A Spinster's Awakening (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 2)

“Its not her fault,” Charity snapped.

Aaron sighed. Thankfully, they were already at her front gate. It prevented him from having to reply.

Charity reluctantly opened her front door and led the group into her house. Strangely, the welcoming warmth that greeted her wasn’t as pleasing as it had been earlier that afternoon. This time, she felt a deep melancholy that brought tears to her eyes. It was all Charity could do to blink them away.

“I need to know where he is,” she whispered.

She jerked when the clock on the mantle struck eleven. She wanted to go upstairs, just to check he wasn’t there for herself, but wasn’t at all sure she could handle the heartbreak if he wasn’t.

“There is no reason to be upset. This is what the man does for his job,” she ground out through gritted teeth.

It was foolish to get so wound up over, well, nothing. They had no proof that he had been injured, or lay dying, or was dead somewhere. Vanishing and remaining hidden was a part of his job. Stealth he had called it. She had to remember that.

Still it said everything that his colleagues were just as concerned about him as she was.

“Wait!” Charity cried when Monika lit a stay and went to light the candles in the sitting room. She raced to the window and edged the shutter to one side a little until she could see the end of the road closest to Mr Horvat’s house.

“What are you doing?” Augusta whispered.

Charity explained what had happened the other night.

“Do you think Angus might be in his house?” Monika murmured as she peered over Charity’s shoulder at the property in question.

Edwina gasped. “Maybe Mr Horvat has kidnapped Angus,” she cried.

Charity rolled her eyes. “Have you seen the size of Angus? I cannot see someone the size of Mr Horvat being strong enough to drag Angus anywhere, can you?”

“Well, no. Your Angus is a rather large man, isn’t he?” Augusta agreed.

“Ooh, look! There is someone moving,” Agatha cried, her eyes wide with alarm.

“Just on time,” Charity groaned.

“Is it Horvat?” Monika demanded impatiently.

“This is the exact same time he left the house yesterday. I think it is safe to assume it is Mr Horvat, don’t you?” Charity replied.

“Well, let’s go after him,” Agatha suggested.

“I say we all go and find out where that blackguard is going. Anybody who ventures out at this time of night is up to no good,” Augusta said.

Charity lifted her brows at her. “Like us, you mean?”

“Well, we are not up to no good. We have brought you home because we are all worried about Angus.”

“Maybe he has Angus?” Edwina gasped. “What do we do if he has Angus stashed somewhere.”

“His colleagues will find him, I am sure,” Monika sighed. “For God’s sake, Edwina, will you get the notion that Angus has been kidnapped out of your head? He is strong, capable, a highly trained professional fighter.”

“And missing,” Agatha interjected crisply.

“Well, we are not going to find out where Horvat is going standing here discussing Angus, are we?” Gertrude snorted, already on her way to the door. “We have to find out where the man is going. Seeing as the men are busy trying to find one of their own, it is down to us, don’t you think? I mean, we have a good enough right to go wherever we want in this village. If we go two or three at a time, what harm can Mr Horvat do to us? We outnumber him.”

“We go armed,” Edwina cried, yanking a poker out of the bucket beside the fireplace.

“You go nowhere,” Charity snapped, snatching it out of her thin fingers and slipping it back into the bucket. “The men are trained to move about in the shadows undetected. They creep, not charge around foolishly like we would. Horvat would hear us chasing after him.”

Sadly, none of them was paying attention to her.