“Arrabella, wait!” His curse broke the silence and he half-walked, half-ran to catch up with her.
“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain!” She called as she disappeared into the shadows. Although she continued walking, her heart was pounding so loudly that she couldn’t hear her own footsteps, and it was a relief when he caught up and began to walk beside her.
“Arrabella stop,” Harper growled. When she didn’t appear to have heard him, he grabbed hold of her elbow and turned her to face him. “Please, just listen to me. It is not too late to go back.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to agree, but she knew that she couldn’t just stop at home and wait for him to return. It would be the early hours of the morning before he returned, even if he wasn’t accosted again. She would go quietly mad. Going with him was not ideal but, right now, it was the lesser of the two evils. She had no choice, she had to go.
Harper cursed. For a moment there he thought he had succeeded and she was going to head back to the vicarage. In spite of the darkness, he had seen her hesitate. He had actually witnessed her second thoughts with his own eyes. Unfortunately, at the last minute, something had changed her mind and he felt, rather than saw, her spine straighten. If only he had waited until she had gone to bed, he could have crept out of the house and made his own way over to Moldton and she would not have known anything about it. If he hadn’t been fuelled with determination to get the matter with the register resolved so that he could get on with his future with her, then he would have had the forethought to wait. The realisation that she was going to Moldton didn’t sit easily with him and he sighed deeply while he dug deep for his patience. He didn’t think his night could get any worse now.
He was wrong.
It did.
It began to rain.
A lot.
To begin with, the light pitter-patter of raindrops around them was hardly noticeable but, as the shadowed outline of Moldton appeared out of the gloom, the heavens opened. Within seconds they were both soaked to the skin, but there was nothing they could do except quicken their pace and hope they didn’t drown before they got to the church. As they walked, the road turned into a quagmire of muddy holes that were nearly impossible to dodge around without the light to see properly.
At first Arrabella found it funny, especially when Harper lost his balance and had to flail his arms to stop himself from falling into one hitherto unseen mud pit. However, her mirth soon vanished when she didn’t manage to flail her arms enough to prevent herself from stepping into a puddle that soaked her boots through. The warmth in her toes suddenly vanished and she felt the painful tug of cold nip at them. She couldn’t help it, she felt her bottom lip tremble and her teeth begin to chatter as the chill began to take hold.
“If we don’t get out of this soon we are going to end up with influenza,” Harper growled. He could see the spire of the church several hundred yards ahead but it was impossible to walk any faster given that they could barely see more than three feet in front of them. He glanced over at Arrabella and felt his heart lurch at the sight she made.
Her hair was plastered to her skin. Because it was so silken, it had started so slip free of the delicate arrangement it had been pinned into, and fell in heavy ringlets around her face. Rainwater dripped off her pink-tipped nose which was accompanied by a dark blush to her cheeks brought about by the cold evening air. She looked like a rain-washed pixie. There was nothing he wanted more than to step forward, sweep her into his arms and plunder her senses until she gave him whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, but now was hardly the time or the place.
“Are you alright?”
Arrabella sniffed inelegantly and nodded. It was more of a jerk of the head than an actual nod and she had no idea if he could see her through the dark, but she had no intention of tearing her gaze away from the blessed sight of the church up ahead.
“Wait a minute,” Harper cautioned. He paused to consider what to do for the best. He should search the area around the church to look for anyone who might be lurking, but to do that meant leaving Arrabella alone and there was little likelihood of that happening.
The cold fingers she suddenly wrapped around his wrist made him jump and he frowned down at her, more with concern for her welfare than fear.
“What is it?”
“Sshh.” She put her hand to her lips, drew him to one side of the lane and pointed to the darkness behind them. “There is someone behind us.”
Harper’s brows lifted. He turned their positions around and effectively backed her into the hedge before he moved into position in front of her to protect her from attack. There, hidden in the shadows, they waited.
Simply standing there in the cold and the dark, waiting for someone to walk up to them, was terrifying. Arrabella found herself clutching the back of his jacket with fingers that were so cold they were painful. She sidled closer to him and was very glad that she had him by her side. The thought of experiencing this all by herself was horrific. She eyed the shadow of the church spire longingly and felt a sigh escape her. Although it would be cold inside, nothing could be colder than she was right now. She briefly contemplated going to Mr Turner’s house where it was at least warm, but he would ask too many questions that she didn’t want to answer right now. She would just have to accept that she was going to have to spend the next several hours freezing cold, soaking wet, and utterly terrified.
Harper was fairly certain that the person behind them was moving toward them, not away, but he couldn’t see a damned thing through the rain. When nobody emerged from the shadows, and a shudder ripped through Arrabella, he knew that he had no choice but to get her out of the rain.
He dipped his head until his lips touched her ear. “Let me hold the cane.” He quietly pressed the ring of keys into her hand and folded her fingers around the icy ironwork to silence them. “If someone does appear, I want you to run for the church. Open the door and get inside, lock it behind you and don’t let anyone in until I knock three times. If you don’t get three knocks, don’t answer the door, Arrabella. Whatever you do, don’t stop for anything.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Right now, we are going to continue to walk to the church, but I am going to be keeping a close eye on the road behind us. You keep a watch on the road ahead. Together, we can get there without being caught unawares by anyone.”
Luckily, they entered the graveyard without seeing anyone else. She bent down to unlock the door, but was shaking so hard that she dropped the heavy ironwork several times before she managed to get the key in the lock and open the door.
“Before you go in, feel around the back and put the key into the lock from the other side. As soon as we get inside, shut the door and turn the lock.” Harper whispered.
Although he didn’t say as much to Arrabella, there was someone standing just inside the bushes at the far end of the churchyard. They must have circled around them while they had been on the lane so they could lie in wait in the churchyard. It pointed to the fact that the man had been watching the vicarage, and was undoubtedly the same person who had been in the garden the other night.
They are certainly determined, Harper thought to himself. As long as they stayed at the far corner of the graveyard there was going to be no problem at all. If they ventured anywhere near, then they were going to get a lesson in fighting the Star Elite way.
The door swung silently open and she slipped through seconds before Harper, who closed the door and locked it in a motion that was so swift, so silent, that she didn’t have the time to move before he appeared next to her. The sudden warmth of him so close felt wonderful and she had to fight to stop herself from burying beneath his jacket in search of his warmth. It positively radiated from him, and she wondered how he managed to stay so warm when it was so cold. The clothing he was wearing was no warmer than hers, yet he was positively glowing, whereas she was finding it impossible to stop shaking.
She fumbled her way through the dark
ness in search of candles, and managed to light two of the ornate candlesticks that sat just inside the entrance hall. The sight of the huge cavernous main body of the building gave her the shudders and she turned away from the strangely sinister sight with a shiver. Silence weighed so heavily that she felt it start to close in on her.
“Are you alright?”
“I will be glad when this is all over and done with,” she replied softly. “I am sorry to be such a goose. It is just that I don’t like the dark.”
“I know, but it is too late to back out now,” Harper warned her. “Where should we look first?”
“There isn’t likely to be anything out here. The only things that are stored out here are the bibles over there.” She pointed to a long rack of bibles available for use by the congregation.
“What about the candlesticks?” He nodded to the one she had in her hand.
“There are only these two out here. The rest are in the ante room.”
They moved to the door that led to the ante room, but had taken no more than a few paces when a quiet click behind them drew her attention.
She gasped and spun around. “Harper!” They watched the heavy iron ring on the door slowly begin to turn. The quiet rattle of the door indicated that the man was trying to get in. When the door didn’t budge, the ironwork was slowly lowered back into place.
“He can’t get in. The key is in the door,” Harper whispered softly and sensed her nod. “Let’s see what we can find and then we can get out of here.”
“I am not going back out there,” she protested, but followed him anyway. He didn’t appear to have heard her though because he was already studying the lock on the ante room door.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“It has definitely not been tampered with,” Harper sighed. He ran a hand wearily through his hair and winced when his fingers accidentally caught the large lump on his temple.
“I hate to say this, but I really do not think it the register is here,” she said wearily when they had searched both the crypt and the church but came up empty handed. “There is nothing missing and no sign of forced entry into the ante room, which we do usually keep locked by the way. I think it is safe to assume that you didn’t interrupt a thief.”
“I know. The man who attacked me is out there,” Harper growled and nodded toward the door. He realised what he had said when she gasped and looked at him in horror, and mentally winced when he realised that he would just have to come clean with her.
“The person with the footsteps must have passed us on the lane. They are out there. I am sorry, Arrabella, but I think it is the man who hit me.”
“No random attack then. I mean, it can’t be if he is following us.”
Harper nodded his agreement. “Why attack me though? I mean, if he has the register, why not just leave with it like you said?”
“He wants to stop you going after it,” Arrabella mused as she stared blankly at the carpet.
“There is something really odd about this, I don’t mind admitting. It feels like they want a confrontation.”
“A confrontation about what? The register?” She gasped. “But you are not normal.” She clapped her hand over her mouth when she realised what she had said. Humiliation and remorse flooded her cheeks. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It is just that most people would be sitting in front of the fire after a knock on the head like you had, but not you. You have to go charging out into the night to spend two hours in a freezing cold church.”
He could understand what she meant and wasn’t offended in the least by what she said. He wasn’t normal and never really had been. No ordinary person could deal with the work he did with the Star Elite. It was just that he had never realised before just how gung-ho he was toward the challenges that presented themselves to him. This time was different though; this time he had Arrabella to protect and look after. He felt responsible for the fact that her lips were now tinged with blue and her fingers had not stopped shaking since the moment they had lit the first candle, and he was certain neither had anything to do with his sexual magnetism. She was cold, yet she hadn’t uttered a word of protest.
“Let’s get you home,” he whispered and walked toward her. “I don’t know about you, but a cup of hot chocolate would be wonderful right now.”
The idea of the luxuriously scented confection made her stomach rumble, however she still hesitated and made no attempt to follow him to the front door.
“Are you coming or not?” He asked impatiently when she stood staring after him.
“Not,” Arrabella declared firmly. “I am going to stay here, thank you.”
Harper froze and stared at her with his brows lifted. “You need not worry if he is still out there. I won’t let him hurt you.”
“You saw that latch. There are no ‘if’ in this. He is definitely out there. The only consolation is that he is soaked to the skin now too, and probably too cold to chase us, but it is still not something I want to test, thank you very much. I can’t go out there, Harper.” Just the memory of the muted sound of footsteps that had walked through the darkness behind them was enough to instil fear into her belly, and she had no intention of repeating the experience ever again.
“Look, you cannot stay in here all night. You are already frozen and soaked through. If you stay here until morning you are asking for illness. Please don’t lose sight of the fact that the man has already stolen the register, and attacked me. He is not likely to be put off by daylight if he wants to stop us going back to Hambley Wood. What is the point in cowering in here all night and making yourself too ill to fight him if he does strike?”
“The point is that in the morning nobody can creep up on me and I can see where I am running,” she snapped with a huff. She was tired, cold, fed up and seriously wishing she had never agreed to come along with him.
Harper could see the mulish tilt of her chin and shook his head. “How about if I go out there first, check the area and, once it is safe, give you the all clear to come out and join me.”
“I am not going out there,” she reiterated firmly.
Harper bit back an oath and had to dig deep to keep hold of his patience. After staring at the door blankly for several minutes he heaved a sigh and watched his warm breath fog out before him. It helped him to make a decision.
He threw her a look as he turned to the door. “Fine. You stay here if you want to but I am going to go home so that I can get warm and have some hot chocolate. I will come back in the morning to fetch you.”
While he unlocked the door, he wondered if he could carry her out to the lane and drop her on her feet and let her catch up with him. At least if she was outside she would have to keep walking. He closed his eyes on a silent prayer that she wouldn’t stubbornly stay in the church alone and yanked the door open. Every sense was tuned to her, or so he thought. As soon as he saw the churchyard, he paused and turned to look back at her. He had to bite his grin at the sight of standing directly behind him. She tipped her head back to peer up at him and he couldn’t resist it. He dropped one lingering kiss on her lips and bumped her nose with his.
“Let’s go home,” he whispered and released her only longer enough to lock the church door behind them.
As they walked across the graveyard he was quiet and watchful, and studied the shadows for any hint of danger with sinister intent that seemed to make him bigger, stronger and considerably darker. Arrabella could feel tension positively thrum through him and didn’t know whether to be reassured or terrified.
“You were going to leave me there all alone, weren’t you?” she asked in a rather forlorn voice.
Harper snorted. “Of course not. What the hell do you take me for? I am not selfish and stupid enough to leave you there all alone, especially while you are soaking wet and likely to be dead from cold by morning.”
She frowned at him. “What would you have done though?”
Harper tipped his head to one side and studied her from the top of her h
ead to the tips of her boots. “Well, I guess I could manage to carry you all the way back to the vicarage,” he mused wryly.
Her mouth opened and she whacked him on the shoulder for his cheek. However, the response she was going to give was silenced by the flurry of movement in the shadows.
“Get behind me,” he growled and shoved her when she didn’t immediately move.
“What is it? What did you see?”
Harper’s attention was caught by the definite outline of a man moving through the line of trees that ran alongside the road next to them. Before he could turn to give Arrabella any further instructions, the man left the protection of the trees and raced toward them.
It was only then that Arrabella realised she had left the cane back at the church. She gasped when she saw the solid black shape hurl itself at Harper and both men fall to the floor with a heavy thud. She glanced at the shadows and was incredibly relieved to see that there was nobody else on their way to attack. As far as she could tell, there were two options open to her: she could stand and watch the men fight, or she could race back to the church, get the cane and at least help Harper deal with his assailant. She couldn’t just stand there and do nothing, especially given that Harper was injured. He had fallen onto his back and had undoubtedly cracked his already battered and bruised head on the pavement. She didn’t stay to watch the men battle for supremacy, and raced back to the church for the cane.
By the time she got back to the men, they were still fighting in the centre of the lane where she had left them. She hurried toward them and tried to make out if she recognised the man whose hood had come off in the melee. She studied the middle aged man who appeared nothing like a sinister attacker. There was something almost baby-faced about him that just didn’t give her even the remotest impression that he was a ruthless killer. She wondered briefly if Harper was pounding the wrong man, but then she realised that he had come out of the bushes toward them, not the other way around. Still, now that she had seen him, he didn’t appear to be all that scary any more.
Lord Cavendish Returns Page 16
