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

With a sigh, she placed her basket on the floor beside the stairs and began to climb.

Angus was livid. He was so furious he could have punched the wall beside him, especially when he saw Monika leave the house alone, and venture into the Lawrence’s property minutes later. He waited until the kitchen door had closed behind Monika, then hurried over to the Horvat residence.

He had barely closed the back door before he heard a long, low, and awfully familiar whistle.

“Damn it,” Angus breathed. He began to curse virulently about the foolishness of wayward females. With all sorts of epithets flowing through his mind, none of which he spoke, Angus made his way deeper into the house.

Charity took refuge in the silence. She was scared, but with each room she checked, and found to be normal, neat and tidy, with nothing untoward inside, the more she began to relax. She was, however, conscious of time being short. It was difficult to tell how long she had been in the property. It might have been an age, but it also might only have been a few minutes. Either way, she was conscious of needing to get outside and into the fresh air and freedom. It was impossible not to feel trapped in the house that was unfamiliar to her and belonged to someone like Mr Horvat.

When she couldn’t stand the tension a moment longer, and had finished searching the back room, Charity turned to the stairs. It was in that moment she heard the tell-tale rattle of the back door.

“Oh God, no,” she gulped.

Her heart practically burst out of her chest such was the deluge of fear that cascaded over her. Charity daren’t move. She couldn’t breathe and was unable to think. Her eyes, wide in the moonlight, refused to focus on anything but the blinding fear that threatened to overwhelm her. The suffocating feeling of being trapped she thought she couldn’t bear any longer, suddenly grew stronger. To the point that she struggled to get her breath.

Suddenly, a hard hand slammed over her mouth. It was so swift, and yanked her off her feet so absolutely, that Charity was left hanging in mid-air.

“Shut up, it is me,” Angus growled as he swung her off her feet. “Do not utter a word or we are both going to be stuck.”

Charity slumped with relief - until she looked down, and her gaze fell on the basket of blackberries resting at the bottom of the stairs. Worriedly, she tugged at Angus’s hand and pointed to the basket he hadn’t seen.

“Damn you,” he growled as he glared at her.

There was so much he wanted to say that it was a bonus, to her at least, that Mr Horvat was in the house. It stopped Angus from giving Charity another blistering piece of his mind. Instead, he pointed one long finger at her, and wagged it warningly.

Charity watched as, with a silence and agility that was startling, Angus crept down the stairs, picked up the basket a

nd retraced his steps. The harshness of his glare as he shoved the basket at her was enough to make her step away from his fury. But despite his anger, Charity felt infinitely safer now that he was with her.

“Back up,” Angus mouthed into her ear.

While he contemplated their options, he backed Charity into the smaller of the two bedrooms and motioned for her to stay quiet. His eyes scanned the room they were in. Seconds later, he looked at Charity and silently poked a finger into the air.

Charity frowned at him. When he did it again she looked up at the ceiling and saw the small hatch he was pointing at. Her brows lifted. She glanced down at her skirt. Angus glared at her and poked at the hatch once more. Her eyes widened as he stood on tip-toe and nudged the hatch cover out of the way. With an eye-popping strength that was astonishing to see, Angus hauled himself bodily into the dark void of the loft space. Once there, he lay down, leaned out of the hole and held his arms out to her. Charity shook her head. There was no way she had the strength to do what he did. He shook his hands out to her once more, insistent that this was the only way they were going to remain unhidden.

It was only the sound of the booted footsteps on the stairs that warned Charity that she had to do something or face discovery. With a panic that made her movements furtive, Charity handed Angus the basket and held her arms up. Shockingly, she was instantly hauled bodily into the air and up through the loft hatch.

Once she was in the loft, Angus slid the hatch cover back into place, but not before he saw the door of the room they had just been in silently open. He realised then that they had been seconds from discovery. Mr Horvat suspected someone had been in his house.

It was all Angus could do for a moment to catch his breath. When he sensed Charity moving beside him, he placed a hand on her thigh to keep her still. With one eye trained on the loft hatch, Angus remained perfectly still and waited.

Minutes ticked by, one slowly after another. Charity placed her hand over Angus’s because she needed some form of human contact in the claustrophobic darkness. Tears gathered on her lashes but this time it had nothing to do with the way she felt about Angus. It was purely because she knew her shame was absolute. He had told her, shouted at her, warned her that she was in danger. She had stubbornly refused to listen, and as a result, had put not only herself but Angus in a stupidly difficult situation. Charity had no idea what she would do if Angus was hurt because of her. It was a distinct possibility, especially if Mr Horvat found them in his house.

Eventually, after what felt like several days, they heard footsteps descend the stairs. Angus still refused to allow her to move.

“He is going to be aware of every movement in a house this quiet. This is the worst time of day to do anything like this,” he whispered. “Noise travels at night. Do not speak unless you absolutely have to and don’t move unless it is to follow my steps, do you understand?”

“How do we get out of here?” Charity whispered. “I cannot see anything.”

“We have to assume that there is no way out of this loft. We cannot wait for him to go to sleep because if he is a light sleeper we are going to get caught anyway. The men know we are in here and will be aware that Horvat has come back. Leave it to them. They will find a way to get us out of here. Just sit with me and wait.”

“I am scared, Angus,” Charity whispered.

Angus sighed and forced himself to ignore his temper. The last thing he needed was for Charity to become hysterical because she was trapped in the darkness. He needed her to feel reassured by his presence and learn to trust him. He suspected that had been the true nature of her problem all alone. She didn’t trust him.

She doesn’t know enough about me, he thought ruefully. A few kisses aren’t going to gain her trust.

Since he had arrived on her doorstep, he had taken over her house, done his level best to try to tell her how to live her life, taken advantage of her by stealing a few kisses, and then had upped sticks and left. It was only to be expected that she wouldn’t believe he was a trustworthy gentleman.