Page 82 of The Ambiguous Enigma of the Hunted Lady
“Leah!” Kenneth cried out, rushing forward to meet her.
It's him!Kenneth saw Nash close behind Leah, pumping his legs hard to catch her.I shall not let him hurt her this time.
In a fluid, familiar motion, Kenneth took his pistol upward from beneath his coat as he paced towards them.
“No!” Leah screamed, vaulting forward into Kenneth's arm.
The shot went off, and the sound of it rang out brightly in the square. The bullet smacked into the flagstone and shot off in a ricochet while Leah and Kenneth fell over each other.
“Oh my!” the Marquess gasped, going stark white.
All the thugs in pursuit stopped in their tracks.
“Scat!” one of them shouted, and they scrambled back out of the square, likely to avoid the possibility of more incoming fire. Kenneth was the only one among them armed with a pistol, but the thugs were obviously oblivious to that fact.
“What are you doing here?” Leah huffed, pulling the two of them to their feet.
“Trying to rescue you!” Kenneth retorted, snatching up his discarded pistol. “I thought him to be your enemy!”
“As did I.” Leah glanced back to Nash, then returned her gaze to Kenneth. In her eyes he saw that spark of life he had thought to have lost.
“That shot will call the Parish watchmen.” Nash breathed heavily, checking his body over for bullet wounds and finding none.
“We have no time for any of this!” The Marquess cried out. “Quickly! Back to the Ten Drums.”
“He's right,” Leah said. “We have to keep moving.”
Kenneth felt completely unsatisfied with the reunion, such as it was, and felt hot in the face as Leah and Nash dashed past him to follow Winchester.
Biting his lip, Kenneth took one last survey of the square. Sure enough, there was a stir on the far side as a group of Parish watchmen arrived to investigate the pistol shot.
“Bugger.” Kenneth spat, and jogged after the trio.
They made a stealthy entrance into the public house through the side passage, and only once the door was shut and bolted behind them did Kenneth see Leah relax her shoulders even an inch.
Then as they all shuffled in, Leah's eyes met with Kenneth's.
“What are you doing here?” she asked again. Her face was cold and tensed, and Kenneth suddenly felt his rage again flaring up beneath his nervousness.
“What am I doing here?” Kenneth retorted incredulously. “How can you say that? Why did you leave in secret? What danger are you in? Clearly something of a serious nature, and yet you chose to steal away rather than confide in me?”
“Confide in you?” Leah's face grew suddenly red as her temper flared. “As if you are a scholar with all the answers? Everything to you is so simple in your blindness! I had every right to leave!”
“But why?” Kenneth stressed, pounding his fist against the bar. Out of the corners of his eyes he saw that Nash and the Marquess had retreated to a corner booth. “What is so truly terrible about this Riphook that you should run away in secret? It broke me in two, Leah!”
“How very nice it must be to only be broken in two pieces.” Leah snapped back. “I can take care of myself! At least a fair bit better than you.”
“I should say so! And what of when I found you? You would have died!”
“Perhaps I should have!”
“Are you not glad to see me then?”
“I am glad! And that is all the more maddening! You should not have come!”
“So help me God, Leah, I have come for you because I love you deeply, and I will protect you from whatever evils that may strike out. Why can you not believe me?” Kenneth felt his anger dying as he finished his sentence, and he began to slump into despair.
Was I wrong about everything? Does she even care for me at all?
