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

“I just don’t see why he would withdraw that kind of money,” Elspeth murmured.

“Frederick is not going to be allowed to take possession of the property given what is in Thomas’s will. Whatever the man claims, he is not entitled to it, and will not just bully you out of here. One has to ask why he is so determined to move in, so I think that is what we have to look at now,” Oliver warned.

“We also need to try to find out what Thomas has done with three thousand pounds,” Aaron added.

“How?”

“We have to find out where Thomas usually went, and whether he visited there with the money,” Callum suggested. “I can do that.”

“For now, we have to keep searching through these papers and try to find out who Thomas was in contact with up to the time of his death,” Aaron said.

Elspeth had never felt so helpless in her entire life. While she was blessedly relieved that the house would not be taken out from underneath her, she knew she still couldn’t afford to stay in it. With no funds to live off, her situation was just as dire as it had been when she had woken up.

“What do I do now?” she asked.

“We have to find that three thousand pounds,” Jasper said. “For now, search through the papers for any letters to friends you don’t know about, bills from businesses you didn’t know he frequented.”

“We need to look at what kind of things he had been investing in,” Oliver said. “Maybe they failed, and he needed to plug a gap or something?”

Aaron nodded. “It is certainly starting to look that way. There must be investment papers or something in here that will tell us.”

“I will contact all of his other friends to find out if they know of any business contacts Thomas had,” Niall offered.

Aaron nodded his thanks and turned to the woman who, over the course of the last hour, had become paler and paler to the point she was starting to worry him.

“Are you all right?” he murmured gently.

“I don’t like this, Aaron. I don’t like it at all,” Elspeth whispered.

Elspeth looked at him when he didn’t answer. There was something in his eyes that warned her she wasn’t going to like what he was going to say.

Sure enough, she didn’t.

“I think you have to consider that he was in some sort of trouble and might have had to pay someone off. It may have been something he kept from you, so you didn’t worry. Like I said, the man adored you. He might have only been trying to protect you,” Aaron sighed.

The men, one by one, left the room until there was only Elspeth and Aaron. He stood beside her in front of the fireplace. Together, they studied the mess they had yet to sort out.

“I am so angry with him right now that if he was here I would give him a piece of my mind, I don’t mind admitting,” Elspeth hissed.

Aaron grinned at her.

“What?” she demanded.

Aaron continued to smile. “You look so feisty when you are cross. It is good to see some colour back in your cheeks.” Tenderly, he lifted one thumb and caressed the alabaster silk that was her cheek.

Elspeth’s heart flipped and instantly began to warm. She turned to look at him. A part of her, deep inside, began to unfurl from its dark and solitary place, and absorb a hint of promise of something that was far brighter than she had ever expected when she saw the intent look in his eyes. She was mesmerised by the gentleness of his touch but also the sensual need evident on his face.

Elspeth wanted to say something, but no words seemed fitting. To her astonishment, Aaron slowly leaned toward her. Her heart hammered in her ears as she watched and waited. When his lips swept gently across hers, Elspeth froze. She couldn’t move, wouldn’t break this special moment. Nothing mattered but Aaron, and what he was doing. She had never experienced anything so intimate in her life. Elspeth knew she should be shocked, horrified, appalled at what he was doing. It was inconceivable that he should be this close to her, but he was, and she didn’t regret a single moment of what he was doing. Slowly, gently, his lips settled over hers. The hand that cupped her cheek slid into the soft curls at the nape of her neck to hold her steady as his lips swept gently from side to side before they settled more fully over hers.

Within minutes, the kiss deepened and became more insistent. Elspeth jerked a little when his hand slid across her waist, but it was only to tug her gently toward him until he held her in his arms. She placed a staying hand on his chest but could find no will or strength to push him away. That staying hand held her steady against the tumultuous emotions that coursed through her, all brought about by the gentle persuasion of her first kiss.

Elspeth knew she would never forget this moment. It would always be indelibly stamped on her soul. She had no desire to forget it. It was something she had only ever dreamed of in all her girlish fantasies. Aaron had always been her special kind of ‘hero’. But while she had inwardly yearned for him to see her as a person, not a friend’s pesky younger sibling, she had never really believed that it was at all possible for him to see her as a woman. Yet he had, because he was now kissing her with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes.

Over the next se

veral moments, the kiss became more demanding than she had ever thought possible and nudged the last of her resistance out of the way. With a bold daring she never knew she possessed, Elspeth copied Aaron’s movements and slid a hand across his shoulders. When he deepened the kiss and began to increase the pressure of his embrace, Elspeth clung tightly to him. The rawness of the desire that sprang to life within her quickly began to rage out of control, to the point that Elspeth couldn’t resist the need to assuage the thirst that drove her. When Aaron moved sideways and tugged her even closer, Elspeth willingly followed. With one hand still clutching his neck, she pressed scandalously against him as she allowed her other hand to stray down his side to settle on his hip.

The slamming of the front door shattered the fragile bond Aaron had started to weave around the woman in his arms. He cursed virulently when Elspeth jerked and stared up at him with wide, horrified eyes.