“Hold it there,” Ramsay commanded.“Toss your gun away.”
The hell he would, Aylesbury thought.All he needed was one clear shot.As soon as Ramsay cleared the door, he could aim and fire before Ramsay even knew what hit him.
And he would hit the bastard.
But Ramsay was an even greater coward than Aylesbury had credited him.Even with Aylesbury in his sights, he stayed safely behind the door.
“Where is Fiona?”
Aylesbury shook his head, easing up another step but keeping the pistol hanging loosely by his side.“You’re a fool to pursue this, Ramsay.There’s no chance you’d get away with her.No chance you’d get out alive.Her brothers will kill you the moment they have a chance.”
As will I.
“After all the work I put into her, do you think I’m going to walk away from this empty-handed?”the other man yelled, the cocking of his pistol sounding like a canon.“Those bloody MacKintoshs have more money than anyone deserves.I was content to get it honorably enough, you know.I would have married her.I could have had her fortune and a hot piece in my bed to boot.”
Aylesbury’s grip tightened on the pistol, fury boiling his blood.He lifted his foot to the next step.
“I said stop right there,” Ramsay screamed.
Another bullet hit the bannister at Aylesbury’s side, sending a large splinter into his thigh.He winced in pain as the pistol was cocked again.Come on then, he mentally urged.At most, Ramsay had four bullets remaining.If he spent them all as futilely, the only bullet remaining would be his own.Aylesbury stifled the urge to fire just as uncontrollably.He needed to lure Ramsay out where he could get a clean shot.
“Come out and fight like a man,” he taunted, tensing in expectation of another wild shot, but Ramsay didn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Why are you doing this anyway?”Ramsay asked.“I know who you are.You don’t need her or her money.Not like I do.”
Aylesbury scoffed silently.“But I do, you bloody bastard,” he confessed softly.“And quite possibly more than you do.Having lost her, you will know only poverty and most probably enormous levels of pain.If I lost her...”—his chest tightened sharply at the thought.Yes, it would be far more devastating—“I have far more to lose.”
Ramsay laughed then, his scornful chuckles echoing through the hall.“Because you’re in love with her?You think this is some fairytale?Do you think you have some happy ending in all of this?”
Answering with a contemptuous laugh, Aylesbury tensed to move and asked, “Why don’t you stop hiding in that doorway like a girl and come and find out?”
He feinted to the side as the pistol sounded again, this time nicking him across the shoulder as it passed.Aylesbury knew that if he hadn’t moved, the bullet might have gone straight through the heart.Three possible bullets left.More chances than he could take.
“Come on, you craven bastard,” he yelled.“Show yourself.”
“Give me Fiona first!”
He laughed at that.“You bloody fool.You think I brought her here?”
He had read about the American Indians as a young boy at Eton and always wondered how a genuine war cry might sound.That was it, he decided.A howl filled with rage and frenzied madness.Just like the one Ramsay emitted as he finally charged into the hall with his pistol raised.He fired, and Aylesbury felt a sting against his scalp as he raised his gun.A trickle of blood.
Aiming, he fired his one shot at the madman charging toward him.He caught Ramsay at the head of the stairs, blood blossoming across the white of his shirt, but he kept coming, bringing that rusted pistol up again as he launched himself down the stairs toward Aylesbury.
Another shot sounded as Ramsay hit him, throwing off his balance.They hit the bannister as one, and it splintered under their combined weight.With nothing to stop them, they fell to the hard wood floors below.
Harry gasped at the pain that engulfed him.Rolling Ramsay off of him, he struggled for a breath.Nothing.His chest and hands were covered with blood, his mind clouded, dulled.He struggled for consciousness, but darkness closed in.
Another breath.
No.
Bugger it.
Aylesbury pictured Fiona how she looked that day.Bright as summertime and a merry smile all wrapped up in prim ivory linen with some jaw-dropping garments, no doubt, hidden beneath, waiting to be unwrapped.
The image faded to black.He would not have the chance to find out.
He had lost her.
