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

Justin sighed because the man quite clearly wasn’t a Londoner. He contemplated whether to keep pushing but suspected they had worried him enough for one evening. Now that Angus had had enough time to get out of the house, and he had heard the quite click of the front door, Justin knew it was time to go. The men were on watch. If Horvat was guilty of anything untoward going on in the village, he would be worried into doing something rash – like leaving. When he did, the men from the Star Elite would be right behind him. Horvat just didn’t know that yet.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

By the time Charity and Angus reached Charity’s house there was a new kind of tension between them. At first, Charity struggled to understand it. It wasn’t tension, or the kind of sensual attraction she experienced whenever he intended to kiss her and had that certain special look in his eye. Instead, the strange atmosphere between them was calm, yet entwined them in a cocoon of desire that simply refused to abate. She had no idea what it meant but was painfully aware that they were all alone when he closed the back door to her house.

She wasn’t surprised when, with his gaze locked firmly upon hers, he slowly slid the bolt across the door and stepped closer to her. There was still a part of her that expected him to lambast her for being so foolish as to go over there in the first place.

It transpired that Mr Horvat’s house was the last thing on Angus’s mind. Before Charity could do anything more than gasp, he hauled her against him and slammed a kiss onto her lips that stole her breath. She felt bruised by the force of his desire but because it matched her own she didn’t protest. With a boldness that startled her, Charity clutched his head and tugged him closer as she returned the full force of his kiss with a desire that raged out of control.

As Angus lifted her high into his arms, Charity tugged at the laces on his shirt. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin beneath her hands. She needed to feel the heavy pounding of his heart that beat in rhythm with her own. Her stomach dipped with nervous anticipation when she realised he was carrying her up the stairs, but she didn’t object. Not even when he slowly lowered her onto the soft bed in her bed chamber, and slowly followed her down onto the cool, crisp sheets.

The following morning, Charity yawned and stretched only to realise she was not alone. She had expected to wake up this morning to find Angus had left again. But, given the hard arm that was still curled protectively around her waist, and the muscular warmth pressed against her back, Angus quite clearly had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon.

“Morning.”

Charity shivered at the sound of his husky voice still thick with sleep. Her bruised and swollen lips curved into a secretive smile.

“Good morning,” she whispered, unwilling to speak any louder for fear of breaking the wonderful contentment that had settled over them.

When she wriggled around to face him, Angus groaned. He leaned up on one elbow and stared down into her wonderful eyes. He had no idea if the pink tinge to her cheeks was down to embarrassment or memories of what they had shared. Whatever had caused it, he liked it. There was a contented glow about her that made him smile.

Maybe it is because of what we shared, he mused, because it had been more than he had ever expected, and something he wanted to indulge in as often as possible.

For the first time in his life, Angus didn’t care about the consequences of sharing a woman’s bed. Nothing else mattered but ensuring that from now on only he would share Charity’s bed, life and hopes and dreams for the future. The urge to make sure she knew that was so strong that for a moment, Angus struggled to think of the perfect way to tell her how much she mattered to him. He had never expected to need to say to a woman that he loved her. He had never considered that marriage was something he would want as much as he wanted it with Charity.

“Damn,” he murmured when a heavy pounding on the door downstairs interrupted their blissful embrace. He lifted his head and looked ruefully down at her. “We could ignore it.”

Charity shook her head chidingly at him. Her dove grey eyes twinkled with mischief. “If we don’t answer it, I wouldn’t put it past the ladies of the tapestry circle to borrow somebody’s ladder. Are you prepared for the sight of Mrs Applebottom’s face pressed up against the bed chamber window?”

“Noooo,” Angus murmured. His eyes widened because he too could envisage Augusta demanding entrance through the window.

They both turned to look at the shutter, which still stood slightly ajar.

“I suppose I had better answer it hadn’t I?” Angus murmured huskily.

His loving look, and reluctance to get out of bed, made it clear that it was the very last thing he wanted to do.

“I think I had better answer it. You need to get dressed, or hide,” Charity urged him.

The last thing she wanted to do was leave the wonderful warmth of Angus’s embrace, but she had no choice because the persistent pounding on the door was getting louder. Hastily, she dressed and hurried downstairs.

“Is Angus here?” Oliver demanded when she opened the door.

“Er-”

Charity jerked when Angus placed a warm palm on her waist.

“What is it?” he asked, beckoning Oliver and Aaron into the house.

Oliver looked warily at Charity, but she remained by Angus’s side.

“Come on in. It is freezing in here. I’ll light the fire while you tell us what has happened,” Angus murmured.

He didn’t wait for his colleagues to agree, merely turned around and hurried over to the fireplace in the back room.

“We have found Mrs Vernon,” Oliver announced suddenly.

Charity slid into a chair at the kitchen table, not least because her knees had started to tremble. She knew immediately from the solemnity in his eyes that the news wasn’t good.