Mail Order Bride: Westward Christmas Novel (Montana Mail Order Brides, Book 11) by Linda Bridey

lot of laughing and some clowning around, but there was no humor in Ben at the moment.  Did I make him that angry?  No.  He gets annoyed, but never angry.   Reckless dropped back and shook his head, their signal that he was done.  Ben didn’t heed it, however, and kept forcing Reckless to move.
    Joe watched and knew something was very wrong.  Reckless’ face registered his apprehension and Joe couldn’t ever remember seeing that expression on Reckless’ face.  Sammi saw what was happening and got her brass knuckles out of her pocket. 
    “Stay here,” she told Sasha.
    Sammi entered the circle and shoved Reckless out of the way.  A cheer went up from the crowd at the change of opponents.  She’d seen Ben like this one other time and hoped she could snap him out of it again.  Dropping him in front of everyone didn’t appeal to her, because there was nothing worse for a bouncer than for a crowd to know they had really gotten beat.  They lost credibility.
    Ben resettled his gaze on Sammi.  He really didn’t care who his opponent was at this point.  Anyone would do.  She gave him a friendly smile and said, “C’mon, Ben.  You don’t wanna do this.  Not here, not now.  Let’s just give them a friendly little fight and call it a night, huh?”
    Ben didn’t smile, he didn’t laugh, and Sammi knew the situation was heading south quickly.  “Ben, knock it off, okay?  Whatever’s goin’ on, you need to come out of it.  I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to,” Sammi said.  She rolled her shoulders and got a better grip on her brass knuckles. 
    Sasha was deeply afraid for Sammi and didn’t understand what was happening.  That fierceness in Ben seemed to be fully released at this point, and it worried her.  And yet there was a tiny part of her that reveled in it.  Sammi watched Ben unbutton his shirt and take it off.  This was another strange move.  Ben never did that.
    She didn’t make any facial expressions indicating surprise, however.  Sammi centered herself.  There was no way she was making the first move.  Let Ben come to her.  Then Ben’s right eyebrow rose and he winked at her.  If she wasn’t as adept as she was in keeping her composure she would have laughed.  He was messing around.  Ben was fine.  This was purely for the crowd’s benefit.
    Sammi slipped the brass knuckles back into her pocket and faced Ben bare fisted.  Joe saw the movement and began to relax.  The two bouncers came together in a clash of fists and feet and it was hard to tell who was winning.  Sammi’s style of fighting was straightforward and relied more on countering than attacking.  She knew that she lacked the brute strength Ben had, but she was quick and understood torque and angle.
    She also used humor to distract her opponent.  Ben got her in a headlock and when her countermove didn’t work, she tickled Ben’s armpit.  He couldn’t help but twist away from her and she jabbed a quick elbow into his unprotected side.  Ben grunted and laughed.  Reckless saw Ben laugh and realized that Ben had tricked him.  The brave threw his hands in the air and shook his head. 
    Sasha saw the sudden playfulness and smiled.  Suddenly she got caught up in the fight and found herself routing for Sammi.  A shot of whiskey was pressed into her hand and she looked up to see Seth grinning at her. 
    “Drink up!” he shouted.
    Sasha smiled and tossed the whiskey back and promptly choked.  Seth laughed and patted her back.
    “Seth!  You should be ashamed of yourself,” Maddie said as she came to stand by her husband. 
    “Aw, c’mon, honey.  She’s all right.  Gotta break her in.  I wasn’t expectin’ a fight tonight, but I’m not complainin’,” Seth said.
    Sasha said, “I’m fine, Maddie.  I just haven’t drunk hard liquor in a while.”
    “Okay,” Maddie said.  “Did you place your bet yet, Sasha?”
    “No.  I wasn’t planning to bet,” Sasha said.
    Maddie said,