A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 6)

“I can’t follow Claude alone,” he protested. “I need help.”

“You are not going to follow Claude. Like I have said, Peregrine is, but will be assisted by Phillip, Callum, and Rhys.”

“Do you want me to see if the victims are still in this county then?” Niall asked, mentally praying that his growing suspicion wasn’t going to turn into fact.

“No.” Oliver coughed around his growing discomfort. “You have to go and look after Miss Potter, with Will and Harry.”

A deathly silence descended on the room once more. Niall blinked. He shook his head to clear the dull ringing in his ears because he was sure he had just misheard Oliver. Ever so slowly, he turned his head to stare steadily at the man in a way that was far too intent, and almost deadly.

Will’s eyes widened in horror. “What?”

“Why in the Hell should we have to do it?” Harry thundered.

“I am not a sodding babysitter,” Niall ground out through clenched teeth.

“I cannot think of anybody more suited to the job,” Oliver began only for Niall to begin muttering while emphatically shaking his head.

“I cannot do it. How do you think it is going to look to Emmeline if I start paying too much attention to another single young woman? We have only just married, for God’s sake. Besides, I have to be here to liaise with the contacts from London. Jasper cannot do it.”

“I am not doing it,” Will interjected with a snort of contempt. “I have only just managed to persuade a new source of valuable information to start talking. There is no possibility I can hand that over to anybody else.”

Niall’s gaze turned to Callum, who shook his head. “I have already been given my orders. I am going to Gloucestershire too, don’t forget. I am just going to take over from Peregrine. You aren’t going to stand a chance in hell of persuading me to babysit her.”

“Well, get Peregrine to do it then, when he has finished following Claude. He is on his way there anyway. As soon as he has been relieved, he can go and look after her,” Niall snapped. “I am not going to bloody well do it.”

“Maybe you had better tell Atticus Potter that you refuse to protect his daughter then.” Oliver’s voice was deadly. “Because I am not going to do it.”

Niall bit out a curse. “I am not a God damned nursemaid.”

“Look, I don’t expect you to marry the damned chit, just make sure she doesn’t die. How is it going to look if a family member of one of the Star Elite’s bosses is not just kidnapped but murdered right under our noses? We would be a laughing-stock and disbanded within days.”

“Well, why don’t you get the local men to go and do it?” Niall snapped, well aware that he was slowly sliding down a slippery rope and was going to crash any second now.

“They don’t know Smidgley, and this isn’t their investigation,” Oliver argued. “Niall, Will, Harry, you are going to do this. If you don’t then you need to go to the War Office and hand in your resignations. There is no choice in the matter. Believe me, it would help considerably if I didn’t have to lose you. I need every man I can get in this investigation, especially with Sir Hugo nowhere to be found. You have to do this.” Oliver paused but when the men involved remained unmoving, he sighed. “It isn’t a request. It’s an order.”

Niall threw him a dark glare. “So, you are saying that if I don’t go and do this we are no longer part of the team?”

“No. That’s not what I am saying at all, but we have to follow disciplinary procedures if you refuse to follow orders. Stepping out and doing something rash when your life is in danger is one thing. We don’t have that many rules as it is. The one true requirement of our job is that we follow orders to the letter but it is up to us to do whatever we have to do to follow those orders while staying alive. Unfortunately, our orders are to make sure that Atticus Potter’s daughter is protected while Claude Smidgley, a prolific kidnapper, sis in the area. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t bother, but because Argent has already warned us that the Star Elite’s family members are in danger, we have to assume there is a credible threat to Clara Potter’s life. Atticus is in London and cannot free himself up to go home because he is trying to catch the War Office’s traitors who hold the highest offices. Moreover, he believes it isn’t safe for her to be in London. It is better that she remains where she is. We have been tasked with keeping her alive. That’s all. I don’t expect you to romance her, bed her, or take her as your damned wife. Just protect the chit.”

Niall cursed fluidly. “We don’t have a very good track record with protecting the women involved in our investigations, though, do we? I mean, look at you. You were supposed to be protecting Emmeline. The investigation isn’t even over and you are married to her. Look at Angus. He went to investigate the kidnapped women and ended up married to Charity. Twelve months later, he is a father too. Then there is Aaron.”

“That wasn’t a part of our investigation. Aaron had to go home because he needed to attend his friend’s funeral. Nobody realised he was in love with his friend’s sister. That’s not strictly a result of one of our investigations,” Callum interrupted.

“You are not helping,” Niall growled.

Callum wisely lapsed into silence and bit his lip to prevent his grin from breaking out.

“Then there is Jasper. He was supposed to help with that young boy and ended up marrying the boy’s sister. Now he is a father too, to twins for God’s sake. This is a cursed investigation. Since it started, five members of the group have not only found brides but married them and seem determined to enter fatherhood as fast as humanly possible.”

“We have to make the most of the time we have,” Jasper replied with a grin. “We are often away for weeks at a time. It isn’t our fault we married women we find attractive.”

“I don’t want to marry a woman I find attractive. I don’t want to nursemaid any woman and I absolutely have no intention of getting involved with one no matter how pretty she is,” Harry growled. “Nor am I getting married.”

“Who said Clara Potter was pretty?” Oliver asked curiously. “Have you seen her?”

Harry had and he knew Clara Potter was tall, willowy, with long, flowing golden hair that was slightly wild. She had a somewhat exotic appearance that was exacerbated by her brilliant green eyes which seemed to reach into a man’s soul and tear it free. Together with her wayward spirit and impish smile, Harry had known the second he had seen her that she was a bundle of feminine trouble. He could fully appreciate why Atticus was reluctant to allow the chit in London. Not only would she have Claude after her but every other eligible bachelor with a pulse who ever stepped foot in the city would be after her too. This would be in addition to a few married men who would also make their dishonourable intentions clear.

“It is best that she stays in Gloucestershire,” Oliver reiterated when Harry seemed lost in his thoughts and didn’t answer. “Niall, Harry, Will, you are all tasked with keeping the Secretary of State’s daughter alive. You are not likely to need to get close to her, so keep your damned distance. At the rate this group keep falling into the parson’s trap we are going to be disbanding ourselves and setting up a nursery branch.”