Page 5 of Enticed By an Earl
“Unhand him!” Dev shouted, racing to the rescue.
He managed to push the attacker away from the gentleman before any serious damage was done, then went after the attacker himself. He landed a punch across the man’s masked face that sent the blackguard staggering back.
Whatever reason the man had for attacking the gentleman, he gave it up at once, turned tail, and ran. Dev had half a mind to chase the bastard and beat him to a pulp, but the gentleman needed his attention more.
“Are you well?” Dev asked, crouching by the gentleman’s side. The poor thing was obviously in pain from the blow to his gut, and if Dev was not mistaken, he was deeply upset by the attack as well.
That was all well and good, but when the gentleman turned his beautiful, miserable, pain-filled face up to Dev, a burst of powerful emotion nearly knocked him as flat as the attacker’s blow had laid the gentleman.
The gentleman was vaguely familiar to him and exceedingly lovely. He had light hair and an almost cherubic face. His lips were soft and tinted slightly red. He was clean-shaven to the point where Dev wondered if he needed to shave frequently at all. And he had the most captivating, sad, blue eyes.
“Let me help you,” Dev said, softening his tone on instinct and reaching for the man.
The gentleman recoiled a bit at first, then, when Dev slipped an arm around him to help him to sit, he blew out a breath and leaned briefly closer to Dev. The urge to embrace the man, pet him sweetly, and assure him that all would be well was nearly overpowering.
“Can you stand?” he asked the gentleman, shifting his stance so that he could lift the man to his feet before he had a full answer.
Once standing, the man seemed to recover his senses. “I cannot thank you enough,” he said, stammering slightly, still obviously traumatized by the attack. “I do not know what…I was so…I believe he was trying to kill me.”
“Steady,” Dev said, keeping one arm around the man’s back as he moved them closer to the nearest house to be out of the way of a passing pair of servants, likely returning from some errand. They glanced at Dev and the gentleman with wide eyes but kept going when Dev nodded for them to move on.
“I do not know what has come over me,” the gentleman said, moving gingerly, as if to test how injured he was. “He came out of nowhere, attacked me before I was ready.”
“I dare say no one is truly ready to be attacked in the street,” Dev said, brushing off the gentleman’s coat a bit. Doing so helped him to learn that the gentleman had a fine form and a lovely arse under his rich clothing. “Lord Deveraux Ogilvy,” he introduced himself.
“Yes, I know,” the gentleman said. He glanced immediately up at Dev, looking sheepish. “That is to say, I am familiar with you, Lord Deveraux. I am Lord Christopher Seymour, Earl of Castleton.”
Dev smiled, suddenly remembering where he knew the young man from. Their paths had never crossed directly, but he’d seen the gentleman at balls and at state occasions, such as the old king’s funeral. He’d just rescued the Earl of Castleton from a brutal attack.
“I am pleased to formally make your acquaintance, my lord,” Dev said with a half-bow. “I only wish it were under better circumstances.”
“As do I,” Castleton said with a wince.
Dev did not feel as though his duty as protector was over. In fact, to him, it felt as though it had only just begun.
“Might I escort you home, my lord? You seem a bit out of sorts still,” he said.
Castleton looked deeply uncertain, but Dev had the feeling the man’s uncertainty was not over him. He glanced up and down the swiftly-darkening street before looking at Dev again. “I would like the company, yes,” he said.
“Then you shall have it,” Dev said.
The two of them started forward. Dev had the uncanny desire to offer his arm to Castleton the way he would to any lady of theton. That likely had something to do with Castleton’s delicate state and ruffled appearance. The man wasstill shaken, no matter how hard he tried to pretend otherwise.
He did try to pretend otherwise at that. He straightened deliberately, even though Dev could see his pain, and he walked with an almost exaggerated masculinity, like he was an actor attempting to portray a gentleman but doing a poor job of it. Dev would have found it comical if something in his heart did not find it so tragic.
“Please reassure me that you are well by conversing with me, my lord,” Dev said as they walked on. Castleton seemed to know where they were going, so Dev let him direct their steps.
“I am uncertain what I should say,” Castleton said, clearly nervous.
It occurred to Dev that the man might have been nervous about him as much as he was ruffled by the attack. He was a bounder and a cad most of the time, but he could put on gentle manners when it suited him.
“Do you know why you might have been attacked?” he asked, wondering if speculation would distract Castleton from his pain.
It was dark, but not so dark that Dev could not see the flush that came to Castleton’s smooth cheeks. “I’ve no idea at all,” he said.
It was clearly a lie. Castleton knew why he’d been attacked. He may have even known who attacked him or sent the attacker.
That intrigued Dev, but also brought out a fiercely protective streak in him.
