Devon pushed slowly to his feet. He raised his eyebrows at Lillian, grinned, winked, then leapt into the fray.
She jumped to her feet with a gasp as Devon grabbed two philosophers by the back of their jackets and drew them away from one another. He let them loose to pull apart the other two, and the first two ran at one another once more. One threw a punch, and it landed solidly on the side of Devon’s face. He yelled a curse word Lillian had often heard emanating from her father’s workshop. He turned, hard jawed, toward the man who’d clipped his cheek, fists curled, shoulders back, ready to pummel the other fellow.
He did not. Devon wrapped his hands around the man’s arms, lifted him off the floor, and marched him to a booth across the room. He shoved him onto the bench. “Stay,” he ordered, then dove back into the scuffle.
Unable to stay in her safe, dark booth, Lillian skirted the edge of the room until she reached the bar.
“Better come behind here, darling,” Freddy said. “Safer.”
She joined him, and he pulled her down behind the bar, their very own castle fortifications. They crouched together, Freddy humming as he polished his mugs to a high shine. “This might be,” he said with a chuckle, “why my legs hurt.”
Mrs. Freddy appeared over the top of the bar, looking down at them. “No, it’s because of all the wine.”
“That, too. That, too.”
Mrs. Freddy disappeared, and Lillian popped up just enough to see over the bar’s edge. Devon was in the thick of it now. His muscles strained, but he never threw a fist at any of the other men, just drew them apart, separated them, took a hit here or there, and did it all over again when they came scrambling back to the fight.
She sank back down. “How long can this go on?”
Freddy popped up, had a look, sank back down. “The philosophers are tiring out. Quinten’s huffing and puffing, and Stoutsby, who Lord Dev just plopped in a booth by the window, just laid down on the bench. Not long now.” He stayed standing. “Don’t have to hide anymore.”
She stood. “Why were we hiding?”
“In case they throw the mugs.”
“Ah. Sensible. The hiding, not the mug throwing. My, but they do feel strongly about this pantisocracy.”
“Starts a fight every time. I banned it as a topic of conversation last year but lost my best customers. There’s something about the notion of equality that sets men’s blood aboil.”
“I see. Does Lord Devon often do”—she waved a hand toward him as he pulled the last two philosophers apart—“that?”
“A bit of a peacekeeper. Can’t do it myself, you see. Glad to have him about so often. If he can get the blunt, he’ll keep this old place in fine form.”
He didn’t have it?
“Stubborn boy,” Freddy said. “If it were me, I’d take the inheritance and do with it what I wished. Refuses to touch it, he does, and now he’s worrying himself thin trying to scrounge the cash together himself. I wish I could give it to him, but business is business, and I’d like to retire in comfort.”
“I see.” She saw Devon. Clearly. For the first time.
Having placed the final philosopher in a chair, he made sure the man would not move for revenge. Devon straightened, shook out his limbs, and shoved his fingers through his hair, taming it back off his forehead. It was slick with sweat and laid close against his skull, throwing his handsome fine-boned face into high relief.
Lillian’s heart stuttered.
He looked toward the bar, caught her eye, and strode her way.
Lillian’s heart tapped a waltz against her ribs.
When he reached the bar, he leaned over and stroked a finger down her nose. “You well, Lil Bean?”
She nodded. If she tried to talk, her heart would bounce right out of her mouth.
He had a cut across his cheek and in the corner of his mouth. The planes of his face were red and swelling in places, and he would be blue and purple tomorrow. She reached out to touch them but pulled back swiftly.
She strode around the bar and grabbed his arm. “We’re going home right now.”
His body jolted into movement behind her as she pulled him toward the door. “Wait.”
She waved a hand in the air. “Nice to meet you, Freddy. Mrs. Freddy. I look forward to seeing you again soon.” Then they were out in the cool night air.
