Flirting with Fortune by Erin Knightley

Author:Erin Knightley [Knightley, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-02T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

His instincts had been dead-on.

As Colin stepped out onto the terrace, he was greeted with exactly the scene he had feared most. Beatrice, wrapped in Godfrey’s arms, his lips planted firmly over hers. Without stopping to consider the consequences, he started forward. At the sound of his footsteps, Godfrey broke the kiss and looked up, a gleam of satisfaction illuminating his dark eyes.

Beatrice scrambled backward, turning to him with widened eyes that shone with horror.

The rat bastard— Colin came at the other man with his fists flying. He might not spend his days at Gentleman Jackson’s, but even a half Scot knew how to throw a bloody good punch when needed. And oh, the satisfaction he felt at seeing the man’s expression go from smugness to fear in the space of a second would be worth every consequence that would await him when he was done with the bastard.

His fist connected with Godfrey’s mouth with exacting precision. Not only did it wipe away all traces of the self-satisfied smirk; it made damn sure that the man wouldn’t be kissing anyone for a while. The punch was angled in just the right way to bust a lip but not break any teeth—not that the man deserved any mercy from Colin.

He fell backward against the stone railing, flipping over it and into the bushes a few feet below. It would have been amusing, if Colin weren’t so angry. Heaving a deep breath, he turned to Beatrice, whose features were drawn and pale. “Are you all right?”

“Y-yes. I think so.” She shook her head, clearly a bit dazed. “It wasn’t what it looked like.”

“Yes, I know.” He would have said more, but the bushes rustled as Godfrey extracted himself. After a moment of struggling, he came back to his feet, leaves sticking out of his hair as a trickle of blood dribbled down his chin and onto his once pristine cravat.

“You bastard,” he grunted, slurring the words just a bit. “I’ll see you bloody gaoled for that.”

“I highly doubt that.” Colin’s voice was cool and collected, his barrister’s training finally reemerging. “You surely wouldn’t want the world to know that you tried to trap a woman into marriage, since clearly you couldn’t procure one by her consent.”

Godfrey’s eyes narrowed to slits as his gaze darted in between Colin and Beatrice. “You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.” He yanked at the twigs embedded in his hair, tossing them angrily to the ground.

“Well, I do,” Beatrice said, crossing her hands tightly over her bodice. “You forced yourself on me just now. If it had been anyone else walking through that door, we’d be betrothed by now.” Her voice held such utter disgust, if he had possessed even the slightest doubt as to whether or not she had welcomed Godfrey’s advances, they would have been banished.

Colin shook his head. “It wasn’t supposed to be just anyone walking out to find you. I saw Mr. Jones as he watched the two of you head outside.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.