Mackenzie Family Christmas (The Perfect Gift)(42)

Cameron's grin widened, but the acknowledgment cost him a blow. Bellamy landed one on his face, and Cameron tripped. The crowd on his side of the room groaned.

Cameron regained his feet without falling and countered with a punch to Bellamy's jaw. Bellamy's head snapped back, and now the servants groaned.

Cameron waited, fists ready, for Bellamy to come at him again, but Bellamy staggered. Ainsley watched him in surprise. The punch hadn't been hard, Cameron still trying to find his balance. Ainsley had seen that even without Steven's confirmation.

Bellamy took a step back, faltered, took another step to catch himself, and then he fell backward, his eyes rolling up into his head. As the shouting rose, Bellamy landed on the parquet floor with a loud whump.

David, startled, came forward and began to count him out.

"Aw, Bellamy," Curry shouted. "You bastard. Get up, will ye?"

Bellamy stirred, but David reached ten while Bellamy lay on the floor, not attempting to rise.

"Cameron Mackenzie, winner," David said, a bewildered note in his voice.

The Mackenzie guests shouted their victory. The servants groaned and booed. Cameron stood with hands on his hips, staring down at Bellamy while Mac knelt beside his valet to minister to him.

A woman darted out of the crowd--Esme, who'd been given a job here at Bellamy's insistence--and fell to her knees at Bellamy's side. Bellamy's eyes swam open as Esme bent over him and lifted his bruised head into her lap. Bellamy smiled up at her, looking happy.

Ainsley went to Cameron, and he put a shaking arm around her shoulders. "Damn him," he said. "He went down so a lady would be all over him w' sympathy, the crafty beggar. That was my plan."

"I know." Ainsley wrapped her arm around him, feeling his body shudder with reaction to the fight, its abrupt end, his hurts. "You're a wonderful man."

Cameron ruffled her hair with a shaking hand. "What do you mean, you know? How? Did it show?"

"Steven told me you were pulling your punches, trying to let Bellamy win. I knew it was the sort of thing you'd do."

"Damn and blast." Cameron wiped sweat from his eyes. "He would have beaten me fair, even if I hadn't held back. He's a hell of a fighter."

The servants on the other side of the room surrounded Bellamy, their fallen champion. A few shot Cameron evil looks.

"They do not look happy," Cam said. "They'll put sand in my soup, I shouldn't wonder."

"Can you blame them? They've lost money they couldn't afford to."

"No, they haven't." Cameron released Ainsley and called to his son, who was crowing that his father had beaten a London champion.

"Good fighting, Dad," Daniel said when he'd loped over.

"If you say so. I want you to cancel all the bets. Give everyone their money back."

"What?" Daniel blinked, mouth open. "I can't do that. I'll be mobbed."

"You'll lose your percentage, you mean," Cameron growled at him. "No one loses today," he said in a loud voice to the rest of the room. Talking ceased, heads turned to see what the winner was saying. "Daniel is returning your money. Bet on my horses. It's safer."

As surprised then angry murmurs rose from the guests, Cameron lifted his hand.

"The money is returned, or I can go to the duke and tell him his orders about betting were ignored. Ye can argue with Hart, or ye can take your money and be done."

The murmurs ceased, and guests drifted off, annoyed, but the servants cheered. "Thank ye, sir," one shouted, and "'E's a proper gent, I always said," came from Curry.

Daniel sighed and drew a pouch out of his sporran. "You'll ruin me, Dad."

"I didn't raise you to be a bookmaker, Danny."

"But I'm good at it."

"That's what worries me."

Muttering under his breath, Daniel left them to circulate the crowd, his movements betraying his irritation.

Steven appeared and shook Cameron's hand. "Excellent fight. You know a thing or two."

"Aye, maybe I used to. Bellamy's tough. I'll stick to horses."

Steven grinned, pressed a kiss to Ainsley's cheek, and moved off. Cameron pulled Ainsley against him again. "Do you think they'll notice if the reigning champion slinks off to his soft bed to recover?"

"I think you might be forgiven."

Cameron's gaze heated. "Bellamy took a fall to win a woman. What shall I have to do?"

"You've already won her," Ainsley said. She laid her hand on his chest. "However, perhaps I should don my New Year's frock and see how you like it. The bodice has ever so many buttons."

"Wicked." Cameron brushed a kiss to her lips. "Mmph. Even kissing is painful. I believe I'll need my wife's healing touch."