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

Like a general marching off to battle, she squared her shoulders and positively dragged Clara down the street toward her house. The ladies remained tense, but their journey was swift as they hurried to safety.

Nobody said a word until the front door was closed behind them. Rather than remove their cloaks, they all hurried through the darkened house to the front window, and arrived just in time to watch a figure dressed entirely in black leave the end of the street, cross the road so he was on the same side of the street as Clara’s house, and disappear into the woods running alongside the garden.

“The blackguard is going to stand in the woods and watch the house,” Audrey announced firmly.

“Who do you think it is?”

“That man wasn’t Niall,” Clara replied worriedly. “Niall is far taller than him.”

“It wasn’t that nice Will either,” Sissy added a little whimsically.

Clara slid her a look and suspected Sissy was a little smitten with Niall’s colleague, not that she could blame her. The men from the Star Elite, and that was whom she suspected they were, were all incredibly handsome.

Sissy craned her neck to get a better look at the trees but sighed when all she could see was her own reflection in the glass. “What do we do?”

“Is your Niall here?” Audrey asked.

Clara sighed.

“You had better tell them.”

Clara jumped and squealed when she heard her aunt’s voice directly behind her.

“You have to stop being so jumpy,” Flo chided. She lifted her brows at Audrey, who was standing closest to the window. “Would you be a dear and close the shutters for me?”

“I shall do the others,” Sissy offered and hurried across the room.

Once they were encased in darkness, Flo lit several candles.

“Take a seat,” she offered the ladies. “Now, I think you had better tell them everything.”

Clara nodded.

“Niall is not your fiancé, is he?” Audrey began.

Clara slowly shook her head. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for her. She had gotten herself into this mess.

“Like I said, it is all a terrible misunderstanding. I am sorry, but when Erasmus accosted me, I panicked and felt I had to do something to try to get Erasmus to leave me alone. Every time I go outside, he is there, waiting to pester me and he won’t leave me alone. He tried to force me to go somewhere with him and even tried to pick me up. Thankfully, Niall appeared and warned him off, but then Edith arrived, and everything got out of hand. I don’t know why I told Erasmus that Niall was my fiancé, I just did. It just seemed the right thing to say at the time; the best solution. I don’t know why Niall didn’t object. He just glared at me as if I had lost control of my faculties, but he didn’t tell Erasmus the truth. I lied. I am sorry.”

Sissy sighed. “No wonder he disappeared. He was then faced with everyone at your house all clamouring for his attention and had an instant fiancé for his heroism.”

“I didn’t know how to tell everyone the truth,” Clara whispered.

“But why was Niall in the garden when that thug accosted you?” Audrey demanded.

“That was what we were discussing in the church. Don’t you think it a little odd that something happens to Clara just after that Niall turns up? Don’t you think it unusual that he always happens to be in the area to save her?” Sissy shook her head and looked puzzled.

“I think it is odd that he was happy to go along with the pretence of being engaged even when the danger had passed,” Flo added. “He was here, in front of all of us. At any point he could have stood up and told us the truth.”

“Do you think he has something to do with that thug?”

“I don’t know but until we know who Niall is and what he is doing in the area we cannot allow him into the house again. He cannot be trusted, Clara. We are just assuming he has links to your father. He may not,” Flo warned.

“He lied about that?” Sissy gasped.

“No. Yes. I am not sure,” Clara whispered. “He seemed to confirm it but whenever I asked him for details Niall always refused to give them.”

“He hasn’t confirmed it either way?” Audrey asked.