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It was enough for Scarlett to wrench herself free of his hold, and she hurled herself at Hudson with a choked sob.

His arms came up to hold her shaking form. “Shh, little cat. It will be all right. Allow me to take care of it for you.”

He ran his fingers tenderly over her face, taking in every bit of her. Relief flooded him when he realized that aside from being shaken, she was largely unharmed.

He pushed her behind him and faced Lord Colton. The man had lost all semblance of the handsome gentleman he loved to present himself as. Scarlett’s nails had gouged deep marks into his face, leaving four red trails that stretched from one temple tothe opposite jaw. A fraction of an inch to one side, and she might have taken an eye out, too.

Hudson smiled proudly at her handiwork. His wife was a ferocious warrior, and Lord Colton had underestimated her for the last time.

As her husband, it was only right that he finished what she had started.

“Come here, Colton.” He crooked his finger at the wounded Marquess. “Show me how you fight—or do you only attack hapless women half your weight?”

With a scream of rage, Lord Colton hurled himself at him.

Hudson smiled coldly.

Scarlett had witnessed how Hudson could move with understated grace. His long fingers, callused from his years on the battlefield, were strong and gentle at the same time as he patiently chipped away at marble.

She had watched as he clenched those same fingers into fists as he sought to control himself in her presence. Had felt them stoking her pleasure to impossible heights.

As he crooked one of them at the Marquess as if he was summoning a dog to heel, she saw the lethality that lay dormant in them as well.

When Lord Colton rushed at him with a loud cry, she watched as he calmly drew his fist back and then struck with blinding precision, his fist hitting the Marquess’s nose. She heard the sickening crack of bone, but there was no time to feel queasy, as Hudson had already begun to move.

He rocked on the balls of his feet, his fists raised to his eyes. His eyes were narrowed in cold concentration.

This was no longer the calm Duke of Wolverton. She was seeing Hudson the warrior, the one who had seen the horrors of the battlefield andlived.

Lord Colton stumbled on his feet and rushed at Hudson once more. Again, Hudson’s fist struck out with lethal accuracy, hitting the man squarely in the jaw so that his head snapped to the side.

“Get up, Colton,” he ordered in a soft voice. “Show me how a real man fights.”

The Marquess cried out and hurled himself at him, but his steps were unsteady. His eye was already swollen, and blood was dripping from his nose. It was a miracle that he could still see Hudson’s figure.

Hudson’s last fist knocked Lord Colton solidly to the ground. Scarlett softly touched his arm and dropped her hand just as Alexander and the others walked in on the scene.

“Good God!” her brother gasped when his eyes landed on his bloodied best friend. “Is he still alive?”

“Barely,” Hudson answered dryly, shaking his wrist. “Call the constable and have him dispose of this cretin.”

Alexander nodded shakily. “Right away.”

Scarlett watched as her brother rushed away from the scene. He looked as if he was about to lose his dinner.

As she smiled at the thought of her brother retching on the pavement, she felt herself swallowed up into a fierce embrace.

“I feared I might have lost you,” Hudson whispered hoarsely in her ear. “I could not help but think that Daniel was right—if I lost you, then all the regrets in this world would never be able to make up for it.”

She looked up at him, and his face became hazy from the tears welling up in her eyes. “I knew you would come. I tried to hold him off as much as I could, but he was so strong…”

“Shh…” he murmured into her hair. “You are safe now. I will make sure that he will never be able to harm you—or anyone else—ever again.”

She nodded and buried her nose in his chest, but then he pulled away from her, his eyebrows knitted in concern.

“Are you sure you are unharmed?” he rasped. “Does your neck hurt? Your head?”

She smiled and cupped his face in her hands. “I am perfectly fine, husband, and it is all thanks to you.”