To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

So much so, when Mallory did find the strength to tear her gaze away from him, she caught the knowing looks Callum’s colleagues shared. Colour flooded her cheeks, but she made no apology for it. In fact, she had spent the better part of the night thinking about how little she objected to Callum’s friends thinking she and Callum were together.

“We have to get you out of the area today, Mallory. Melrose wants you back because you can attest to what he has done with the victims. You are the proof that he is involved with the kidnaps,” Phillip warned.

“I don’t mind leaving if it makes you all safer,” Mallory suggested.

Callum’s gaze was sharp when he looked at her. “You are going nowhere alone.”

The finality was there in his voice. Should anybody try to break that, all Hell would break loose. Oliver coughed to disturb the sudden tension in the room.

“We are going to go our separate ways. There are plenty of us. If Melrose’s men are mustering, they are going to have to follow more than one of us. The chances of them ambushing us will be limited because they won’t have as much support. If they do engage us in a gun battle the odds are a little more even,” Oliver said.

“I suggest that we create a ruse,” Philip said.

“I think that we need to decide who is going to stay here and hunt Melrose. Only two, three at the most, need to go with Mallory and Sir Hugo. If a team escorts you to the county border, you can be on your way without too much bloodshed. Just stay off the main roads. Your journey will take longer but you will be safe. I will try to send word to the local teams to keep an eye out for you. They can make sure you have a safe passage,” Oliver suggested.

“Can you get word to them in time?”

“I can try,” Oliver replied.

“But you cannot promise anything.” It wasn’t a question. Callum knew Oliver couldn’t.

“So, we could end up being ambushed by Melrose’s men, with Mallory and Sir Hugo in the back, and you expect only two of us to protect them.” Will glared defiantly at Oliver.

“Do you have any idea what you are asking of us?” Callum growled. “It’s a bloody fool’s errand. You may as well just bury us here and now.”

“You are going to be well armed, with plenty of ammunition. If we distract Melrose, by the time he realises that this house is empty, everyone will have vanished.”

Oliver ran a

hand through his hair and tried not to snap at them. He could understand their concern, not least because everyone knew the odds were stacked against them still. When he looked up, he saw the shared frown of concern between Mallory and Callum. They would face it together. Oliver didn’t doubt it. He just had to wonder if Mallory would allow Callum to become a part of her life when their ordeal was over.

Last night, when they hadn’t returned from the barn like they were supposed to, the men had gone out to try to find them. What they had found was a couple who had been so wrapped up in each other that they hadn’t even noticed Oliver, Rhys, and Niall outside. They had lingered long enough to listen to Mallory recount her ordeal. Unfortunately for Callum and Mallory, they hadn’t left again before the kissing had started. There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that it was those kisses that were responsible for Callum’s somewhat troubled attitude this morning, and the decidedly hungry way he kept looking at her.

Oliver could only sympathise with the man. He knew from his experience with his own wife just how difficult it was juggling his role in a Star Elite investigation with his feelings for someone as a man and human being.

“Will needs to recover, preferably before he gets into any more brawls, so he is the best man to drive the carriage,” Oliver suggested.

Callum inwardly baulked at the idea of sending Will off to Cornwall with Sir Hugo and Mallory.

“You, Callum, can keep watch,” Oliver added.

“You want me to go with them?” Callum’s brows shot up.

It was the last thing he had expected Oliver to suggest.

“We have found him,” Niall announced as he slammed into the house.

“Melrose?”

“He is holed up at Walter Mann’s house as we speak.” Niall checked his gun for shot, as if preparing to go out right there and then and challenge the man.

“Does he have many men with him?” Callum asked.

Niall shrugged. “He has enough.”

“Walter Mann?” Callum scowled. “Isn’t that that pompous oaf whose stomach is as big as his jowls? The man who bellows at everyone and has those thick trout lips?”

“That’s the one,” Oliver confirmed with a sage nod.