Free Beloved Beast by Lois Greiman Page B

back. Her knee skimmed his thigh, just injuring him, but that was enough for her. Grabbing her skirts in both hands, she pivoted like a charger and bolted across the street. She could hear him rally before she’d reached the opposite side. He straightened with a growl. The feral sound raised the hair on the back of her neck, but it did nothing to slow her flight. She glanced over her shoulder. He was already giving chase. And he was fast, devouring the distance between them.
    She dashed down Castle Street and careened onto Rose. One glance over her shoulder assured her she was not alone. Knobby was behind her and gaining. Up ahead, the market would be bustling with people. Maybe she could get lost in the crowd. Or maybe she’d get snatched by a constable. But there was little choice. Knobby was behind, crowds were ahead.
    She turned the corner like a courser digging for the home stretch… and ran smack into a tall gentleman’s back.
    She staggered, momentarily stunned. He bobbed forward a few steps then turned slowly. “I say, what goes on here?” His expression was stern, his tone the same, suggesting London roots. But she realized those truths in only a vague sort of way, for he was wealthy.
    He was wearing a fob watch on his waistcoat, a black billycock on his head, and a sharp-cut ruby on his right ring finger. For a moment the entirety of Swift’s attention was riveted on those facts, but a squeal from behind brought her abruptly to her senses.
    “My apologies, sir.” Her London accent was a tad bit rusty, but she pushed ahead. “I fear I’m in a terrible rush. I was to meet my dearest father at the…” Behind her, a man growled a warning. Feet scuffled. She imagined Knobby careening toward her. Her mind stalled, frozen in terror, but she kicked it impatiently back into gear, raised her gaze past the gentleman’s left ear and found inspiration in the small stone church at the end of the street. “At the chapel,” she finished breathlessly, “And I must away.”
    It was all she could do to remain steady as she strode past the venders and hawkers that lined the boulevard. Behind her in the growing crush, a woman gasped and a man cursed. Reaching up with stiff fingers, she slipped the straw chapeau from her head. Every fiber in her ached to glance over her shoulder, but she resisted. Instead, she pulled the copper pins from her hair and dropped them into her reticule. Chestnut curls fell around her face and down her back as she shifted her eyes side to side, searching for relief. And then she saw it.
    Two young men were watching the crowds from a dark alcove. One was tall and gawky, one near her own height. And now she did chance a glance over her shoulder. Knobby was not yet in sight.
    “I’ve a proposition.” She joined them in the shadows. They straightened abruptly. Perhaps their cocky, devil-may-kill expressions should have scared her, but she knew nothing of these boys, and far too much of Knobby Hooks.
    “A proposition?” said the gawky one and shifted his weight restlessly. “Might it involve you flat on your back with me-”
    “It involves this hat,” she said, and kept herself from wasting precious time by listening to him jabber.
    “Methinks I’m more interested in you.”
    “How about in this?” she asked and held up a fob watch. She hadn’t really meant to take it from the gentleman she’d last bumped into, but if he didn’t want it filched why did he wear it right out in the open like that?
    “You giving us a watch, Strawberry?” asked the shorter of the two.
    “I shall,” she said, “if you’ll wear the hat and run through the crowds until you reach the square.”
    They stared at her for a second then snorted in derision.
    “Tell me this then, Strawberry, why don’t we just grab you and the watch all together?”
    She took time to give them her most comely smile. She’d left plain behind some minutes ago. “Because I’ll knee you in the forbiddens and scream bloody