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Seth checked his fob watch. Two hours before dinner with his daughter…and the new governess.
Not the only development at No. 25 Arlington Street.
The scent of wildflowers now haunted the hallways.
A graceful laugh echoed behind a closed schoolroom door.
Buttercup silk flashed around a corner.
All reminding him that a woman now lived in his house.
A pretty woman with eyes of sherry and skin of cream.
A pretty woman who thought him a beef-witted muttonhead.
Heaving a breath, he swung a leg over the lower rope and ducked the upper one to step into the ring. Seth shoved off his unbuttoned waistcoat, hauled his shirt over his head and flung it to the corner post.
He sponsored many a boy from the Rookery, lads like himself who craved a way out, and Liam was good, but anger and arrogance would be his downfall.
“Yer opponent today, Liam, was two stone lighter and twelvemonth younger. If yer met an experienced fighter in the ring, he’d mill yer before yer could raise a fist.” Seth lifted his own, the damaged knuckles and hardened skin speaking their ferocious past, reminding the boy of Seth’s background, of who he truly was. That when all was said and done, prizefighting wasn’t for the nobs and swells that followed their wins, but for common men who needed coin and food to survive.
“I could take anyone on,” the lad muttered with a shadowed gleam to his gaze.
“Take me on, then, for one round. Yer’ve fought m’other lads, but you and me have only scuffled.”
Liam tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at Seth.
If the lad cared to make use of those eyes, he’d see an ex-fighter in good form, but one who’d ceased brawling professionally four years past. A man with just over three decades who might have grown lax hobnobbing with fancy coves.
“M’pleasure, Mr Hawkins.”
They bounced upon the spot to loosen, weight forward, fists raised, until Seth nodded and the young lad, with no assessment of his opponent’s stance whatsoever, stabbed out a blow to Seth’s noggin.
A simple shift of the neck and the blow flew wide.
Liam growled and attempted a plump to the ribs, but Seth danced to the right and it glanced off with nigh a brush.
Another mill, but too wild, and Seth pitched up a forearm to meet the force, his wide stance enabling his balance.
A further fist jabbed out, this time catching his ribs, but Seth’s chest was not a weakness, cushioned as it was by muscle and sinew, and he was easily able to withstand the impact, to tarry until…
Proud of his blow, Liam advanced, too fast, fists pelting, and Seth took advantage to hook his heel around the back of the lad’s ankle and sweep him from his feet.
“And the round is over,” Seth declared, hauling a sullen Liam from his arse.
He rested hands on the lad’s shoulders.
“Liam. Use yer brains. I know you ’ave them under all that temper. Look at me. What are m’weaknesses? Where are m’strengths? Did yer even think before blundering in? Where in the ’ell was yer defence? I could ’ave ’ad yer as soon as yer missed that first rattler, but thought I’d wait till yer sealed yer own fall.”
Liam glowered but began to rake Seth with his wolfish eyes.
“Yer’ve a stocky build, Mr Hawkins, which keeps its balance well. A chest that can take a fist. And yer’ve bleedin’ light feet that can move like a doxy at dawn. But…” His black gaze perused. “Yer’ve a shorter reach, and I don’t mean no cheek, but…” A smile shimmered – the boy within. “Yer ain’t no raw buffer, Mr Hawkins, so yer stamina won’t be up to much.”
“Better. Whereas yer’ve a long reach, are young and can bide yer time. Wait, punch from afar with power, and I might go down like a Spanish ship in the Armada. Think, Liam, use yer noddle. You ain’t fighting no lowlife gutter rats in the streets, but real men with hard lives, rent to pay and babes to feed.”
Liam gave a mulish nod.
“And don’t be so damn cocksure. Learn from others, and one day, the world might be yer oyster.”
“Right yer are, Mr Hawkins. Can we have another bout?”
Seth glanced to the clock upon the wall and grabbed his shirt from the corner post.
“Tomorrow at nine, lad. I’ve got a dinner to tog up for.”
