A Spinster's Awakening (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 2)

Angus couldn’t tear his eyes off Charity, who lay limply in his arms.

“Put me down, Angus,” Charity said firmly. “It is my shoulder that is hurt, not my legs. I can stand.”

When Angus merely ignored her, Charity began to wriggle and writhe, until she felt sick from the pain from her wound.

“Please,” she cried when sickness loomed.

Angus knew he had to do something to cover her wound and stem the flow of blood. Reluctantly, he slowly lowered her to the floor. As he did so, to his horror, the sound of footsteps running toward them grew louder. When he noticed a flicker of movement at the end of the alley they were in, Angus looked up in time to watch Horvat slam to a halt.

The man’s feral eyes narrowed when he recognised them. He coldly lifted his gun and took aim. Angus yanked his gun out of his breeches, cocked his gun and fired so swiftly that Horvat didn’t even get the chance to blink before a bullet hit his hand. Instinctively dropping his weapon, Horvat clutched his wounded hand and disappeared.

Charity struggled not to cry out against the pain that pummelled her. Angus’s sudden movement, unbeknown to him, had jerked Charity’s shoulder. The fierce burning had swiftly changed into a thousand tiny knives which turned the pain white-hot. It was so bad that Charity’s world began to darken at the edges. While Angus dealt with the gunman, Charity clutched at the wall and willed herself not to succumb to the need to lie down.

“Can you walk?” Angus asked as he took another shot at Horvat, who had somehow managed to retrieve his weapon, and was now trying to take aim with his good hand.

“Yes,” Charity forced herself to reply. She wasn’t at all sure she could but refused to tell Angus that. She had caused him enough trouble already.

“Go. Go,” Angus urged, firing another shot at Horvat. He saw the man flinch and suspected he had hit him but without going after him, couldn’t be sure.

Charity immediately stumbled out of the alley, but her world began to fade.

“Angus,” she cried when her legs buckled beneath her.

Down the street, Charity saw Aaron step out of a space between two houses and release several shots at the property opposite. He then promptly vanished again.

There was no returning gunfire.

Strangely, the street temporarily fell eerily quiet. For several long moments, nothing stirred or moved.

“No!” Charity cried when she felt Angus step out of the alley behind her at the same time that Horvat appeared around the end of the long row of terrace houses with his gun pointing straight at them.

With all the strength she had left, Charity shoved Angus out of the way as she fell to the floor. When the bullet struck, it hit the wall several feet away from both her and Angus.

When Angus shot at Horvat again, the swarthy man slammed into the ground without taking another step. Proof that he had been hit swirled in the rainwater that trailed a steady stream down the road, which was now stained pink with blood.

Charity groaned when Angus tried to turn her over.

“Leave me,” she whispered. “I will be all right. Aaron and the others need you. Go.”

“I am not going to leave you,” Angus snapped.

“You need to make sure he isn’t going to get back up again,” Charity cried. “Please. Make sure he cannot get back up again.”

Angus dutifully glanced across at Horvat only to curse when he found the street completely empty. Hurriedly, he gently lifted Charity off the ground. Before he could move, the thunderous sound of many hooves racing toward them shattered the silence. Angus cocked his gun but heaved a sigh of relief when Jacob, Marcus, Ryan and Sir Hugo rounded the corner at the end of the street.

“God, you know how to time things right,” Angus declared once Sir Hugo had stopped beside him.

The others swiftly dismounted when they saw Charity.

“Let’s get her to safety,” Sir Hugo ordered. “Use my horse.”

“Aaron is down the street. Oliver is around the back, I think. Two are inside the house. Horvat has gone,” Angus informed them succinctly.

“He won’t be too hard to find if he has been hit,” Jacob assured them. He nodded to Marcus who wheeled his horse around and went to notify the other Star Elite men who were already fanning out around the village.

“Take her to the safe house. Ryan, go and get the doctor. Jacob, go and see where Oliver is,” Sir Hugo ordered. He then turned to Angus. “Do you know who she is?”

Angus nodded. “This is Charity. My future wife,” he announced calmly but firmly.