If he wanted a future with the woman seated opposite him, and he wanted to keep her safe and her to keep herself safe, he had to be completely honest with her. After all, it wasn’t a healthy relationship that is founded on lies and subterfuge.
“Have you ever heard -” he frowned at that.
Of course she won’t have heard of the Star Elite, he mused silently. At least he hoped not.
“I work for the War Office,” he said instead. “There is a group of men who are all ex-soldiers, who work together to solve crimes committed by people from all walks of life. It isn’t just the petty thieves who are guilty of crimes; or the rich and wealthy we fight to protect, our work involves everyone. Our organisation is called the Star Elite. Recently, our work has involved finding and arresting a group of French spies who have been in the country. They adopted new identities to enable them to spy on the country and send important information back to France. Their support network included everyone from magistrates, smugglers, financiers in London, to pick-pockets in the East End. Because of the variety of people we have been in contact with, our work has expanded outwards and we are now involved in all sorts of things.”
Arrabella closed her mouth with a snap. “You don’t think that your attacker has anything to do with your work in London, do you?”
“I have thought of that, but I simply cannot see that anyone would follow me all the way here, to the middle of nowhere, to knock me on the head. It just doesn’t make sense. If anyone wanted me dead, they have had ample opportunity to kill me on several occasions before now.”
The casual, almost detached way he spoke about death; as though he accepted it was part and parcel of his life, made her wonder just what horrors he had faced throughout his life. He seemed completely undeterred by the fact that someone had attacked him and left him bleeding heavily, confused and barely able to function. Now here he was, sitting before the fire, discussing people; thieves, French spies and attackers as though it was an everyday part of his life.
“So what do you plan to do now?” She frowned at the carpet. Although they had been through the facts, she still didn’t know what to think. It was highly unusual for anyone in Hambley Wood to help themselves to the keys without mentioning it to either herself or Mrs Able at some point. Harper had taken her into his confidence, of that there could be no doubt, but she had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t telling her everything.
She physically jerked at his next words.
“I am going to go back to Moldton church.”
“Why? Do you think that someone has returned the register to Moldton?” She couldn’t understand his logic.
“No, I think that someone is giving me a warning that they don’t want me digging around in the past.”
“That’s why they hit you?”
“I didn’t have my pockets emptied. The person was squaring up to me, but in the way of a gentleman fighter, not a street person. No, I am convinced that they are warning me to stop looking for the register. They don’t want me digging around in the past.”
“You could have been killed, Harper,” Arrabella gasped. “You were covered in blood and barely able to remember who you were. You could so very easily have fallen into a ditch somewhere where nobody would have found you until it was too late. This is more serious than a warning.”
Harper shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He knew she didn’t understand but it didn’t feel right to taint her world by describing the often macabre crimes he dealt with. “Let’s look at it this way, I have been walking the country lanes for miles yet have not been accosted until today. When I left home this morning it was early and still dark outside. I didn’t see anyone as I walked to Joseph’s house. If someone wanted to accost me, or kill me, they had ample opportunity to do so.”
“Not if they were in Moldton.”
“Quite. Let’s consider this then. In the church, if someone wanted me to die, they wouldn’t have just hit me once. That candlestick was heavy and they struck it right on my temple. Whether they expected to knock me out or not I am not altogether sure but I was stunned, not helpless. Any determined attacker would have hit me and kept hitting.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “No, I am convinced that they weren’t out to cause me significant damage, they wanted to give me a warning to stop looking for the register.”
“Did he say anything to you?” Arrabella went cold and stared at him when he shook his head. “It could have just been an opportunistic crime,” she added hopefully but the doubt in Harper’s eyes matched hers. If she was honest she didn’t believe for one second that his attack was a random crime.
He didn’t want to believe that the attack in Moldton was a one off event, but couldn’t dismiss it either. He had no idea if the man had been looking for something inside the church to steal. It wasn’t inconceivable that he had disturbed a thief. After all, the candlestick had been in the attacker’s hand. After the knock on the head, he hadn’t thought to check the church to see if anything had gone missing, but then wouldn’t know if it had.
“I don’t understand something,” Arrabella sighed with a frown and looked at him worriedly. “If the man has the register, why attack you? I mean, I know that he could want you to stop looking for it, but he didn’t give you any warning to stop looking for it. Why not just leave the area with the register and simply vanish? You don’t know who he is. He could disappear and never be seen. Why come back and attack you?”
Harper stared at her. “He doesn’t have the register.”
“Was anything else missing from the church?”
“I didn’t think to look.”
“Was he already in the church?”
He knew she was trying to point out that the crime could have been opportunistic, and he couldn’t really argue with her. Right now, he just didn’t know.
“I have no idea.” It was true, he didn’t know if he had been followed around Moldton, or if the man had been lying in wait. “I need to see if anything else has been stolen.”
When Arrabella saw the glint of fierce determination in his eye she sighed and knew what was coming. Sure enough, his next words confirmed just how dedicated he was to something that mattered to him.
“I am going to Moldton church.”
“Why now? Why not wait until morning?”
“Because we have to find that register, and quickly,” he turned and pointed one long finger at her. “Like you said, now that they have the register, why don’t they just leave the village? Until we can establish whether my attack was a random crime or not, we don’t know if we are even looking at the person who has the register. Like you said, they didn’t give me a verbal warning to stop looking for it.”
“So why go?
“Because I need to see if anything has been stolen, or someone has tried to break into the ante room. If they have, then we know that the attacker doesn’t have the register and was looking for it. If they haven’t, then the attack on me could have just been a warning, or a random crime completely unrelated to the register. Until we take a look at the interior of the church, we just don’t know.”
“But why now? Why tonight? Angus said you must stay warm and rest. You cannot go haring out into the night to a cold and empty church, it just isn’t right,” she argued loudly.
“I am fine,” he assured her. He turned to her with such a look of menace on his face that she instinctively took a step back. “If the church hasn’t been broken into then I am taking my attack as a personal warning. My attacker is in Moldton somewhere, so first thing tomorrow I am going to go and find him.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Arrabella glared at him and watched as left the room. The heavy sound of his boots on the stairs for a second time made her hurry to the door. He was sitting on the stairs putting his boots on when she reached the doorway and she shook her head in disbelief to find him now fully dressed.
“Harper, can I remind you that only this morning you were knocked out by an attacker at the church. It
is eight o’clock in the evening and dark outside. You are asking for trouble.”
“The quicker I can get to the truth, the quicker I can start to make a few important decisions about my life, Arrabella. This is important because the truth about my birth is a very big part of who I am. I mean, am I one of three sons who were born and raised in the village, or am I really an entitled lord, closely related to the Cavendish brothers.”
Arrabella felt a gulf of difference open up between them and sighed in dismay. She could understand his eagerness to find the truth, but to do so in his condition was ridiculous. Was he so desperate to get out of Hambley Wood that he was prepared to risk everything just to get the information he needed? Her heart broke just a little and she watched him move to the coat hook with a sigh.
“Go into the village and find your brother. You need to take someone with you.” Unsurprisingly he shook his head.
“Arrabella, I thank you for your concern, but this is what I do. I have spent most of the last few years working throughout the night using the darkness and shadows to help me. Trust me, I know what I am doing.”
“But you are injured,” she cried and nodded toward the white bandage on his head. Much to her consternation, he quickly yanked the bandage off and shoved it into his pocket.
“Thanks for that,” he grinned. “I would walk around like a beacon with that on my head.”
She wasn’t listening. She was too busy studying the large goose egg on his temple that looked as sore as it did black. How on earth he could even contemplate stepping outside of the door was anyone’s guess, but he seemed to positively relish the possibility of going out and coming face to face with the person who had hit him.
He paused beside the front door and turned to look back at her. “Lock the door behind me and don’t answer it to anyone.”
“But, you cannot just go out there all by yourself.”
“Why?” He demanded. “Are you coming with me?”
Her eyes widened and she stared at him in horror. She couldn’t think of anything worse than having to walk around outside, in the dark, with an attacker on the loose. She didn’t feel comfortable in Moldton church during the daytime let alone during the night, but the idea of sitting and fretting in front of the fire while she waited for him to come back filled her with sickening dread. She knew that she would spend the night wide-awake, going out of her mind with worry, and it wasn’t only because of the deep affection that was beginning to blossom for him.
Who are you trying to kid? She thought morosely. You already care for him deeply.
“I think someone has to, and, seeing as you don’t seem to want any of your brothers with you, then I suppose it is down to me.” She could sense an argument brewing from the horrified look in his eye, but figured that if bluffing him with the promise that she was going to come with him if he left the house got him to stay beside the fire, then that is what she would do. “After all, you have no idea what church property should be there and won’t have any idea if anything has been stolen.”
“You are not going.”
“You cannot stop me. Besides, what will Mr Turner think if he catches you in the church all alone? You are a stranger to these parts; most of the people here cannot remember you. He might mistake you as a trespasser and take matters into his own hands.” She shook her head when he opened his mouth to speak. “No, he wouldn’t hit someone over the head, so don’t even think it.”
His brows lifted in stunned disbelief when she stalked over to the hook and lifted her cloak down. She threw it around her shoulders and defiantly ignored Mrs Able’s protests. She waited for him to change his mind and reluctantly agree to stay beside the fire, but he merely stared at her.
“It’s cold and dark, Arrabella. It isn’t wise for you to be outside on a night like this.”
“I don’t see why not. It is not any different than any other night,” she replied with a sniff.
“I am going back to the church where I was accosted, Arrabella. Who knows what dangers might lurk outside, or in for that matter?” He fervently hoped his oblique reference to their being locked in the crypt was enough to put her off but mentally cursed for about the thousandth time when she merely shrugged unconcernedly.
“Then with two pairs of eyes we will be able to keep a closer eye out, won’t we?”
Mrs Able’s head swivelled from left to right and back again as she watched the interchange.
“It is going to be cold inside the church and we may have to go back down into the crypt again.”
“Why? We know the register isn’t there,” she snapped and dismissed his ridiculous attempt to frighten her into stopping at home.
“Your reputation will be ruined if we are seen out in the dark together.” He had to admit that although the thought of her accompanying him to Moldton filled him with absolute, bone-shaking horror, he was rather enjoying the swift banter they exchanged.
“Who is going to see us? Most people are already beside their fires right now. We are going the opposite way to the village, and will be heading directly to the church, which is empty.”
He had a sneaking suspicion that they could have gone on like this for hours, and frantically tried to think of something to put her off. “What if the attacker shows up? What do you plan to do then? Just because you are a woman doesn’t mean that he won’t strike you. Do you know how to duke it out?”
Arrabella thought about that for a moment and stared at the floor with a frown. Harper mentally heaved a sigh of relief that he had survived this particular skirmish intact; only to curse inwardly when she stalked across the hallway and picked up one of her father’s walking canes. She hefted it for a moment as though assessing its weight before she shrugged and held it in her palm as though she was heading out for nothing more than a ramble around the countryside.
He saw Mrs Able clamp a hand over her mouth when she witnessed Arrabella’s actions and couldn’t quite decide if the housekeeper was laughing or holding back a scolding. His beseeching look was met with a rather bland stare that assured him that he would get no assistance from that particular quarter, and he gave her a dirty look before he stalked toward the door.
“Arrabella, please listen to reason.” He mentally winced at the plea that was evident in his voice but, right now, would rather beg than allow her to place herself in danger. “I know you mean well, but things like this are something I do for a living. I am used to traipsing around in the darkness where it is cold and dangerous. You are a beautiful, yet refined lady whose place is before the fire.” He winced as the said fire appeared in her eyes and he knew that he had just said the wrong thing. He eyed the cane she lifted menacingly and almost pitied the poor bloke she had call to use it on. Whoever it was, it was most definitely not going to be him.
“My place?” She growled. “My place is before the fire?” She would have done any school mistress proud. Her back was ramrod straight and her eyes shot sparks molten fury at him as she turned narrowed eyes on him. “You may be used to big city crime, but this is the country and we do things a little differently here. Besides, you are forgetting that Moldton church is in my area. Now you are the one who has been injured, not me. I suggest that you take your place before the fire and recuperate.”
With that, she yanked the door open and stormed outside. It was satisfying to slam it behind her, but it did nothing to ease her temper. As she stalked down the driveway muttering dire consequences for stupid men under her breath, the tip of her cane rapped loudly on the stones beneath her feet. She almost wanted someone to come out of the bushes at her because right now, she would give them a piece of her mind that would blister their ears.
It was only when she turned out of the driveway and looked at the dark and empty road that loomed before her that she realised what she had just done.
“I hate the dark,” she grumbled.
“Me too.”
Her scream made a screech owl sound like an opera singer and he mentally winced as his head began t
o pound from the trauma.
“Good Lord woman! What the hell are you trying to do, summon the dead?”
“Don’t creep up on me like that. What are you doing creeping up on people? Didn’t anyone teach you it is bad manners?”
Harper shook his head and did the only thing he could think off. With one hand firmly locked on the back of her head, he drew her forward and placed a hard kiss on her lips to silence her. He wondered briefly if she was going to clobber him with the cane, and placed a gentle hand over the one holding the wooden stick in case she thought he was taking liberties again.
When she had slammed out of the hallway he had turned beseeching hands out to Mrs Able who had erupted into gales of laughter.
“You haven’t helped, you know,” he grumbled.
“I know, but if you don’t hurry up she is going to get to Moldton before you do and you could be the one she hits with that cane. I wouldn’t get her upset right now if I were you. There is nothing worse about Arrabella than her temper.”
If he was honest, he loved her quick temper. It proved his suspicion correct in that she was a passionate lady who deserved the very best the man in her life could offer. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the man in her future was going to be him. In essence, it wasn’t really all that important now whether he was linked to the Cavendish family or not, or carried a title, or had wealth. He had been born and raised in Hambley Wood, and this was the place he called home; especially now that Arrabella was in the village.
He was so busy contemplating the future that at first he didn’t realise that Arrabella had moved free of his hand and begun the long journey toward Moldton without him.
Lord Cavendish Returns Page 15
