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

Without saying a word, he hauled her against him and wrapped her securely in his arms. With one leg on either side of her, he tugged her closer until she practically lay against him. The embrace was warm, intimate, and infinitely reassuring, and he refused to relinquish it, not even when she settled against him with a heady sigh and appeared to relax.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” he breathed into her ear. “We still have to get out of here, you know.”

“Do you think he has gone to bed yet?” Charity whispered back. As she turned her head her lips brushed his.

“I don’t care,” Angus replied, and in that moment he didn’t.

Without giving a second thought to Horvat, his colleagues who were struggling to find a way to get to him, or the woman who was trying to find her way around the Lawrence house, Angus claimed Charity for his own.

Charity sighed with supreme pleasure when Angus began to kiss her. There was nothing she could deny him. Nothing else mattered but this moment in the darkness – just the two of them. Whether emboldened by the fact they both knew they wouldn’t be interrupted, or the absolute blackness that encased them and forced them to rely upon their senses, they both surrendered to the feelings surging through them.

Hands sought out flesh beneath clothing, lips mated with a ferocity that burned. Neither of them could find the strength to pull away, not even when Angus leaned backward and tugged her with him. It was only the discomfort of the joists cutting into his back that made him wince and lift his head.

“This isn’t really the time for this,” he murmured regretfully.

He longed for nothing more than a nice soft bed to share with her again. If he hadn’t been so ill he would have claimed her as his own last night such was the temptation she put before him. As it was, he would have to wait – at least until they were at Charity’s own home.

For the first time since he had met her, Angus was able to admit and accept that his future lay with Charity. It didn’t worry him as it once had. In fact, he quite relished the challenge of finding out how they were going to entwine their lives in a way that they would both be happy with.

“We have to talk,” he whispered when he was sitting upright again.

Charity nodded but then realised he wouldn’t be able to see her in the gloom.

Angus placed a soothing kiss on her lips and held her close. He knew he had been forgiven for his draconian behaviour when she lay her head against his chest and sighed. He felt certain he could feel her smile through the soft folds of his shirt and couldn’t resist the urge to place another gentle kiss upon her brow.

He had no idea how long they sat cuddled together. Eventually, his attention was drawn to a heavy pounding noise. He knew instantly that one of his colleagues was knocking on Horvat’s back door. Angus stiffened and tipped his head. He eased away from Charity who watched him move closer to the hatch and lift the board, so he could listen to what was going on downstairs.

Angus sighed with relief when he heard Justin ask Horvat loudly if he had been at home all evening.

“Come on,” Angus whispered to Charity. He couldn’t see her but held his hand out. Somehow, she found it and clung on tightly for a moment.

“Let’s go home.” Angus grinned over his shoulder at her.

Charity smiled at him. She was intensely relieved that he didn’t seem to be angry with her anymore but had no idea what had happened to bring about such a change in him. He should be furious at the predicament she had drawn him into. Instead, he was behaving as though clambering out of a suspect’s loft space was an everyday occurrence; something fun to do.

She watched nervously as he slowly and silently lowered himself into the room beneath them. When he lifted his arms up to her, she dangled her feet into the room and slowly lowered herself down. Her cheeks burned fiery red when his head pressed into her abdomen. It was almost sensual as he crossed arm over arm to lower her gently to the floor. The way her body

slithered over his made her shiver but with a delicious warmth rather than fear. She wanted to feel that heady sensation some more, but it was over far too quickly. Instead of being held by him for a little longer, Charity watched Angus lower the board over the hatch and motion toward the door. She hated to have to leave the confines of the room but disliked the thought that Horvat would come upstairs and find them even more.

“Follow me,” Angus whispered.

In silence, Charity followed him down the stairs and out of the front door. All the while, her ears were tuned to the conversation going on in the kitchen.

“Well, where were you? What were you doing at this time of night out in the woods? Poaching is a crime in this country, you know,” Justin said, his tone authoritative.

“I walk,” Horvat declared with definite belligerence.

“Where? Why the woods?” Aaron demanded. “Who are you meeting?”

“I just walk. I go to woods. I walk,” Horvat replied. “I meet nobody.”

“What do you know about Mrs Vernon across the road?”

Horvat frowned theatrically but his shrewd eyes flickered furtively around the room as though in search of an inventive denial. Eventually, he shrugged.

“Where are you from?”

“London?” Mr Horvat replied.