“If you don’t stop harassing my mate here, I’ll lay you flat in one,” Thomas retorted, his fists still held at the ready in front of him. He bounced around anxiously, brandishing his knuckles.
“I daresay you’ll regret that, lad.” The second buck stepped forward and raised his fist to Thomas.
That was it. Alexandra couldn’t stand the injustice of the thing. How dare these two young men try to fight her brother and his friend? She’d been looking for an opportunity to be brave. Perhaps this was it.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Alexandra called out, heedless of the fact that she was standing in her bedchamber, wearing her night rail and dressing gown. She did her best to remain hidden behind the curtains.
The two bucks immediately stopped and looked up, squinting at her.
“What? Lo? A fair maiden speaks from above,” the first buck said. The other laughed.
“You heard me,” Alexandra replied, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Why don’t you go instigate a brawl with someone who could actually give you sport?”
“Al!” her brother cried indignantly, stamping his booted foot.
“Al?” the first buck said. “Is that your name? Are you certain you’re a female?”
Anger spread through her limbs like quicksilver. She squeezed the curtain so hard, her fingers ached. “If I were a boy, I’d climb out this window and pummel you both!” she called. “And another thing—”
“What in the devil’s name is going on here?” A deep male voice sounded from somewhere below, but Alexandra couldn’t see its owner.
The two bucks blanched. “My lord,” they said in unison, quickly backing up toward the shadows.
“Did I hear you say that you intend to fight these two young lads?” the deep voice continued.
“They were giving us lip, my lord,” one of the bucks offered in an obviously shaky voice.
The owner of the deep voice stepped into the light then, and Alexandra sucked in her breath. He looked like Adonis. Blond hair, wide shoulders, perfect black evening attire. She couldn’t make out the color of his eyes, but whoever he was, the man was handsome in spades. Exactly the type of suitor she’d expect Lavinia to have. No doubt the man had just come from inside, where he’d danced with her sister to one of the lilting waltzes. Alexandra leaned forward to see better.
“I believe you are one-and-twenty, are you not, Yardnell?” Lord Handsome said.
The first buck hung his head and nodded.
“And you, Antony. You’re two-and-twenty if you’re a day.”
The second buck kicked at the stones with his boot and also nodded reluctantly.
“Then I must not be hearing you correctly,” Lord Handsome continued. “You cannot possibly be meaning to fight two children who aren’t more than a dozen years old. Why, that would be not only unsporting, but also quite embarrassing for you, especially if the boys win.”
The first buck opened his mouth to speak, but Adonis stopped him.
“Ah, ah, ah. I sincerely hope you aren’t about to argue with me. I think we can both agree that a young man, a supposed gentleman, has no reason to fight a boy, does he?”
The second buck jerked his head in the semblance of a nod.
“That’s what I thought,” Adonis continued. “Now, run along before I decide that even at my advanced age of eight-and-twenty, I have no compunction striking either of you.”
“Yes, Lord Owen,” one of them said before the two bucks left nearly as quickly as they’d come, leaving Adonis with Thomas and the stable boy. Alexandra continued to watch with wide eyes from her perch at the window.
“Thank you, my lord,” Thomas said, bowing formally to the older man. “I’m certain I could have handled it, but I do appreciate your assistance.”
“Oh, no doubt, Huntfield,” Adonis replied. “As you say, I was merely lending my assistance.”
Alexandra’s heart cartwheeled in her chest. He’d called Thomas by his title. How terribly endearing.
“Th-thank you, m-my lord,” Will muttered.
“It is my pleasure, Mr.…”
“Atkins. W-Will Atkins.”
And he’d called a mere stable boy “mister.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Atkins. And should you have further trouble with those two chaps, I do hope you would not hesitate to inform me.”
“We certainly sh-shall,” Will said.
The two boys ran off and Alexandra held her breath, waiting for Adonis to blend back into the shadows. Instead he remained there, under her window, a hint of light from the inside of the house caressing his fine cheekbone. Lord Owen? Lord Owen? She searched her memory for such a name.