Aylesbury could feel her uncertainty, her nerves.Her palpable worry as she went to the door where Hobbes was waiting patiently.
For him.He almost laughed.
Every girl thought her older brother immortal, unbeatable.Piper had thought the same of him, but as men, they were all fallible.All weak in some way.Nor was Glenrothes the Goliath Fiona believed him.No, they were evenly matched in height, though the earl might have a stone or two on him.It would be a fair fight...if, of course, Aylesbury were allowed the benefit of having that fight one-on-one rather than ten-on-one.
Hobbes closed the door, blocking her from sight and leaving silence behind.Such silence that he could almost hear the blood pounding in his temples.
“Aylesbury,” the earl said at last.
The marquis nodded slightly in return.“Glenrothes.”
“We do need totalk, don’t we?”
Harry didn’t like the way he emphasized that word.
Chapter 37
While it is flattering to have a man fight for your honor, it is quite another thing to have a man fight for your life.
To have him then face one’s brother with such composure...!
I know Harry said he would risk his life for me, but this is a gesture so much more profound than that.
~From the diary of Lady Fiona MacKintosh—May 1895
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Hobbes closed the door, shutting in Aylesbury with her brother.Effectively locking Harry in to meet his fate.Fiona bit her lip indecisively, wondering if she should go back in and defend him further or leave them to it.Harry was a perfectly capable man after all, but Francis was...
Well, when Francis was wronged, it was better to just get far, far away.
“I heard it all, my lady,” Hobbes said from behind her.“May I say I am ever so glad you’ve come out of it unharmed and at home?”
Fiona smiled at the starchy old curmudgeon.“That is about the nicest thing I’ve ever heard you say to me, Hobbes.”Stepping close before he might step aside, she wrapped her arms around his stiff, straight shoulders and hugged him tightly.“Iknewyou liked me,” she whispered, dropping a quick peck on his taut cheek.
To her surprise, the butler patted her back and squeezed her shoulder before easing her away.He cleared his throat and met her gaze ever so briefly before his gaze shifted over her shoulder.
