One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1)

He captured her hand in his and tugged her out into the street. As he led the way his senses were tuned to the area around them for any sign of danger that might lurk in the shadows. Something was wrong he just knew it.

“I hate this,” she whispered when she stumbled off a kerb and fell against him.

“It won’t take us long to get back because we haven’t gone far.”

“How can you tell where we are?” She couldn’t see anything except kerbs, railings, and the occasional glow of a street lamp. Apart from that there was nothing but smog. It was unnerving. It was creepy. It terrified her to the point that she couldn’t wait to get out of it.

“I know,” Luke replied obliquely.

He didn’t say anything else because he didn’t want their conversation to act as a beacon for anyone following them. He put a cautionary finger to his lips to warn her to remain quiet. Because of the risk of frightening her, he didn’t tell her someone was following. Whether they posed a risk or not remained to be seen. At the moment, getting her out of the smog was his priority, not someone else who happened to be out walking.

The street was so still, so silent, that it almost felt as though it was waiting for something. She glanced about nervously and held the folds of her cloak closed tightly. Although she tried to keep herself calm, her eyes darted from one shadow to another. She tried to reassure herself that they would soon be at the house where it was warm, dry, and they were at least able to see. Unfortunately, matters were swiftly taken out of his hands with a brutality that shocked them both.

She didn’t get the time to scream before a figure in black suddenly lunged out of the smog and came straight at them. It wasn’t Luke the man threw himself at, it was her. She caught sight of the sudden flash of wild eyes seconds before she felt her cloak being tugged violently.

“Get off me,” she screamed. She squirmed against the tight hold the attacker had on her cloak that threatened to drag her into the smog. “Luke,” she cried.

She smacked at the man’s hand to get him to let go. She dragged her feet and leaned backward but was still propelled away from Luke’s reassuring bulk. The attacker’s face was mere inches away from hers, but she could see nothing beneath the large cap that covered his face in shadows. She could, however, feel his warm, fetid breath on her cheek, and hear his snorts as he tried to drag her with him into the darkness.

“Get away from her,” Luke snarled, and launched himself at her attacker’s back. He had seen enough to suspect that his was no ordinary mugger out for her money. This assailant was trying to get her alone. Only vaguely aware that the man had dropped something, Luke began to rain blows down on the attacker’s head and shoulders with such force that it broke the man’s hold on Poppy.

For several moments nothing but the sound of fists meeting flesh and loud grunts could be heard in the night. Pain exploded in his ribs when the attacker landed a punch but Luke gritted his teeth and redoubled his efforts to subdue the man before he launched himself at Poppy again. Unfortunately, he was slightly hindered by his need to keep one eye on Poppy, just in case the man had an accomplice somewhere. With only partial concentration, he was vulnerable to being hit more than he usually would be, and was subjected to several bruising blows that took his breath. When a well-aimed punch landed on his jaw, stars exploded behind his eyes. He staggered backward with a curse, but didn’t allow the man to gain the advantage. One booted foot was all it took in the attacker’s midriff to double him over and give Luke the advantage he needed. Once the man had been subdued by one arm twisted painfully up his back, Luke hauled him around so he could look at his face, but there was not enough light to know if he recognised him or not.

“What do you want with her?” Luke growled.

“Get off me,” the man gasped in a voice full of desperation. “It is her I want, not you.”

Luke frowned at the almost child-like tone of the man’s voice. Before he could demand some answers, the attacker suddenly began to kick and squirm again. The two men wrestled for supremacy for several moments. It was only when Luke drew a wicked looking gun out of his cloak that the attacker stopped, stared at it, then him, and then suddenly dro

pped limply to the floor. Luke was forced to release him or fall over himself when the man’s weight threatened to unbalance him. It was enough to give the attacker the opportunity to break free and, in an instant, he scrambled back onto his feet and disappeared into the smog as quickly as he had appeared.

“Are you all right?” Luke demanded. He scoured her from head to foot for signs of injury but couldn’t see much in the gloom.

“Are you?” Poppy asked. “He hurt you,” she added, more shaken than she cared to admit.

She had never witnessed anything so brutal in her life and didn’t quite know how to work around the fear that threatened to overwhelm her.

“Keep an eye out for anyone else,” he ordered. “We are leaving. Now.”

More focused on the danger they were in than the blood trickling steadily from the cuts on his face, or the pain in his ribs where the man had landed far more blows than he was happy with, Luke turned her around and hurried her toward the safe house.

“T-t-the g-gun,” she stammered.

“I need it,” he replied.

He made no attempt to re-pocket it and left it visible as he marched her to safety. He didn’t wait to hear if she had anything else to say, merely placed a hand in the middle of her back and propelled her ahead of him. Once they were on their way, he paused long enough to pick something up off the floor, and pocketed it to take a look at later.

Poppy had little choice but to do as she was told and remained quiet as she followed the directions Luke gave her. Her thoughts were locked very firmly on what had just happened. Whoever the attacker was, wherever he had come from, whatever he was up to, whatever he wanted with her, one thing was abundantly clear: he was watching her. Not just watching her but following her too. She went cold; then hot. She wanted to run, but she also wanted to demand some answers. At the moment, she needed the man walking along right behind her more than anything else in the world, and not just because she desired him.

Luke studied the smog carefully, determined not to be caught out a second time. His fingers clenched around the weapon in his hand. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before the ghostly sight of the safe house appeared out of the mist. What had just happened tonight had changed everything, and it wasn’t for the better. As a result, he was angry, at Clarence, at Sayers, at the unknown attacker. The only good thing to come out of this evening was Poppy’s innocence being proven. It was an immense relief, but that now left him with another set of problems the likes of which he would think about once they were safe. He felt fairly confident they weren’t being followed, but then someone must be watching the house because otherwise they had no way of knowing Luke and Poppy had even left it.

That led Luke to consider another, potentially more disturbing problem: just how much of his conversation with Toby had the man heard, and just how much danger was Toby now in?

CHAPTER TWELVE

Once inside the safe house Luke slammed the door closed, bolted it and then drew the shutters and the curtains closed. Once several candles had been lit, he checked the rest of the house was secure before he returned to the kitchen to a clearly terrified Poppy

“Are you all right?” he demanded. He cursed at the sight of the tears on her cheeks and wished now that he hadn’t taken the risk of taking her outside in the first place. He knew now that he should have just sent Marcus meet with Toby, drop off the food and pennies, and arrange another meeting for tomorrow morning.