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

“Check the outbuildings and the cellars. I don’t have spare men. They have gone after Smidgley, but they have told me that they watched Smidgley carry someone onto the property. It must be Clara. She has to be in here. Find her,” Oliver ordered.

“She must be in the cellar.” Will was already racing after Niall.

Together, the men searched the cellars, but Clara wasn’t there either.

“Where in the Hell could she be?”

“Maybe there is a secret room or something?” Will shrugged to prove he was guessing.

“Let’s search again.”

“We haven’t searched the servant’s quarters. She has to be there.”

Niall wasn’t aware of just how much yearning was in his voice, but Will gave him a sharp look that was thoughtful and full of worry. He and Harry had watched Niall change over the last few weeks in Serpentine. It had started the evening Niall had rescued Clara from Erasmus Boyle’s lecherous clutches. Since then, Niall had been almost obsessive about Miss Clara Potter’s safety. He had seemingly taken it upon himself to protect her and keep her safe and had practically rendered Harry and himself useless.

Thankfully, Niall’s worry wasn’t allowed to grow too much more because they found Clara in a small room tucked away at the rear of the servant’s quarters.

Niall raced into the room the second he set eyes on her. He didn’t even glance at the room she was in. First impressions were that it wasn’t all that big and didn’t contain anything more than a single bed positioned against the far wall, and a dresser which was located behind the bed Clara was tied to. Without saying a word, Niall yanked the bindings off her, and hauled her into his arms. All he could do was hold her tightly and savour the fact that she was unharmed. The relief that flooded him was nothing to do with his job. Clara mattered to him on a far more personal level, far more than he dared admit right now.

“Did he hurt you?” he whispered, his voice shaking with the strength of his relief.

“Not really,” Clara replied.

When he leaned back to look down at her, she followed him, narrowing the distance he tried to put between them. Thankfully, he didn’t try to pull away again. Instead, he held her as tightly as he could and waited for the trembling in his limbs to ease.

“This is interesting,” Will murmured from his position in front of the dresser.

“A man was in here.”

“That was Claude Smidgley, the man we are after,” Niall told her.

“Smidgley? Now, where have I heard that name before?”

“Your father has probably mentioned the Smidgley twins. They are questionable young fops who had taken to a life of crime to go with their affluent lives of privilege,” Niall replied.

“What is he doing here? Where am I?”

“Did he not tell you?” Will asked.

“He told me that he was responsible for the kidnap of the young women. He planned to make me a servant of one of his cronies,” Clara whispered.

Niall closed his eyes because he knew that servant was a euphemism for prostitute but didn’t remind her of the fact. Clara’s next words made him blink and stare at her.

“He said that he only used some of the women for prostitution, but I was too ugly.”

Niall and Will looked askance at each other.

“He said I would make a good servant for one of his friends.”

Niall’s voice was deadly when he spoke. “He told you that his friends use the women as servants?”

Clara nodded. “He said it would be funny to be able to use the Secretary of State’s daughter as a servant.”

“Mother of God, no wonder we cannot find them,” Niall breathed.

“How in the Hell do we find out who does have them?” Will demanded.

Niall’s thoughts immediately turned to Sir Hugo. Was that why he had vanished? Had he gone undercover in London’s wealthiest houses to try to find the missing women? If so, it was a hell of a dangerous task, and one that was going to get him killed if any of the house owners involved in using kidnap victims as servants found him.