William surged forward to hurl Jonas against the shelves. He landed with a deafening thud, dislodging what toys remained. Through the clatter, Jonas’s agonized grunt made Sidonie’s belly clench with horror.
“You fucking bastard, how dare you set foot in my house?” William gasped, pulling back to slam a punch into Jonas’s face. Jonas straightened against his pain and with a groan, heaved his cousin away. As William staggered, Jonas’s fist connected with William’s chin so hard that the man’s head jerked back.
William stumbled but landed a savage blow to Jonas’s belly that had him bending and gagging. Taking advantage, William stepped in and pummeled Jonas in the kidneys. Jonas’s breath emerged in agonized gasps as he sank beneath William’s fists. Sidonie’s heart cramped with terror; she waited for William to land the killing blow. But unbelievably Jonas recovered to strike at William. Blood burst from the older man’s nose and sprayed everywhere.
Sidonie scuttled out of the way, casting a glance to where Roberta crouched beneath the window. She realized she was praying in idiot fragments. Over and over. Let Jonas win. Let Jonas win. Let Jonas win.
For what felt like forever, the two big men grappled with each other. Stumbling on debris. Dodging punches. Occasionally striking vulnerable flesh. There was little science and no civilization in the combat. It was like watching wild animals fight to the death.
Sidonie swallowed her gorge and checked Roberta, who watched the vicious struggle with wide, frightened eyes. For the moment, she was safe enough. Sidonie looked away, desperate to find a weapon just in case, God forbid, William prevailed. She snatched two skittles from the top of a bag. Sidonie straightened, her sweaty palms slick on the wooden clubs, to see Jonas break free of William’s assault and at last begin to press his cousin. The sickening thud of fist against muscle and bone set Sidonie’s belly roiling. The concentrated hatred on each man’s face promised murder. She didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t stop.
William was hulking and powerful, but Jonas was younger and fitter. Sidonie sucked in her first full breath in what felt like hours when she noticed the bigger man tiring. His blows came less swiftly and often went wild. Sidonie drew another shuddering breath and tightened her grip on the skittles, wanting to attack William but fearing she’d fatally distract Jonas if she entered the fray.
Inch by inch, William retreated under the barrage of punches. His defense was increasingly ineffectual and his eyes were glazed. He lumbered over the floor, smashing against walls and shelves, drunk on hatred and pain. Jonas’s face hardened until he was a stranger. His very lack of expression as he beat his cousin into a bloody mess terrified Sidonie more than mere rage could.
William fell into a corner, trapped under his cousin’s attack. Jonas shot a sharp upper cut to William’s chin and he went down in a confusion of arms and legs. The impact of his landing shook the floor. Jonas stepped forward to stand over his fallen enemy, his shoulders heaving, a trickle of blood marking one temple. Faint bruising shadowed one cheekbone.
“Get up,” he gasped. “Get up, you scurvy maggot, so I can finish the job.”
On a sob, Sidonie dropped the skittles and rushed forward to grab the bruised hand Jonas opened and shut at his side. His muscles were hard as rock and he vibrated with fury that had festered, she knew, for years.
“Jonas, don’t,” she said unsteadily.
Jonas didn’t look at her. His focus was all on William, who groggily propped himself against the shelf behind him. One of William’s eyes was swollen shut and gore smeared his face. “I want to kill the toad.”
“I know, but you can’t.” She had no great wish to extend William’s miserable life, but she couldn’t let Jonas murder him. “He’s not worth it. Even after what he did to you all those years ago.”
“Hell, I don’t care about that.” At last he glanced at her, his eyes flaring with barely contained aggression. “Nobody hits you while I’ve got breath in my body.”
Shock sent her heart crashing against her ribs. Jonas had fought William not because of what happened at Eton but because he wouldn’t see her hurt. He’d been her champion, not avenger of his own wrongs. An astonishing surge of emotion that extended far beyond mere gratitude left her reeling. Roberta had been her protector when she’d been a little girl but since then, she’d fought every battle alone.
“Thank you,” she whispered, the words utterly inadequate. Briefly forgetting their audience, she lifted his fist and pressed a reverent kiss to his broken knuckles. “But you can’t kill him.”
With her kiss, the inhuman chill slowly drained from Jonas’s expression. Thank heaven. Once more he looked like the man she knew. He sucked in a choked breath and she felt his coiled tension ease. “As you wish.”
Her stomach dipped with giddy relief. With a shaking hand, she reached up to dab the thin ribbon of blood from his face. Then reluctantly she drew away and limped to where Roberta huddled under the window, quietly sobbing. She crouched at her sister’s side and put an arm around her heaving shoulders. “It will be all right, Roberta.”
Jonas addressed William in an authoritative tone. “I want you to leave this house—”
William scowled up at Jonas and released a scornful bark of laughter. Roughly he rubbed his sleeve over his face to soak up the welling blood. “It’s my house, you little shit. Much as you wish it otherwise.”
Jonas’s beautiful mouth stretched into a wolfish smile conveying equal measures dismissal and contempt. “You’re welcome to your gewgaws, cuz. With creditors howling on your tail, you won’t keep them long. You won’t lose the houses—they’re entailed as we both know. But you’ll lose everything else, including Lady Hillbrook.”
“Like hell I will!” William struggled to his feet, using the shelves to haul his bulk upright. He glowered at Jonas and his hands curled at his sides in futile rage. “Roberta’s my bloody wife.”
“Bloody is the accurate description, I gather.” Jonas’s voice was frigid.
“You’re very brave with a gun in your hand, my bully boy,” William sneered. Only then did Sidonie notice that Jonas now held a small pearl-handled pistol.
“No braver than you with an army of thugs to back you against a ten-year-old boy. Hardly surprising you’ve progressed to terrifying wome
n. You always chose opponents who couldn’t fight back.” He looked past William to where Roberta and Sidonie clung together. “Lady Hillbrook, will you come with me? I’m taking Miss Forsythe to Ferney.”
“If you go with this swine, you’re never welcome in this house again, you filthy whore,” William snarled at Sidonie.
“Keep a civil tongue in your head.” Jonas lifted the pistol with a deadly grace that made Sidonie’s heart stutter with alarm. Icy foreboding flooded her when she recalled the rage in Jonas’s eyes as he stood over William. It would take little encouragement to make Jonas pull the trigger.
Keeping the pistol aimed at William, he stepped toward Roberta and extended his hand. “Lady Hillbrook?”