Highland Dragon Warrior by Isabel Cooper

Author:Isabel Cooper [Cooper, Isabel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2017-09-04T18:30:00+00:00

Twenty-eight

“Generally speaking,” said Munro, “you’ll want to kick a man in the knees or hit him in the nose. They both hurt like a right ba…devil, aye, and then with the nose, he’ll be blind for a space. With the knees, he’ll no’ be able to run.”

“Not…” Sophia gestured vaguely to the air around her groin.

She and Alice, for whom the lessons were really meant, made strange figures, standing in the practice yard while the wind blew their gowns around their legs and tugged at their plaited hair. Such a sight was not unheard of at Loch Arach—Moiread had mostly worn breeches and a tunic, but she’d practiced a time or two in women’s dress, “just in case,” although those occasions had been rare. Sophia had never listened so quietly or looked so uncertain.

Munro grinned. “Oh, aye, the ballocks are a grand target as well, mistress. Only not for the first strike, not unless he’s by way of having other things on his mind. A man in a fight will guard the jewels well, and a man fighting a woman will expect her to strike there first. Knees or nose, sir?”

Cathal pushed himself off the wall and stepped forward. When he’d found that both women carried daggers, but neither had been trained, he’d thought to give instruction himself—until Munro had pointed out that few of his skills would be of use in any fight Alice might face. He was a big man. Even if he’d been purely human, a punch from him could have broken bones. He’d learned to be on guard against dirty fighting, but he’d never truly thought to learn it, not to the depths a man like Munro had, because he’d never even considered a time when he might need it.

And so he’d become a set of pells.

“If it please you, sir?” Munro asked.

After a quick bow of apology, Cathal caught hold of Alice’s shoulders—the typical Explain yourself, woman, and do it quickly grab—his grip firm but, he hoped, not too tight. She kicked out and connected a solid blow to his upper shin, but well below the knee.

“Skirts,” Munro said, shaking his head as Cathal released Alice. “Nothing for it but practice, I suppose.”

“I don’t think I can pass as a boy,” Alice said, sighing, “so you’re right. I’ll see if I can’t get the motion down, at any rate. Sophia, you try.”

With Alice, Cathal had only hesitated to gauge his strength; she might have been one of his younger men. When Sophia stood before him, her face sober with concentration, his hands at once felt larger than usual and less a part of him. He took her by the shoulders and felt desire flare up at once, quick and consuming.

For a second her eyes widened, darkened, and he knew she felt it too.

Then she brought her fist around and up, and hit him squarely in the nose.

It wasn’t a strong blow. Sophia dropped her hand back to her side no more than a breath after the contact.

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