Taming of the Beast (Scandalous Affairs #2) - Christi Caldwell Page 0,57

was somehow different than when it came from this hard stranger’s lips. Nor did it escape her notice that these words were not slurred. They were perfectly clear, from someone in complete possession of himself. Which made him all the more dangerous.

Once more, she attempted to pass him.

Tenacious, he continued to match her movements.

“Step out of my way,” she said tightly, her breath stirring a cloud of white in the air.

He smiled slowly, a harsh, hard, and unforgiving grin.

And then he reached for her.

A scream echoed through the East London streets. A woman’s scream. Pitched with terror and chilling for the fear contained within, it was a sound that would have haunted even the hardest of men.

That was the only reason that, walking through those same seedy streets, Tynan paused.

Keep going. Keep going.

He continued on ahead, and yet, he slowed his pace once more, his gaze trained forward even as he remained on alert for those who lurked in the shadows.

Screams in the Rookeries were as common as rain in England.

One could with certainty count on both in equal measure in London.

A person also learned that, in order to survive, one headed in the opposite direction of whatever misery someone else had been unfortunate enough to stumble upon.

As a boy, when he’d had his late mother and sister to care for, he’d not always been immune to those sounds of suffering. However, neither had he the luxury of involving himself in a stranger’s life. He’d always been cognizant of the fact that were anything to happen to him, then Sara and Mam would have found themselves eaten up and shredded by the monsters that dwelled in these parts. Nay, Tynan was the only one who’d stood between them and the cruel fates that awaited women without the protection of a man.

Another cry went up, this one slightly more high-pitched and strident.

Closer this time.

Tynan gritted his teeth.

He’d only one reason for being here.

And that reason had absolutely nothing to do with the problem that woman now found herself in.

That’s what he told himself. Over and over. And yet…

Tynan abruptly stopped.

It appeared he’d gone weak after all.

Cursing blackly, he shifted course and headed in the direction of the last scream. Tynan quickened his stride and immediately came upon the pair at battle.

An enormous monster of a man, blocked the woman who’d screamed.

“Ye got no place in these parts, love. Ye hear me?”

There was something familiar about that gravelly cockney, not as rough or unclear as most of the men from these parts, instead possessed of shades of someone who’d picked up enough of the proper King’s English.

“And I’ll not say it again. Sod off.”

Tynan froze.

He was hearing things.

Nay, he was hearing her. The lady had invaded not only all his sleeping moments, but now his waking ones, too. There was no other way to account for why Tynan was hearing—

The bulky stranger shifted slightly, revealing the diminutive figure nearly two feet smaller.

A figure brandishing a parasol as if she were Joan of Arc with a broadsword in hand.

Faye…

Impossible. She—

Bringing the parasol down hard, she proceeded to beat her assailant on the arm. With a menacing growl, the man yanked it from her fingers and reached for her wrist.

“How dare you?” she cried.

A crimson flash of fury hazed Tynan’s vision. This man had dared put his hands upon Faye, and he’d pay for that transgression.

Surging into action, Tynan raced forward, and not breaking stride, he grabbed the bastard by his neck with one hand and gripped his forearm with the other, and in one fluid motion, Tynan drove his knee into the back of the man’s thigh, knocking his legs out from under him. Tynan slammed the side of his head into the bastard’s head, a wicked rush of bloodlust pumping through him.

The taller, bigger man hit the ground hard, a grunt escaping him as he collided with the harsh, unforgiving cobblestones.

Panting, Tynan drew his fist back, prepared to land another blow.

“No!” Out of nowhere, Finn came flying over.

Finn? What the hell was he doing here?

Through a haze of bloodlust, Tynan stared down at the man sprawled on the cobblestones, staring dazedly up.

Faye’s assailant was none other than a notorious London street fighter and former owner of Savage’s Boxing Ring. His grip slackened.

Tynan quickly collected his wits and tightened his hold on the fighter. “Putting your hands on a woman?” And this woman. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. Gripping Bragger by the shoulders, he dragged the dazed man up into