood was up and he wanted his revenge. ‘But he’s French!’ He pointed at Percy.
‘Your point being?’ drawled Alex.
‘He’s the enemy. He fired on the audience.’
‘He was sitting in the audience in the line of fire, you fool! Now use that head of yours for something more than putting a hat on. Go home– or go help put out the fires. That’s the patriot action needed now, or do you want Vauxhall to burn down? Leave these people alone.’
With a few dirty looks, hunched shoulders, and grumbling, the men melted back into the shadows.
‘Have they gone?’ asked Percy, not dropping his guard.
‘I hope so.’ Dora stowed the pistol in her reticule. With all the firework explosions, no one had come running to investigate the shot.
‘You do know how to show a gentleman a good time, Dora.’ Percy slid the knife back into his pocket but kept his hand on the hilt.
‘I don’t remember inviting you to any show,MrPercy. You brought this upon yourself. What were you thinking, flaunting yourself at an evening like this?’
‘Showing that we the French are not afraid?’
‘Well, I don’t know about you French, but this Englishwoman was terrified by that little altercation.’
He replaced his hat, punching out the dent but it would never be the same again. ‘I might have miscalculated the strength of feeling against my nation.’
‘Are you all right, Dora?’ asked Alex, coming to her side, sword still drawn.
Finally, a sensible person to talk to. ‘Yes. Have you seen Jacob?’
