A startled gasp left Georgie’s mouth. His hand grabbed her shoulder as if for support as his legs gave way beneath him.
Not wasting one second, Charlotte bucked her hips backward hard, producing a curse followed by a deep groan. Felix’s hold on her loosed and Charlotte tore herself free. Without looking back she ran up the steps and burst through the door leading into The Black Swan.
Heads spun toward her and several men smirked while giving her a head to toe assessment. The hood from her cloak had fallen back and she could feel hairpins starting to loosen. She scanned the room, searching for the one man she’d come to see.
The door opened behind her and two angry hands grabbed hold of her arms. “I think you need to be disciplined.”
Felix’s sneer made her insides curdle.
“Now wait one moment,” a burley fellow said as he moved toward them. “Maybe the lady’s not keen on the likes o’ you.”
Oh thank God. Someone decent was finally stepping in to help her.
“Maybe she’d rather ’ave someone else,” the burley fellow continued. “Someone more like me.”
Charlotte’s heart sank. Other men started taking notice and moved in closer to see what was happening.
“I’ll fight ya for ’er, Felix.”
“Prepare to ’ave your teeth knocked out, Erwin.”
Erwin grinned. “You’re always welcome to dream.”
He jutted his head to one side and Charlotte was shoved into the arms of someone else.
“’Ello, luv,” a thick voice murmured. “’Ow about you and I sneak off together while these two idiots knock themselves out?”
Good lord. Was every man here a lecherous scoundrel? Clearly, the Black Swan’s crowd was different by night than by day, no doubt on account of the drink they’d all had.
She struggled to free herself from the man’s grasp and when that didn’t work she tried the same move that had helped her escape Felix’s clutches. But this man was fat, his belly the perfect buffer against her attempt to harm him. Eventually, she managed to step down hard on his foot, but that only caused him to laugh.
“Now, now. There’s no need for you to be violent.”
Felix’s fist struck Erwin’s cheek and the crowd erupted in cheers.
“Go on Erwin,” someone shouted. “Deck ’im!”
Erwin pulled back his arm, prepared to do precisely that when a shrill whistle spliced the air like a carving knife. “What the blistering hell is happening here?”
Charlotte’s pulse leapt with hope while air filled her frayed lungs with elation. “Blayne!”
The hulking Scotsman stepped into the melee as if every man around him were but a gnat he could easily squish between his fingers. Erwin stumbled in mind-punch while Felix took a step back and dropped both arms to his sides. A hush descended over the room and everyone froze while Blayne turned, searching the crowd until his gaze landed on Charlotte.
His jawline hardened and his eyes turned black. A vein pulsed at the side of his neck to further convey his fury. Tension had transformed his shoulders into rigid lines while the need to do violence was evident in his tightly clenched fists.
Charlotte’s heart knocked about wildly. She’d never seen him like this, but it was suddenly very easy for her to imagine him wringing a man’s neck. He’d told her he’d killed while working for Guthrie. He’d explained that he wasn’t good company for a gently bred woman like her – certainly not the sort of man she ought to be kissing.
She hadn’t listened, perhaps because she’d not wanted to think of him in that way or maybe because it had been impossible for her to do so when he’d shown no hint of the violence when he was with her. But now, in this moment, Charlotte saw that he was a man who could make the devil himself tremble in his boots. Strong and fierce, he looked ready to do bloody murder, and something about his harsh gaze made her worry she might be the first one to feel his wrath.
A shiver of apprehension rushed through her along with a contrasting pull. Even though much of his anger was likely directed at her and even though she should probably wish she’d never come here, seeing him like this only made her want to pull him into a private room and kiss him.
A muscle moved at the side of his jaw as he glared past her right shoulder. And then, with slow and very precise words, he quietly said, “I suggest ye release my woman before I knock yer block off.”
Charlotte sucked in a breath, then released it just as quickly when the man who’d been holding her dropped his hands.
His woman?
A funny hum buzzed through her veins, filling them with delicious warmth.
