Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

Well aware that she must be ravenous by now, Jasper made a bold display of munching the last of his breakfast. While he ate, his gaze challenged her, daring her to mention how hungry she was. He wanted her to ask if there was some left for her. He wanted her to ask him for, well, something. His help maybe? Jasper wasn’t at all sure what he was waiting for her to ask him for but he waited nonetheless. He wanted her to acknowledge that she needed his help, even to be able to eat. Minutes ticked by. He watched her eye what was left of his pie with a greed that was avaricious. A part of him felt awful for eating it in front of someone who was quite clearly starving, but he did because it helped solve a lot of his current issues.

“Ready?” he murmured when he couldn’t stand the pleading look in her eye any longer.

Molly gulped and felt sick from the hunger that gnawed at her insides. “For breakfast?” she murmured.

Jasper fought a smile. “No. Are you ready to admit you need my help?”

“I don’t need your help,” Molly protested.

Jasper nodded. “Have you eaten today?”

“Yes, actually,” Molly lied. “I had a pie earlier.”

“What with?” Jasper mused. “I didn’t think you had any money on you.”

“I had a penny or two,” Molly replied.

She mentally winced at the realisation that she was digging herself a deeper hole of deceit she wasn’t going to be able to escape from without thoroughly humiliating herself. Phillip had followed her after all.

“A penny for a pie? Really? God, in London that is good. You are going to have to tell me where you got it from. I should like to try one,” Jasper mused with an air of thoughtfulness that warned her that he wasn’t going to let the matter drop.

“Well, I shall be on my way,” Molly whispered.

Reluctantly, she turned and began to wander away only to realise that Jasper followed her this time. Phillip remained on the wall, watchfully gazing at the pedestrians on the street around him.

“What do you want with me?”

“I am waiting for you to go back to the safe house with me so I can talk to you and your brother. He is there, by the way, just in case you were wondering,” Jasper mused. “He is your brother, after all. You know, the one you came to London to find.”

“I am well aware of what, and who, my brother is,” Molly snapped.

“So, why have you just left him with us? I mean, now you know he is safe there really is no worry about his welfare, but you are responsible for him,” Jasper replied.

“I am responsible for him?” Molly cried.

“You are his closest relation. He is not with his guardian, whom I suspect might be your questionable aunt. Nevertheless, while Oscar is with us he is under our protection but we cannot be his legal guardians. You have to be because you are his relation. At two and twenty you are of age and can take over the mantle as it were, without your aunt’s interference.” He squinted off into the distance. “At least, that is the attitude my boss has taken to the matter. Sir Hugo has already written to the solicitor on your behalf and informed him that Oscar’s guardianship is now to be handed over to you, together with all monies owed to you effective immediately.”

“Your boss?”

“Yes, Sir Hugo. He is the head of the War Office. He is quite influential, you know. He has connections with the Lord Chief Justice. Why, I have known him to get people put in the Tower of London just because they defy him,” Jasper continued.

“What has that got to do with me?” Molly was slightly distracted by the lingering scent of gravy that clung to him. She was starting to feel lightheaded such was the depth of her hunger.

Or maybe it is the sheer relief of having him beside me again.

It was difficult to get her sluggish mind to decide which it was. Each time their eyes met the world around them faded. Each time Jasper spoke, every fibre of her being locked on him and closed everything els

e out. There was nothing more important to her than Jasper, she just daren’t let him know it.

“I am just saying that, at the moment, you and Oscar are the only people, witnesses as it were, who can attest to what happened to Oscar. More importantly, Oscar can identify some of Denzel’s friends. You are therefore witnesses, involved in a government investigation, and must be protected. If you refuse to help us, or reject our protection, we have to arrest you and keep you in the Tower of London to ensure you co-operate.” Jasper tipped his head and lifted a brow at her when she shook her head.

“Are you threatening me?”

Jasper shrugged. “It isn’t a threat.”

Molly stared at him. She struggled to comprehend that this was the man who had kissed her so passionately only last night. It was difficult to understand what those kisses had meant, and whether the man before her really gave a damn or was just using her because she was the closest female and he hadn’t been near one for a while.

Well, I did throw myself at him in a strange kind of way.