For Love Alone (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 8)

Oliver placed his hands on his hips and sighed heavily. ‘Of course, you do realise that we have nothing to prove that she isn’t working for Smidgley’s lot, don’t you?’

He hated to say it because he knew that Phillip had a connection with the stunning young woman already, whether he realised it or not. Oliver recognised that vagueness in Phillip’s eyes whenever he had to think about the investigation. He knew Phillip struggled to concentrate because of his feelings for Carlotta. Oliver also recognised Phillip’s pressing need to protect the woman he cared about, no matter what the cost to his sanity because he had gone through the same with his wife, Emmeline.

‘We have to remember that we know so little about her,’ Oliver warned quietly.

‘Why would she lie about her father?’ Phillip snapped, instantly rejecting that possibility.

‘You told her who you were, didn’t you? Don’t you think it odd that she was alone in a house like that? Who let her stay there? Whose house is it? Why would she be there? Those woods are otherwise occupied by Smidgley’s men. Do you really think they would allow her, a single, young, and very beautiful woman, to stay there unchaperoned, alone, while they were nearby? They are killers. She is a vulnerable witness to their presence. She is lucky she wasn’t murdered earlier.’

‘Do you think they came after her when they had collected the horses not to get Phillip but to fetch her?’ Aaron asked.

Phillip shook his head. He went from frustrated, panicked, and horrified, to annoyed, frustrated, and then downright livid. He wanted to find her but only so he could rattle the truth out of her and refute all his colleague’s suggestions. It was difficult to decide what he was going to do when or if he found out she had betrayed him and did indeed work with Smidgley’s hired guns. The idea was so horrible to even contemplate that Phillip forced himself to focus on nothing more than finding her. He wanted to be angry with his friends for doubting her. He wanted to hate them for doubting her, but he couldn’t.

‘I never questioned your judgement when it came to your wives,’ he growled at them all.

Everyone paused.

‘I have spent the most time with her. I know you are wise to be wary, but I have spent time with that woman and know her better than you,’ Phillip growled. ‘She isn’t lying about her age, her father, the thugs, or why she is in that house, I am sure of it. You doubt her if you must. Don’t bother to try to find her if you think she is going to betray you. I shall go by myself and shall protect her by myself.’

With that, Phillip stormed off but only so he could fetch his horse. His friends stood in stunned silence behind him but Phillip didn’t stop to even glance in their direction. He was mad, at himself, at Carlotta, at them, at Smidgley and his thugs, at the murderer who had killed the Star Elite’s nemesis. Moreover, he was mad at Carlotta’s father for forcing Carlotta out of the house she should still be living in.

But if he hadn’t I wouldn’t have met her.

Now that he had, Phillip wasn’t at all sure what to do with her. What he did know was that he couldn’t just leave her to face the night alone while a killer was still wandering loose. The truth about her situation would come about eventually, and whatever unfolded, he would do the right thing to make sure she stayed alive, safe, and had a future. Whether that was with him or not was something that would only reveal itself in time.

‘There is only one set of footprints,’ Justin murmured when he caught up with Phillip while he was saddling his horse.

‘It’s madness to simply run from here when she knows there are hired thugs after her,’ Angus growled as he threw the saddle onto his horse and q

uickly cinched it.

Phillip’s tension eased with the appearance of each of his colleagues who, duly chastised, had decided to stop voicing their doubts and help him. For that he was grateful, for now at least.

‘I told you she was adamant she wouldn’t return to her father. She must have heard us talking and realised we were going to hand her over to her father anyway, or some other random strangers, so took her chances out there somewhere. We – I - have to find her,’ Phillip snarled as he swung into his saddle and wheeled his horse around.

‘We have got to find her,’ Niall bit out. ‘Before Smidgley’s lot do. We are calling them Smidgley’s lot, but they have been hired by this unnamed killer who Smidgley hired. Look at what they did to Smidgley. I know you don’t trust her, Oliver, but we have no reason to doubt her honesty right now. You didn’t doubt Emmeline. Angus didn’t doubt Charity. Don’t expect Phillip to doubt Carlotta just because of what happened to us last night. It isn’t fair on either of them.’

‘Damn it all to Hell. Can we just stop talking about it and get out there and find her?’ Callum snapped.

‘We stick together,’ Oliver warned. He turned to Angus. ‘Go and see if you can find those prints again. Follow them if you can. The ground is dry so they might be undisturbed. We just need the direction she has gone in, that’s all. We can catch her because she is on foot.’

While Angus hurried off, the rest of the men mounted their horses and joined Phillip in the yard.

‘What’s left?’ Oliver demanded with a nod to the safe house behind them.

‘Just food and a few bits,’ Niall replied.

‘Get them. We won’t be back,’ Oliver ordered. He hurried into the barn and fetched a few things they used for the horses. When they had been put into the saddle bags, the men fetched the few remaining personal belongings from the house. Within minutes the trail had been found and the men were packed and ready to go. ‘Right, gentlemen, let’s go and close this investigation down, shall we?’

With that, the men from the Star Elite left the safe house and headed off into the night in search of the woman who had unsettled Phillip unlike anyone else he had ever met.

‘This is the hard part,’ Oliver warned then they were about half a mile away from the safe house.

They had stopped once again to wait for Angus to pick up the trail Carlotta had left. When he briskly nodded and pointed in the direction she had taken, Angus remounted his horse and they all set off again. They were still going far faster than Carlotta would be able to walk but had yet to see her.

‘It’s getting so dark we have to make sure that we don’t pass her without realising it.’ Jasper turned to look back at the safe house, which was now nothing more than a small blot on the landscape.

‘What is it?’ Callum murmured, turning in his saddle to see for himself what had captured Jasper’s interest.