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

“What did he expect me to be afraid of?” she whispered.

Rather than be moon struck or wildly thrilled, Clara was curious. She wanted to know what would have happened if he deepened the kiss. She wanted to know more, to experience more, to find out for herself what happened if she pressed for more.

“I don’t think father would have sent him if he knew that I would be attracted to a man like Niall,” Clara murmured.

Shaking her head in disbelief at just how unusual her evening had been, Clara did exactly as Niall had suggested and wandered through the house, closing the shutters and curtains as she went. Eventually, she arrived at the front parlour only to find Erasmus’s curricle still outside. Rather than go to the window so that he could see her, she remained out of sight and left the shutters until later.

“Is that you dear?” Flo called from her bed chamber.

“Yes, I have just got back,” Clara called. “Do you want some hot chocolate?”

“No, dear. I am going to bed before my dear Albert returns,” Flo replied, her voice trailing off to a distracted rumble.

Clara sighed because Flo’s husband, Albert, had been dead for the last ten years. No matter how many times she reminded her aunt of his demise, Flo insisted that he was still living in the house and spoke about him as if he had just popped out. Tonight, though, Clara couldn’t bring herself to upset her aunt by reminding her yet again that her husband was now dead and wouldn’t be coming back. Instead, she called goodnight, and then went into the warmest room in the house: the study. She needed some time alone to think, about Niall mostly.

CHAPTER FIVE

Half an hour later, Clara was still staring absently into the fire while trying, rather unsuccessfully, to take her mind off Niall. No matter how much she wanted to think of something else, her wayward mind seemed determined to consider every aspect of her evening with Niall. Moreover, each time she closed her eyes the image of him hovered in the darker recesses of her mind, waiting to haunt her. As a consequence of her failure to concentrate on something else, Clara suspected that she was going to be thinking about Niall and wondering where he was and what he was doing for a very long time to come.

“I need to do something with my evening,” she sighed, but when she thought about what discovered that nothing appealed to her.

She wished now she had gone up to see her aunt and at least had a natter with her before Flo fell asleep. But it was too late now. Flo was most probably already sleeping. Consequently, Clara was all alone in a house that was so darned quiet she could hear her own heartbeat and it was most disconcerting.

The urge to go and see if Erasmus Boyle was still perched at the side of the road outside the house like a gargoyle was strong. It was only the fact that she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was curious about him that stopped her from taking a quick peek through the shutters in the front parlour.

Again, her treacherous mind turned to Niall. Where was he? What was he doing? She wondered if he had lingered outside long enough to be aware that Erasmus was still watching the house. If so, whether he was bothered by it, or just was glad to be away from her.

He is probably still running home, she thought morosely.

“I don’t care what anybody thinks, I am not in much overt danger in this village. There is no reason why I should be worried about Erasmus or anyone else for that matter,” she whispered a little defiantly. “There is no reason why I should change what I do or stop going where I want to go. I am not going to allow Erasmus to thwart me, or you for that matter, Mr. Niall Farley-Paget, no matter how handsome you are.”

She contemplated that for a moment and once again felt saddened by what he had said. He had been so appalled by the notion of being her fiancé that she couldn’t help but feel a little humiliated by it.

“He thinks I am a wayward female who is too foolish to look after herself,” she muttered in disgust. “I didn’t ask Erasmus to accost me. Why is it that men seem to think a woman cannot survive alone? I can. I am perfectly capable of looking after myself. Moreover, I am perfectly content with my lot in life. There is no reason why I should do anything differently just to prove to any man that I can be safe going about my business.”

She nodded her head for emphasis but couldn’t ignore the nagging little voice that doubted if she was being honest again. After her earlier lies, Clara couldn’t bring herself to create another untruth and so was forced to contemplate the honesty of her open declaration.

“All right, so maybe I am not all that content with my lot in life,” she muttered doubtfully. If she was completely honest, she was not content. “Something is missing.”

She suspected she now knew what that ‘something’ was. It wasn’t marriage because she couldn’t contemplate being a man’s wife. The thought of being married to a man like Erasmus, or anybody else in the village now that she came to think about it, was downright horrible. The idea of being called Niall’s wife was completely different, though, and that troubled her more than anything because he was the very last man whom she should ever be interested in.

“He isn’t likely to ever stay around this area, even if he is with the Star Elite; especially if he is with the Star Elite. While I don’t know too much about them, I do know they move around a lot,” she sighed. “He isn’t the settling down kind of man.”

When she contemplated her life, though, there wasn’t a part of it she wished to change for anybody, even a man like Niall. She did like her life as it was now just as Niall apparently liked his life.

“I have a good circle of friends, a nice home, things to do to fill my time. My aunt is here, and my father comes home to see us whenever he can. Other than that, I h

ave more freedom than most women, and can go where I want whenever I want. All right, so there is Erasmus Boyle to consider, but he must get the message that I am not interested in him at some point. If not, then I am going to have to write to father and tell him what the man is up to. Father has to do something about Boyle and that cousin of his, it is that simple.”

She jerked in alarm when her thoughts were interrupted by a loud series of raps on the front door. Her glare at the door was instinctive, but she didn’t get up. Instead, Clara closed her eyes and stubbornly refused to answer the summons. She felt she already knew who it was and like Niall had said, didn’t intend to do anything that would give Erasmus Boyle the opportunity to get a foot across the threshold. When she heard the horses’ hooves again, though, and the rapping on the front door at the same time, curiosity compelled Clara to hurry through the house and peer out of the window.

“Who is it, dear?” Flo called from her the top of the stairs.

Clara retraced her steps until Flo could see her. “I don’t know.”

“Well, answer it. Answer it,” Flo urged waving her perfumed hands toward the large oak front door. “Don’t leave guests waiting on the doorstep. It isn’t polite, dear.”

“What if it is Erasmus Boyle?” Clara whispered in a voice that was nothing short of a hushed hiss.