If He's Noble (Wherlocke Book 7) (Paranormal Historical Romance) by Hannah Howell

before he could use it on Bened. Then he saw her and the smile he gave her was so cold she shivered. He was far enough away from her that she could not see him all that clearly, although his grin was easy enough to spot. A faint light shone through the window of the building behind him making a precise silhouette of his form, and she used that to keep her gaze, and her pistol, fixed on him.
    “You mean to shoot me, lass?” He tossed his knife from one hand to the other and back again, displaying his prowess with it. “One chance before I reach you. Head or heart?”
    She saw how the light revealed that his legs were braced apart, in a fighting stance, that faint light shining between them. “I do not think I like those choices.”
    “Only ones you got, lass.”
    She aimed at his head and then drew that aim downward until it rested just above the light shining between his legs. “Not the only one. Might not kill you though you will probably wish it had. You could also bleed to death as you wail about your lost pride.”
    Bened stumbled and nearly got himself skewered when he heard Primrose’s voice from behind him. The man facing him with a sword was good, seeing his brief distraction, and quickly taking advantage. Bened suspected all that saved him was that he had a lot more practice and more recently than he suspected this man had. He drew his pistol, needing to hold at bay the two men he was fighting long enough for him to chance a glance behind him.
    What Bened saw made his blood run cold and not simply because the third man had managed to slip up behind him. Primrose stood there aiming her pistol at a man who had evidently intended to stab him in the back. He hoped the man could not see the cloudiness of her gaze or her fear. The threat she tossed out in a calm, cold voice made him proud even as he bit back the urge to order her to run.
    The men in front of him demanded his attention and he swiftly pushed them back with pistol and sword. They all knew the pistol held only one shot so was only a threat until he fired it, that he would have no time to reload it and fire again before they could bring him down, but, for now, the threat of being the one who got shot was enough. What he needed to do was push the men in front of him so far back and in such a way that it kept them back long enough for him to help Primrose.
    “Sir,” Primrose said when the rogue she faced slid a step closer to her. “Do not move.”
    “Pretty wee thing like you will not shoot a man.”
    “Are you willing to bet your life on that?”
    Primrose was proud of how cold she sounded despite how she was inwardly shaking with terror. The very last thing she wished to do was shoot the man but she was determined to do it if he threatened Bened again. It would haunt her forever and she knew it, but she would find that far easier to deal with than seeing Bened stabbed in the back.
    Just as she began to believe the man would allow her to keep him at bay, he lunged at her. She shot him before she even finished the thought of doing so. Her aim was a little to the right so, instead of the horrible wound she had intended to inflict, she caught him in the upper right leg. It still took him down but she doubted he would stay there long.
    With a flurry of sword work, Bened wounded both men facing him. They retreated and he took the chance to hurry to Primrose’s side. The man she had shot lunged for him and Bened kicked his arm. The snap of a bone and the man’s scream assaulted his ears. That and the gunshot would, he hoped, draw a few people to the alley to investigate.
    “Can you reload your pistol?” he asked as he placed himself between her and his attackers.
    “I can.”
    “Then do so as swiftly as you can. These men are not the sort to be down for long.”
    “I know.” She took a deep breath to steady herself and began to reload her pistol.
    A gunshot and a man’s scream should bring people running, she thought as she fought to do what she