Page 76 of Kissing the Sheriff
Cassie watched him. The man was looking forward to crossing blades with Conrad. Heavens! Should she be worried?
Conrad looked down the blade of the cutlass. He swiped it up and down, left and right, and, just as the captain, twirled it a few times. “At least it’s balanced.”
“How do you tell?” she asked, curious.
“I’ll show you later.” He faced the captain. “Ready?” He assumed a fencing position.
Captain Stanley grinned ear to ear. “Always.”
“Now wait a minute,” Cassie said alarmed. “Neither of you is wearing any sort of protection.”
“That’s half the fun of it, lass,” the captain said, smiling.
“Oh, dear …” Cassie facepalmed, unsure if she could watch. When she did lower her hand, she noticed Conrad was smiling too. “Great.”
“Quiet now, lass,” the captain ordered. “Let the lad concentrate.”
Conrad smiled. “You seem to think you’re better than me even though we’ve done nothing yet.”
“Then we’d best get on with it.” The captain lunged.
Conrad parried, sidestepped, then took the offensive and drove the captain back. “That wasn’t very sporting of you, sir.”
“You’re not in England now, lad. Best you remember that.” Captain Stanley lunged again and once again Conrad parried, moved, parried, and drove the captain back. “Hmm. You’ve got some talent.”
“I should hope so,” Conrad said. “As I said, I’ve been fencing for years.”
“Really?” the captain drawled. “And the same for your brothers?”
“Of course. Sterling is the best with a sword. He’s had more practice, though Wallis is a close second.” He lunged at the captain, taking him by surprise.
Cassie thought Captain Stanley might stumble but he held his own. They were testing each other, looking for weaknesses. Watching the graceful movements (on Conrad’s part, anyway) made her want to learn even more. Captain Stanley fought like one would expect a sea captain to fight. He was slower than Conrad but used more brute force. Conrad was all quickness and balance. “How interesting,” she muttered to herself.
“No distractions, Cassie,” Conrad said as he once again drove the captain back. Their contest was picking up speed and she wondered who would win. Were they holding back, trying not to hurt each other? These weren’t foils they were fighting with. Cutlasses were, in her opinion, a more dangerous weapon.
Conrad lunged again, driving the captain across the room. Cassie grabbed the back of a chair as she gasped. He reminded her of some swashbuckling hero from a romance novel. Her heart raced, her belly warmed, and her cheeks heated.
Captain Stanley was driven to the staircase where he hurried up several steps. “Arrrrgh! Enough. You’ve killed me several times already.”
Conrad, took a deep breath, wiped a lock of hair off his forehead then turned to Cassie and smiled. “And to the winner go the spoils.” He crossed the room and looked into her eyes. “Where’s the treasure?”
“Right … um, where it’s buried, I guess.” She wanted to say “right here”, but that wouldn’t do. She still didn’t know if he had any true feelings for her. She turned away. “That was some display.”
“That was a swordfight, my dear. Plain and simple.” Conrad returned to Captain Stanley, who was red-faced from his exertions but beaming. “That was fun.”
“Aye, the most I’ve had in years. What say we have another go sometime, but with the proper protection so as not to alarm the ladies in town?”
“Agreed.” He smiled at Cassie. “Still want to learn?”
“More than ever,” she said.
“Very well, we’ll see what we can do. In the meantime, we should get back to work.”
She nodded, her eyes on the cutlass still in his hand. “My goodness. What would Pa think?”
Conrad went back to speaking with the captain as she tried to imagine the look on Pa’s face, had he seen what she did. He’d probably want lessons too. She went to the table where the third cutlass lay and picked it up. It wasn’t as light as she thought it might be, and she wondered how long it would take her to master it. Not that she’d trade her gun for a sword, but it was fun to think about.
“All done,” Conrad announced as he came her way. “When you have some spare time, I can give you a few lessons. The captain has agreed to watch and make sure you don’t stab me.” He smiled and headed for the saloon doors
