Betrayal of Innocence (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 1)

“No, I think there is something going on we aren’t being told about yet. Those men are tough. Have you seen them all?”

Vanessa nodded.

“Men like that aren’t just ordinary lawmen, Vanessa. They are something more; something much more,” Graham muttered.

“I know. They are from the War Office,” Vanessa replied quietly. “Justin told me, but you aren’t to say a word to another living soul.”

Graham pursed his lips. Admiration shone in his eyes when he looked at her. “I suspected as much. Well, at least we know someone professional is looking to rid us of this blighter. Let’s hope they catch him, eh?”

“Are you still coming with me to the shop?” she called after him.

“Yes,” Graham grunted in reply.

“You don’t have to come with me. It is broad daylight. Other people are out and about,” she replied.

“It is about time I started to get myself moving a little, before I end up in my box, don’t you think?” Graham said as he carefully made his way back down the stairs, his cloak in his hand.

Half an hour later, she wandered slowly alongside her father to the shop. Vanessa was intensely annoyed to find herself searching the various streets they passed through for Justin. She couldn’t help but wonder where he was and what he was doing. None of it was her business, she knew, but that didn’t stop her wanting to see him one more time, if only to reassure herself that the attraction she had felt toward him earlier, at the farm, was a random passing moment that she could readily walk away from.

Time, distance, and a healthy dose of common sense had dampened whatever it was that had overtaken her – hadn’t it? She would know just as soon as she set eyes on him again, she was sure of it.

“That was a heavy sigh,” he murmured gently, wondering if she knew who she was searching for.

He knew. It was the man who was now staring steadily at her and had been since he had left the tavern further down the street. While he was engaged in conversation with his colleagues, he had yet to remove his attention off Vanessa. Graham knew that careful searching look: Justin was checking to make sure Vanessa was all right.

There was a predatory look in Justin’s eye that warned Graham his daughter was going to have her hands full if she wanted to avoid the lawman. There was something about Justin that warned Graham that he wasn’t a man who took refusal lightly. If he wanted something, Justin went after it, and he suspected, would invariably get what he wanted.

“I am just frustrated, that’s all,” Vanessa sighed, unaware of her father’s thoughts.

She looked up at the swinging sign above the shop doorway and gave a start when her gaze landed on Justin, who was just a few yards down the street. While she tried to quell the immediate flurry of awareness that swept through her, it wouldn’t budge. In fact, it grew stronger the closer she got to him.

Their eyes met. Instantly, she felt a familiar connection to him that was unweakened by the presence of her father and his colleagues. In fact, it was stronger given their recent intimacy.

As they passed, she politely inclined her head and watched him nod briskly in return. While his face remained impassive, there was something his searching look that made her want to poke at her hair. It felt like he had just seen straight into her soul, and had read all her deepest, darkest secrets, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Cursing herself for being every kind of fool, she looked at her father.

“We are nearly there,” she murmured quietly to him. “Are you sure you are going to be able to make it all the way back? I am sure Mr Able will be happy to take you in his cart.”

“Phah!” Graham snorted. “I am not some invalid, you know. All right, so I don’t go out much anymore, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t. It is quite pleasant this morning, don’t you think?”

Vanessa was prevented from replying by their arrival at the shop. She was glad to get inside, and away from the rather stern presence of the men Justin had been talking to. This was the first time she had seen them out on the street all together, and they were a formidable sight.

“The kidnapper doesn’t live around here, does he?” she murmured as she closed the shop door quietly behind her. She looked up at her father and read the solemnity in his eyes.

Graham shook his head. “I don’t think so, no. The man would have to be a blasted fool to kidnap someone from the streets of this village with men like that here. It is plain to anybody with eyes in their heads that they are lawmen. Look at them. Even if you ignore the officious, almost military bearing, it is evident they are all armed to the nines, and dangerous. They would shoot you in cold blood if they needed to and would not think twice about it.”

“Typical soldiers,” Mr Able added from behind them. “They are a tough bunch, aren’t they?”

Graham nodded. “But good to have around,” he murmured.

“Aye, they are at that, if only to make people feel safer,” Mr Able replied.

So many confusing thoughts and emotions swirled through her mind that Vanessa struggled to know what to think as she continued to study the men. In particular, Justin. From the inside of the shop she felt safer doing so and allowed her gaze to wander for a moment or two.

“They are impressive, aren’t they?” Graham murmured suddenly from beside her.

Vanessa heard the hidden meaning in her father’s question, and carefully avoided his gaze. She turned away and smiled when the shop keeper hurriedly cleared some things off a chair so her father could sit down while she shopped. It was a relief to be able to turn her attention to more practical matters, and off the disturbing presence off the man outside for a while. Quietly, she began to shop.