Once Before (The Hero Next Door Series Book 3)

by Rebecca King

  ‘Have you forgotten that Muldoon might have been murdered? Have you forgotten that Lynchgate has threatened practically everyone he has met? Have you forgotten the thugs who chased her and tried to throw her out of the window the other night? We still don’t know if they were Lynchgate’s thugs, or whether they work for someone else and have been watching Mildred’s house for some other reason, or might even be following her right now as well. We don’t have any idea if they intend to snatch her or wait for her to reach this damned place before they kill her. That is what worries me.’

  ‘Can I remind you that you have never gotten yourself so upset about anybody we have been asked to protect before?’

  Daniel sighed. ‘I care about her. She was a very large part of my life when I was in the workhouse. Tabitha made me contemplate what I wanted to do with my life and believe I had choices. Without those dreams she encouraged, I would never have contemplated joining the army and doing what I have with my life. I had no idea at the time that she had left her father’s house the day after I was thrown out. I didn’t know.’

  ‘Would it have mattered if she had stayed?’

  ‘Tabitha would have been under the influence of her father and probably wouldn’t be the kind of woman she is today, so yes it does matter.’

  ‘What about you? Does it matter to you that she is connected to your enemy?’

  ‘You and I both know that there is no love lost between Tabitha and Lynchgate,’ Daniel replied. ‘Their family connection doesn’t matter to me one bit.’

  ‘Because he isn’t likely to ever be your father-in-law,’ Hamish finished for him.

  ‘It would put me in a difficult situation, wouldn’t it? Having a father-in-law who is in prison for theft and murder.’ Daniel studied the carriage that was barely visible on the horizon.

  ‘For crimes he committed when you were miles away. For crimes you proved he had committed and arrested him for,’ Hamish replied. ‘People will only talk about it if they find out about it. Once he is behind bars there is no reason why anybody should give a damn that his estranged daughter married, or who she married.’

  ‘I suppose,’ Daniel edged. ‘But I am not going to marry her. I am following her now because I want to know where she is going. She is one of our main witnesses because she fought with one of the thugs. Moreover, she is the main beneficiary of Muldoon’s fortune.’

  ‘Do you think she might have had a hand in Muldoon’s death? I mean, doesn’t it strike you as odd that she is Lynchgate’s daughter, and has inherited a vast fortune from one of Lynchgate’s business connections? Now, she is on her way to see someone we don’t know, have never been told about, and despite everything that has happened, Tabitha has decided to go on a journey she has kept hidden from us. What I want to know, and I am sure Roger will too, is what she has to hide.’ Hamish threw a worried look at Daniel. ‘You keep following her. I will go back. As far as I am concerned now that aunt of hers can damned well handle Lynchgate on her own.’ He pointed at the carriage. ‘I am more interested in what Tabitha is up to.’

  Daniel watched him go and took a few moments to study the carriage up ahead and absorb what Hamish had just said. No matter how much he tried to envisage Tabitha stealing from anybody, or being as manipulative as her father, he just couldn’t. It wasn’t in her nature Daniel was sure of it. Besides, according to Mildred, Tabitha had been living with her for many years. There was no possibility that she could be involved with what her father was doing.

  ‘But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have secrets, or crimes of her own to hide from us,’ Daniel sighed. ‘Whatever she is involved in, I have to help her.’

  The weather seemed to sum up his life when it started to rain. Daniel tugged on his cloak and yanked the hood up and cursed in disgust, but he resolutely followed her for the rest of her journey until she disembarked in a small hamlet out in the middle of nowhere. At first, Daniel thought that Craghorn Camden consisted of just one house. But as he worked his way through the trees next to the road, Daniel saw that there were five houses in total, two of which were unoccupied.

  Tabitha stopped to have a word with the coachman who pointed to a long, winding driveway at the end of which were huge wrought iron gates. The coachman jumped down and scratched his head.

  ‘I am sorry,’ Tabitha replied. ‘I am sure I will be all right.’

  ‘But you aren’t going to carry this lot by yourself, are you?’ the coachman grumbled with a heavy frown. He studied the iron gates. ‘You get them open and I will take you down the drive, but hurry up mind, I have a schedule to keep.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Tabitha beamed at the man so brightly he turned pink and scratched his head as he shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.

  ‘Aye, climb aboard then.’

  Tabitha hurried over to the gates and began to rummage around in her pocket. She prayed that one of the keys fitted the lock. She had no idea what she was going to do if it didn’t. Choosing the largest of the keys, she slid it into the lock and twisted it. The loud clank of the lock sliding open was a huge relief and made Tabitha smile as she pushed the gates open. She turned around to find the carriage driver had already pulled the carriage up to the entrance and was waiting for her to get out of the way.

  Climbing aboard, Tabitha settled into the seat and gazed excitedly out of the window. At first, all she could see were miles and miles of open countryside interlaced with rows of low stone walls. Within some of the fields, sheep and cows munched lush emerald grass. On the opposite side of the carriage there was dense woodland within which birds merrily chirped their joyous birdsong. Eventually, the carriage moved down a long curve affording Tabitha her first glimpse of Cragmore House.

  Her mouth fell open at the sight of the huge, four storey mansion sitting in resplendent glory beside a huge turning circle in the centre of which was a large fountain. To the right of it were several outbuildings, stables she assumed. To the left was a large glistening lake beside which was a folly and acres of well-tended garden.

  ‘How wonderful,’ she breathed.

  Tabitha bristled with impatience as she waited for the coachman to stop the carriage. She dropped the step herself and stared up at the huge house in disbelief, barely even noticing the coachman removing her luggage from the carriage.

  ‘Thank you,’ she murmured quietly to him with a gentle smile. She handed him a few coins. ‘For your trouble. It was very good of you to bring me to the door.’

  The coachman doffed his cap and eyed the house before shaking his head in shock. ‘Will you be the coachman who makes the return journey next week?’ She called up to him before he could leave.

  ‘Aye, this is my route, miss.’

  ‘Well, I shall be making the return journey.’

  ‘Be at the gates for three o’clock in the afternoon then miss,’ the coachman offered with a friendly wave.

  Tabitha remained where she was and watched him depart. The second he disappeared at the top of the driveway silence fell all about her. With it came a sense of isolation that should have worried her. After what had happened recently, she felt protected instead.

  ‘That is probably because there is nobody else here,’ Tabitha murmured with a sigh.

  Digging around in her pocket again, she removed the smaller iron key and slid it into the lock on the front door. Her smile grew when the door swung inward affording her a view of the vast inner hallway. Before she began to explore, Tabitha hurriedly fetched her things from the top of the steps and deposited them beside the front door before closing the door on the outside world.

  ‘It feels like the house is sleeping and waiting for someone to wake it up,’ she whispered.

  While she wished that Mildred was with her to share this, Tabitha also wanted to be on her own – just for a little while. She had a lot to contemplate, not just about Daniel but about whether she wanted to live in a house like this, if she could leave her Aunt Mildred, and what she wanted to do about the factory.

&nb
sp; ‘For now, I shall explore,’ she announced. ‘Although why I am talking aloud is beyond me.’

  With a grin, Tabitha removed her new cloak and gloves and dropped them onto her luggage. She eyed the dust sheet covering something at the base of the winding staircase, the newel posts of which reached out toward her like welcoming arms. Carefully removing the covering, she gasped at the delicately carved oak table beneath, its glossy surface mirroring her features as she stared down at it. Immediately, she could envisage a large vase of luscious flowers sitting in the middle of it.

  ‘How wonderful,’ Tabitha breathed before she turned to the closed doors nearest to her.

  Before she could move, though, one of the front doors behind her rattled. Tabitha gasped and stepped back when a scowling Daniel appeared in the doorway, clearly coldly furious.

  ‘What in the Hell are you doing?’ he demanded without preamble. ‘You do know that you have the damned men out looking for you, don’t you?’

  He stomped angrily inside but carefully closed the door behind him before turning to pierce her with a hard glare.

  ‘Hello, Daniel,’ Tabitha murmured. ‘I didn’t realise you were following me.’

  Daniel glared at her but struggled to know whether he should shake her or kiss her. He was so incensed that he wanted to rant at her but knew it was wisest that he just kept quiet and got facts out of her first.

  Upsetting her is likely to make her clam up and then it is going to take me far longer to get the information out of her I need before I decide what to do about all of this.

  ‘I saw you in town,’ he rapped before holding his hands aloft. ‘Whose house is this?’

  Tabitha contemplated what to say. The truth still didn’t seem at all possible, but she had to admit it at some point.

  ‘Mine,’ she said simply staring down at the key in her hand. ‘It’s mine.’

  Daniel took one look at the consternation on her face and knew then that she had only just found out about it. ‘Who told you? Are you sure?’ he demanded.

  ‘I am sure.’ Tabitha suddenly found herself on the verge of tears. She had no idea why she should feel the need to cry again, but pools of moisture gathered on her lashes so threateningly that they made her chin wobble.

  Daniel saw that inner battle. He tried desperately to cling onto his anger, but it melted away and he found himself stalking across the hallway to yank her into his arms.

  ‘What happened?’ he growled when she leaned against him and slid her arms around him. Daniel reciprocated mostly because he wanted to know that she was all right. Deep inside he was bloody relieved that she hadn’t travelled all this way to meet a lover. ‘How do you know this is yours?’

  ‘Because I went to the bank this morning and Mr Rumpton gave me the papers. From the look of it, Reynold Muldoon transferred ownership of this house to me before he died,’ Tabitha whispered.

  Stunned, Daniel stared down at her in his arms. ‘Can I see the papers?’

  Tabitha nodded but when she tried to step away, Daniel tightened his arms around her and held her still. ‘It was an incredibly dangerous thing you did this morning,’ he warned.

  ‘But I only went to the bank,’ Tabitha argued. ‘It would have been foolish to go to the factory. I went to the market in the morning, not the middle of the night. How can something like that be incredibly dangerous?’

  ‘You could have been snatched. Anything could have happened to you even in daylight, and we wouldn’t have learnt about it until it was too late.’ Daniel struggled to contain his rising anger. The thought of her lying dead was enough to make him want to shout at her. The depth of the emotions that battered him shook him in ways that he had never had anything shake him before. It made him want to tear at his hair and rant at the world.

  I must do something about it, he decided.

  ‘We must talk, Tabitha,’ he began.

  ‘I will show you the papers,’ Tabitha sighed. This time, when she eased out of his arms Daniel let her go.

  ‘Not about the house. About us.’

  Tabitha froze and felt her stomach drop to her toes. ‘What about us?’

  Daniel sighed. ‘We need to decide where this, this-’ he waved a hand between them ‘-thing between us is going to go.’

  ‘Thing?’ She turned to face him.

  He glared. ‘You know what I am talking about. We have been friends for a long time. As children we could share anything. Why can’t we do that now?’

  ‘We are not children anymore, Daniel,’ Tabitha whispered. ‘We haven’t seen each other for many years. We have changed a lot since then. Life has changed us both.’

  ‘But the connection is still there. When we are together it feels as if we have always been friends, always been together, always had this connection. You haven’t had anything like this with anybody else, and neither have I.’

  Tabitha’s brows shot up. ‘How can you say that? You don’t know who I have had in my life.’

  Again, jealousy surged through him. ‘Who is he then? Don’t tell me you have feelings for that Joshua Corlton.’

  ‘How do you know about him?’

  Daniel tried not to snap. ‘Your aunt told me. I am a little surprised that you didn’t.’

  ‘I don’t see why Joshua is relevant to anything,’ Tabitha protested.

  ‘Not relevant? How can you say that? You have – had – a suitor in Joshua yet you never said anything to me about him when I kissed you,’ Daniel retorted.

  Tabitha scowled at him. ‘Well, you have made it clear that you are here purely to investigate Muldoon and Lynchgate, and that as soon as your investigation is over you are leaving. I didn’t ask you to kiss me.’

  ‘You didn’t object much, though, did you?’ Daniel snorted.

  ‘Well, I am sorry if I didn’t slap your face in outrage. Maybe I should next time.’ Tabitha glared angrily at him.

  ‘There isn’t going to be a next time,’ Daniel hissed.

  Hurt, Tabitha struggled to hide her emotions and looked at him coldly. ‘Good,’ she snapped before stalking away with her head held high.

  Deep inside, though, Tabitha’s heart was bleeding, and she knew it might never recover.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Tabitha struggled to see the room she walked into because she was so hurt and so desperately needed to cry. It took effort to force herself to stop and suck in a deep fortifying breath. She hurried over to the windows to let some light into the room, which turned out to be golden in colour. It was a large square room embellished with hints of cream and dark brown. Altogether, it was rather pleasing with an assortment of ornate pieces of furniture which were tastefully positioned about the sitting room in a way that made it homely. Rather pleased by what she saw, Tabitha made her way back out of the room only to find Daniel still standing where she had left him. Their gazes clashed.

  ‘I shouldn’t have shouted,’ he offered as she swept past him.

  ‘You really have no cause to get angry at me for going about my business. I don’t have to report to you, the Star Elite, or anybody else about anything I do.’ She tipped her chin up and carefully ignored the small hint of guilt that warned her she had slept a little more soundly in her bed last night because she had known Daniel was on patrol.

  And he doesn’t even look tired.

  He still looked incredibly handsome, even more so now that he was windswept. There was something rugged about his masculine appeal today that made her even more aware of him. It was far harder than it should have been to walk past him and into the room directly opposite the morning room she had just viewed.

  ‘Why did you not tell me about this when you first learnt of it?’ Daniel asked, following her. ‘Do you not trust us? Did you not think we would allow you to come here to see it?’

  Tabitha sighed. ‘Oh, I trust you. It is just that I know how you Star Elite men work. You would have looked at all the information Mr Rumpton had given me and then come and searched the house without even consulting me or co
nsidering that this is now my house. I wanted to be the one to come here because I want to see what Reynold left me, but also because this quest is mine. It has nothing to do with the Star Elite. It is personal and private to me. I don’t want anybody stomping around here until I have had a good look at it. You are very good at what you do, and very thorough, but this is my inheritance, and for once I should like to be the one to decide what I do with it. Not what my father wants, or what Aunt Mildred thinks I ought to do with it, or what the Star Elite are going to do in it for their investigation, but what I want to do – for me. If you don’t like it, well, I am sorry about that, but I am going to do it anyway. I have not put myself in any danger. I have not broken any laws, and I don’t see why I should be made to feel like a criminal for wanting to come to a home that I now own to have a look around it myself, preferably before a group of strangers trample all over it. This is between me and Reynold Muldoon. He left me the notes. Me the fortune. Me the house. Me the factory. He put me in the middle of his problems and has left me with the riddle of trying to find out what in the world he thought he was doing, what happened to him, and why he involved me. Your investigation is into my father, and as far as I can tell he has never had any involvement with this house. He doesn’t own it, and I doubt Reynold was close enough to him, or friendly enough with him, to have ever entertained Lynchgate here. I doubt Lynchgate even realises that Muldoon had this house, or that it even exists.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you,’ Daniel argued.

  Tabitha wasn’t going to have her thoughts and suspicions swept aside so easily. ‘Really? You don’t know Lynchgate like I do. If he knew that Muldoon owned a place like this, he would have done everything possible to get his grubby hands on it the second that the ink was dry on Reynold Muldoon’s death certificate. The factory would have meant nothing.’

  Something had changed in Tabitha this morning. The softer side of her had gone. Before him now was an independent young woman who was annoyed, yes, but also stronger somehow, more determined, less inclined to want to accede to his command.