A Marriage of Notoriety. Diane Gaston

Brunton Mews. Xavier twisted his way free and slashed the dagger at the man, slicing in to a tattered uniform. In his ears he heard the sounds of battle. Muskets firing. Cannons booming. Men and horses screaming.

      But this was not battle.

      Another man grabbed for his wrist and tried to wrest the knife from his grasp. Xavier whirled on him, kicked him in the groin and sent him sprawling.

      The third man had Phillipa in his grip. Xavier strained to come to her aid, but the first man set on him again.

      ‘We need money,’ the man cried. No doubt he was a former soldier now driven to theft and violence.

      ‘Leave us! Release her!’ Xavier lunged at him, slicing the man’s cheek and neck with his blade.

      The man cried out and clapped his hand to his face. Blood dripped through the man’s fingers and on to his uniform. Xavier turned away at the sight and saw the second man regain his feet. Xavier’s thoughts were only on Phillipa.

      She struggled to free herself. She gripped her captor’s hair and pulled it hard, before stomping on the man’s foot.

      The second man went to aid the man fighting with Phillipa. Xavier launched himself forwards and seized the man’s collar, pulling him away.

      That man pulled a knife. ‘Not so brave now, pretty boy.’ He laughed. ‘Give us your money.’

      One more man underestimating him.

      Xavier lifted his hands as if surrendering. ‘I want no trouble.’

      The man sneered in contempt and lowered his hands slightly, the chance Xavier anticipated. He let out a cry, so fierce and wild, the man shrank back. Xavier charged straight for him, his fist connecting to the man’s chin. The man’s knife dropped to the street.

      Xavier slammed him against the wall of the building and put the dagger to his throat. ‘Not so brave now, are you?’

      ‘Don’t cut me! Don’t cut me!’ the man pleaded.

      Xavier snarled, ‘Leave now and you leave with your lives.’

      The man nodded in fear. ‘We’re leaving. We’re leaving!’ He raised his hands in the air and Xavier stepped away. The man sidled away and grabbed the arm of the man still trying to stop the bleeding of the cut to his face.

      The third man now had Phillipa’s reticule in his grip. She would not release it. His eyes widened when his companions ran off and Xavier advanced on him. Phillipa blocked the man’s escape. He picked her up and thrust her aside.

      She hit the pavement flat on her face, her forehead bouncing on to its hard surface.

      She did not move.

      ‘Phillipa!’ Xavier ran to her.

      * * *

      Phillipa heard a man call her name.

      She scented sea air and heard waves rolling on to the shore. She felt small and frightened and in pain. Her face hurt and she tasted blood.

      She tried to move, but the wind had been knocked out of her. ‘Phillipa!’ the voice called again.

      A man’s hands turned her on her back. The darkness had melded into dusk and the air was briny.

      ‘Wake up, my girl,’ the voice said.

      She opened her eyes and her vision filled with the face of a man. A stranger to her, but she’d seen him before, in this exact way—or so it felt.

      ‘Phillipa, wake up.’ The face changed before her eyes, turning into Xavier’s face.

      She gasped.

      ‘Are you hurt?’ Xavier’s hands were all over her, touching her arms, her legs, her torso. ‘Did he hurt you?’

      This was not at the seaside?

      No, it was London. She and Xavier had been walking home. This was not Brighton. She was not a little girl. This was Xavier with her.

      ‘I’m not hurt,’ she managed.

      She tried to sit up. His arms embraced her and lifted her to her feet. He held her against him. ‘I thought you were hurt.’ He held her tighter. ‘I thought I had lost you.’

      She remembered men jumping out of the darkness at them. She remembered fighting to be free.

      But for a moment she’d been back in Brighton. She’d seen a different man lean over her. He appeared as real as Xavier appeared now.

      She trembled. She’d seen something that was not really there.

      Panic rose inside her, kept at bay only because of the strength of his arms. He comforted her. She was safe. Xavier held her.

      He loosened his grip. ‘I must get you home.’

      Supporting her weight with one arm, he led her out of the mews, past Berkeley Square to Davies Street.

      Her head throbbed as she remembered he’d had to fight off two men. ‘Did they hurt you?’ she asked. ‘Did they get your money?’ Her reticule still dangled from her arm.

      His voice turned low and fierce. ‘Not that miserable lot of ruffians.’

      They reached her door and he embraced her again. ‘I should have prevented that attack. We should not have been walking at this hour. I was wrong to agree to this.’

      If he had not been with her, what would have happened to her? There had been three of them.

      Her heart pounded, anticipating what would come next. He intended to forbid her to come to the Masquerade Club. He would stop her performances right when she was learning about how to make the music most entertaining. He would take it all away.

      She could not bear it.

      ‘Do not forbid me this, Xavier.’ Her voice trembled and her head ached.

      ‘It is not safe, Phillipa,’ he insisted. ‘You simply cannot take the risk.’

      The hood of her cloak had fallen away, exposing her disfigurement. She pulled it up again and put the key in the lock, turning it.

      He covered her hand with his. ‘Phillipa, do not come to the gaming house. Do not try it alone.’

      She opened the door and turned to him. ‘May I have my dagger back?’

      He hesitated, but finally handed it to her.

      ‘Thank you, Xavier.’ Impulsively she threw her arms around him. ‘You saved us both.’

      To her surprise, he returned her embrace with one of his own. He held her against him so tightly it seemed as if he would never release her.

      ‘Phillipa,’ he rasped in her ear, as if wanting something more of her, but she did not know what.

      She only knew she felt even more shaken when he finally released her and she hurried inside the house.