CHAPTER 85
She froze. This was not what she expected at all.
What was he doing here? He wasn’t supposed to show for a week.
Mr. Wilson’s fear had been right, for what good reason would he have had for coming here with a gun?
Or was he the type of man who always carried guns? Neither was a good look in her mind.
She turned. She’d better get her own gun. Who knew where the other men were, and one was clearly shot. She needed to be able to protect them and herself, and she wasn’t sure if Mr. Wilson had even had a second gun on him.
But the movement must have caught Mr. Runington’s eyes, for he cried, “Miss Wains!”
She didn’t remember how to breathe for a second. What was one to do when a man called their name, smiling, with a gun? What if she still ran? Would he shoot her in the back?
She decided to go with appearing innocent. “Mr. Runington, what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you until Tuesday.”
“No, I expect not,” he agreed. There was something off about his smile, something heavy and cold that wasn’t there before, but maybe it was her mind filling it in due to the gun.
“What was that sound? Was that you?”
“It was,” he said easily. “I saw that ghost again, Miss Wains.” His look seemed sure that she had too, smug, like he had caught her lying.
“You tried to shoot a ghost?” It came out as weak when she had wished for incredulous, but her hands were still shaking and her mind was screaming, ‘Did you hit him?” She tried to rein it in. “Mr. Runington, I thought you cleverer than that.”
“Miss Wains, do you have guests?”
“Guests?” Her eyes darted to the extra lifeboat from Mr. Wilson, and given the blood, there was clearly no denying Mr. Runington had seen someone, likely both.
“So none?” he prompted.
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him a guest. Mr. Wilson is here somewhere. My God! Don’t tell me you shot him!”
“I was aiming for the ghost,” he replied confidently, as if that sentence wasn’t crazy.
“But that creature pulled him right in front of itself, then took his bleeding body off to no doubt finish him off. It’s no ghost, Miss Wains, but a creature.
A demon! With fangs and eyes of blood. You’ve never seen it? ”
That question felt like a test more than a question, as if he had been the one who had found Kallias on top of her and not Mr. Wilson.
“No?” he started again. “All this time here alone and it’s never approached you?”
“Mr. Runington, I’ve told you before, you can’t startle me off my—”
“Listen!” His tone was so sharp. The gun rose in his hand with the word, not exactly at her. No, it didn’t seem like he was quite at the point of threatening her. Yet.
“And I’ve told you before,” he continued, “it’s not your lighthouse. It’s mine. And I can kick you out as I please. And for lying to a commanding officer, why, that sounds like grounds for termination.”
“Then go ahead and do it. I’ve told you. Do it or not, but threatening me like this is not going to work. I mean, honestly, coming to the home of a young woman, alone, with a gun, what sort of gentleman would dream of such a thing?”
“And what sort of lady would entertain a man alone? Yet here you and Mr. Wilson were. No doubt why you refused my offer. You couldn’t leave for the city to live with me with your lover here.”
“Do you even hear yourself? I would not live with you. That was the first problem. And Mr. Wilson is not my lover. He came to help me.”
“Help you? Is that what we’re calling it these days? Well, thank God, my dear, it just so happens I’m able to help you too.” He started toward her.
“Don’t you dare take another step,” she warned, hating that her voice shook. Could she make it to the gun in time? She wasn’t sure—not without getting shot. Would he shoot her too? She didn’t know.
But he wasn’t stopping. She needed to go, so why did it feel like her feet were frozen in place? Her heart was hammering fast, as fast as she should be running, but everything else was frozen in horror.
“See how you wait for me.” She wasn’t sure if it was the words, the look, or the tone, but she ran. She ran like her life depended on it.
She could hear his heavy feet behind her, closer now, closer, closer, until she was sure they were only a few feet behind. Just to the gun. All she had to do was get to the gun and release it into him. The lighthouse was just twenty feet away.
He grabbed her arm too soon. She screamed as he yanked her back. “Honestly, where do you think you’re going?” he hissed. “Or are you so eager to take this to the bed?”
“Mr. Runington, let go of me. Let go!” She wrenched this way and that, trying to break free, as her mind reeled for a new plan.
What could she do if she couldn’t get to her gun?
His gun? Could she grab it? But she could barely break her own arm free.
How was she going to get something so firmly in his grasp?
If Mr. Wilson was the one shot, then here on land there was no help, and they weren’t near a cliff edge.
Could she get him near an edge so she could push him into the sea?
But if Kallias was actually the one hurt, that wouldn’t help either.
Since they had disappeared though, it seemed that Mr. Runington was likely telling the truth and it was Mr. Wilson that was hurt and Kallias had taken him to safety, which meant that eventually he’d come back for her but also that he wasn’t necessarily nearby now.
Could she get Mr. Runington into the lighthouse so she could grab her gun?
Her best bet seemed like words; she had been able to convince him before, but he seemed quite wary of her words now that he had seen the mermaid.
She stopped pulling and so did he. They stood, her glaring at him, him smiling down at her. “You know, I really didn’t take you to be a whore, my dear.”
“I’m not,” she snarled. “I’ve never laid with Mr. Wilson. I’ve never touched him or held him or kissed him or even hugged him. So please stop your wild accusations and let go. I am still a lady, and if you have any decency as a gentleman, you’ll treat me as such.”
His hand actually dropped and his look turned serious. “Do you swear to the Lord of your chastity?”
“I swear I have never laid with Mr. Wilson, yes.”
His gaze narrowed over an unchanging smile. His eyes were so dark they were almost black; why hadn’t she noticed before? “That wasn’t quite what I asked,” he said.
“Isn’t it?” she asked, meeting his gaze with eyes equally as hard.
“Well, how fantastic,” he said. “Seeing as I’ve told all the town of our engagement.”