Page 42 of Charming the Accidental Suitor
Marlin took several steps forward. “It seems she has the situation well in hand.”
“Indeed I do,” she agreed. “But as this is not the most comfortable position…”
She held a hand out and every man present rushed forward to help her to her feet. Albright reached her first and she tried not to notice how warm his hand was as it wrapped around hers, nor how close he stood as the others retrieved the scoundrel from where he still lay prostrate on the ground.
She resisted the urge to rub her aching bottom.
Perching on that rascal Everson’s back had not been comfortable, but it had been the most assured way to keep him down until help arrived.
And she’d known theywouldarrive, eventually. It did not require a great leap to understand that the angry and unstable Mr. Everson would want revenge first and foremost…
And perhaps that dowry he’d been promised.
So yes, all of the men had arrived, and swiftly.
To her dismay everyone was making a fuss over her as Everson was led away—shamed, it seemed, since he’d been beaten by a woman.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Rodrick asked.
She smiled and nodded, and gave the slightest tug of her hand. But Albright refused to let it go.
If the other gentlemen noticed the way he was clasping her hand in his, no one let on as they applauded her bravery and asked her about the circumstances that had led to her sitting atop their runaway fiend.
“It was not bravery or strength,” she finally admitted as she tried and failed to reclaim her hand once again. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
“The tree,” Albright murmured at her side.
The sound of his voice, all low and serious…it sent a shiver down her spine, and her hand?—
She tugged so hard she nearly stumbled into him when he held on tight.
“Yes, the tree,” she agreed. For the benefit of the others, she explained how the tree had long been her favorite place to come sit and think, particularly at night. “I saw him coming, of course.”
“And you didn’t shout for help?” Marlin asked.
She lifted a shoulder. “Help from whom? My elderly great uncle? He’d only be in harm’s way. And while we do have some footmen on the premises, they are little more than boys and no match for Everson in strength.”
A silence fell and Felicity felt their gazes fixed on her. She didn’t feel condemnation or disdain coming from them, however. If anything, she thought she saw a glimmer of admiration in their expressions.
Except for Albright. She couldn’t see his expression at all because she refused to look up at him.
“And you thought youarea match for Everson in strength?” Albright’s voice was as low and calm as ever, but she heard the undercurrent there.
He was angry again, no doubt. And perhaps a little relieved.
A niggle of warmth seeped into her chest at the thought of him worrying about her.
She shut the thought down instantly. She’d made the man fret far more than he ought of late, and only a fool would mistake kindhearted worry for something more.
While she answered Albright’s question, she kept her attention on the other men facing her. “I did not believe I could match him in strength, but I knew I had the element of surprise in my favor…” She glanced up pointedly at the tree limb. “Not to mention a height advantage.”
Carver sputtered a bit. Kal and Rodrick chuckled.
Marlin’s lips twitched. “And so you…jumped on him?”
Felicity started to laugh. When he put it like that, it sounded rather ridiculous. “I’d say it was more…” She paused and lifted Albright’s arm with hers in a sort of reenactment of her leap. “It was more like I fell on him.”
They were all laughing now, aside from Albright. He was squeezing her hand so tightly she was starting to wonder if she’d lose feeling in her fingers. But soon enough the others were taking their leave, and no one seemed to find it strange in the slightest that Albright made no move to join them.
