Sins of the Past (The Star Elite's Highwaymen Investigation Book 2)

by Rebecca King

  Clarissa was well and truly stuck. She wanted to make an escape but couldn’t. Consequently, she remained tense and on edge as she watched the Star Elite leave the room and make their way up the main stairs. As he walked out of the room, Zach looked directly at her. Clarissa tried to assure herself it was a figment of her imagination, but she knew what she had seen; there was a hidden message in his eyes. Although it was gone before she could read it properly, Clarissa felt as if he had just silently assured her that he was going to be nearby if she needed him. It went some way toward calming her down.

  ‘What’s wrong with Frederick?’ Colin demanded once the men had gone.

  ‘He has caught a cold, that’s all. Bessie will be able to tell you more. From what I understand, he has the shivers and is unwell. Bessie has ordered him to remain in his cottage. The last thing we need is for him to take ill right now. I am lucky that he got me home last night while he was well enough to drive, but he woke up this morning feeling quite poorly. I don’t think driving home in the cold helped him at all,’ Clarissa explained.

  ‘Why did Rosamund have a bag?’

  ‘What bag?’ Clarissa demanded, feigning ignorance.

  ‘Rosamund was just carrying a large carpet bag upstairs. Was she planning on leaving?’ Colin demanded.

  ‘Look, what is this?’ Clarissa snapped. ‘You don’t usually come to the house at all let alone interrogate us in this way. Why do you look at us as if we have done something wrong?’

  ‘Because you usually have,’ Colin retorted in a voice that was ripe with disgust.

  ‘In your eyes, but then not everyone is as judgemental as you.’ Clarissa saw her father’s angry glare but turned her back on him with a disinterested sniff. He could glare at her for as long as he liked, she wasn’t going to show him how annoying she found it to be. ‘You and I both know that part of the reason why I moved out of your house is because you objected to how I want to live my life. You objected to practically everything I did to the point that I didn’t know who I was anymore. Now that I am living my life somewhere else, and have learnt to be myself, you object to that as well despite me not doing anything to embarrass or harm you in any way.’

  ‘Yes, about that,’ Colin began, lifting a finger to wag it at her. ‘Maybe it is because your choices in life are wrong.’

  ‘Says who?’ Clarissa challenged. ‘Who is to say that your choices are right? Most of the population don’t make the decisions you have made in life. Being a clergyman doesn’t make you any better than anybody else, or in a position to consider your judgement better than anybody else’s. What does it say in the bible about treating others as you wish to be treated? Let no man put asunder?’

  Colin sucked in a breath. ‘I don’t care what any man wants to do in life. I care about what you want to do in life.’

  ‘No, Colin, you only care about yourself. Don’t you think it is arrogant and high-handed of you to simply hand my adolescence to Bessie to supervise and then only remember that you are a parent when it serves your purpose? I didn’t matter to you when I was twelve, or fourteen, or twenty. You have only chosen to be a parent again now because you have decided that you don’t like the way I live. You want me to do what you want, regardless of my wishes or happiness. Well, I won’t have it, do you hear? I am not going to have you march in here and tell me how to live my life. I don’t care if you want to be a parent today, I am too old to need a parent now. I know the real reason why you are here. Before you even suggest it, I am not going to live with your sister, Carlotta, no matter how much you pester me. I don’t care how much you object to my life here, and I don’t care how many letters you send to Bessie, the answer is no.’ Clarissa knew she was shouting and that the entire house could hear, but she didn’t care. In that moment, wild horses couldn’t get her to stop speaking the truth about her feelings. After years of subserviently suppressing her thoughts, feelings, and opinions, for fear of offending her father, it felt as if a damn had been released. What she said was the truth and only the truth, and they both knew it.

  All Colin could do was stare at her with growing anger while he waited for the worst of her tirade to be over. Clarissa doubted that what she said would have any influence on him because he was nothing if not arrogant, but she wasn’t prepared to allow him to continue to think he could bully her into doing anything she didn’t want to do anymore. The woman who had always lived in fear of him had disappeared – somewhere – somehow. At some point, Clarissa would have to think about when she had changed, and what she had to do to make sure that this new side of her flourished without burning too many bridges. For now, she had to say what she needed to say if only to stop her father pestering both her and Bessie with his outrageous demands.

  ‘You are far too wilful and headstrong. I have never been spoken to like this by anybody and I am not going to tolerate this rudeness from you,’ Colin hissed.

  ‘Oh, God. You are so very eager to judge others, aren’t you? Yet you carefully forget your own ignorance, bad manners, and boorish behaviour. Don’t you dare come in here and criticise me for anything. Don’t you dare come in here, after years of not giving a damn about how upset I have been, or what I have had to struggle through, and then suddenly demand that I do anything. Don’t you dare cast aspersions on someone else for helping me when you couldn’t be bothered. Don’t you dare question my decisions when you have quite clearly turned your back on your own flesh and blood, your own daughter for God’s sake. Don’t you dare ever consider yourself high enough in clergy to cast aspersions on your own daughter’s judgement. I am not going to be criticised by you. If you don’t like who I am and the choices I have made in life, leave and stay away. How do you know that the carpet bag isn’t mine? How do you know that it isn’t me who wants to get away, from here, and from you?’

  ‘This is the exact reason why I want you away from your Aunt Bessie’s supervision,’ Colin growled. ‘You are brash, rude, offensive. Why, a true lady would never behave like this.’

  ‘I am not a true lady,’ Clarissa cried. ‘I am the daughter of a clergyman, and an arrogant one at that. You cannot force your opinions and will upon people and expect them to elevate you socially to aristocracy when you are neither married to it nor born to it. Aunt Carlotta only became a Lady because she married Lord Marham, but that is her choice, her life, it doesn’t have to be mine. It won’t be mine, no matter how much you try to force me into it. At six and twenty, I am old enough to decide where I want to live, and how, and I don’t need permission from you to do it. If Bessie is happy for me to remain here, then I intend to stay here forever more.’

  ‘I will have a say. You are still my daughter,’ Colin snarled.

  ‘Only when you decide to remember that you are my father,’ Clarissa snorted, suddenly waving her hands as if to shoo him away. ‘Do you know something? I am not going to have this conversation with you. I am not some pawn on a chess board you can shove about whenever you decide you need something to do. My life has never been all that interesting to you until now. Now, you expect to force me away from everything I have known just because you demand it. Do you know something, Colin? I would rather be dead than allow you to do that to me!’

  Before Colin could say anything else, Clarissa slammed out of the room. The loud blast of the door being slammed closed behind her ricocheted around the deadly silence of the house. Clarissa sucked in a breath to force herself not to break down in tears while she was still in the property. She was physically shaking with the force of her fury and so incensed she didn’t dare speak to anybody right now. Consequently, she did everything she could to avoid everybody and raced outside.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘You had better leave this house, Colin, and don’t come back for a long time, if ever,’ Bessie announced from the top of the stairs when Colin left the study and appeared in the entrance hall. ‘If you don’t go, I shall get my friends here to throw you out on your ear and you shall have the indignity of having everybody know that you
have had to be ejected from your sister’s house for your vile behaviour.’

  ‘Did you hear her? Did you hear how rude she is? You have done this to her, Bessie. If you had taught her how to behave properly then she wouldn’t be like this now. I blame you for this,’ Colin hissed, purposely ignoring what she had said.

  ‘Oh, yes, blame everybody but yourself. You were the one who turned your back on your wife and made the woman so miserable even when she was sick that she died. Your wife knew that you hated being married to her. She knew that you hated her. You know that, don’t you? Did you care? No, you didn’t. You scorned her, and ignored her, and treated her as if she were the scourge of society just because you wanted to pretend you were better than everyone else. Not even Clarissa was good enough for you, and she was your own daughter,’ Bessie raged. ‘I don’t think anything either me or Clarissa will ever do will be good enough for you, Colin, but do you know something? Neither of us care. We don’t care. We don’t care what you want, what you think, or what you expect. Clarissa is six and twenty and doesn’t deserve to have you come into her life to upset her like this. She doesn’t deserve to have you interrupting her life just to find fault with everything she does. She doesn’t deserve for you to try to take away everything that she is familiar with. I gave her a roof over her head and food in her belly. You want to shove her into the lives of people who are just as selfish and ignorant as you. I don’t deserve to have my home turned upside down or my guests offended because you cannot control your malice. Why, I am ashamed to call you my brother. Don’t come back here again. You are not welcome. Now get out before I get my friends to throw you out.’

  To prove that it was no idle threat, Al, Zach, Morgan, and Duncan, all appeared beside Bessie, and put on a display of unity that made Colin take a wary step back but he wasn’t going to be thwarted.

  ‘I am not going to allow Clarissa to remain under this roof any longer. It is quite clear to me that you have turned her mind against me, and you have not sought fit to teach her to behave with more decorum. Carlotta has extended an invitation for Clarissa to stay with her indefinitely. I insist that Clarissa takes her up on that offer as soon as possible. I shall be back first thing in the morning and will expect Clarissa to be packed and ready to leave for London. With the highwaymen in the area anyway, it is safer for her in the city. You quite clearly cannot look after her. She is coming with me to London whether she likes it or not.’

  ‘Clarissa is six and twenty, is that correct?’ Al interrupted just as Colin was about to yank the front door open.

  Colin whirled to glare at him. ‘If you are Bessie’s friend as she claims you are then you should know that.’

  ‘I do, but I want you to acknowledge that,’ Al retorted coldly.

  ‘Of course I know how old my daughter is,’ Colin snapped.

  ‘Then you should know that with your daughter being six and twenty you no longer have legal authority over her. In fact, seeing as she has been living here for several years, it is clear to me that in the eyes of the law you have not had legal authority over her for quite some time.’

  ‘She is my daughter, that gives me plenty of authority,’ Colin retorted.

  ‘Being a relation doesn’t exonerate you from facing charges of kidnap should you try to force her out of this house against her will. You don’t live here, and don’t have authority over anything that happens in this property,’ Al warned. ‘If you do try to make Clarissa leave, she has every right to have you arrested for attempting to kidnap her.’

  Colin blinked at him but didn’t lose his arrogance. ‘That’s ridiculous. No court in the land would consider any father capable of kidnapping his own daughter. Why, what fool judge would condemn me for wanting my daughter removed from the guardianship of someone who dresses like her?’ He pointed to Bessie with such cold contempt that Zach began to lose his temper.

  ‘Well you saw fit to leave your daughter under the guardianship of someone who dresses like her some time ago, at a time when it suited you,’ Zach snapped. He began to descend the stairs. ‘Now that it serves your purposes for her to leave, you really think that you can force your daughter to leave with you when she quite clearly doesn’t want to and has told you as much. Clarissa is an adult, not a child. She is six and twenty not eighteen. In the eyes of the law, that makes her an adult who can make her own decisions. If she states that she doesn’t want to go anywhere with you, and she has, we have all heard her this morning, taking her against her will is kidnap. She isn’t living under your roof. You will be arrested if you try to force her to go anywhere with you. No judge will consider you anything more than lapse in your parenting for having left her here for so long, so I would strongly advise you not to use that argument to try to force your daughter out of this house. Although you are a clergyman, Reverend Muir, you are not above the law in this country. Not even the Church of England can protect you if you commit a crime like kidnap.’

  Over the last hour or so, it had become quite clear to all the men in the Star Elite that Colin was far too used to getting his own way whenever he invaded the house. He clearly had no intention of listening to anything either Bessie or Clarissa said to him, and certainly wasn’t going to be respectful and leave when he was told. Consequently, Zach and his friends had no qualms about stepping into the fray and ensuring that order was restored. As far as they were aware, Colin was nothing more than a rude bully who was using his position as a clergyman to cause upset amongst his family.

  On a personal note, Zach wasn’t going to allow Colin to keep insulting his daughter or drag her off to London against her will. He wanted Clarissa right where he could see her, and it wasn’t completely because he had to protect her from the highwaymen.

  She needs protecting from a bigger and more dangerous threat that is far closer to home.

  His colleagues all seemed to think so because they were right behind him when he reached the hallway. The tension thickened as they all squared up to the much smaller man. Unfortunately, Colin’s ability to scorn the women at will, unchallenged thus far, had given Colin the false impression that he could also scorn Bessie’s guests. He had yet to understand that it was a damned fool who challenged the Star Elite so boldly.

  Colin tipped his chin up to glare at Zach but took a wary step away from him when Zach reached the bottom step. ‘And what business is this of yours?’

  ‘Clarissa is to be my wife,’ Zach replied coldly. ‘I think you should know that marrying is something else she can do without your permission.’

  ‘I am not giving you permission to marry my daughter,’ Colin snarled. ‘Don’t you dare go and announce that to anybody.’

  The men of the Star Elite all edged closer.

  Colin turned condemning eyes on Bessie. ‘Is that what they are all doing here? Is she choosing her husband from that lot?’

  ‘That lot? Don’t be so insulting,’ Bessie said. ‘They are here as my guests.’

  ‘I think you should know that we are the Star Elite,’ Al murmured, stepping around Bessie to approach Colin. ‘We are here because the War Office has stationed us in this house to protect your daughter.’

  ‘What?’ Colin looked scornfully from Zach to Al and back again, clearly not believing a word of it.

  ‘That’s right,’ Zach murmured. He propped one brawny shoulder against the front door, effectively preventing Colin from leaving. ‘However, I have feelings for your daughter and want her as my wife.’

  Something deep inside Zach didn’t find the possibility of making Clarissa his wife as worrying as he thought it would be. Already, he knew enough about her to know that they were a perfect match. She intrigued him, challenged him on every level, and was so damned adorable he found himself wanting to be with her constantly.

  ‘You-’

  ‘Are Star Elite,’ Zach repeated.

  Colin raked him with a questioning look, as if doubting it, but he didn’t say as much.

  ‘She is to be my wife,’ Zach announced firmly, hi
s narrowed gaze daring Colin to challenge him. ‘With the authority of the War Office behind us, we don’t need to seek the permission of a village vicar like you. We can do what we want, when we want, especially if we think that a person’s life is in danger. I warn you now, Reverend Muir, that should you force your way into this house again, or try to force Clarissa to relocate to London against her wishes, I shall put you behind bars for trespass and kidnap. Do you understand?’

  In the hushed silence of the hallway, Colin looked at the rest of the men from the Star Elite but, before he could insult anybody else, Al stepped forward.

  ‘I think that because Reverend Muir has already made his intention to force Clarissa to leave this house clear this morning, we have to consider him a danger to her. We are here to protect her at all costs. I am afraid that we simply cannot allow Reverend Muir to go on his way now. He needs to sit in gaol given this morning’s outburst, if only so he contemplates the reality of his daughter being under our protection. We don’t need his permission seeing as he isn’t really her father. It is quite clear to us that he handed guardianship of his daughter over to Bessie at least a decade ago. Now that his daughter is six and twenty, it is far too late for him to pretend he is her guardian, especially seeing as she isn’t living under his roof. He has made a direct threat against her and has to be treated the same way we would treat anybody else who threatened someone under our protection.’ Al pierced Colin with a dark look. ‘I am afraid that you, Reverend Muir, have staggered somewhat rudely into the middle of one of our investigations, and cannot be allowed to leave again.’

  Zach looked apologetically at Bessie when Colin began to protest. ‘I am sorry.’

  ‘For what?’ Bessie asked with an offhand shrug.

  ‘For what we are about to do,’ Zach replied.

  ‘We have to arrest him,’ Al confirmed.

  Bessie’s mouth fell open. ‘You can do that?’ She studied him and knew then that what he had just said hadn’t been some idle threat intended to scare Colin into leaving. He really was going to cart Colin off to gaol.