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

“No. He is – away.”

“Please tell me that you don’t live alone.” Niall glared at her and waited.

“I live with my aunt,” Clara informed him.

“Why isn’t she going to church with you?”

“She is a little infirm, and doesn’t get out much,” Clara replied, seeing no reason to lie to him.

“Well, don’t go out alone again, infirm aunt or not. Your friend, Boyle, might have been sent away for now but he won’t have gone far. As soon as he knows I have gone, he will pester again not least because he doesn’t believe we are engaged either.”

“You don’t think Edith believed me?” Clara asked, horrified at the notion.

“Oh, I think your friend believed every word, but I know you are a liar, Miss Potter, and I know we are not engaged,” Niall snapped. “What in the world possessed you to do such a thing?”

“You are shouting.” Clara slid a look up and down the empty road they were on and prayed that Erasmus wasn’t nearby and could hear him.

Niall tutted and sighed and dug deep for his patience. When he spoke again he did everything possible to ensure his voice was considerably lower but no less fierce.

“I think he will do everything possible to find out if your engagement is real. If nobody knows for certain or can confirm it then he is going to assume that you have lied, and I am your lover. That is going to make a letch like him considerably worse because he is going to question your morals.”

“My morals are sound, thank you very much,” Clara snapped.

“Really. So why are you suddenly telling your friends in the village that I am your fiancé? I am a total stranger. We have never met before. You know nothing about me. How do you know that I am not responsible for kidnapping those young women off the street in Leicestershire?”

Clara went cold. “Are you?” she asked boldly.

“That isn’t the bloody point, is it? You know I am not, or I would have left Boyle to snatch you and then taken you off him,” Niall snapped. “I could accost you right now, or didn’t you think about that?”

Clara wasn’t at all sure she should be so thrilled by the prospect of being accosted by Niall. With Erasmus, she would scream and kick and create a rumpus. With Niall, well, she might complain a little, for a while.

Niall stared at her in abject horror when she seemed to seriously be considering him doing just that and not finding it as repulsive as he had hoped.

“Mary, mother of God,” he growled, openly horrified.

“I am not going to get accosted by you,” Clara shrugged. “It is a moot point really, isn’t it?”

Niall folded his arms to stop himself from trying to shake some common sense into her. Didn’t she have even one ounce of self-preservation in her?

“It was a bloody stupid thing to do to lie to your friend like that,” he snapped. “What are you going to do when you need to present me again but can’t?”

“I shall-” Clara stopped to consider that for a moment. “I shall tell them that you have had to go away on business and won’t be back for a while. Then, while you have gone away, I shall say you have, er, died in a carriage accident or something?”

Niall threw her an askance look. “Oh, so I am to be banished from ever returning to Serpentine, or the surrounding area, am I? All because you have to lie to people.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Well, I didn’t see anybody twisting your arm up your back when you stood on that road just how telling your friend so many lies. You were discussing where we were getting married, for God’s sake,” Niall snarled. “How do you know that I am not worse than Erasmus?”

Thankfully, the street they were on only had three other houses on it, but they were all encased in darkness which indicated that nobody was at home or able to see them standing toe-to-toe in the middle of the street.

“You wouldn’t have ridden to my rescue if you were just like him,” Clara replied with an off-hand shrug. “Thank you for your help by the way.”

“Don’t put yourself in that kind of situation again. It is highly irresponsible and I won’t be around to rescue you next time,” Niall snapped.

“I am not going to put myself in any situation like that willingly but like I have said, this village is usually perfectly safe.”

“Well, it quite clearly isn’t, is it? I mean, firstly you are accosted by Erasmus back there, and now you are here, all alone, with a stranger. Does that seem a sensible thing to do to you?” Niall demanded, struggling to keep his voice at an even volume. “When will your father be back? I think he needs to be informed about your lies before he hears of our fictitious engagement.”