by Rebecca King
Al nodded slowly. ‘We have to.’
Bessie squinted at him but suspected that Colin’s arrest had nothing to do with Clarissa. It had been brought about by the Star Elite’s need to stop Colin telling his parishioners where the Star Elite were using as a base. They had to protect their whereabouts, or the highwaymen might target the house.
‘If you have to,’ she replied hesitantly, but was aware that she didn’t need to approve Colin’s arrest.
If the Star Elite decided they needed to arrest someone then they arrested someone, it was as simple as that. Bessie suspected that if she argued too much then she would find herself behind bars as well. But she had no interest in defending her brother because of the upset he had caused them all this morning.
‘You, Reverend Colin Muir, are under arrest for forced entry into the house today and threatening to kidnap your daughter,’ Zach informed Colin formally.
‘You-you can’t do that,’ Colin cried, stepping out of the way when Zach reached out to grab his wrists.
Morgan stepped around them and slipped out of the front door. Colin eyed the gap in the door and darted through it. But once outside, he met with Morgan who was carrying the chains that would bind the new prisoner.
‘You cannot arrest me. I haven’t done anything wrong.’ Colin glared angrily at Bessie, who had come to stand in the doorway and was watching what was happening in bemused disbelief. ‘I blame you for this.’
‘It isn’t my fault you stumbled into the middle of one of their investigations. You tend to preach to people far too much, Colin. Look on the bright side, at least while in prison you will have plenty of people whose souls might need your biblical lectures.’ Bessie’s lips quirked as she watched Colin’s wrists being clad in irons. ‘Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I think that while you are sitting in your small, dank cell, you contemplate just how quickly your Almighty God has allowed you to fall. You have forsaken all others to worship him, even your own flesh and blood, only for the Almighty God himself to remind you that you are no better than the rest of us. Your calling in life is your choice, your decision, but it doesn’t make you right in your opinions about everything. I want these good gentlemen here to witness me saying to you now, Colin Muir, that if you come onto my property again you will be trespassing. If they are around, they are to arrest you for it. If they are not around, I will inform the magistrate and shall have you arrested for it. Don’t worry. I shall have a solicitor write to you to confirm my decision. Meantime, if you wish to say anything to Clarissa, I suggest you write to her. It is up to her if she chooses to reply.’
‘It was Clarissa who was robbed by the highwaymen last night, wasn’t it?’ Colin snarled, glaring accusingly at them all. ‘You lied to me.’
‘I am not at liberty to tell you anything, Colin. That is Clarissa’s story to tell, not mine. It is up to her if she chooses to have anything to do with you in the future. Meantime just remember that we may be related but that doesn’t mean we have to like each other. Moreover, it doesn’t give you the right to scorn me, or Clarissa, especially in our home. Stay away seeing as you find us so objectionable.’
‘At least you haven’t been arrested,’ Zach said, throwing Bessie a rueful look. ‘Reverend Muir now has a criminal record compliments of the Star Elite.’
‘I haven’t done anything wrong,’ Colin cried.
‘What do you want to do about his carriage, and the butler, God save his soul?’ Elias asked. The man who had accompanied the reverend looked so old that Elias wondered if a good gust of wind would turn him to dust.
‘He has to stay here. Arthur is not going to harm anybody. I am sure he will be glad of the rest,’ Bessie murmured. ‘He certainly cannot stay in the vicarage on his own at his age.’
‘We won’t be long,’ Al assured his colleagues as he mounted his horse.
‘What are you doing?’ Colin cried when Morgan fetched Jarvis’s horse and turned Colin around to face him. Together with Zach, the men hoisted the now chained vicar into the saddle. Evan then mounted his horse and together with Al began to ride down the driveway with the vicar objecting all the way.
Zack backstepped until he stood beside Bessie. ‘I am sorry about having to do that. While we had to arrest him to protect her, we also cannot risk the highwaymen knowing too much about us. We have managed to get an advantage in our investigation after last night. We now know how the highwaymen have managed to avoid being seen. We also know the area where at least one of the men lives. While they know where Clarissa lives and know that we are around, they don’t know that we are staying here as well. We cannot risk your brother telling all and sundry what we are up to.’
‘I understand. I don’t want anybody in the house being put in any more danger than we are in already. Having highwaymen on our doorstep puts us all at risk of being murdered. I will sleep safer in my bed at night if I know that the Star Elite are watching over us,’ Bessie replied.
She wasn’t at all sure what she should feel about watching Colin being carted off in chains. A part of her wanted to laugh about it while she began to worry about what kind of trouble Colin would give them in the future.
‘We will keep watch over the house and do our best to keep her safe,’ Zach promised.
‘Thank you,’ Bessie breathed.
Zach was halfway across the hallway by the time Bessie followed him into the house. ‘Can you tell me something?’ she asked before he could go in search of Clarissa.
Zach paused.
‘Why did you tell Colin that you were going to marry her?’
His colleagues all stopped to listen to his explanation. Zach sighed but didn’t need to think about his answer.
‘Because someone who has spent many years being as arrogant and dismissive of other people’s feelings like Colin isn’t going to take a small thing like being arrested lying down. Despite knowing that we arrested him, when news gets out that the highwaymen have been vanquished, and that we have left here, he is likely to be even more determined to get Clarissa to leave. After today, he will have even more of an issue with you, even though I doubt he will be so vocal about his concerns to your face. We may have won this battle, but you are nowhere near winning the war yet. I think the only way that Clarissa could be completely free of her father’s dictates is if she married. Colin will then have to accept that his daughter is under someone else’s legal protection. I hope she has the wisdom to find herself a husband who refuses to be bullied by Colin.’
‘Clarissa needs to marry someone Colin is wary of,’ Bessie murmured with a sage nod.
Zach knew that she expected him to say, ‘but it won’t be me,’ but something stopped him from uttering the words. A lengthy silence hung over everyone which he allowed to remain in place while he watched Colin turn out of the end of the drive.
When he had gone, Zach turned to look at Bessie. ‘Where is Clarissa likely to have gone?’
‘She usually finds comfort being with Horace,’ Bessie said. ‘But she won’t welcome company. It might be best if you leave her to her thoughts right now.’
Zach nodded, but had no intention of doing anything of the kind. He had a few things he needed to discuss with her, preferably before her father was released from gaol or the highwaymen paid them another visit. There were a few things he needed her to understand and accept. On a personal note, Zach wanted her to understand that he would protect her with his life because she had already started to create a place for herself in his heart. He just wasn’t at all sure what that meant for their futures.
When he caught up with Clarissa a short while later, he was in time to watch her race out of the barn on horseback as if the hounds from Hell were nipping at her heels. The horse, fresh from a comfortable night in his stable, leapt over the fences surrounding the stabling at a breakneck speed that had Zach running for his own horse.
‘What’s wrong?’ Duncan demanded when he saw Zach running toward him, his face stark with worry.
‘Clarissa has gone,�
� Zach growled.
‘Gone? Gone where?’
‘I think she has gone for a sodding ride,’ Zach snarled, jumping onto his horse.
‘Which way?’ Duncan asked.
Zach told him and wheeled his horse around to go after her. ‘Take the route we used this morning. You should be able to intercept her on the other side of the trees. I will see if I can chase her down before she gets to Simmerton.’
‘Do you think she is going to meet someone?’ Duncan called as he raced after Zach.
‘I don’t know,’ Zach replied. ‘But I am damned well going to find out.’
Digging his heels into his horse’s sides, Zach hunkered low over his mount’s neck and raced after Clarissa. What concerned him the most wasn’t where Clarissa was headed, but what awaited her when she reached her destination.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Clarissa raced through the hills behind her house and revelled at being able to leave her troubles far behind her. She hoped that her father would have been thrown out of the house by the time she returned to it. If Colin was still there, she was going to go straight to her room and not come out again until he had gone. The last thing she wanted was to have to face him again today.
He can go to Hades as far as I am concerned.
The wind snatched her cloak off her thighs. It billowed out behind her, but Clarissa didn’t mind. The rippling of the fabric together with the heady thunder of the horse’s hooves was wonderful. Despite doing her best to clear her mind, the one man she couldn’t forget was Zach. As she rode blindly through the countryside, Clarissa contemplated what he had said about being married to her. She knew it was foolish to think of it, but her thoughts turned to what it might be like to be married to a man like him. He was daring, bold, adventurous, strong, courageous. He had to be honest and forthright if he was a member of the Star Elite. While what he did was dangerous, he had to be good at it to have survived for so long battling men like the ruthless highwaymen. Zach had to be somewhere in his early thirties at least. He wasn’t some foolish fop, or lothario. Zach was a real man; someone who embraced life and all its challenges and battled to ensure that justice was served to those who deserved it. She didn’t doubt he would be a fierce enemy if crossed. Lethal even. But the very thought of him taking another man’s life didn’t trouble her as much as she suspected it might have.
‘Because of Toad. Last night, Toad could have just pulled the trigger of his gun and ended my life because he wanted to. To think of men walking around thinking they can do that and not face justice for it is atrocious,’ Clarissa hissed.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she hauled Horace to a stop and savoured being on the highest hill in the area. Around her lay a veritable carpet of emeralds, yellows, and browns, all sewn together in a patchwork of fields interspersed with stone walls and roads which glistened beneath the golden hue of the morning sunshine. From her vantage point she could see Simmerton to her right, and Wimley Marshes to her far left. Between it was the small town of Rointon just on the horizon. Between all three villages was nothing more than open countryside interspersed by the occasional tree or larger woodland. It was disturbing to think that within such glorious scenery lay a hidden menace: the highwaymen.
When she turned around to face the way she had just travelled, Clarissa saw something that was just as disturbing: Zach. All sorts of emotions flowed through her as she studied him, the first of which was a strange reluctance to face him. The feelings she was starting to have toward him were unwelcome mostly because they were confusing. They were strong, far stronger than any she had experienced toward any man before and had started last night when he had kissed her in her bed chamber. She still couldn’t understand why he had done that, or if she were sorry that he had. While she had enjoyed it, she knew it had been wrong to allow him to do such a thing to her because she was now faced with having to try to forget what had happened. Each time she looked at him she was immediately reminded of what it felt like to be held by him, kissed by him, and a strange kind of yearning began to well which became stronger the longer she was with him.
It’s damned annoying that it should happen now because I have enough to deal with.
‘Zach,’ she murmured when he raced to a stop beside her.
Zach, looking so handsomely windswept he stole her breath, glared balefully at her. He opened his mouth to scold her only to realise that something had caught Clarissa’s interest over his shoulder. Zach didn’t bother to look. He suspected it was his colleagues.
‘I thought you were told not to venture away from the house. You do know that the highwaymen are still in the area, don’t you?’ Zach growled in disgust.
Clarissa nodded. ‘I just needed to get away.’
Zach mentally cursed because he wanted to shout at her. He wanted to rant and rave, but there was a closed expression on his face, tinged with hurt, that made him coldly furious. Not with her, but with her father for making her so miserable.
Zach swore fluidly. He didn’t stop to think about the wisdom of what he was doing and reached out to haul her out of her saddle.
Clarissa gasped and clung to his heavily muscled biceps when he dragged her off her horse and draped her unceremoniously before him. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Taking you home,’ he warned, sliding Horace’s reins out of her hands. He wheeled his horse around and began to walk Zeus home while leading Horace beside them.
Clarissa squirmed and struggled to sit upright. Her cheeks were aflame, but she doubted he could see them seeing as her face was pressed quite firmly against the fine material of his shirt. She was so close she could hear the heavy thundering of his heart beneath his cheek but doubted it was racing because of their proximity like hers was.
‘Will you let me down?’ she muttered awkwardly trying to sit upright.
Zach draped his reins over Zeus’s neck and used both hands to haul Clarissa into a more upright position before him, but she was still sideways and still had to lean against him to stop herself falling off. Once she was more comfortable, Zach wrapped both arms around her and focused on the trail Zeus needed to take not least because he knew that if he looked down at her he was going to do something rash like kiss her.
‘I have something to tell you,’ he said quietly.
Clarissa sighed. ‘I can ride. You can let me off.’
‘This conversation is between us,’ Zach warned.
Clarissa went still. Sensing her wariness, Zach quietly told her what had happened when she had left the house.
‘In our defence, we had to stop him telling anybody. While the highwaymen might already know, we cannot make assumptions, and don’t want people paying too much attention to what is going on around your house. We need to be able to come and go as we please and not have any locals keeping a watchful eye on us. It isn’t that they mean any harm, but we cannot have anybody else blithely wandering into our investigation.’
‘It is all right,’ Clarissa murmured, wondering if this was the real reason why Zach had come after her. ‘You have to do what you have to do. I don’t blame you. He would tell his parishioners.’
‘You aren’t angry?’
‘Not with you, no. The alternative would be for you to force him to stay at Bessie’s and, well, I am sure you already know just how angry he makes everyone,’ Clarissa sighed. She tipped her head back to look up at the azure sky. ‘I am sorry that you had to hear our argument.’
‘I am glad I did,’ Zach replied. ‘At least we now know the circumstances between you and your father without having to question you all.’
‘You have no idea how much my aunt saved me,’ Clarissa breathed. ‘Without her, I think I would have remained a ghost of the person I am today. I was right to leave him. Even at eleven years of age, I knew I couldn’t stay with him.’
‘He is not to force you to go to London if you don’t want to go. It is kidnap, Clarissa,’ Zach murmured quietly. ‘If you can, if he ever does try to force you to leave, you have to re
port it to the magistrate the first chance you get, even if your father does succeed in dragging you to London. The magistrate will arrest him because although he is your father, you are six and twenty. If you had been younger, or living under your father’s roof, the magistrate might be more sympathetic to your father’s demands, but not now.’
‘Are you not curious about why I have never married?’ Clarissa asked quietly.
Zach pursed his lips. ‘Are you not curious about why I have never married?’
Clarissa frowned at him. ‘Are you not married?’
‘Do you think I am the kind of man who would ride across the countryside with you in my arms if I were?’ he demanded.
‘I don’t really know you,’ she whispered.
‘That can be changed,’ Zach murmured gently. ‘But I have work to do and my stay in the area is only temporary, so it would be foolish to indulge in any affairs of the heart.’
Clarissa suddenly grinned at him. ‘Affairs of the heart? Does anybody use that language anymore?’
Zach threw her an awkward look. ‘I am new to this, all right?’
Clarissa snorted with disbelief. ‘I am sure you are,’ she muttered ruefully.
‘I have never ridden with a woman like this,’ Zach protested. ‘I am not lying. I usually ride with my colleagues.’
‘Do they sit with you like this then?’ Clarissa teased because it felt wonderful to lighten the tension that hovered between them.
Zach grinned. ‘Have you seen the size of them? Poor Zeus would be on his knees.’
Inwardly, Zach was mightily relieved that the clouds had lifted from her eyes and her tension had vanished and been replaced with smiles and good humour. The transformation in her was startling. So much so, he understood just how deeply upset her father had made her.
To try to keep her thoughts off just how closely she was nestled against him, and how wonderful it was to be held by a man like Zach, Clarissa nodded to the small village of Simmerton.
