‘Get the two thugs who were after us,’ Phillip growled.
‘They aren’t Smidgley’s lot?’ Callum asked. He paused in the process of reloading his gun and lifted a brow at Phillip, who grimly shook his head.
‘They want to kidnap her,’ Phillip growled. ‘I will explain later.’ He tugged Carlotta away from the gunfire and deeper into a quieter part of the woods.
‘Where are we going?’ Carlotta asked. She looked over her shoulder in the direction of the horses they had left behind and promptly stumbled over a large boulder half buried in the path.
‘Careful.’
‘My bag is still strapped to the horse,’ she gasped. ‘I need to fetch it.’
‘Not in the middle of a gun fight you won’t. The men will bring the horses when they have cleared the woods,’ Phillip assured her.
‘How can you know they will clear the woods?’ Carlotta asked, a little amazed at the certainty in his voice. She thought it was a little arrogant that he could be so certain of success so soon after their near disaster.
‘Because after what happened yesterday the men will be more determined than ever to make sure they succeed and aren’t overwhelmed again. They will be bolstered by the knowledge that we have all survived, but also know we have to bring this investigation to a close no matter how many of Haugham’s men have to die.’ With that, Phillip propelled her into motion and guided her toward the safe house.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Several hours later, Carlotta glared at Phillip’s back and tried hard not to lose her temper. She knew he was only trying to protect her, but they had been past this same house at least three times in the past hour. As far as she could tell they were just going around in circles. She was cold, tired, and wanted to get off the horse, but Phillip didn’t seem to want to stop. He didn’t appear to even have much interest in the house either despite it being their destination.
‘Can we not stop now?’ she demanded with a glare. ‘If you wish to keep going around like this then please do, but you will have to let me stop.’
Phillip mentally winced when he saw the lines of exhaustion on her face. He threw her a commiserating look and felt guilty for having been so relentless in his determination to keep her safe that he hadn’t considered her comfort. There had to be a point when he stopped being an investigator with the Star Elite who thought about guns and danger. He had to occasionally be a man who thought about something more. To keep circling the house, checking every angle of it and the route they had just taken to make sure that nobody was watching had left Carlotta exhausted. Even as she stood just a few feet behind him, dusty and dishevelled, her shoulders were drooping and there were dark circles beneath her eyes he was sure hadn’t been there when he had first met her.
Just this morning as a matter of fact.
‘It has been a long day, hasn’t it?’ he murmured.
‘Is that the safe house or are you intending to purchase it? If you want to go around again please do, but I am going back to Bladley Weeks.’ She folded her arms and gave him a defiant glare that warned him she wasn’t going to take one more step.
‘You can try.’ Leaning closer, Phillip growled: ‘You won’t get very far. Not on foot and not with my friends nearby. Where would you go? Back to that house where the thugs might find you?’
Carlotta narrowed the gap between them and adopted his cocky stance. ‘If you are who you say you are the thugs who are still alive are going off to gaol, so why should I worry?’
‘Are you not worried that your father might be here?’ Phillip challenged. ‘We still have Smidgley’s murderer to catch by the way.’
‘You can’t prove that the murderer is still in the area.’
Phillip cursed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
Carlotta was exhausted. She had never had such a busy day before and struggled to know what to say. She didn’t feel safe and wondered if she would feel able to relax ever again. What worried her more than anything was her confusion about her feelings for Phillip. She had only just met him, yet he had swiftly become such an intrinsic part of her life that she struggled to envisage having to face life without him. While she was pleased that he had found his friends and knew that they were all right, she also knew that their time together was at an end. That made her want to cry. Phillip would want to join his friends and go after the thugs that were still alive. Carlotta couldn’t blame him for that, but a part of her couldn’t help but be sorry about it as well. She had lost him before she had even really gotten a chance to even think about whether she wanted him in her life. It was so contradictory that she struggled to comprehend what it might all mean. She couldn’t ignore that even now, as tired and exhausted and out of sorts as she was, she still wanted him to kiss her again.
Perplexed, Carlotta lowered her gaze to the floor and did her best to try to control her emotions. She was aware of Phillip studying her far too closely for comfort and did her best to make sure he wouldn’t be able to read anything in her face.
Phillip saw the change in her; the quiet retreat that distanced her from him. It happened slowly over the space of several minutes and was accompanied by a thick, awkward silence they both struggled to know how to break. Phillip struggled to identify what had caused it. He knew he really had no experience with women to be able to read her behaviour and have some idea of what was wrong with her. He could fight thugs with guns, chase people through streets, and wrestle with criminals. What he couldn’t do was understand women; on this occasion, Carlotta.
‘I’ll show you to your room,’ he murmured quietly before leading her into the house.
Carlotta showed very little interest in the house. She remained subdued as he opened the door and led her into the large kitchen at the rear of the property. Once there, Phillip filled a plate with food and a goblet with wine and carried them both through the house. Waving her toward the stairs, he followed her up.
‘Go to the left at the top of the stairs. Your bed chamber is at the end of the corridor.’
Carlotta stepped into a rather neat and tidy room which had no character about it at all. The curtains at the window clung desperately to the crumbling brickwork within which sat an equally decaying window. The small square space contained nothing more than a bare bed, a small table beside it, and a chair.
‘It is a little basic, but we don’t intend to stay for long. We usually move on in a couple of days and use blankets we carry with us when we sleep. I will go and fetch you one.’ Phillip slid the plate and goblet onto the small side table before sidling out of the room.
He puffed out his cheeks once he was in the hallway and hurried into his room to fetch his blanket. Seconds later, he dropped it onto the bed. It was a little alarming to note that she hadn’t moved. Carlotta had remained beside the window, staring blankly out over the large garden at the back of the house, her shoulders rigid, her spine straight, still completely silent.