“I will and I warn you, I plan to swing.”
He inclined his head. “Very good.” He grabbed for wraps and she moved to the edge of the ring, holding out her hand. He caught it and brought it to his lips, kissing the palm and then the inside of her wrist.
“We can have that kind of sparring match later,” she teased, her voice a little more breathless.
He nodded. “I look forward to it.”
He wrapped her hands swiftly and then did the same for himself. Finally he joined her in the ring and they stared at each other for a long, charged moment.
She stepped up and let the back of her knuckles drag along the center of his chest. The fabric of the hand wrap stroked his skin and Finn drew in a sharp breath. She smiled.
“I’m going to throw hard punches,” she said. “I need to. But if it’s too much, tell me.”
He tilted his head. “I’ve watched you fight, Hellion. I know what you’re capable of. I’ll try to keep up.”
Her eyes widened and dilated, filled with arousal. Then she smiled, stepped back and they both shifted to a fighting stance. They circled for a few seconds and she darted her fist out, but without heat or purpose. She was measuring the distance, measuring the quickness of his reaction. He was impressed with her. Many men he’d trained or fought with never did so—they just rushed in like wild dogs and it never ended well.
“Are you going to fight, my lord, or just stare?” she asked sharply.
He circled and she followed. “I’m still struggling with the idea of hitting a lady.”
For the briefest moment, her confidence faded. “I’m not a lady anymore.”
He wanted to argue on that score, but it would do no good. “A woman, then.You. I don’t want to hurt you. I would do anything in this world to never, ever hurt you.”
She stopped circling and stared at him, her eyes wide and filled with emotion he so desperately wanted to name as matching the love he felt for her. But she wiped it away and instead glared at him. “Respect me enough to spar, Finn. Please.”
He sighed and began to dart his hand out, trying to find the right distance where a fifty-percent punch would land more like ten percent. She rolled her eyes and swung at last.
He blocked most of the punch with a quick raise of his arm, but she grazed his chin in the process and he was surprised at how much it stung.
“Too hard?” she asked with an innocent blink of those big, green eyes.
“Pretty hard, Esme,” he said. “I’m impressed.”
“I’ve fought men before,” she said as she threw another punch, but he could tell she reduced the strength of it. He blocked it more easily and returned the punch, just grazing the leather corset around her midsection.
“You have?” he asked, eyes wide. He was distracted enough that he didn’t block her punch and grunted when she hit him across the shoulder.
She winced like she hadn’t meant to hurt him and adjusted her stance. They went back to circling. “When most women enter the fight game, they have to start on the streets. Back alleys, men who want to see your tits out, who want to see two women bite and scratch like they’re going to fuck.”
Finn shook his head. “I’ve heard of such exhibitions. How did you feel about that?”
“I hated it. Ripley hates it too, but it’s the way most women make their name. Then they can exit into the more lucrative and professional fights.” She swung and he dodged, but only barely. He was endlessly impressed by how fast she was. “Sometimes in those street fights, they pair a man against a woman. Again, it’s really about eroticism, but they often let us use weapons, you know because we’re so frail and unmatched.”
She said those words and threw hard. He took the punch against the flat of his hand and shook out the sting that followed. “Fuck, that’s extraordinary, Esme.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“With weapons? Like what?”
“Cudgels, knives. One woman used to fight men with two swords. It was very impressive, until she unmanned a bloke who once harmed her sister. Then she went to Newgate.”
Finn shook his head. “You must have been stunned by such violence when you started.”
She nodded. “I was. I’d been so sheltered my whole life. Oh, I was too brash and bold, it was why I never made a match inmy debut years. But I’d never been struck. I’d never hit anyone in my life. At first it was terrifying, but it became empowering. I felt strong the first time I won a fight. I felt like I was able to be in control.”
She swung again and this time he caught her fist and tugged. She fell forward against his chest and looked up at him, her bright eyes shining and pupils immediately dilating.
