Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“I am sorry,” she whispered.

“I am a fully grown male and am accountable for my own actions. It doesn’t help that you put such temptation before me,” he replied, glancing down at her breeches. “I should be shot for the thoughts I am having about your breeches. I have never found them alluring before.”

This time, Molly giggled. She ducked her head and found herself resting her head against the broad width of his shoulder. A part of her expected him to shrug

her off. What he did was tighten his arms around her and tug her closer.

“I hope I don’t get you into trouble,” she murmured when she lifted her head.

Jasper frowned. “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”

Molly gasped and leaned back to glare at him but didn’t manage to put any heat into it. “I am outraged that you should think I am that kind of woman.”

“I am just saying that it isn’t every day a man gets a delightful glimpse of a lady’s derrier in a tight pair of breeches,” Jasper argued. “You can’t blame me for taking advantage of the temptation put before me.”

“It doesn’t help if that man is a letch,” Molly countered.

Jasper, inwardly thrilled that she had started to lose some of the tormented look that hovered in her eyes, threw her a mock glare.

“Oh, so you think I am a letch, eh?” he huffed playfully. “Shall I show you just how much of a letch I can be?”

“No. You can’t,” Molly protested, backing away when he playfully stepped toward her, leaning over her lecherously as he eyed her in a theatrical display of lechery that made her laugh aloud. “Your boss is watching.”

“I don’t care. I am doomed anyway,” Jasper argued. “Come here, pretty lady.”

He waggled his fingers at her.

Molly swatted them away and squealed in delight when he lunged toward her. Seconds later, laughing, they both tumbled through the kitchen door but swiftly stumbled to a stop when they found several men waiting for them. Molly coughed uncomfortably and tugged on her shirt as she tried to adopt some modicum of demureness. She failed miserably because of the coquettish look she threw at Jasper. He was too busy grinning at his success at getting her to smile again to notice the astonished look of his colleagues, until he looked at them and saw their raised brows.

“I leave you two alone in a carriage for two minutes and you start,” Phillip chided with a fatherly air. He slapped two large pieces of apple pie onto plates and slid them along the table. “Eat. If you can find the energy.”

Molly, her cheeks still flooded with warmth, dutifully sat and looked warmly at Jasper when he sat directly beside her. She smiled shyly when he boldly winked at her. Together, they began to eat.

“And another falls,” Phillip sighed.

Oliver chuckled.

Sir Hugo rolled his eyes.

Molly paused when Oscar came to sit directly opposite but was too hungry, and too immersed in the man beside her to find any discontent with her brother right now. It was difficult to know why. It may have been because she knew the men from the Star Elite were better guardians than she could ever be. It might have been because she felt considerably stronger because of her connection to Jasper. Whatever the cause was, she felt as though a heavy weight of burden had been lifted off her shoulders and was incredibly pleased that it had gone.

“Do you know something? I haven’t heard you laugh like that in a long time,” Oscar mused.

Molly sobered instantly. Jasper placed a steadying hand upon hers.

“There hasn’t been much to laugh at, has there?” Molly mused solemnly.

Jasper sighed with annoyance when he saw the shadows flood back into her eyes. He wished he could banish them forever, not least because they were starting to make him miserable too. He hadn’t been ignorant of just how much her eyes sparkled when she laughed, and her face lit up impishly when she smiled. It was engaging, and so enchanting he wanted to see it again and again.

Damn, I want to be the one to vanquish her ghosts forever and keep her smiling, he realised suddenly, and with no small measure of concern.

He remained thoughtful as he finished his pie and sat back to wait for Molly to finish hers. Sir Hugo, though, wasn’t as patient.

“We need to know if Denzel Mulroney has told either of you anything about himself,” Sir Hugo asked.

“Mulroney? That’s his name?” Molly asked.

“His real name, yes. I take it the answer is ‘no’ then?” Sir Hugo murmured wryly.