The Bachelor Bargain (Secrets, Scandals, and Spies)

of the first-floor windows in the tenements across from them. Quickly, he aimed and fired two rounds down the alley, the most likely place the shots had come from.
A moment later he heard footsteps receding down the street and away from them. But he wasn’t ready to take any chances; there could still be another shooter waiting.
“Hurry, crawl behind those barrels,” he whispered to Lady Olivia, nodding to his right while he kept his pistol pointed steadily toward the direction of the threat. “I’ll protect you.”
She nodded and without question began dragging herself over to where he’d motioned, grabbing her cane in the process and pulling herself along the dirt-strewn ground until she was safely hidden behind the large oak barrels, mumbling something about her darn leg in the process.
Waiting a moment more until he was certain there was no movement from either the alley or the tenements, he sprung into a crouch and raced behind the back of the barrels, too.
He halted in his tracks upon seeing Lady Olivia standing behind the cover of the wooden barrels, her left hand leaning on her cane and her right hand holding a pistol. A pistol aimed directly at him.
“Watch out,” Livie yelled, her eyes darting behind him.
Sebastian swiveled to the side, giving her an unobstructed view of the alleyway behind and the man who had sprung from a side door and was rushing toward them with a revolver in his hand.
As Seb raised his pistol, Livie beat him to it, pressing her trigger not once but twice. But instead of aiming at the man, she shot at the spot directly in front of the would-be attacker’s legs, barely twenty feet from where they stood. The bullets bounced off the ground, sending a plume of dust into the air.
The man stopped short and glanced up toward them. His gaze swung first toward Livie and then to Sebastian, before he began to raise his pistol toward Seb.
Sebastian’s revolver recoiled slightly as he pressed the trigger and a bullet shot out from its casing. The man jolted as he was hit in the leg, the force from the bullet sending him sprawling backward to the ground, blood spraying in the air like a fountain.
“You shot him,” Livie gasped, swiveling around to face Sebastian, who had stood and was now only inches from her.
The woman smelled of roses and cinnamon tonight. Get ahold of yourself, man, he chastised. He clearly had more important things to focus on than what she smelled like.
“I did.” Sebastian lowered his weapon, his eyes flickering across the alley, scanning for further threats.
“But why? We could have fired more warning shots at him.”
“Is that what they were?” Seb asked, as the fallen man moaned while he lay prone on the ground close to the entrance of the alley. “I thought you’d accidentally missed.”
“I did not miss!” she insisted as she holstered her pistol in one of the pockets of her cloak. “I’m an excellent shot, I’ll have you know. Another warning shot may have worked, rather than harming him.”
“Do you know why I shot him in his leg?” Sebastian’s eyes locked on her own. Would she dare stand up to him or question him? He was rather curious to know.
“Because you’re a bad shot and missed?” was her impudent reply, as she stood her ground, her chin raised and the most imperious expression Seb had ever seen stamped across her face.
Rather than the fury probably anyone else would rouse in him with such a reply, instead, the right side of his lips flicked up into what was possibly a semi smile. He found himself amused. A state that was rare.
“I aimed at his leg not only because I could see in his eyes his intent to shoot me, but also because I wished to stop him and interrogate him, my lady,” Sebastian replied, lowering his pistol to his side. “Which I would like to do before he bleeds to death.” He turned and stalked to the front of the crates before striding over to the fallen man.
Behind him, he heard her mumble something and start to follow, her cane near silent on the cobblestones as she did. He glanced back and noted the rubber stopper on the bottom of the device, obviously put there to mask the sound. Did the lady get up to such mischief that she often required her presence to be silent? Not to mention a hidden retractable blade housed in its shaft? He rather suspected she did.
Approaching the man, Seb kicked away the pistol that had fallen to the ground from the man’s hand, ensuring it was out of reach. He crouched beside him while Livie hurried over to the man’s other side but remained standing. Seb guessed that the injury to her right leg probably hampered her from crouching as he was.
“Shall I fetch a doctor?” she asked.
Seb shook his head, untying his necktie. “There’s no time, though this may delay things by a minute or two, enough to hopefully question him before he bleeds out.”
“But surely you won’t let that happen, will you?” Livie gulped, her eyes all but pleading.
Seb merely shrugged as he pressed the material against the man’s wound. He knew from the amount of blood the man had already lost that the bullet had clipped one of the main arteries, and there’d be no saving the man. The best he could do was delay the inevitable, even if only for a minute or two. He pressed his necktie down harder upon the man’s leg and the man hissed in pain, beads of perspiration trailing down his pale and clammy face as the fabric quickly turned crimson. “Who sent you?”
The man’s face contorted into a look of loathing. “Fuck you.”
“Manners.” Sebastian pushed down harder on the man’s leg, eliciting a further moan. “There is a lady present. Now, who sent you?”
“I was proud ta…” The man struggled to speak, his voice a raspy whisper as his breathing became more and more labored. “Ta