Page 17 of A Dangerous Heart
Poison.Isaac gritted his teeth to keep from shouting. Or slugging the bottom feeder.
“Papa,” Isabella cut in with a murmur. “I see Mrs. Wheaton.”
He allowed her to tug him toward the street.
Quade sent him a final mocking look over his shoulder.
With Quade gone, Clare released her hold on his arm and stepped away, ending her charade. He felt the lack of her touch. The fact that he’d enjoyed her nearness annoyed him.
“When did we decide to have a wedding?” he growled.
She looked up at him through her thick lashes. He was close enough to see she had tiny freckles on the bridge of her nose and a touch of rose in her cheeks.
He inhaled and held his breath, bracing for her next words. A mistake. The scent of apples and warm sunshine invaded his senses and muddled his brain.
“You seemed upset when he confronted you at the train station. I thought I might head him off.”
He was shaking his head at her reasonable words, but before he could demand she stay away from Quade, shouts erupted from near the schoolyard. Above the clamor, Ben’s cry rang out.
“Eli, don’t!”
Shouts and calls from numerous voices buzzed in Clare’s ears as she pushed through the crowd, Isaac on her heels. Where were Eli and Ben?
The crowd parted long enough for her to see. In the center of the jostling crowd, a hulking man had clamped heavy hands on the shoulders of two boys. Clare’s stomach dropped.
Eli.
His only good shirt was ripped at the shoulder. He wore his belligerence on his face like a shield.
“Let go of him!” she cried out.
“Hold on—” Isaac’s fingers wrapped around her upper arm as they broke through the crowd and reached Eli and the others.
“This your hooligan?” the man demanded. “He started a fight with my boy!”
He shoved Eli in her direction.
Clare caught Eli by the shoulders. Eli threw off her hands and turned to lunge at the boy, but Isaac caught his arm.
“He’s a cheater.” Eli spat the words.
“Am not.” The boy sucked in a swollen and bloody bottom lip. His cheeks bloomed with red blotches. He folded his arms across his chest. His father did the same. A matched set.
Clare’s chest tightened. Eli’s father would never stand with him. Victor would thrash him for making a scene. Her nephew stood his ground, squinty-eyed, arms crossed beneath Isaacs’s hand.
“I saw you.”
Several more curious townspeople joined the onlookers. The whispers and murmurs in the crowd grew and surrounded them.
“You can’t cheat in blindman’s bluff,” the boy scoffed.
Eli leaned forward. “You tripped Jo when she was blindfolded,” he shouted.
Clare scanned the crowd and saw Jo and Ben huddled at one side. Jo edged through the crowd with a slight limp, Ben at her side, holding her hand. They joined Clare, Eli, and Isaac facing the accusers, like sides of a battle drawn. The bodice of Jo’s pretty, flowered calico dress appeared no worse for wear. But the skirt had mud marks and a tear at the knee, while dusty brown splotches clung to the bottom ruffle.
“She’s just a stupid tomboy who can’t keep up with the rest of the boys.” The witless boy fired another shot, this one aimed at Jo, but Eli reacted like he was the target. With a growl, he sprang on the boy like a wounded mountain lion. Eli landed a solid punch to his stomach before Clare threw her body between them, taking the brunt of a wild swing meant for Eli.
Pain exploded across the left side of her face.
