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

As she walked through the town, Charity contemplated what to do. How was she to go about notifying the Star Elite of who she had found? It would take days to get a note to them. By then, Mr Lawrence might well have moved on.

Curiosity compelled her to continue to follow him, even though she knew he was a criminal. Charity had to find out where the man was staying, if only so she had somewhere she could direct the Star Elite to. There could be no harm in that, could there? Charity wasn’t sure but decided to follow anyway.

Angus sighed and puffed out his cheeks. He glared up at the sky and shook his head as he let loose a blistering series of vicious curses that made Aaron lift his brows at him.

“You really are truly miserable, aren’t you?” he murmured.

Angus shook his head. “I am sick of being wet, standing in the dark, and chasing stupid people like Horvat and Lawrence.”

He rested one broad shoulder against the coarse brickwork of the wall beside him. Nestled deep within the narrow alleyway, Angus was shrouded in shadow and was able to relax a little as he observed the house opposite. While nobody had entered or left the property for the last hour or two, ‘old’ Mr Lawrence was due back sometime soon. Phillip was following and would alert them if Lawrence went somewhere unexpected. Until then, Angus and Aaron had to observe to see where the Phillip Lawrence’s son went, if he left the small house across the street at all, which he hadn’t.

Angus, as a result, was bored. He shifted and glanced down at the chains at his feet. Just as soon as their target was back inside the house the men from the Star Elite intended to swoop upon the property and arrest the two inhabitants for the murders of Mrs Browning, Mrs Vernon and the real old Mr Lawrence.

“It is quite a complex mystery, isn’t it?” Aaron murmured as he studied the house.

“Now we have that witness statement that confirms ‘old’ Mr Lawrence is in fact cousin Phillip, we can arrest both cousin Phillip and his son,” Angus said with no small measure of satisfaction

“It is a very clever deception they have been living,” Aaron said quietly.

“It never occurred to me to ask if Phillip Lawrence had a son,” Angus muttered. “The ladies will know something that important.”

“While we knew Lawrence was lying about his infirmity, none of us had any suspicion the Lawrence men were working with Horvat, and we were watching them constantly,” Aaron sighed.

Angus nodded. “Now that I come to think of it, I should have checked the loft of Horvat’s house while I was up there, just to see if the loft is sectioned off or joining the neighbouring property. If it joins up, it would be easy for Horvat to access the Lawrence’s home undetected, and vice versa.”

“It is an elaborate way of getting to speak to each other,” Aaron said.

“Yes, but they would do it if they realised they were being watched,” Angus argued.

“Target’s back,” Aaron murmured with a nod to the end of the street.

Angus peered around the edge of the building but only took a cursory glance at the man sauntering arrogantly toward them. His attention was instantly drawn to the woman following. She was too far away, and too well hidden, for him to get a look at her features, but there was just something about her presence that bothered him. He shifted so he could study her as she approached. His gaze slid over those narrow shoulders, the nipped in waist, and the height. The more he studied the figure, the more he grew alarmed. Not only at the deep sense of longing that swept through him at the thought of Charity, but at the thought that the woman he was looking at might indeed be her.

“God, I hope it isn’t,” he growled.

“It looks like Charity,” Aaron muttered in disgust. “It can’t be her, can it? She must be back in St Magdaline, mustn’t she?”

“How in the Hell should I know?” Angus snarled.

He glared at the woman walking toward them. It was obvious even to him that she was following Mr Lawrence. Not only was her gaze trained upon him, but when he crossed the road, so did she.

“Damn, he is going to see her,” Aaron sighed.

“We have to get her out of here,” Angus snapped. “I have no idea what the Hell she thinks she is doing but I am going to bloody well paddle her backside.”

“You are going to marry her,” Aaron reminded him.

Angus rolled his eyes. “I must be out of my mind.”

“Well, look on the bright side, we will have to get all of the criminals off the streets, if only to make sure she doesn’t go and get herself in any trouble while you are away. Either that, or you are going to have to fill the house with babies to make sure she has plenty to keep her busy.” Aaron’s voice was so dry Angus grinned.

“You seriously wouldn’t care, would you?” Aaron prompted when Angus appeared to be considering that very suggestion.

Angus’s grin was cocky as he peered around the corner of the building again. His smirk said it all. No, he wouldn’t mind that prospect one bit. In fact, when he did manage to return to St Magdaline, he intended to put his very well thought out plans for his future into action as quickly as possible.

“Damn, what the Hell do I do with her to get her out of the way?” Angus whispered, his smile dying rapidly. “I need to be here for the arrest.”

“She cannot get involved in that. It is going to be brutal. The Lawrence men are quite capable of strangling the life out of someone. They aren’t likely to go down without a fight, no matter how many men we pour in there,” Aaron warned. “There are only three of us, against two of them.”