Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 3)

“Thank you for your help,” Elspeth murmured to the men who remained in the room with her.

“It is our pleasure,” Callum assured her.

“If it is all right, we will go and get some sleep?” Niall asked around a yawn.

“Of course. I will make the beds up,” Elspeth gasped.

“No. We can sort ourselves out, just point us to the closet,” Niall said, waving her away from the door.

“I know where it is,” Phillip smirked.

Elspeth lifted her brows at them but neither man even looked at her before they left the room.

“Thank you for all of this,” Elspeth said to Aaron when they were alone.

It was difficult not to stare at him. The Aaron before her now was a masculine creature who was completely unfamiliar to her in a way that left her a little uncertain of him yet also immensely intrigued. Elspeth knew now that Aaron had a sinister side to him that was hard and unrelenting, but she wasn’t threatened by it. In fact, given her situation, Elspeth found this new, completely unexpected side of him reassuring rather than worrying. She couldn’t help but think that Thomas would never have been this protective of her.

“Why are you here?” she whispered. “Why didn’t you come to Thomas’s funeral?”

Aaron nodded to the door. “Let’s go into the kitchen where it is warmer, and I will explain what happened.”

When they were both settled around the kitchen table, Aaron poured them both some wine and studied her as she took a sip from her goblet. He was relieved to note that Elspeth was no longer tinged with a deep and worrying shade of blue. In fact, when bathed in the warm glow of firelight, she was ravishing. Aaron just couldn’t tell her that.

“I am sorry about Thomas,” he whispered sadly.

“I miss him,” she murmured tearfully.

Aaron reached out and placed a warm palm over hers. That brief touch sent a white-hot shiver of connection through him that made the room around them fade into insignificance. Aaron knew nothing else mattered but him and her, and what they shared. He struggled to find a way to tell her because he didn’t want to offend her. The timing was lousy. Besides, he had no idea if she could ever consider him more than Thomas’s friend. The thought that she might reject this growing connection if he made his romantic interest in her known was enough to forestall the declaration of affection he wanted to make, for the time being at least.

Slowly, gently, Elspeth turned her hand over, so their palms touched, and they were effectively holding hands. She had no idea what compelled her to do it, but that simple human connection meant the world to her. For the life of her she couldn’t have made herself move away. Thankfully, Aaron didn’t appear to want to break the link between them either.

“We will have to go for a walk to the graveyard tomorrow, so I can pay my respects. I should like to see the grave for myself,” Aaron said softly.

“What about your work? Don’t you have to get back?” she murmured.

“I am not going back,” Aaron smiled.

“You have quit?” Elspeth gasped in astonishment.

Aaron nodded. “I should have been here for you, Elspeth. No job can be so important that it is worth missing a friend’s funeral for, or not being there for one of the most important people in my life when I am needed most.”

“What will you do about it?” Elspeth’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Your job, I mean.”

“I don’t give a damn about it right now. I have devoted my entire life to fighting some cause or other. When it counted, that cause stopped me personally doing what was right for the people I care about. I cannot continue to sacrifice who I am, what I am when I am not fighting, to some other people’s criminality,” Aaron bit out. “I am afraid that the Star Elite have recently been devoting so much manpower toward the endeavours of one thug, who keeps snatching women off the streets, that our boss seems to think we are not entitled to time off, or a private life. It is ridiculous that the group of men you have seen working together tonight are made to race up and down the country in search of criminals with hardly any time to themselves. Most of the work we do requires us to be up at night. That is when most rats come out of sewers, and when most of the underworld do their business. It doesn’t stop there, though. On top of having to work overnight, we are also required to spend our days keeping watch over people, none of whom even know we are there most of the time, but we are. We live like ghosts most of the time.”

Aaron’s thoughts turned immediately to his colleague’s wife, Charity.

“What is it?” she prompted when Aaron seemed lost in torment of some kind. She recognised it because something akin to grief settled over his features that looked much the same way as she felt.

“One of our colleagues, a man called Angus, recently wed,” Aaron began.

“Well, that’s good then,” Elspeth smiled.

“His wife was almost murdered by the man who we were supposed to be watching,” Aaron added. “To this day, I will never forget the sight of her being shot and falling to the ground. Angus’s world shattered in a matter of seconds. While our boss did his best to ensure she was well provided for, we nary had the time to attend their wedding when she was well enough before we were back on duty, trying to find the kidnapper’s relations. It has been non-stop ever since. While Angus does help us when we are in the area, he has been put under pressure to return to duties in London. His wife is due to have their child soon. He is obviously reluctant to leave her. That doesn’t seem to matter to our boss, who has continued to send him notes demanding he return to London as soon as possible,” Aaron explained.

“Why? What is down in London?” Elspeth asked. “Why can’t Angus just join you when you are nearby like he has been doing?”

“That is what we said. Sir Hugo has simply refused Angus permission to have any time off because he wants the kidnapper off the streets before he strikes again,” Aaron sighed. “The kidnapper comes first, apparently. I know he is snatching innocent lives, but we aren’t going to be able to defeat him if we are so damned exhausted, or worried about our families that we can’t concentrate. The problem is, once we have caught this kidnapper, we all know there will be some other equally ruthless fiend we have to find next. It just doesn’t stop. Meantime, none of us are having any time to have a life of our own.”