The Bareknuckle Groom - Holly Bush Page 0,45

place for a woman.”

“Like your wife?”

“At least Elspeth had the good sense to wear pants and hide her hair.” Alexander stood. “I’ll go for her.”

MacAvoy pulled him back down to his seat. “Look at her, damn it!”

Lucinda Vermeal had stepped in front of the first row of the seated men, pardoning herself in the narrow space between them and the edge of the ring as the men pulled in their feet or stood, her arm and skirts brushing the ropes on the other side.

“If James catches sight of her, the match is over,” MacAvoy said. “What’s your clock saying?”

“Eighteen minutes. They’ve been fighting eighteen minutes,” Alexander said and tucked his watch back in his pocket. “Without a bell.”

“James is getting winded,” MacAvoy said and screamed at Billy Pettigrew. “Tell him to take a knee!”

Miss Vermeal slipped behind the cornerman and made her way to them. Alexander took her outstretched hand and seated her beside MacAvoy. He knelt in the aisle close to her.

“What are you doing here, Miss Vermeal?” MacAvoy asked. “You’d best not let James see you here.”

“It could be dangerous, Miss Vermeal,” Alexander said. “Why don’t you let me see you home?”

“There’s no chance that Mr. Thompson could see me, MacAvoy. Both of his eyes are nearly swollen shut,” she said. She was perched on the edge of the bench, her back straight, holding a little silk bag on her lap in gloved hands.

“He can see, miss.”

“I was told these matches rarely last more than fifteen minutes. How long has this one been going on?” she asked.

Alexander pulled out his watch. “Twenty-two minutes.”

The crowd quieted as the match drug on, making the sounds of fists hitting soft flesh magnified and making Lucinda feel nauseous. Both men were slowing down, in her opinion, and MacAvoy and Mr. Pendergast leaned in to talk to each other in front of her. She was pressed up to MacAvoy’s side, and Mr. Pendergast’s arm was against her hip.

“Trade places with me,” MacAvoy finally said to Mr. Pendergast just as James took a swing at Jackson and missed completely, his opponent leaning out of the way and grabbing the rope. Jackson’s knee barely grazed the floor, but a large man in a dreadfully colored suit who seemed to be in charge rang a bell. He must be the Chambliss fellow that Michael had mentioned. A young man ran into the ring at the sound of the bell and walked James back to the corner.

“Thirty seconds!” Chambliss shouted.

MacAvoy grabbed the man’s shoulder. “Change in corner men, Chambliss.”

An older man helping James’s opponent shouted his displeasure.

“Shit on you, Bergman! I run the match. You can change corner men in my fights.”

Men were exchanging money all around her, and she looked at Mr. Pendergast, who had moved her in on the bench and sat down on the end. He pulled her tight against him.

“What is going on? Is the fight over?”

“No. The fight isn’t over. MacAvoy is going to run James’s corner and maybe try and talk some sense into him.”

James’s chest was heaving with each breath, and his arms hung at his sides. MacAvoy pulled something from his mouth and another man held a jar of water to it. MacAvoy shoved the bloody thing back in his mouth and held James’s head still, speaking to him, their foreheads touching. James straightened, rolled his neck, and turned back to the ring when the bell rang.

Both men seemed to benefit from the few moments away from the ring, but both began to slow down quickly. MacAvoy was shouting for James to take a knee as Mr. Pendergast looked at his watch.

“Twenty-six minutes,” he said.

James landed a punch to the other man’s stomach that doubled him over. Jackson, she’d heard the name over and again and knew it must be James’s opponent, came up swinging while James’s arms hung by his sides, surely trying to catch his breath. She heard the crunch of bone and watched as James’s head snapped back. He dropped to his knees and the bell rang.

MacAvoy picked him up and carried James to his corner, grabbing a length of toweling to wipe his face. Mr. Pendergast stood beside her, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, “Thirty minutes.”

MacAvoy held James’s limp face in his hands while the other man gave him water. She could hear MacAvoy screaming at James. “Take a knee before you’re hurt worse.”

James shook his head and turned out of MacAvoy’s embrace when the bell rang, lurching to the center of