Season For Surrender (A Danby Family Novella Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

you said this duel was over the chit from last
night.”
    Nick chuckled, his breath coming out in
a white ring of air in front of him. Once it dissipated he spoke. “I’m not
married. Yet. But I will be in two days if all goes according to plan.
And this duel is over the chit from last night.”
    “Wedding of necessity, huh?”
    Nick frowned. He’d never met a woman in
more need of protection than the beautiful and bold Lillian Lancaster, so, yes,
it was a necessary wedding, but not in the way Blakely meant.
    Blakely gave him a knowing, cheeky grin.
“I’d not thought that dark-headed dolly from the pub capable of being cajoled
into a bed, especially before a right an’ proper wedding. From a distance she
appeared stiff as the stick of my broom handle. Beautiful, but in an
unapproachable sort of way, if you know what I mean.”
    Nick resisted the urge to punch Blakely
in the face. Instead, he inhaled slowly and reined in his temper. “I like you,
Blakely.”
    The barkeep started to speak, so Nick
held up a silencing hand. “My fondness for the way you pour a drink, never ask
me about my life―which, by the by, is why I asked you to be my
second―doesn’t mean I won’t plant you a facer if you ever make unseemly
insinuations about my wife-to-be again.” He leaned towards the man, allowing
his height and size to help make his point. “Are we clear?”
    Blakely tossed his hair out of his eyes,
his eyebrows furrowing. “As a cloudless day. Lewd jokes ended. Here you are.” Blakely
handed the pistol to Nick. “Satisfied?”
    Nick turned the weapon over, the touch
of the cold metal making his chest tighten in anticipation. “You can notify
Derwent’s second.”
    Blakely raised a hand, gave the signal
they’d agreed upon and moved well out of the line of fire. Across the field,
Derwent’s second did the same. The call for the duel to begin pierced through
the roar of blood in his ears and made him flinch.
    He whipped his pistol up a second later
than he would have liked and fired. The recoil made his right arm jerk. Damn
and hell. Derwent’s pistol was raised straight and true. A thousand thoughts
flew across Nick’s mind. The last―had Derwent already fired―ceased
to require an answer as a bullet sliced over Nick’s skin.
    Across the clearing, Derwent’s howl
filled the silence. Through his pain, Nick smiled as the man’s legs folded
underneath him and he fell to the ground. Blakely raced to Nick. “Will you
live?”
    “For now.” Nick ignored the burn inching
up his arm as he stared across the grass at the hunched over form of physician who
hovered over Derwent. The sound of a rushing carriage filled the silent
morning. Nick shielded his eyes against the sun. Salisbury’s carriage came to a
shuttering halt across the park. As the door opened, Nick smiled. It was good
to know his friend had come rushing to his aid, however belatedly.
    With his uninjured arm, Nick nudged
Blakely in the side. “Come. I’ll introduce you to a friend of mine.”
    Blakely eyed Nick’s arm, where blood had
soaked through the material. “Shouldn’t you get your wound tended to first?”
    Nick glanced back at the physician still
stooped over Derwent, jerked off his cravat with one hand and handed it to
Blakely. “Tie this around my arm. It will stem the flow of blood until the
physician can tend me.”
    Nick winced as Blakely bound his
throbbing arm. Once the man was finished, they made their way across the
clearing. Nick whistled a merry tune as he walked. His injury was paltry, and
from what he could tell of Derwent, the man’s leg was badly injured. What would
Miss Lancaster think when she heard? His pulse pounded. He couldn’t remember
having felt this protective of a woman since Katherine, but that had been
understandable. He’d known Katherine all his life and loved her more than half of
it. Yet he had been acquainted with Miss Lancaster less than twenty-four hours.
Considering how things had turned out with