Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(90)

“No!” Lily cried, jerking around to face them. Alex kept his arm around her front. “No, you f-frigging butchers! Why don’t you throw your-selves into the pit? I’m certain the dogs wouldn’t stand a chance!” She turned back to Alex, gripping his shirt. “I-I bought the bear. He’s mine! When I saw what they were going to do—the poor beast looks so pathetic—I couldn’t help myself. Don’t let them take him away, he’ll be torn to pieces—”

“Lily.” Gently he cupped her face in his hands. “Calm down. Listen to me. This happens all the time.”

“It’s cruel and barbaric!”

“I agree. But if we manage to rescue this animal, they’ll only find another to take its place.”

Her eyes began to water. “His name is Pokey,” she said thickly. She knew her behavior was irrational. She’d never been so emotional, clinging to a man for comfort and help. But after the shock of seeing her daughter, and the bewildering events of the past days, she seemed to have temporarily lost her sanity. “I won’t let them have him,” she said desperately. “I want him as a wedding present, Alex.”

“A wedding present?” Blankly he stared at the battered wooden wagon. The moth-eaten, rheumy-eyed old bear nosed against the unevenly spaced bars. The damn thing didn’t have long to live, baiting or no baiting.

“Please,” Lily whispered into the folds of his shirt.

With a low curse, Alex pushed Lily aside. “Go to Greaves and get on one of the horses,” he muttered. “I’ll take care of this.”

“But—”

“Do it,” he said with quiet finality. Averting her eyes from his hard, uncompromising stare, Lily obeyed. She walked slowly to the corner. Alex approached the two men. “The animal is ours,” he said calmly.

One of them stepped forward, squaring his shoulders. “We needs ’im for the baiting.”

“You’ll have to find another bear. My wife wants this one.” He smiled slightly, his eyes cold and dangerous. “Do you care to take issue?”

The men looked apprehensively at Rooters’s prone body and at Alex’s threatening stance. It was clear that neither of them wished to suffer the same fate as their crony. “What the bloomin’ ’ell should we give to the dogs, then?” one of them demanded plaintively.

“I have a number of suggestions,” Alex replied, staring at them steadily. “But none that you’d like.”

Faced with his ominous gaze, they backed away uneasily. “I s’pose we could make do with more rats ’n badgers,” one of them murmured to the other.

The other frowned unhappily. “But we promised ’em a bear…”

Unconcerned with their dilemma, Alex gestured to Greaves.

The driver came quickly. “Yes, milord?”

“I want you to drive the wagon home,” Alex said matter-of-factly. “Lady Raiford and I will return on the horses.”

Greaves looked far from happy about the prospect of driving the ursine passenger to Swans Court. To his credit, he offered no protest. “Yes, milord,” he said in a subdued voice. He approached the garish wagon gingerly, made a great show of spreading a handkerchief over the wooden seat, and sat with great care to avoid getting dirt on his fine livery. The bear watched the proceedings with a mild expression of interest. Alex smothered a grin and strode to the corner where Lily was waiting.

Her face creased with a worried frown. “Alex, do you think we might be able to fashion a pen or cage for him at Raiford Park? Or perhaps set him free in some forest—”

“He’s too tame to be set free. I have a friend who keeps exotic animals on his estate.” Alex gave the bear, who hardly came under the category of “exotic,” a dubious glance. He sighed tautly. “With any luck, I might be able to persuade him to give Pinky a home.”

“Pokey.”

With a speaking look, he swung up on his mount. “Do you have another escapade planned for tomorrow night?” he asked. “Or is it possible we might have just one quiet evening at home?”

Lily lowered her head meekly and didn’t reply, although she was tempted to point out that she had warned him she wouldn’t be the usual sort of wife. Glancing sideways at his dark, disheveled form, she tried to suppress the waves of giddy nervousness that swept over her. She wanted very much to thank him for all he had done, but she was strangely tongue-tied.

“Let’s go,” he said curtly.

She paused, biting her lip. “Alex, I suppose you must already regret having married me.” There was an anxious lilt in her voice.

“I regret that you disobeyed me and placed yourself in danger.”

At any other time, the concept of wifely obedience was something she would have debated hotly. But with the memory of his rescue so fresh in her mind, she answered with uncustomary mildness. “It couldn’t be helped. I had to resolve matters on my own.”

“You didn’t owe the money to Craven,” he said flatly. “You gave the five thousand to someone else.” At her slight nod, his mouth tightened. “What are you involved in, Lily?”

“I wish you wouldn’t ask,” she whispered miserably. “I don’t want to lie to you.”

His voice was low and grating. “Why not confide in me?”