Page 61 of A Duke But No Gentleman
Norgrave slapped his lover on her arse and she cried out in surprise before she crawled to the other side of the bed to avoid another slap.“Be a dear, and get my friend a drink.He prefers brandy.”
“I did not come to drink with you,” Tristan said, his gaze shifting to the two women on the sofa.“Perhaps we should speak privately.”
“Why?I have no secrets.”The marquess slipped his hand into the sleeve of a red silk banyan with blue flowers and worked his other arm into the other.He did not bother to fasten the buttons down the front.Tristan glanced down at the man’s turgid cock with a raised brow.The man’s confidence was something he once envied, but now he felt nothing but disgust.
Norgrave plucked the glass of brandy from the woman’s hands as she walked by him.“Well, if you don’t want the brandy, then I will claim it.”
Whether it was intentional or not, his double entendre spurred Tristan into action.His fist connected with the man’s jaw, sending him backward and into the fireplace mantel.He heard the three women cry out in surprise and alarm, and there was movement behind him.
Norgrave’s pained expression relaxed into speculation as he rubbed his sore jaw.“Leave us.”
The women hastily slipped out of the bedchamber, but neither of the two men observed their departure.
“You’re bleeding,” Tristan said dispassionately.He walked over to the table and picked up a linen napkin that had been discarded.He tossed it at the marquess.“That is a nasty gash.”
“Would you believe I cut myself shaving without a mirror?”Norgrave pressed the cloth to his cheek.
Tristan lunged and seized the loose cloth flaps of the open banyan.He slammed Norgrave against the mantel.“You must have been astounded when Imogene fought back.It’s a pity she didn’t cut your throat, though there is a certain justice to her marring your handsome face, don’t you think?”
Tristan tightened his hold and pulled him closer so he could pivot the marquess away from the fireplace.He sent him careening into a table.
Norgrave toppled over the table and spun around to confront him.“Have you lost your head?Whatever the lady told you is a lie.”
“I know about the message you sent Imogene.Duplicating my handwriting was simple enough.You knew it was the only way Imogene would agree to meet you.What you didn’t count on was that she replied to the note she thought I had written to her.”
A dry chuckle rumbled in Norgrave’s throat.“Did you actually see the note that she claimed I wrote in your handwriting?You have it all wrong, my friend.Imogene is making fools out of us both.I regret telling you this since you are fond of the minx.Nevertheless, the lady invited me to join her at your mother’s house.If she wrote you, she did so with the deliberate intention of pitting us against each other.”
He stalked toward his former friend.“I went to the house and found her, you filthy piece of excrement.You cannot lie your way out of this.”
Norgrave picked up a vase and wildly swung it at Tristan’s head.It missed breaking over his skull, but it struck him in the shoulder.The vase broke on impact, and he felt one of the sharp edges slice into his shoulder.With a roar, he collided into the marquess and they both fell to the floor.
For a few minutes it was a balanced battle with no clear victor.However, the man who always prided himself in abiding by the rules was no longer interested in playing fair.He grabbed Norgrave by the testicles and twisted.The man bleated like a wounded goat, too blinded by the pain to even roll away.
Tristan drove his elbow into the man’s stomach.He wanted to beat the man to death with his bare hands.He managed to hit him again, before the man kicked him away.
Norgrave staggered to his feet and sneered.“I never knew you were such a dirty fighter, Tristan.Shouldn’t you be issuing a formal challenge and demanding that I choose my seconds?”
“No challenge,” Tristan rasped, his collarbone throbbing from the blow.“You have no honor to defend.I suppose I will have to be satisfied with beating you bloody.”
Norgrave landed a brutal punch, and Tristan’s vision dimmed at the edges.He grabbed for the banyan, and gravity caused them to fall.The marquess landed on top, and he took advantage of his position.Tristan twisted his head to evade the man’s fists, but he took several blows to the face and shoulder.From the corner of his eye, he espied a small shard from the shattered vase within reach and he grabbed it.The piece was too fragile to be lethal, but the shallow cuts across Norgrave’s abdomen gained him his freedom.
“Enough!”the marquess barked, his hand lifted in surrender.
Tristan could not claim a clear victory.Both of them were gasping for breath and bleeding from numerous cuts.His face was already beginning to swell from the other man’s punches.Fortunately, the marquess looked worse.The gash on his face was bleeding noticeably.He would need a surgeon’s needle again before the night’s end.
“I need to know why.”
“Why what?”
“That damn wager, Norgrave,” Tristan shouted.“What angered you more—the notion that I was no longer interested in playing your bloody games and saw you for the manipulative bastard that you are, or that Imogene picked me instead of you?”
“If I were you, I would question the lady’s loyalty.Did she tell you about our time together?”he softly taunted.
“Spare me your lies.”Tristan wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.“I can never forgive you for what you have done.From this day forward, our friendship is over.If you speak of this night to anyone or utter Imogene’s name, I will grant you the challenge you seek, and there will be no mercy.Sword or pistol, I will kill you.”
Tristan had delivered his message.He headed toward the door.If they were lucky, everyone was too drunk or nervous to summon the watch.
“You are casting our friendship aside over awoman?”
