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

“Keep quiet,” Aaron whispered.

Elspeth had no choice but to stand perfectly still at the side of the bed chamber and watch the men search through the drawers and cupboards in the large room. When Oliver disappeared beneath the huge four poster bed, she bent down but couldn’t see anything other than gloom. Aaron, with a bold display of masculine strength, hauled himself up by his hands, until he could see the top of the canopy of the four-poster. Seconds later, he dropped to the ground with a packet in his hand.

“Gold,” he grunted at Oliver.

Oliver nodded, stood up and brushed himself off.

“Nothing downstairs,” Niall murmured from the door.

“Nothing up here,” Jasper added from behind him.

“So, Voss is not at home,” Aaron murmured.

The clock on the mantle struck three.

“He isn’t out at a dinner party or anything,” Elspeth warned. “I tell you, he is probably searching my house.”

“We will go through the study a bit more thoroughly. You need to get home,” Jasper warned with a nod to Elspeth. “We can search better alone.”

Elspeth scowled at him. She knew she had been as much use to them as a sieve in a rain storm but refused to allow them to take over an investigation into one of the most important issues of her life, and only tell her what they thought she needed to know. She wanted to know everything, so she could contemplate facts from the viewpoint of the person involved. Elspeth could see no reason why the men felt they had to be so secretive, but she knew they had been.

Unless they know something that I don’t, she mused, eyeing

Aaron with renewed suspicion.

Elspeth made a mental promise to herself to have an honest and open conversation with Aaron just as soon as she was back at home. For now, all she could do was follow the men back through the house and leave them to what they did best.

“What in the Hell possessed you?” Aaron ground out when they were back at the house.

“I am not going to be kept in the dark over the investigation,” Elspeth protested.

“We are trying to keep you safe, or do you not remember that someone has tried to break into this house, and two men have already made their dubious intentions known to you? Men whom, I might add, have taken criminal measures to try to get into this house illegally,” Aaron snapped.

“I am not going to be kept in the house and told only what you think I should know. You have no need to be so secretive, unless you have something to hide yourself,” Elspeth retorted coldly.

“I just don’t want you to worry,” Aaron countered.

“Sitting at home and worrying is not supposed to cause me worry, is it?” Elspeth scoffed.

“We have to find out what Frederick and Voss are up to, and to do that we need to search their houses, preferably when they are not there,” Aaron argued.

“I know, which is why I want to be there,” Elspeth replied.

“What would you have done if he had been there?” Aaron bit out.

“You were there as well. Like you have just said, you want to keep me safe,” Elspeth said with a shrug.

“Not when you are going into their houses and are trying to hide from us,” Aaron retorted. “You are lucky Oliver found you.”

“Don’t you think we have to focus on Frederick and Voss?”

“We are,” Aaron retorted.

“No, we are not. We are arguing about why you are so secretive and expect me to sit at home and not worry. This is my life, Aaron. I am involved, whether you like it or not. Right now, I am under threat from two men who have both made their identical intentions clear within days of my brother’s death. It is why I have suggested that Frederick and Voss are working together and want this house. It won’t matter to them which of them have to marry me to get the property. What I don’t understand is why they would be that desperate,” Elspeth sighed. “I have to know, Aaron. You can’t protect me from that.”

“A man would have to be desperate to marry you, is that what you are saying?” Aaron demanded, his voice ripe with disgust.

“I am saying that neither man have seen fit to marry in their lives. They are both eligible bachelors. Frederick is in his mid-forties, Aaron, and has never had anything more than a passing fancy. Voss is in his early fifties and hasn’t married either. Don’t you think it odd that both men suddenly want to marry me at the same time, while they have both made me aware of their interest in the property?”