Page 73 of Icebound

She said the only thing she could think of, the one thing that would drive Maddelena mad. “I love him.”

Maddelena rose, crossed the two feet between them and slapped her across the face, hard. “Get over it,” she spat. “He’s mine, not yours.”

Maddelena had big hands, strong ones, and the blow was surprisingly painful. Chloe’s anger tightened into a hard little knot, and it took everything she had to keep it under control. “Don’t touch me again.” The warning was clear.

Maddelena threw back her head and laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, and slapped the other side of her face.

Chloe’s fragile hold was weakening, and she shoved her away, trying to head for the door. But Maddelena was on her, clawing and scratching like an angry toddler, albeit with a lot more strength. She was taller and heavier than Chloe, and her long arms were everywhere, slamming into her.

The fight was fast and furious, dirty in the extreme, and while Chloe managed to land a hard punch to Maddelena’s jaw, Maddelena was in a mad frenzy, raining blows around her face and head.

And then Chloe finally remembered her training. Bastien had taught her what to do if someone attacked her, and she swept her leg out, knocking Maddelena to the ground.

By this time Maddelena had lost all her senses, and she was screaming filthy words at Chloe, trying to scramble up. Chloe shoved her, and Maddelena went down again, shrieking imprecations. She caught Chloe’s ankles, tumbling her to the floor on top of her. She was biting, scratching, pulling at Chloe’s hair as she screamed her insults, and Chloe punched her hard, in the stomach.

“Don’t call me a cunt,” she said in a dangerous voice. “You overgrown bitch.”

But Maddelena seemed to be inexhaustible, hammering at Chloe around the head and shoulders, and Chloe finally caught her flailing arms, pushing them down on the floor with all her strength, which was thankfully better than Maddelena’s frenzied temper. She tried to spit at her, but gravity sent the spittle back to her own face, and Chloe laughed, when suddenly strong arms slid around her stomach and pulled her away from the madwoman. It was Bastien.

“What’s going on here?” Le Fauçon demanded, looking no more than mildly irritated. “Maddelena, are you fighting again?”

Maddelena answered with a spate of garbled words, few of which were recognizable. Chloe had managed to land a blow to her jaw, and her mouth was swollen and bleeding. Maddelena tried to scramble up, but Luc had reached her by that time, and he pulled her away.

“I don’t need to ask if you started this,” Le Fauçon said heavily. “If you can’t behave yourself, my dear, you’ll have to go away. I can’t have my work disturbed by catfights.”

“Send her away!” was Maddelena’s muffled cry, but her father ignored her, turning to Bastien and Chloe.

“You’d better go clean her up,” he said, surveying her, and Chloe suddenly realized she felt like she’d been hit by a truck. Her fist was bleeding, her face ached, and Maddelena had bitten her several times on the arms as Chloe had tried to hold her flying fists still.

“Can I get a rabies shot?” Chloe demanded, and Maddelena leaped for her again, held back by Luc’s rough hands.

“Come along, mon ange,” Bastien said, and there was a note of amusement in his voice. “I’ll patch you up. And I assure you, Maddelena has already had all her shots.”

Chloe was still wound up from the epic battle, and hearing Bastien refer to her with one of his casual endearments rather than her name made her want to hit him as well. And then, as quickly as it had come, her fury vanished, leaving her shaky and weak.

“I can take care of myself,” she said stubbornly.

Bastien simply shook his head. “Don’t be difficult. You’ve smashed your hand, you’re bleeding, and you need patching up, even if rabies isn’t an issue.”

Maddelena let out another shriek of fury, and Luc simply shook her. “Get her away from me, or I’ll kill her!”

“You and what army?” Chloe managed to shoot back, even though she felt dizzy.

“Girls!” Le Fauçon protested.

Bastien simply put his arm around her waist and moved her away. “Come with me, bébé,” he said, and his voice was rich with amusement, pissing her off even more.

“Don’t call me bébé, or mon ange, or chérie!” she snapped. “My name is Chloe.”

“I’ll call you anything I please. Bébé,” he added for emphasis. “Now stop arguing with me. You may have won your fight with Maddelena, but you wouldn’t with me.”

“I didn’t win,” she said, suddenly deflated. “I think she was about to kill me.”

“Oh, I promise you, she was just on the edge of collapse. She fights hard but she has no finesse.”

“Why didn’t you teach her how to fight?” Like you taught me, she thought.

“Women don’t need to fight unless they’re in the business. Besides, Maddelena would turn any skills I taught her on me. She’s fine as she is.”