Righteous Rumours (The Hero Next Door Series Book 4)

by Rebecca King

  ‘I am not going to hurt you,’ he told her gently. ‘I won’t. Geranium. Stop. Stop. Just stop.’

  ‘No. Let me go,’ she cried, her voice getting louder and more panicked the longer she struggled.

  ‘Ronan.’

  Ronan jerked and looked up, and saw Roger and Daniel standing in the middle of the road. Beside him, Peregrine was also watching what was happening with a deep frown on his face. Ronan immediately released her and stepped back.

  ‘I won’t hurt you,’ he insisted kindly.

  Geranium looked at each of the men in turn. None of them made any attempt to venture near her, not even Ronan. With one last defiant look at him, she raced toward home.

  ‘Go and make sure she gets home safely,’ Roger ordered Peregrine, who immediately began to jog after her. ‘Keep your distance.’

  ‘All right?’ Roger asked Ronan quietly when the men reached the village.

  ‘No, I am not sodding all right,’ Ronan grumbled.

  Daniel winced but wisely remained silent. Both he and Roger understood Ronan’s confusion. While nobody doubted that Ronan was still reluctant to change his life for a woman, it looked like he was having to anyway. Anybody who kissed a woman as passionately as Ronan had kissed Geranium wasn’t just attracted to her. He felt emotions toward her that had compelled him to take risks even if they forced him to behave honourably toward her. Nobody had forgotten that it had only been that very same morning when Ronan had adamantly denied any possibility of getting married. Yet just a few hours later, he was in the arms of a stunning local who was not the kind of woman any sane man dallied with. Geranium hadn’t helped. She had been a willing accomplice and had apparently already started to make room for herself in Ronan’s life, whether she realised it yet or not. What nobody knew yet was whether Ronan was prepared to allow her to remain a part of his life when the investigation had been concluded or whether he would ride out of her life and leave Geranium behind.

  Secretly, although he would never discuss it with any of his men, Roger suspected that if anybody could ride out of a woman’s life, even the life of the woman he loved, it was Ronan. While he wasn’t an intentionally cruel man, Ronan was stubborn and had made his aversion to marriage clear. There wasn’t anybody in the Star Elite who doubted him when he repeatedly declared that he wasn’t going to marry – ever. Now, Roger suspected that nobody had any idea what in the Hell was going on, and that included Ronan.

  ‘Someone is in Sminter’s house,’ Hamish suddenly hissed. He appeared out of the darkest shadows at the side of the road like a ghoul and vanished again just as quickly. Nobody heard anything more. His tread was silent, his presence invisible. But the men from the Star Elite launched into action, all except for Ronan who followed Geranium and watched her enter her house. He didn’t move until her front door closed behind her.

  ‘It’s Lynchgate,’ Roger informed him when Ronan caught up with him at the back of Sminter’s house.

  ‘Luke is watching the front of Sminter’s house,’ Peregrine said.

  ‘What’s he after, do you think?’ Joshua asked as he watched a shadow move inside the property.

  ‘I don’t know but I think Wardle might have some incriminating paperwork,’ Ronan replied. ‘Geranium has just been to Wardle’s house to report Sminter’s death and found him hastily packing. He left her to lock up his house.’

  Roger’s brows shot up. ‘Wardle left Geranium to lock his house up?’

  Ronan nodded but then said: ‘Damn it.’

  ‘What?’ Roger and Daniel asked in unison.

  ‘Geranium still has the key to Wardle’s house. I think she has taken it home with her.’

  ‘Where has Wardle gone, did he tell her?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ronan sighed, wishing now that he had thought about something more than kissing her.

  ‘No, we could see that you were busy,’ Joshua grinned before adopting a voice which sounded suspiciously like Ronan’s. ‘I am not getting married. Ever.’

  Roger’s lips twitched when Ronan did nothing more than roll his eyes and pull a face. Daniel grinned but wisely remained silent because he knew that Ronan would need some time to get his thoughts together about what he wanted from life. He suspected that the man’s future was already set, which wasn’t altogether a bad thing. Deciding to ask Tabitha to marry him was the very best decision he had ever made in his life, and he didn’t regret it for a second. Daniel wanted his colleagues, all of them, to feel the same kind of happiness. He knew that Joshua and Roger already did given they were already happily married with babies on the way. However, Daniel knew his life would be complete when the rest of his colleagues found happiness in their own way, with their own brides. For now, he clapped Ronan companionably on the shoulder and steered him toward Sminter’s house.

  ‘We will wait for him to come out,’ Roger decided. ‘Luke will give the signal if he leaves by the front door, but I doubt he will be that bold. We will wait for him in the garden. I want to know what he is after, gentlemen.’

  The men from the Star Elite took up various positions around Sminter’s garden and watched the house. They didn’t have to wait for long before one of the French doors opened and Lynchgate stepped out of the house. It was too dark to see if he had taken anything from the property. He certainly had nothing in his hands when he quietly closed the door behind him.

  ‘Stay right where you are, Lynchgate,’ Roger ordered.

  Lynchgate dutifully paused, but only for a fraction of a second. He suddenly darted to his left and threw himself at the high wall bordering the garden. The Star Elite caught up with him just as he disappeared over the top, but they weren’t quick enough to prevent Lynchgate from jumping into the garden of the neighbouring house. Dean scrambled over the wall after him only to curse when Lynchgate fired his gun at him. When he looked up, Lynchgate was already at the gate, shoving his empty gun into his pocket but only so he could remove another weapon from another pocket. As he stepped into the carriage track, Lynchgate pointed his loaded weapon at Roger who only just managed to dodge back into the shadows before a bullet slammed into the gate mere inches from his head. Roger muttered a curse at the accuracy of Lynchgate’s aim, and watched the man throw himself into the hedgerow on the opposite side of the carriage track. Within seconds, Lynchgate’s dark outline was racing toward the thick copse of trees marking the north easterly edge of his estate.

  ‘He won’t be stupid enough to go home,’ Roger growled. ‘After him.’

  Ronan immediately followed Dean and Peregrine into the woodland. The men all stopped to listen for noise, but silence greeted them. They all knew that nobody could crash through dense woodland and not make a heck of a lot of noise, Lynchgate especially.

  ‘He is hiding,’ Ronan breathed.

  The men spaced out and began to creep through the woods. It was Ronan who found Lynchgate. Or, rather, Lynchgate found him. At some point over the last couple of weeks, the loss of his excessive lifestyle had caused Lynchgate to lose a lot of weight. Consequently, he was faster on his feet than the Star Elite would have preferred him to be. However, Lynchgate was still heavy set. It was therefore difficult for Ronan to fight him off when Lynchgate launched himself at his back. Ronan was driven to his knees by the bulk of the man’s girth landing against his shoulders. One beefy arm immediately wrapped tightly around his neck while Lynchgate’s other hand pushed hard against the side of Ronan’s head, trying to twist it into an unnatural angle that would break his neck. Ronan forced his chin behind Lynchgate’s arm and bit Lynchgate’s forearm with as much force as he could manage before reaching a fist behind him and ramming it between Lynchgate’s legs. Lynchgate grunted with pain and staggered away, releasing Ronan as he went. Ronan forced himself to his feet and removed a flick-knife from his boot. When Lynchgate rounded on him, Ronan stabbed Lynchgate in the thigh and upper arm.

  ‘Damn you,’ Lynchgate snarled.

  ‘You are under arrest, Lynchgate,’ Ronan replied with a grin. ‘Th
ere are too many of us, and you have no support anymore.’

  ‘You know nothing,’ Lynchgate hissed.

  ‘I know you are stuck, or you wouldn’t be here,’ Ronan countered.

  Before Lynchgate could argue with him, Ronan slammed his boot into Lynchgate’s stomach. The man staggered back and promptly dodged behind a tree. Ronan went after him but by the time he rounded the tree, Lynchgate had already disappeared into the shadows. Ronan set off after him. It was easy to find Lynchgate given how much noise he made until eventually, Lynchgate left the sheltered protection of the trees and appeared on a narrow country lane on the opposite side of the village. There, Lynchgate had a horse waiting for him, which he wasted no time mounting.

  ‘Well damn it all to hell,’ Ronan growled, removing his gun and checking it for shot.

  ‘Leave him,’ Roger ordered. ‘He will be back. He is after papers and didn’t have anything on him. The evidence still lies in Sminter’s house somewhere.’

  ‘Or in Sminter’s chambers in the courthouse,’ Dean suggested.

  ‘I doubt he would have left incriminating evidence there,’ Ronan snorted.

  ‘Maybe Sminter left evidence in his chambers because nobody would think he would leave incriminating papers in a courthouse. Sminter was no fool,’ Dean warned.

  ‘Yes he was because he joined the damned criminals he was supposed to put behind bars,’ Ronan grumbled. ‘He was a bloody idiot who put money above his moral and professional duty.’

  ‘Are you all right?’ Peregrine asked Ronan worriedly. ‘I tried to reach you, but you fought him off before I got there.’

  ‘I am fine, but Lynchgate is hurt. I stabbed him in the thigh and the arm,’ Ronan said. ‘So now he is desperate and wounded and is going to be even more dangerous.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Peregrine suggested, turning around to face the village.

  ‘We need to find Wardle. He has taken his important papers with him,’ Ronan warned.

  Roger sighed. ‘Daniel and I can go and look at Sminter’s paperwork. Leave Lynchgate. He won’t go far.’

  ‘What about Wardle?’ Ronan asked.

  ‘Find him,’ Roger ordered. ‘He may be going to meet up with Lynchgate.’

  ‘What lies in that direction?’ Ronan asked, pointing at Lynchgate’s rapidly retreating back.

  ‘Town, I think, but that is at least ten miles away. Nothing but fields lay between here and town,’ Roger replied with a shrug.

  ‘Well we can’t spend the night searching fields. It’s damned impossible to see anything out here,’ Peregrine muttered.

  Ronan ran a hand through his hair and struggled to contain his frustration. He wanted to be able to think clearly. He needed to be able to think about his investigation. It was damned galling that all he could think about was Geranium. He had a pressing need to find out if she was all right. More importantly, what had made her cry. Something had happened during their walk back to her house that had upset her deeply and he wanted to know what it was.

  Even though I don’t know her and have no intention of staying here when this is all over, I must know what had made her cry.

  If he was honest, the kiss they had shared troubled him. He was compelled to make her understand that he had to leave soon and wouldn’t return despite their mutual attraction.

  While I am pleased that Daniel, Joshua, and Roger, have found happiness, marriage is not for me. It never will be, especially to someone like Geranium.

  Her name, floral and delicate, was a misnomer. Geranium was strong, wayward, a little headstrong, but only because she was avidly curious about the world around her. She had a quick mind, a strong wit, and was deeply passionate. He suspected that life with someone like her would be challenging and would open his eyes to a different side of the world around him, but Ronan didn’t want that. He was a man who moved through life in the shadows; someone who kept himself to himself and wanted to stay that way. Geranium was someone who needed to be with people.

  Face it, she needs a husband.

  That thought was enough for him to force his attention onto what he was in Malden to do. Ronan mounted his horse and looked at his colleague. ‘Let’s go after Wardle. He can’t have gotten far.’

  The men parted ways. Roger and Daniel went to search Sminter’s house while the rest of the Star Elite started to look for the missing magistrate.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Geranium rolled over in bed and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes burned. She was exhausted and so desperately wanted to sleep but it eluded her because her mind refused to allow her to find peace. All she could think about was Ronan, and how different their lives were. He was so far removed from her world she might as well have lived in another country. Even now, when her tears had cleared her mind, and she was by herself in the dead of night and able to allow her thoughts to wander, Geranium still couldn’t understand why she had allowed Ronan to take the liberties he had.

  It was wonderful but so wrong because now I am not able to forget it.

  The passion, the hedonism of being able to shake off the strictures of ordinary life and simply be herself, to be so close to another human being, had been wonderful. It had been a revelation. Those few moments of indulgence had taught her a lot about herself, her capabilities as a person and a woman.

  ‘I want to know more about what is happening to me, and what it means for my future, but I cannot ask him. I cannot ask anybody about the feelings that pummel me,’ she whispered.

  For once, it had nothing to do with her curious nature, which most people found offensive. She couldn’t ask anybody what to do about the feelings battering her because they were difficult to explain, even to herself.

  ‘I can’t ask Ronan because I don’t know him. Even if I did, he gets annoyed by my questions,’ she whispered miserably, well aware that she didn’t know him. ‘He is a stranger; someone whose behaviour is suspicious. He is someone I cannot trust. I was right to ask him about himself. All he has given me is his name. As a neighbour and the person responsible for this house right now, it is my duty to find out everything I can about a stranger in the area, especially when a villager dies on the same day that he arrives in the village.’

  Geranium rolled over in bed and stared at the moonlit sky through the window beside the bed. It galled her to have to admit it, but she had been foolish to go to the magistrate’s house so late at night by herself. She had been wrong to walk down a country lane in the dead of night when she knew that a group of strange men were in the area. More importantly, she had been an idiot to believe Ronan when he had told her his name but had carefully avoided answering any of her other questions. She had spent a good hour with him, yet still didn’t know where he came from, or who his friends were, or why he was in the village. Despite her determination to learn everything there was about him, and the many questions she had asked him, Ronan had thwarted her.

  ‘Well, I am going to do everything I can to avoid you from now on. Last night was a mistake that I won’t allow to happen again.’

  When she climbed out of bed several hours later, still as tired and miserable as she had been when she had climbed into it, Geranium knew she had to change, she just had no idea how yet. Firstly, she had to do something to keep herself busy throughout the forthcoming day or her unanswered questions were going to drive her out of her mind.

  And it is Kitty and Rupert’s day off, so I am going to be in the house all alone and can’t even distract myself by talking to Kitty.

  Her loneliness was enough to make Geranium want to cry again because she really needed someone to talk to. The walls of the house seemed to close around her until they became almost suffocating. She knew that Lynchgate could appear at any moment and kill her like she suspected he had killed Judge Sminter, and nobody would be able to hear her scream. It was a sobering thought and one which left Geranium deeply troubled as she quickly dressed before going in search of breakfast.

  ‘It doesn’t bode well for the future,’ she muttered. ‘I
can’t stay with my parents forever. At some point in my adult life I am going to have to live in my own home. What then? Who will I have to talk to then?’

  Marriage is out of the question.

  Even before Ronan had appeared in her life, Geranium had already resolved herself to the fact that she would never marry and have a family of her own. Consequently, she was left trying to understand what her purpose in life should be.

  ‘I cannot just exist,’ she whispered, but saw nothing in her future but hours of empty loneliness.

  Determined to leave the house before she could change her mind, Geranium quickly dressed, gathered her basket, and marched resolutely out of the door without stopping to think about what she was doing. She wanted – needed – to be around people.

  Despite her need to see people, Geranium enjoyed having the village to herself as she walked toward the coaching inn, even if she did draw a few curious looks from the grocer, the baker, and the coal merchant, who were all going about their business, setting up for the day. None of them did anything more than issue polite nods or call good morning, but Geranium felt them watching her, mentally asking questions she didn’t want to answer.

  I wonder if this need to avoid someone is what others feel when they see me and know I am going to ask them questions.

  It was a sobering thought and gave Geranium plenty to think about as she waited for the carriage to town to depart.

  Ronan was also exhausted. He smothered a yawn and stretched his aching back. He wanted to get something to eat and some sleep in that order, but there was a long ride back to the safe house to get through first.

  ‘What’s that?’ Peregrine murmured after another half mile or so of steady riding through narrow country lanes with nothing around them but open countryside and more narrow country lanes.

  Each road they had ridden down had given them no clues as to which direction Wardle had taken. Geranium had told him that Wardle had turned to the right when he had left the house, but Ronan and his colleagues had searched the area for miles and found no trace of him. Wardle had simply vanished. As the night had passed, the Star Elite had become increasingly concerned for the welfare of the missing magistrate.