A Rose In Flanders Fields by Terri Nixon Page A

the suddenness with which everything had changed, and wanting to go to Will and make sure he was all right. But he was completely focused on David now, and as David lunged, he easily dodged and clipped David on the point of his chin.
    I watched, my heart slowing as the panic eased; Will was older, and easily the most agile and stronger of the two, and, despite the bruising kick, he was breathing more easily now. I wondered what had brought David up to the quarry in the first place, and, hot on the heels of that came the more urgent question: how could we prevent him from telling everyone what he had seen?
    The two circled one another like wolves, the twenty-six-year-old and the seventeen-year-old, but David had already lost and we all three knew it. He eyed Will warily; Will had pushed his sleeves back to reveal forearms made strong by the hard work he did six and a half days out of seven, and the muscles flexed beneath his skin as he tightened and relaxed his fists. There was a gleam of sweat along his brow, and his eyes flashed bright blue in the sunlight, but now they weren’t friendly at all.
    David cleared his throat and stepped back, dropping his hands back to his sides, an act I reluctantly admitted took courage. Defiantly, he raised his chin and I could see the red mark that would bruise nicely later. ‘I’ll have you arrested if I catch you anywhere near Miss Creswell again.’ His gaze flicked to me, and although I was quite respectably dressed I felt as if Will’s warm hands had left blazing prints all across my summer dress, and that they must have shown. Then he looked back at Will, clearly relieved as Will also dropped his guard and assumed a more relaxed position.
    David’s tone turned rather snooty and I lost the fleeting sympathy I’d felt. ‘Who are you, anyway? No gentleman, that’s for sure. A gentleman would never assault a lady while she was out riding.’
    ‘What do you want, David?’ I said, moving to Will’s side. ‘Just say what you came for and then leave.’
    ‘I came to see you, as a matter of fact,’ he said. ‘Your mother invited me to dinner.’
    Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn’t that. ‘What on earth for? And how did you know where I was?’
    ‘Everyone knows where you come to get away from everything, even your stable-hand. It’s a good thing I came, if you ask me, another few minutes and that low-born thug might have done anything!’
    ‘Watch who you’re calling a thug,’ Will said with deceptive mildness, but I saw him tensing up again.
    David did too, and stepped back, his voice betraying his nervousness. ‘Whatever you claim to be the case, you cannot deny I came along just in time,’ he said. Privately I couldn’t help agreeing, but for a very different reason. I found my eyes drawn once more to the muscular arms that brushed mine as we stood side by side, and knew that if they were around me right this minute I would have surrendered everything, wholly and without a second thought.
    ‘Are you going to tell anyone what you’ve seen?’ I wanted to know.
    ‘Well now, I don’t know what I’ve seen, do I?’ David looked cunning suddenly, and I wanted to slap him. ‘It’s hardly your fault if some ruffian attacks you while you’re sleeping in the sun.’
    Will and I looked at each other, and I could see he was going to admit to exactly that, if it meant maintaining our secret for my sake. I spoke quickly, before he could. ‘That isn’t what happened, David, you know it isn’t.’
    ‘Evie –’ Will began.
    ‘No, it’s not and you can’t pretend it is either. You’ll lose your job and Mr…your employer will suffer too,’ I said, almost naming Markham in my hurry to make my point. Mother would be certain to discover who Will was, and that would be the last time he or Markham would be delivering to Oaklands. Not to mention Will’s reputation being torn to shreds. I could not allow that.
    I turned back to David, who was glancing from me to