Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“What do you know about Denzel?”

“Not a lot,” Molly replied. “I know he is about as lecherous as it is possible to get. He has made overtures toward me, and made it clear to us that he is going to be master of the house one day, so he expects us to do everything he asks. He has made it clear that he has some sort of control over our aunt. She has made it obvious that she expects Denzel to live there one day, and that we are to look after him as much as we look after her.”

“When did he arrive?” Jasper asked gently.

“A couple of months before we left,” Molly sighed.

“Around the time of the first kidnapping?”

Molly froze. She mentally contemplated that. “Do you think it is him?”

“I doubt he works alone,” Jasper whispered.

Briefly, he told her everything Oscar had said.

“He kidnapped Oscar?” Molly cried in horror.

“But was very careful to hide his tracks. This isn’t the behaviour of someone who just wanted the lad out of the house, Molly. This was carefully thought out to make Denzel look innocent. Not only that, but he remained in Leicestershire to kidnap again,” Jasper replied.

“Has someone else been taken?” Molly gulped.

“Not since Denzel appeared in London,” Jasper murmured. “The men are checking with the magistrate to make sure but it looks as if Denzel has indeed been responsible for snatching the women off the street and getting them to London.”

“Who is this woman who runs the house in Rigley Row?”

Jasper shook his head. “I have no idea, but I suspect she lives in Rigley Row somewhere. We just have to find her.”

“You are going back there, aren’t you?” she murmured in horror.

Jasper met her gaze. “We have to. The kidnap victims need to go home.”

“Do you think Edith knows what Denzel is doing?”

Jasper shook his head. “Someone is on their way to see her and find out. She is going to confirm whether she is your legal guardian. Our man is also going to speak with the solicitor and get him to sign everything over to you. Leave that to us. We have the influence of the Lord Chief Justice behind us whereas you don’t. Your aunt wouldn’t dare challenge that. If she does, she will soon get slapped down, I can assure you.”

Molly nodded. For once, she was glad that she had found the men from the Star Elite. While they had tossed her life on its head, they were good at what they did, were highly organised, and very influential. Molly began to wonder if everything would turn out all right after all. Then, her gaze turned to Jasper, and she began to wonder what would happen between them.

While Jasper thought everything was settled between them, he was swiftly proven wrong. He kept to his side of the carriage, and Molly kept to hers. That was not a problem. He was relieved or should have been that she was happy to accept the new, sensible distance between them. When the carriage pulled to a stop, the end of the journey came into sight. He stepped down, hoping that the sanctuary of the safe house would put enough common sense and logical reasoning into him to stop him from venturing anywhere near her again. Perfect. When Molly stepped down from the carriage in her unfamiliar boots, she slipped. Lunging forward, Jasper stopped her from sustaining injury from a nasty fall but inadvertently slammed her bodily into the carriage behind her.

“Are you all right?” he demanded. Rather than step away, he kept her within the loose confines of his embrace.

Molly, shaken and slightly embarrassed by her inelegant disembarking of the carriage, nodded but was too entrenched in the feel of his arms around her to answer him.

Neither of them paid any attention to the rumbling of the carriage as it moved away. Or even bothered to glance at the house several feet away. There was just the two of them: Jasper and Molly, standing entwined in the shadowy confines of the large yard at the rear of the safe house.

With a muttered curse that made Molly gasp, Jasper tightened his arms and slammed a kiss onto her lips that made everything she was become a part of him. Every time he shifted, he took her with him, but she went willingly. When his lips demanded more, she gave him what he wanted, but teased and tempted until he surrendered everything he was in return. She had no idea who was who. It didn’t really matter because there was not one inch of distance between them. As one, they became a partnership that went far deeper than anything either of them had ever encountered before. Neither of them could ignore it, fight it, or knew where it might lead them. They were both helpless to the tide of desire that threatened to drag them under. They were both immune to common sense, logic and reasoning. His duties didn’t matter. Her fears became unfounded. Nothing was more important that this. The need for each other, to be together, as one.

When Jasper found himself eyeing the door to the house and contemplating whether to back her toward it or carry her into the house, he knew it was time to stop. He tried to lift his head but felt as though he was trying to draw his heart from out of his chest. It was a wrench to have to put even kernel of distance between them, even for a second.

“You know everything I said in the carriage?”

Molly nodded, almost dreading what he had to say next.

“Ignore it,” Jasper advised. “It was horse shit.”

Molly felt her lips quirk. She tried to suppress her smile but the ruefulness on his face brought it forth anyway. He looked at her for a moment before he shook his head and rested his forehead against hers.

“I think my boss has just found out how unprofessional I am,” he mused without one ounce of concern.