An Unsinkable Love - By Terri Benson Page 0,80

but not injured.

A clatter from the stairs drew their attention. Fred stood on the top step, a gun at his feet. Bright red spread over his chest as he gaped at them in shock. With a muttered curse, his knees buckled and he toppled over, rolling down the stairs to land below with a thud.

Malcolm spun back, seeing Eldon's gaze fixed on the stairs, his expression disinterested. With a roar of rage, he leaped.

Eldon's reflexes were cat-like and the gun instantly returned, 256

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

but Malcolm's momentum bowled Eldon over and they both crashed to the floor. The older man struggled to get the gun against any part of Malcolm, while Malcolm tried to wrest it from his hands.

Bree scampered out of the way, watching for an opening to help Malcolm. The gun went off, the echo mingling with her scream of anguish.

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257

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

Chapter 42

Bree froze. Her heart pounded, her breath coming in gasps as the men struggled against each other on the floor, their limbs entangled. Eldon rolled away, the gun still in his hand, and struggled to his feet.

"God, no! Malcolm?" she moaned, throwing herself on her knees beside him. His vivid blue eyes stared up in shock.

"I'm fine, Bree. I'm not hurt," he said in an amazed tone.

They turned to Eldon. He frowned, looking down as he surveyed the scarlet stain spreading across his white shirt.

The gun slipped from his hand and bounced on the floor.

Eldon raised his head and glared at them, his expressing a mixture of confusion and fury. Then he crumpled and fell face first on the floorboards.

Bree helped Malcolm to his feet and they embraced. He held her so tightly she could barely breathe.

"I was so frightened when the gun went off and he got up." Sobs bubbled up and she sagged with relief in his arms.

"You can't have been any more frightened than when I saw you standing there with a gun at your head." She felt him shiver as he pulled her closer.

Bree gazed up at him. "Who was he? The man on the stairs. I know him from somewhere."

"The man at the station who accused Eldon of murder.

Apparently he's been following us. If not for him, I never would have known where you were. I think he saved both our lives."

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Arm in arm, they went down the stairs. Their hope that Fred had only been injured was dashed by the impossible angle of his neck. Even if the shot to his chest hadn't killed him, the broken neck had.

Malcolm slipped his arms around her again and pulled her tight. "I want you here always, Bree. Forever."

She smiled up at him. "It might be rather unpractical, but I'm game if you are. I think, though, right now I'd very much like to go home."

He laughed and bent down to kiss her deeply. He wheeled around at the sound of breaking glass from upstairs. He motioned for her to stay, but she pelted up the stairs right behind him. Eldon's body no longer lay on the floor and the pistol was gone. The one window in the room, in the gable opposite the big doors downstairs, was shattered. Malcolm leaned out, but quickly ducked down with a curse as a bullet whizzed by and buried itself in the ceiling.

Bree grabbed his arm and hauled him away from the window.

Malcolm hugged her. "It's all right. He's running away as fast as he can. There's a lean-to below the window.

Apparently he jumped or lowered himself down to it and then to the ground."

"Then he's still out there. With a gun. Oh, Malcolm," Bree cried.

"Let's go back to The Dell. We can deal with him better from there."

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259

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

Chapter 43

Eldon swerved behind the corner of a building fifty yards from the carriage house, surprised no light appeared in any nearby window. A dog barked and he expected it wouldn't be long before someone came to investigate the shots. He peered up the pitch-black alley, but couldn't see Malcolm's silhouette in the window any longer. Movement on the ground drew his gaze. Two figures hurried away, toward the street.

He knew he didn't have a shot. Teeth gritted in frustration and pain, Eldon held his shirt tightly to the wound in his stomach. It hurt, but not as much as he would have expected. Perhaps he wasn't injured that badly?

He waited until he heard the rumble of