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

“Then write to him about the Star Elite and demand answers from him. I am not going to tell you a damned thing.”

“So get out,” Clara persisted.

Niall stared at her. Gone was the somewhat panicked young woman who had been confronted by a lecherous Erasmus. In her place was someone Niall didn’t want to see. She was hurting, he knew that much although how he knew he wasn’t at all sure. There was certainly nothing written on her face. It was maybe that closed look that warned him there was more emotion hidden than written on her face. It was disconcerting because it warned him that she had been hurt in the past somehow, only he couldn’t conceive of understanding how. He wanted to know while at the same time he knew he shouldn’t ask her questions about her past. It would only lead her to believe that he had an interest in her that he couldn’t afford to have.

Besides, from the look on her face she won’t be all that amenable to me asking.

“Thank you for your help thus far, but like I said your help won’t be required again,” Clara said stiffly.

“Call off your friends. They are trying to involve me in village life because they think we are going to be married. If you tell them the truth, they will leave me alone,” Niall snapped.

“They already know,” Clara replied.

“Really.”

“Do you not stop to consider that maybe the villagers are just friendly? Do you not stop to consider that they would invite you to the ball purely because they want you to go? Why should it involve me? They would invite you whether you were connected to me or not,” Clara replied.

Niall was having none of it. He leaned closer and then found he couldn’t lean away again. “It is your friends who keep stopping me to chat and discuss our fictitious wedding. I have tried to tell them that we are not going to get married, but they don’t listen.”

“Because they already know!” Clara persisted.

She forced herself to leave the room. By the time Niall joined her in the study Clara had just about composed herself, until he appeared before her.

“Look, I am sorry for being so harsh with you. It is just that I don’t want to be a part of this bloody village. As soon as I have conducted my business I shall be gone and won’t be coming this way again. It isn’t right that you should encourage any idea that we might have a future together. You shouldn’t go about leading anybody to believe that we are engaged.”

“My friends already know that we are not engaged, never have been, and never will be. They know me, and they know I would never be so brash as to do something like have a suitor and not tell them. The villagers, however, will take a little while to believe we are not engaged, not least because you are a stranger and they are curious. That is part of being in a village like Serpentine. If I might make a suggestion? Get your business over with and get out of the village, then you won’t have to be accosted or conscripted into any choirs.”

With that, Clara nodded briskly at him. When she tried to turn around and walk away, she paused and looked back over her shoulder at him. There was sadness in her eyes that almost unmanned him. He instantly felt as if he wanted to grovel at her feet and apologise for being so horrible. He wanted to gather her into a hug and assure her that everything was all right; that he wasn’t angry with her, he was just worried about the changes she could bring to his future. That went against everything he had always thought he was. He was a man who fought for his life practically every month of his life. He was someone who lurked in the shadows and usually watched everyone else going about their business. It was a life he was comfortable with. Yet, he wanted to throw it all on its head so he could comfort a woman who had brought him more trouble than any Star Elite investigation ever had.

“Maybe the next time you don’t want to find yourself in this same situation you refrain from kissing the person you rescue.” With that, Clara made her way into the kitchen whereupon she gathered her basket and her shawl and quietly let herself out of the back door.

She was aware that Rita was watching her and had most probably heard everything that had just been said but couldn’t stand the thought of having to answer her housekeeper’s questions. Right now, Clara didn’t think she could talk without bursting into tears. There was a fierce pain in the centre of her chest that was horrible and brought about an ache that seemed to come from her very soul.

“Which is stupid because he is just passing through and means nothing to me.” But while she said those words, Clara knew that it was another lie, this time to herself.

It was somewhat shocking as she followed the path through the trees only to suddenly find her way blocked. She looked up, straight into Niall’s hard glare.

“Just when are you ever going to learn?” he asked.

“What?”

Rather than answer, Niall stepped closer. He leaned menacingly forward, hoping she would be scared and would hurry home. When she lifted her brows at him and stared him down, he mentally cursed.

“What would you do if I was the thug? Do you realise how bloody stupid you are being with your own safety? Do you realise that you could be snatched, right here and right now, and there is nobody around to hear you scream?” Niall waved around the empty woods.

/> Clara lifted her chin. “It is a good thing you are from the Star Elite then, eh?”

With that, she side-stepped around him and resumed her journey. She was aware that he followed her. She could hear the steady crunch of his boots on the littered floor of the woods they walked through, but she didn’t look back at him. Just when the main road broke through the trees, Clara felt his warm palm on her elbow, tugging her to a stop.

“I will not stop going about my life just because you order me to. Unless you are prepared to tell me what you are doing here, there is nothing I should be afraid of, is there?” Clara began. She looked over her shoulder at him.

“You should think very carefully about what your father does. If we are whom you think we are, he wouldn’t send us unless the threat was very real, and very, very sinister, would he?”

Clara sucked in a breath because she knew he had a point. “If there was a credible threat, why would he not tell me about it himself?”

She pursed her lips because Niall shook his head.

“If he wanted me to take extra precautions, would he not tell me himself to be extra vigilant?”