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

‘All right?’ Oliver asked before shaking his head and spreading droplets of water far and wide.

‘I have been better,’ Phillip murmured wryly before forcing himself to sit upright.

Now that he had managed to rid himself of the seawater, he was starting to feel a little better and so tentatively clambered to his feet. He thanked the fishermen who all asked what was going on.

Now that all the criminals behind the kidnappings of the women in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire had been stopped, Oliver had no hesitation in telling the locals what they had inadvertently gotten themselves involved in. The locals were stunned but relieved that the stranger who had worried nearly all of them had been removed from the village for good.

‘What do we do if his body washes up?’ one of the fishermen asked.

‘Send for the magistrate. The thug is a criminal. He was hired to take the kidnappers to France. We think it was him who arranged for the gunmen we battled in Bladley Weeks.’

‘You were damned lucky to survive that,’ one of the fishermen grumbled. ‘From what I hear it was bloody terrifying.’

‘What about the gunmen you didn’t catch?’ Another fisherman asked.

‘They will disappear from whence they came. It is highly unlikely they will return. What we do know is that they are not from around here,’ Oliver assured them.

‘I am going to be living here from now on,’ Phillip announced and pointed one finger at the house high up on the cliff top. ‘Up there. With my future wife, the young woman you have all seen in the village.’

‘She is your wife?’ one of the fishermen asked with a delighted grin.

Phillip smirked at him. ‘She is going to be now that the investigation is over. She was inadvertently drawn into our investigation and so had to remain with us. Now that it is over, we can set about organising ourselves and making that place into a proper home.’

The fishermen all welcomed him to the village and invited all the Star Elite to the tavern for an ale or two to celebrate as soon as they were available. Amongst the joyous calls from the retreating fishermen, the men from the Star Elite all turned to look at each other.

‘Er, Oliver?’ Aaron called from aboard The Starling. ‘You might want to come and take a look at this.’

The men all climbed aboard and peered through the door into the main body of the fishing boat.

‘Good Lord,’ Aaron whispered. ‘How many boxes of bullets are there?’

‘Do you think he was running arms to France or something?’ Jasper whispered as he counted the boxes he could see twice only to give up when he realised that more were stacked behind the door.

‘I think it is highly likely. He is either bringing them into the country from France or taking arms over there. Either way, he won’t be transporting them anymore, or kidnappers for that matter,’ Oliver said.

‘At least we now know why Smidgley could hire him. This thug would have no qualms about letting two criminals travel with him on his next gun-run to France. With all this ammunition on board, it is a damned miracle the thug hasn’t blown himself to pieces before now, especially in the middle of that gun battle the other night,’ Aaron growled.

‘He might have fetched this shipment recently,’ Oliver suggested. ‘Maybe he was due to take it over to France later today when the tide came in and he could set sail.’

Everyone nodded.

‘What do we do now? We cannot leave this lot here.’ Callum opened the lid of a large long box and whistled through is teeth when he saw several brand-new guns nestled inside.

‘We won’t need any ammunition or guns for a while, will we? Does this lot need to go to Sir Hugo?’ Phillip asked Oliver, who was the unofficial manager of the team.

‘We can store it in the outbuildings at Cliff House if you are happy for us to. We cannot leave them all here.’ Oliver turned to Phillip. ‘I think you need to go and see how Carlotta is. Leave this to us. We can borrow a cart or something to get it all back to the house.’

For once, Phillip didn’t insist on staying to help his friend. Instead, he jumped off the boat and made his way around the harbour, to the cliff path that would take him back to Carlotta. He knew that Oliver was really giving him and Carlotta some time alone together so that they could have a private conversation and was eager to be able to make a start on his future happiness.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Carlotta yawned and, without opening her eyes, rolled over in bed. She then had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. When something cold and wet splashed onto her cheek, her eyes popped open. She gasped when she found herself staring into Phillip’s loving gaze.

‘You are wet,’ she stated as if he shouldn’t already know.

‘That I am,’ he mused with a rueful look down at his sodden clothing. Despite his still dripping state, Phillip settled down onto the bed beside her.

Carlotta blinked at him. ‘Did you decide to go swimming with your clothes on?’