Page 31 of What Happens in Hedone

That stopped him. Her cousin, the boy she had known from her birth in all his insolent and clumsy stages, caught up short and stared at her. Then he released an enormous sigh, his shoulders dropping in his tailored coat.

“Oh, thank God. I couldn’t cry off, but you can.” He stabbed a finger in the air. “You must be the one to tell everyone. They’ll fall on me like harpies.”

“I don’t care if I am a jilt.” Effie’s chest heaved as she sucked in air. “I don’t care if I never marry⁠—”

“Oh, if you heard how this one’s been going on about you—” Farren faced his friend, his face growing thunderous once again. “You did what to her?”

“Don’t!” Effie shrieked, but her cry had no effect as Farren launched himself. Jay half-rose from his chair, but not in time to gain his feet, and the brunt of the attack sent him stumbling backward.

“Oh, you mustn’t,” Effie moaned, but they didn’t heed her. “Heddy, we must do something.”

“Let them work it out.” Heddy pushed back her chair to watch in fascination. “And may the best man win.”

Blood pounded in Effie’s ears as she watched the two men grapple. Jay was broader and had more brawn, but Farren, taller and more slender, was slippery. Farren was trained in the boxing and fencing salons of the gentleman, but Jay was clearly a brawler. He merely grunted as Farren landed a punch or two, then caught the other man in a wrestler’s grip, one arm about his neck. Farren’s eyes bulged and he gasped for air, pounding Jay’s taut bicep with his fist.

“Stop. Stop.” Effie ran forward and slipped her arm around Jay’s waist, hugging him from behind. Glory, he was strong, all muscle and flex. “Jay. He’s my cousin.”

Breathing heavily, Jay released his grip. Farren hauled in air, then drew back his fist and landed a solid punch to Jay’s jaw. He staggered backward into Effie’s arms and she shrieked again, losing her balance. Somehow Jay turned mid-fall and caught her so she landed atop him rather than on the floor.

“A facer, after he’d let you go,” Heddy noted. “Hardly sporting, Lord Farren.”

“That’s for Effie.” Farren panted for breath, flexing his knuckles. “Ow. You’ve a face like one of your bricks, Burnham.”

“Jay.” Effie cradled his face, wiping away the trickle of blood at the side of his mouth. “Jay!”

He kept his eyes shut, his arms locked about her. “Shh. I’m holding the girl of my dreams. Don’t wake me.”

“You…” Effie rolled off him and swatted his arm. “I have a quarrel with you, too! Why are you so angry at me?”

He opened his eyes, and she caught her breath at the expression in his smoke gray eyes. Sheer longing, regret, and something that made her knees wobble. Something almost like adoration.

He rolled into a crouch, lithe as a cat, then gathered Effie and rose with her, holding her arms.

“Because I was eating myself up with guilt that I was betraying you with this irresistible woman I met at a pleasure club, and it was driving me mad that I wanted two women. And I needn’t have gone mad at all if you had simply told me⁠—”

“Is it my fault you didn’t know me?”

“He’s a dunce,” Farren put in, regarding his bruised knuckles.

“You were wearing a mask, and you looked different.” Jay rubbed at her nose, and the paint came off. “There they are.”

“The girls at Miss Gregoire’s use cosmetics that aren’t made of lead or arsenic,” Effie said. “One of the previous students made the recipe.”

“She became a rather famous painter,” Heddy added.

Effie wiped beneath her eyes, trying to press away tears. “But why wouldn’t you be happy to know it was me begging for you, if you meant to ask me to marry⁠—”

“Can you bear that I dallied with Erato when I wanted to marry Effie? It’s been eating me up. And you were merely amusing yourself with a tradesman before you went off to marry your lord⁠—”

“No. I chose you.” She curled hands into his arms, uncaring of their audience. “I wanted you.”

“And after all, they are the same girl, so I fail to see the betrayal,” Heddy observed.

“I am a dolt. Forgive me.” Jay drew Effie into his arms.

“He don’t like surprises,” Farren said seriously. “Likes his plan. Needs all the steps written out, and then he’ll follow them, don’t you know.”

“Most sensible people do, Farren,” Heddy said.