Chapter Seventeen #2
“I would dare defend her,” Adam growled back. “She is unhappy, and you, sir, with your ridiculous and exasperating behavior contribute to that daily.” They stood nearly nose to nose.
“This is how you live worthy of your father’s title?” Lampton snarled.
“Better than the way you live worthy of your wife’s devotion.”
At that, a brawl worthy of the seediest den of villainy broke loose. Gentleman Jackson himself would have been impressed with the immediate and vicious round of fisticuffs that ensued.
Linus took a single step before Harry grabbed his arm and held him back.
“Let them work out some frustration,” Harry said. “This has been building for days.”
“But Persephone—”
“Is going to kill us either way.”
He had a point.
Charlie arrived at Linus’s side a moment later, his eye on the men circling each other nearby, fists at the ready, taking regular jabs, more than half of them landing with force. “Your brother-in-law doesn’t fight dirty, does he?”
“Of course he does.”
That brought a little worry to the young man’s face. “I don’t think Philip has scuffled with anyone since we were kids. He’s going to get killed.”
“Adam, I think you have a fish on your line,” Harry called out.
“Shut up, Harry,” came the response.
Harry nodded sagely. “I believe you can rest easy, Mr. Jonquil. If Adam were determined to actually kill your brother, he wouldn’t have taken the time to put me in my place.”
Charlie looked to Linus for confirmation.
“He does fight dirty,” Linus said, “but only when he has to. This fight seems fair enough. Besides, I think your brother is making a good showing for himself.”
It was nothing short of the truth. Both men looked equally worse for the wear. Not many gentlemen could have scuffed up the Duke of Kielder without finding themselves inching toward their own deathbed. The lanky, dandified earl was proving fierce.
“Well, how about that,” Charlie said quietly. “Philip is good for something after all.” He watched only a moment before venturing back toward the river and the rocks he’d been wandering on before.
“There’s a chasm between those two brothers,” Harry said.
Linus nodded. “A bigger one than I think the earl realizes. And one the poor boy doesn’t know how to cross.”
They turned their attention back to the combatants. The fight hadn’t progressed, but neither had it really ebbed. Obviously neither participant was bent on the other’s destruction. Harry had been right, it seemed. They were merely boiling over a bit. It’d do them both good.
Lud, maybe the earl and his brother ought to go a few rounds. At least it would be some interaction, which Charlie needed rather desperately.
“How long do we let this continue before sending them both to the nursery, where they belong?” Harry asked with a smile.
Just as Linus opened his mouth to answer, a splash interrupted. He turned immediately to look where Charlie had been standing and saw an empty outcropping of rocks. He’d fallen in.
Linus rushed in that direction, pulling off his jacket.
The fight ended abruptly.
Lampton called after him, though a bit breathless. “Charlie swims very well. No need sacrificing yourself.”
Sure enough, the young man was expertly making his way back to shore a bit downstream. Lampton and Adam moved to where Linus stood watching, one on either side of him.
“I ought to have known Charlie would fall in if we brought him,” Lampton said. “He is forever getting himself into scrapes. I can’t take him anywhere.”
“How many places do you take him?” Linus asked a bit under his breath.
Lampton didn’t answer but called out to his brother instead. “You’d best head back to the house and change. Try not to fall into a ditch or something on the way there.”
Charlie tossed his brother what was likely supposed to be a glare, but a painful degree of embarrassment filled his expression. The young man dragged himself away, head hung a little, steps slow and heavy. Poor Charlie.
Harry joined them on the bank of the river and eyed Adam and Lampton. “You two look like a couple of tomcats after an alley brawl.”
Adam’s mouth pulled into a tight line. “No one tells Persephone.”
“Or Sorrel,” Philip added. “If my wife finds out, she’ll make this bout of fisticuffs look like a ballroom waltz.”
“Mine as well.” Adam turned to Philip and held out his hand. “A vow of secrecy?”
Philip shook it firmly.
Harry grinned and turned to Linus. “Shall we vow to keep mum as well? I, for one, am not nearly as afraid of their wives as they clearly are.”
“I am,” Linus said. “One of those wives is my oldest sister; I know how fearsome she is. And Lady Lampton wields her walking stick like one who knows precisely how to put it to good use.”
A corner of Lampton’s mouth, the corner not trickling blood, twitched upward. “She most certainly does.”
“That settles it,” Harry said. “If anyone asks, these two were attacked by a bloodthirsty trout.”
“Make it a lamprey, and I’ll go along with the tale,” Lampton said. “To be attacked by an eel would make a far better story.”
“What of you, Adam?” Harry asked. “What type of fish shall we say you scuffled with?”
Adam eyed Lampton for a drawn-out moment. “A minnow.”