Page 161 of Storm of Bells
‘You made a mistake, Dalgliesh. A big one.You assumed just because you are a distrustful, smarmy littleviper, that goes for the rest of the world as well. But, no matterhow rich or powerful you are, the two of us,’ I nodded at MrAmbrose, ‘have something more precious than your entire fortune:trust.’
Dalgliesh lashed out again. His strike caughtMr Ambrose in the stomach, but instead of buckling over like anynormal human, my favourite granite statue didn’t even budge.Instead, he smashed his knee into Dalgliesh’s side, slamming thepeer of the realm against a sandstone buttress. Legs buckling,Dalgliesh sank down the stone wall. Mingled hate and disbeliefblazed in his eyes as he stared up at me.
‘You…you told him?’
‘To paraphrase one of this world’s greatestorators:Indeed.’
‘You…you stupid little—’
But exactly what I was I never found out,because the next moment, Mr Ambrose’s arm slammed against hisjugular, cutting off his air.
‘Rrg!’
‘You were saying?’ I enquired, sweetly.
‘He won’t be talking,’ Mr Ambrose informedme, his eyes boring into those of his nemesis. ‘He’ll just belistening. Listening closely.’ Ice-cold eyes focused on Lord DanielEugene Dalgliesh. ‘Your attempt at blackmail has failed. Yourlittle intrigues, your plots, your machinations—they stop here andnow, or I will destroy you! Do you understand?’
‘Yes,’ Dalgliesh croaked. ‘I understand.’
‘Arms behind your head!’
His Lordship did as commanded—for about asecond. When his hand appeared again, metal was wrapped around hisclenched fingers.
‘Watch out!’
My words didn’t come in time.
Wham!
A rough line of red appeared across MrAmbrose’s cheek. Stumbling back, he lost his grip on Dalgliesh.
I moved forward without even thinking. Butbefore I could reach them, Mr Ambrose was already up on his feetagain. And that wasn’t all. A huge shadow had emerged from behindone of the buttresses, hand on his sabre.
‘No, Karim.’ Eyes flashing, Mr Ambrose heldup a hand. ‘Not today.’
‘ButSahib—’
‘I said no, Karim. I shall take care of thismyself.’
Karim hesitated for just a second—then hereached behind his back. When his hand re-emerged, it held MrAmbrose’s walking stick. With one flick of his wrist, he sent itflying. Mr Ambrose caught it in mid-flight.
‘Now,’ he whispered, eyes as cold as hisvoice as he focused them on Dalgliesh. ‘Shall we settle this likegentlemen?’
‘Gentleman? Ha!’ Dalgliesh’s voice might havebeen a little hoarse, but it still sounded as contemptuous as ever.‘That’s what you call fighting with a stick?’ Half turning hishead, he spat onto the ground. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t have expectedanything else from someone who loves mingling with proletarianscum.’
‘Fine words from a man wearing brassknuckles, Your Lordship.’
‘Better metal on your knuckles than dirt onyour hands.’ Shifting his stance, Dalgliesh threw a venomous looksideways at me. ‘Do you have any clue what kind of fool you’vechosen for yourself, Miss Linton? Do you really know what a sorryexcuse for a man that is?’ An ugly slash of a grin flashed on hisface. ‘I know. I know all about him.’
‘Silence!’ It was only one word, spoken ataverage volume. But in the voice of Mr Rikkard Ambrose, it wasenough to put fear into a regiment. ‘Not another word!’ Leapingforward, he swung his walking stick straight at Dalgliesh’s head,but His Lordship ducked and retaliated with a right hook. His grinwidened.
‘Ah. So shedoesn’tknow. What’s thematter,Lord Ambrose? Afraid she won’t have anything to dowith you if she sees you for the menial simpleton you reallyare?’
Mr Ambrose’s teeth clenched tight. Notanother word left his mouth. But his hand moved faster than ever,delivering a hard blow to Dalgliesh’s chest. It sent him stumblingback, but it by no means shut him up.
‘Would you like me to tell you?’ he taunted,glancing my way out of the corner of his eye. ‘Would you like tohear what really happened?’
Oh yes. I desperately wanted to know. Ireally, really desperately wanted to know anything and everythingabout that dark part of Mr Ambrose’s past. But I would bite mytongue off before admitting as much to Dalgliesh.
