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

“A lot can happen in a county when the magistrate isn’t at his desk, don’t you think?” Morgan murmured.

“Are you threatening me?” Erasmus snorted. “Do you know what connections I have?”

“Oh, yes, which is why we are telling you that your crimes are over. It is no idle threat. We don’t issue those, or harass innocent young women going about their business,” Niall persisted.

It was only when he had spoken that he realised his colleagues were looking curiously at him. He made a point from then on not to mention Clara. However, it was damned difficult to avoid mentioning her given she was the main reason why they were there.

“I don’t care what lies she has told you. You don’t believe her, do you?” Erasmus snorted with faux laughter. “God, she needs someone to control her wayward behaviour. I have known her for a while now and do believe her father spends far too much time in London. It is about time she was taken in hand and made to behave appropriately.”

“And you would know all about appropriate behaviour, wouldn’t you, Erasmus? Accosting young women in the street is normal behaviour for someone like you, I don’t doubt,” Niall warned.

“Look, we had a small disagreement, that’s all,” Erasmus began. “Women can be temperamental sometimes. You should know that. What is a man supposed to do?”

“Stop harassing young women. She has made it clear she wants nothing to do with you, yet I have seen you loitering outside her house on that curricle of yours. She made you perfectly aware that you are to stay away from her, but you have persisted in trying to force her to embrace you and in public no less. Moreover, you have been found trying to force her to go somewhere with you against her will. That, Boyle, is kidnap. Now unless you want to feel the full weight of the law, I strongly recommend you leave her alone. Let me see you anywhere near her ever again and I shall have you behind bars within the hour. Do you understand me?”

Niall lifted an arrogant brow in the man’s direction and waited. Erasmus seemed amused as if he suspected it wasn’t ever going to happen.

“And I can have you arrested within the hour for breaking into my house like this,” he smirked.

“Really. Well, prove you didn’t let us in,” Will challenged. “Did you hear the sound of smashing glass? Be careful, Erasmus, with security as lapse as yours anything could happen to you. You are, after all, out here all alone. It is enough to make a man living alone in here feel quite vulnerable.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“It’s no idle threat,” Niall growled.

“Really. Well, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to. You can all go out the way you came and don’t break into my house again. I don’t care what Miss Potter has told you, we are engaged to be wed, and I shall damned well speak to my own fiancé whenever I choose. Keep your nose out of my personal business.”

“But your personal business is our business when it is illegal,” Will drawled.

“Really?” Erasmus snorted. “And on whose authority do you work, Atticus Potter’s? He isn’t ever here.”

Niall sauntered causally over to the desk and placed his hands palms down onto it. He leaned menacingly over the large wooden surface toward Erasmus who outwardly appeared arrogant and aloof or would have done had not a fine sheen of sweat appeared on his brow. As he waited for Erasmus to realise that he was outnumbered and vulnerable, Niall watched a bead of sweat slowly trickle down the man’s temple. When Erasmus went to run his hand through his hair it had a faint tremor in it that Niall almost missed.

So, you are not as confident as you like to pretend you are.

Before Erasmus even lowered his hand, Niall grabbed the man by his cravat and hauled him half-way out of his seat until Erasmus was forced to try to scramble for his balance.

“We know exactly what you are up to, Boyle. We are going to remove your magistrate cousin from his position seeing as he is as corrupt as you. Meantime, Miss Potter is none of your business. If you touch her again, if I even see you walking on the same path as her, I shall have you behind bars for harassment, attempted kidnap, assault, and anything else I can find that will put you behind bars and keep you there for as long as I want you to remain a prisoner.” When he had finished, Niall shoved Erasmus roughly back into his seat and smirked when Erasmus dabbed at his brow again before he tugged at the cuffs of his shirt and straightened his waistcoat. As he did so his gaze flew over the desktop in search of something. When he failed to find something he could throw at Niall, he slowly lifted a gaze to the men in the room.

“Whose authority do you work with?”

“The War Office, and we are not the kind of men you want to irritate. We have the ability to make you disappear behind bars on whatever charges we see fit. Atticus Potter does not want the likes of you anywhere near his daughter. Take our little – meeting – as a warning from him, the Secretary of State, and the War Office, that you are to stay away from her. Don’t do as we tell you and you will disappear. That’s no idle threat,” Morgan murmured.

Niall threw Erasmus one last warning look before he retreated to the rear of the room. He watched Morgan saunter toward the desk and wave a scroll under Erasmus’s nose.

“Do you see this? It’s a demand that your cousin goes to see the Lord Chief Justice immediately. It isn’t a request. People only get summoned to see him when they are facing before forced out of office. You see, nobody is above the law, not even your cousin, s

o don’t ever expect him to ignore your crimes, Boyle. Take one step out of place from now on, and you will be arrested.”

Morgan held the letter up and showed Erasmus the seal from the Lord Chief Justice on the bottom before he folded the parchment back up and turned away from the desk.

“So, you are War Office, are you?” Erasmus shook his head.

“We are not the kind of people you want to cross, that is all you need to know,” Morgan snapped. “Remember that. We will be watching every move you make from now on. Just to make sure that you aren’t the criminal your reputation purports you to be.”

Erasmus went still and stared at them, clearly horrified by the thought of having his life watched constantly.

Silently, the men from the Star Elite filed out of the room and quietly closed the door behind them. They paused for a moment and waited. It didn’t take long before they heard the chinking of a goblet as Erasmus helped himself to a liberal dose of brandy. They waited for several minutes more. Rather than leave, Niall peered around the end of the stairs at the grandfather clock resting against the wall beside the door.