The Lover Switch (The Star Elite's Highwaymen Investigation Book 4)

by Rebecca King

  This, unfortunately, was a huge mistake. The second she took her eyes off Hammond, he lunged toward her and managed to get one long arm around her waist before swinging her around before him, so she was positioned between him and the Star Elite.

  “God, you coward,” Ruth snapped, wrinkling her nose up at the horrid stench that emanated from the man behind her. She doubted that the man had washed in an age. A mixture of stale tobacco smoke, beer, and sweat, hung like a heavy pall around him to the point that Ruth shuddered in revulsion and tipped her head away from him so she could breathe in cleaner air. “Don’t you ever wash?” She wafted her hand under her nose and tried not to wretch.

  “Back up,” Hammond rapped, but didn’t give Ruth the chance to do as he ordered before he began to drag her toward his horse.

  Ruth dug her booted heels into the soft grass but was no match for Hammond’s burly strength.

  “Look at me,” Elias breathed. “Focus on me, Ruth. Don’t listen to what he tells you. Don’t follow his orders. Keep looking at me. It will be all right. They don’t know it yet, but they can’t get off this estate.”

  As if to prove it, several riders appeared on the driveway on either side of the highwaymen. Surrounded, and in need of a way out of the mess he was in, Rointon lunged for Maud. Like Hammond, he used the woman as a human shield to protect him from the Star Elite. The problem was he had no idea which way he could run. With more and more Star Elite men appearing by the second, Rointon began to panic and shoved the end of his gun into Maud’s temple. When Hammond saw what he was doing, he copied his boss.

  Ruth felt the cold press of the metal against her chilled skin and began to feel sick. She was terrified. She knew that one twitch of Hammond’s finger would end her life. But after that brief moment of absolute panic, a calm determination to survive began to flourish like a Pheonix rising out of the ashes. She knew with absolute certainty that she was going to get through this. Consequently, when Hammond began to drag her toward his horse again, she didn’t stop him. She was helpless to do anything but watch as Rointon backed toward his horse too. But, confusingly, once he was protected by both animals, Rointon gave Maud one almighty shove. She immediately lunged forward so swiftly that she didn’t have the time to get her feet beneath her before she fell to her knees several feet away.

  Ruth cried out in shock. Before she could stop him, Hammond shoved her up onto his horse and draped her over the saddle like a flour sack. She stared in horror at the ground and clung onto the saddle for dear life. Before Hammond could decide how he was going to climb onto the horse too, Ruth wriggled and twisted around until she was sitting in the saddle instead. He didn’t expect her to be able to ride and blinked in astonishment when she grabbed the reins and straddled the horse. Without hesitation, Ruth dug her heels into the animal’s sides and squeezed her eyes tightly shut when the horse suddenly lunged forward.

  The speed of the animal beneath her was frightening. The heady clatter of its hooves on the hard surface of the driveway she crossed was as sinister as thunder. Several riders tried to grab her, but she was too fast for them.

  “Stay right where you are,” Rointon bellowed at them while pointing his gun at Maud.

  The men had to stay where they were and watch helplessly as Ruth’s horse carried her away.

  When she was bold enough to open her eyes, Ruth cried out in horror. The house glided past as the horse began to race even faster now that the open fields were before him. When he ducked his head, Ruth realised that the animal intended to jump the fence but had no idea how to stop him. Hauling on the reins like Elias had told her to didn’t work. She wasn’t strong enough to fight the beast. Consequently, she was left clinging helplessly to the saddle. When the horse did vault over the fence bordering the driveway, it landed on the uneven surface of the grassy meadow and stumbled. Ruth screamed when she was nearly tossed onto the ground, but when she sat upright, she stared in horror at the woods now directly ahead of them. With no way of avoiding the trees, she began to pray.

  Elias cursed bitterly when the horse thundered off. Helplessly, he looked at Sir Hugo and waited for his orders.

  “Take my horse and go after her when you can,” Sir Hugo ordered having slid down from his horse. He handed the reins to Elias and winked at him before stepping forward and addressing Rointon. “I know who you are, and what you intended to do to my colleague the other night. I am Sir Hugo, the boss of the Star Elite.” He held his arms aloft. “If you are going to kill one of us it may as well be me. I mean, what a wonderful opportunity you now have to capture or kill the boss of the Star Elite. It is much better than a mere foot soldier like these men, isn’t it? You and your little highwaymen friends can gloat about my murder for days.” Sir Hugo wasn’t surprised when Rointon pointed his gun at him. What he didn’t expect was for Rointon to immediately pull the trigger.

  The second the gun went off, Rointon looked down at the large patch of blood that appeared from the hole in the centre of his chest. He stared blankly down at it as if unable to comprehend where it came from.

  “Shit,” Hammond spat when he saw what had happened. He glared at Morgan, who had just shot Rointon, but immediately vaulted onto Rointon’s horse and tugged it around until he faced a narrow gap between the men. He then kicked the horse into a full gallop.

  “I want him alive,” Sir Hugo bellowed when his men all prepared to shoot.

  Elias immediately vaulted onto Sir Hugo’s horse and went after Ruth. He didn’t even glance at Rointon when he toppled forward like a skittle and landed face down on the lawn. The dead didn’t matter anymore. What retained everyone’s attention was the living highwayman who was now racing for freedom, unfortunately in the same direction Ruth had just been taken by her runaway mount.

  Several of the Star Elite who were already on horseback went after them. Thankfully, Sir Hugo’s horse was fresh out of the stables, and so didn’t even break his stride as he jumped the fence into the meadow and charged across the open field toward the large woods a mile or so away as if he were out for an early morning stroll. By the time Elias jumped the fence, Ruth had already reached dense trees half a mile away. Elias cursed fluidly because he knew she was going to be knocked off the horse if he carried her under some of the low-lying branches in there.

  “She is going to die if she tries to race through them at that speed,” Zach called when he caught up with Elias. “I will try and head her off.”

  Rather than follow Elias across the field, Zach took off down the road that would take him down a cart track and to the opposite side of the woods closest to the village. From there he could try to intercept the horse if it did manage to get through the woods.

  “Slow down. Oh, please slow down,” Ruth cried, tugging on the reins again. “Just stop. Slow down. I shouldn’t be surprised that you are as stupid as your master. Just stop.”

  She was so focused on trying to stop the horse that she didn’t notice the thick branch blocking the path before it slammed into her and knocked her straight off the horse.

  Ruth landed on her back on the ground with a bone jarring thud. Stunned, all she could do was lie staring at the canopy of trees overhead while she struggled to remember how to breathe. Her mouth was open, she was sure of it, but her chest wouldn’t work. She couldn’t draw in a deep breath no matter how much she tried. Panic began to overwhelm her and left her gasping desperately for air while clawing at the ground beneath her. She wondered if this was what dying felt like and immediately knew that she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She wanted to live. She wanted a life. She wanted Elias.

  Elias cursed when he saw Ruth lying in the middle of the path. His fear grew when he realised that she wasn’t moving and was in fact staring blankly at the trees overhead as if dead. The low-lying branch blocking the track told him what had happened even before he saw the large lump forming on her forehead. What he didn’t know was how badly she was hurt, or if she was still alive.

  “Ruth?” Elias was shaking when he
fell to his knees beside her. He tentatively reached out to shake at her shoulder, almost terrified by what he was going to find. “Can you hear me? Are you hurt? Do you need a doctor? Can you talk?” He cursed a sigh of relief when her eyes turned toward him.

  Ruth clung to his hand when he reached out to touch her. She couldn’t get her breath and couldn’t form words. All she could do was stare at him with wide eyes and hope that he understood her problem.

  “You have been winded. Just lie still and relax. It will ease,” Elias murmured gently. He studied the growing lump. “Are you in pain?”

  “My chest hurts,” Ruth breathed but winced when she tried again to breathe properly only to find that she still struggled.

  “Have you broken a leg, or arm?”

  Ruth contemplated that. The few seconds it took for her to decide if she might have broken a bone made Elias panic. He leant over her and stared deeply into her eyes as he demanded: “Have you broken a leg, or arm?” He had no idea if she was able to understand him. When Ruth mouthed ‘no’, he slumped with relief. “Slowly relax and take slow breaths. You need to calm down. Slowly. Gently. That’s it. Nice and slowly.”

  Elias planted his fists on the ground beside her head and stared lovingly down at her. Keeping his voice calm and soothing, he continued to murmur softly to her, gentle instructions, loving endearments.

  As the minutes ticked by, Elias’s calmness eventually eased Ruth’s distress and she regained her ability to breathe. All the while she listened to him crooning soothing nonsense to her, all she could think was that she needed to be a part of his life no matter how long she had to wait for him. He was her life, her soul, her entire world.

  Before Elias could try to get her to move, the sound of thundering hooves heading toward them forced him to send out a series of whistles. Within seconds, his colleagues appeared out of the undergrowth.

  “Need a hand?” Evan asked, glancing back at Jarvis, whose face was stark with concern as well.

  “We need transport out of here,” Elias replied. “She can’t ride back.”

  “I’ll go and get a carriage,” Daniel offered.

  “No, I am fine,” Ruth whispered. “I can walk. I just need to rest for a minute.”

  “A horse will do. Mine is around here somewhere.” Elias looked for him but all he could see were trees – lots and lots of trees.

  “Wait here,” Jarvis muttered before jogging past them.

  “When we get home, we are going to have a very long talk, you and I,” Elias warned her firmly.

  Before he could tell her off, Ruth sat up but only so she could tug him closer for a hug. She expected him to scold her and tell her how foolish she had been to allow the horse to run so fast, or for him to push her away and scold her for scaring him. What she didn’t expect was for him to lean back so he could plant a very thorough kiss onto her lips, right there and then in front of his friends. It was searing and rendered her even more dumb struck than falling off the horse had, but Ruth clung to him anyway. Unlike the last time he kissed her, she returned his caress by copying his movements while she loved to him as fiercely as he held her.

  “God, we have to stay together,” Elias murmured lovingly. “You have to let me court you. We must marry one day. You can’t go back to Riddlewood. You can’t leave me. You must stay here and share your life with me.”

  “I would love to – after a proper courtship of course.” Ruth still hesitated, though, because she struggled to find a way to ask him what really mattered without sounding needy.

  “What is it? Talk to me,” he whispered when he saw her worry.

  “I adore you,” she informed him softly. “I am sorry. I know you are going to say that it is too soon, and that we don’t really know each other very well, but I do. It is that simple. I do. This, this, thing, whatever it is, in here-” she thumped her heart with a heavy fist forcing Elias to hold her hand so she didn’t hurt herself, “-began to form the moment I saw you in that tavern. You looked so strong but so helpless that I resolved right there and then to do everything possible to get you out of there. I had to. Even if Mark had left, I would have stayed. It hadn’t got anything to do with your being one of the Star Elite either. When I saw you, I saw a man; just an ordinary person who was likely to die because of the spite of a group of people who have chosen to be criminals.”

  “I know what you are going to say,” Elias interrupted. “That you don’t want my gratitude to be misread for a deeper and more meaningful emotion.” Her rueful look told him everything he needed to know. “I know you are the woman I have been searching for all my life. I didn’t even know I was searching for you until I found you. When I woke up and you were looking down at me, I just knew that there was a connection between us. It has grown every day since. When we escaped the tavern, we worked together in ways I never expected to work with any woman before. We fought an enemy together. I know you understand my work because of that. I know that you understand how important the Star Elite is to me.”

  “I don’t want you to stop working with them,” Ruth replied fiercely. “It means that life here won’t be normal, but that is all right with me. I will admit that these last couple of weeks have been a little too adventurous, but I wouldn’t change them for the world because they brought me you. I never expected to have to fight highwaymen, and learn to ride a horse, or shoot at a moving target, but I am glad that I can because I know that I am more capable than I ever believed I was. Nothing can take that away from me. What happened has given me the belief that I can run a house like this huge mansion, and I can live here while you go off investigating with your friends.”

  “The only skills I want you learning from now on is how to set up our home and run a house of that size,” Elias snorted. “I am not going to have you riding around the countryside shooting at things either. I don’t think my nerves could stand it.” He ruined his chiding by grinning at her.

  Ruth rolled her eyes. “Believe me when I tell you that I will be more than happy if I never have to sit on a horse again. I am more than content to walk home, thank you very much. I shall leave the horse riding to you.”

  “Good.”

  Ruth couldn’t help it, she smiled widely at him. “I love you,” she breathed. “There, I have said it.” She sucked in a deep, stabilising breath, but it lingered in her aching chest as she waited to see how he would react.

  Elias blinked at her, but a smile soon blossomed on his handsome face. “Thank God for that. I have been wanting to tell you for days now, but didn’t want to sound too forward, or demanding. When we left your cottage, I promised myself that I would give you all the time in the world to get used to the changes your life was about to undergo but it has been more and more difficult to adhere to when all I have wanted, needed, is to be able to pour out my heart to you. I adore you. I love you. I want you. I need you - in my life, as my wife. I need us to be together. You are courageous, strong, determined, a very capable woman whom I know will tackle any difficulties life throws at us with me. We will work together to establish and run our home, for us, and our children. I want at least four.”

  “Four?” Ruth grinned. “Not three or two?”

  “No. Four. Definitely.” Elias coughed when his voice turned hoarse with the strength of his emotion. “But first, I insist on having a formal courtship. We are going to do this properly, Ruth.”

  Before Ruth could reply, they were interrupted by the return of Sir Hugo’s horse.

  “I am not riding that thing back,” Ruth muttered, stepping closer to Elias when he helped her stand up and brush her skirt off.

  Elias remained close to her mostly because he wasn’t sure if she was going to fall over. While she was breathing now, Ruth still looked incredibly pale, and the lump on her head continued to grow. “I promise that I won’t let you fall off,” Elias assured her, eyeing the growing bruise warily. He nodded imperceptibly at Morgan, who slipped into the undergrowth and returned to the house to summon the Star Elite’s doctor.
Elias then turned to Ruth.

  “You are going to ask me to trust you again, aren’t you, just to get me on that horse?” Ruth snorted.

  Elias grinned and lifted his brows as he repeated: “I promise I won’t let you fall.”

  “I know you won’t,” Ruth sighed and then could really see no reason why she shouldn’t get back on the horse, if Elias was with her.

  “Fine,” she sighed with feigned reluctance.

  It was startling how quickly Elias not only got her back onto the horse but vaulted up behind her. Before she knew it, Jarvis had returned to the hunt for Hammond and left Ruth and Elias to make their own way back to the main house alone.

  “Shouldn’t you go with the others?” Ruth asked with a frown at the path that was being consumed by the trees.

  “I have much more important things to do like get you to see a doctor,” Elias assured her with little interest in the investigation.

  “Oh? I feel fine,” Ruth replied only to wince when she touched her forehead and pain lanced over the top of her head.

  “You are going to see a doctor,” Elias bit out. “Then we have a courtship to arrange. I have no idea how this is going to work with us practically sharing the same house, and with me being away for days on end. I have never formally courted anyone before. Do you know that? You will be the first – and only – woman I have ever and will ever court.”

  “Good,” Ruth grinned. “I have never been courted either.”

  “What does one do in a formal courtship?” Elias asked with a frown.

  “Spend time together,” Ruth laughed. “We have to spend time together.”

  “Damn,” Elias murmured but ruined it with a grin. “I suppose we are going to have to have a proper courtship then so we can plan the wedding.”

  Rolling her eyes even hurt, so Ruth smiled instead.

  “It looks like we will have to make the most of our time together – our courtship – because I want you by my side as often as possible. I don’t want to waste another day of our future together. With your agreement, I suggest that our courtship lasts for as long as the Star Elite need to use the house. As soon as the investigation is over, and it is time for everyone to move on, the courtship should end so we can get on with marrying. I nearly lost you today - twice. Rointon could have shot you. The horse could have killed you. Anything could have happened, and I could have lost the most precious woman in the world.”