“Honestly, have you forgotten you are cursed? Bad luck follows you around like a lost puppy you tossed a scrap of meat to, or did you forget?”
“I understand your concern, but I promise you, I can handle your brother.”
“Everything good here?” the Runner asked as he and Leonora strode up to them.
“All good.” Warrick nodded at the man. “We’re leaving.”
Selena looked at Leonora, whose once worried features were vibrant again with a knowing smile. How was it that every time she conversed with Warrick she forgot about everyone else? Her face flushed.
“What’s wrong?” Warrick asked.
She turned back to him. “What do you mean?”
The back of his hand pressed against her cheek. “You’re suddenly red.” His gaze flicked to the table. “How much beer did you drink?”
Leonora laughed. “Oh, it not the beer.”
Selena glared at her friend. “It’s just the heat.”
“Yes,” Leonora agreed, her eyes sparkling. “Theheat.”
She patted her cheeks. “And we had two beers each.”
“Quite right.” Leonora’s grin inched upward. “The beers also helped with the heat, I think.”
“Let’s go,” Selena said, back rigid.Leonora, you just wait. She stole a glance at Warrick, her brow furrowing as they fell on those wounds again. He was here. He had come for her.
Brother . . . you just wait as well.
*
Dawn, the next day
Warrick once thoughtthat if a man had good friends, even if lifeturned to utter hell, it would still feel like a supreme paradise. He wasn’t so sure about that anymore.
“Is this what years of friendship has boiled down to?” his second, the Earl of Deerhurst, nagged from the chair beside the desk in his study. “A duel?”
Warrick reached for the wooden case that held his pistols. “He is the one who issued the challenge. I’m honor bound to accept the challenge.”
“That’s horse shit and you know it.”
Warrick ignored Deerhurst’s remark and opened the case, inspecting the pistols. Of course he didn’t want to duel with one of his friends, but Saville would never let him off. If this was the only way to calm his friend’s temper, so be it.
“So not only are you two fighting, but you have also dragged the rest of us into this mess as well.”
“What the devil am I supposed to do? Saville needs an outlet for his rage. I am it.”
“It’s easy,” Deerhurst said. “Ask for Selena’s hand.”
Warrick’s brows sprung to his hairline. “Why does everyone believethatis the answer? Pressuring two unwilling people together?”
“This isn’t about applying pressure. She still has the right to refuse. But you’d have at least offered. Let Saville deal with his sister’s choice.”
“What if Saville threatens her into accepting? What then?” Then there would be no way he could back out in any way or form.
“You believe that chit can truly be pressured into anything?”
No... “Nevertheless, I’m not giving that madman such an opening. He’ll ruin their relationship.”
