Winner Takes All - Anna Harrington Page 0,19
to mean something!
“A filthy groom with horseshit beneath his fingernails.”
Her attention darted back to Charles. “Pardon?”
With his jaw clenched hard, he nodded toward Shaw, who had turned his attention back to the men around him. “What is it, this infatuation you have with him?”
Startled, her heart corkscrewed itself into her throat. For a moment, she couldn’t find her voice, and when she did, she couldn’t help her defensive tone. “There’s no infatuation.” No. It was love. “He’s Midnight’s trainer, and I’m lucky to have him working with the colt.”
He laughed beneath his breath. “Don’t think me a fool, Francesca.” His icy tone swirled a chill through her. “I’ve seen the way you look at him—and the way he looks at you.”
He stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Shaw. But she knew better than to try to peer around him. Instead, she glared up at him with all the haughtiness she could muster.
“I believe, Lord Charles,” she warned, “that it would be wise to refrain from making any more insinuations.”
“And you’d be wise not to be a tease, especially with a man like that.”
Her mouth fell open as stunned surprise rippled through her, followed immediately by seething anger. “A man like what, exactly? A good man with his own well-respected career and horse farm? One with intelligence, skill, competence—”
“One who would love to get beneath the skirts of a viscount’s daughter just to brag about it.” Venom poured from his lips, which stretched into a thin and humorless smile. “Oh, I’m sure you love the attention. Most likely, he fawns all over you, doing his best to charm you onto your back.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “How dare you—”
“Just as I’m certain it’s all innocent on your part. That you’d never go beyond flirtation.”
Her hand itched to slap him, so much that she had to draw it into a fist to hold it back.
“But I won’t brook any dalliances or flirtations—even innocent ones—once we’re married. And I certainly won’t stand for being cuckolded by a man who shovels horseshit.”
“You don’t have to worry about any of that,” she assured him. “Because it will be a cold day in hell before I marry you!”
Furious, she spun on her heel to march away—
He grabbed her arm and stopped her. When she tried to pull away, he yanked her back against him. His hand tightened its grip so hard around her elbow that she winced in pain.
“You will not make a fool of me!” he seethed.
“Let go of her,” Shaw ordered from close behind her, in a voice so surprisingly calm that it sent shivers spinning through her. A voice that was deadly.
But the fool that he was, Charles gritted his teeth and stood his ground. “This is none of your business, Shaw. Go back to the stables where you belong.”
Shaw slid Frankie a sideways glance that assured her he was going nowhere. “Release her. Now.”
“So you want to play the dashing hero, do you?” Charles lowered his voice as a crowd began to gather, with most of the men lining up behind Shaw. He laughed. “You think someone like you could ever be with a woman like Francesca? You’re not good enough to clean her boots!”
Shaw said nothing, but Frankie felt the change in him. A hardening. A chilling. All his excuses for why they couldn’t be together were reiterated in Charles’s accusations. This time when Shaw’s eyes flicked to her, the doubt in their depths was unmistakable. He stood three feet—and a world—away.
Her chest tightened with fear that she was losing him even now, and Frankie took a desperate step toward him. “Don’t listen—”
Charles twisted her arm as he jerked her back to his side. She cried out in surprise.
Shaw grabbed Charles by the shoulder with his left hand to wheel him around to face him as he pulled back his right arm and swung. His fist caught him in the jaw. Charles staggered back a single step, then fell to the ground.
Towering over Charles as he writhed on the turf in pain, Shaw ground out through clenched teeth, “If you ever manhandle her like that again, I swear to God that I’ll—”
“Shaw!” Frankie interrupted before he could threaten the man’s life and be arrested for it. She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back.
“He attacked me!” Charles shouted as he scrambled to his feet, a trickle of blood marring the corner of his mouth. He shoved Jonas away as her uncle came scurrying up to intervene and keep