Emmeline stopped struggling and frowned at him. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“Read my thoughts like that.”
“It is easy. You stopped struggling and were looking at my fingers as if trying to figure out some complex problem. It doesn’t take a genius to know what you are doing. If you panic and struggle you are apt to lose any fight. It is b
est to remain calm and put as much logic into your efforts as brawn.”
Emmeline looked down at herself ruefully. “But I don’t have much brawn.”
“No, you don’t,” Oliver agreed with a thoughtful nod. “So that means you have to rely on logic a little more than most people, doesn’t it?”
“But if I don’t have brawn, how will logic work against someone who is twice the size of me?” she asked warily.
Oliver positioned her so she stood before him. At the very start of their session, he had made it clear that he saw her as nothing more than a doll he could push around at will, and it was really starting to irk her. She wished that, just once, she could win one of their skirmishes because right now, she was starting to feel more than a little useless.
“If I came up behind you and grabbed your arms, which let’s face it is what most attackers would do, you have two choices. You can bend forward, but if you took your opponent’s weight with you, you would be likely to fall onto the floor with your attacker on top of you. That is the very last place you want to be. However, if you straightened your arms and kept them rigid and at shoulder height, it is impossible for any attacker to drag your arms behind you and tie you up or force you to go with them.” They practiced what to do a couple of times. Emmeline nodded when she thought she had a proper grasp of what to do.
“Now, if an attacker is behind you, stomp down on their feet as hard as you can but without moving your arms. Go on.”
“What?” Emmeline turned to look over her shoulder at him, carefully ignoring just how blessedly close he was. “You want me to stomp on your foot?”
“Yes. Try it,” he urged.
“Sure?”
Oliver grinned. “I can take it.”
“Are you sure?” Emmeline grinned with sudden relish.
This time, when Oliver made a grab for her, Emmeline locked her arms and forced herself to push them forward when he tried to tug them behind her. By locking her arms, her back straightened, forcing her shoulders back against her attacker. It made her go rigid. Once she was far less pliable, she stomped down on Oliver’s foot and forced all her weight down through her hip. She wasn’t off balance and was able to alternate her feet, so Oliver was constantly stomped on.
“I did it,” she grinned.
“Yes, that’s enough, though,” Oliver winced. “I need to be able to walk tomorrow.”
Emmeline was too excited to notice. “I did it. I stomped on you without losing my balance or falling over.”
Oliver smiled. “Now, let’s go back to the hand hold again. If I grabbed you around the wrist, you would find it impossible to prise all my fingers off. As an attacker, I can hold you with four fingers as easily as I can five. If you pull my thumb off and twist it around at an angle that you know isn’t natural, the fingers will automatically loosen. The pain in the bent thumb will be enough to force the attacker to loosen his hold and you can break free. Moreover, you don’t have to release the thumb and can continue to twist it until you twist the arm back.”
In one deft move, Oliver showed her how to force her attacker to release her. He showed her how to do it with other fingers, but while it did cause pain it didn’t do anything to get the attacker, in this case Oliver, to loosen his hold. However, the thumb was another matter entirely because it risked being dislocated if the attacker didn’t release her.
“That is very, very clever,” Emmeline murmured.
“All you have to do is try to remember not to allow yourself to become too panicked if a surprise attack happens. It is easier said than done, but if you think logically and don’t allow your emotions to get the better of you, and you can mentally distance yourself from what is happening, nothing can truly hurt you. Part of an attacker’s advantage is surprise. If he can surprise you then he will take advantage of the shock that makes you hesitate or worry. If you use the element of surprise to catch your attacker off guard, they will be the ones who are left gaping at you and struggling to escape.”
Emmeline turned to grin at him. “What else?”
Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know if I can stand much more. My feet hurt and you have nearly dislocated my thumb twice. I still have to work, you know.”
“Oh, tosh. You are fine,” she protested, her eyes alight with eager anticipation. “What else?”
Oliver shook his head but was so enchanted by the way her eyes twinkled with proud mischief that he couldn’t deny her. Even while he tried to think of something else that he could show her, Oliver asked himself where his backbone was, and why it was so impossible to deny her anything she asked of him. When he contemplated the reasons why she was impossible to ignore, though, he mentally shied away from even attempting to put a name to how he felt. He couldn’t, not least because he wasn’t at all sure he was going to like the answer and had no idea what it meant for their future or his part in the Star Elite’s latest investigation.
“All right, so this is a little more physical, and is only to be used if you are lifted off your feet. Say, if the attacker tried to lift you up to drag you into the barn like I did just now,” Oliver began.
Emmeline squinted at him but braced herself, not least because she knew this time what he was about to do. When Oliver slid his arms around her, however, he grinned and looked at her only for something to shift between them. They both paused. Their eyes locked. Neither of them spoke. Words weren’t necessary. All morning, they had both been aware of the undercurrent of sensual tension that had hovered over them. While it hadn’t been threatening or had stopped either of them concentrating on their lesson, it refused to be ignored any longer. It had found daylight, and once acknowledged had flourished to life like a rose in summertime. Its silken petals began to unfurl beneath the warmth of emotion that hovered between Oliver and Emmeline until it became a tangible essence between them.