“My own father would want me dead?” She felt sick at the very notion, but then Clarence had never hidden the fact that he hated her. “He did say that he couldn’t wait to off-load me because I had been a burden to him for too long.”
“I am not saying it is him, but it looks likely,” Luke whispered. When he saw the tears in his eyes he immediately hugged her. “I am sorry, Poppy. It is my investigator’s head talking. I am thinking things through aloud. I don’t mean to upset you. I know this must be difficult because this is your father we are talking about.”
“It is all right,” she assured him. “I know he is my father. Although he has always been cold, I just never thought he would be this ruthless.”
“Where money is involved, people have been known to do incredibly nonsensical acts of violence that have driven them to criminality. The Star Elite investigate matters like this so we can, and will, get to the bottom of what Clarence is up to. Let Toby do his work. Once we have a list of the people Clarence is in contact with we can piece everything together, and will know if the assailant last night has anything to do with your sire.”
Poppy nodded, but couldn’t stem the flow of tears that trickled steadily down her face.
“I am sorry, Poppy,” he murmured huskily.
“It isn’t that. I came close to dying,” she whispered. “That man could have killed me, and I would never have had the chance to experience this – you – me – us.”
Luke couldn’t argue because it was the truth. The knowledge of just how close he had come to losing her just made him more determined to keep her safe. Now that he had started to get her to trust him, they were closer than ever before, and it was wonderful. He had never had this closeness with another human being and, until now, hadn’t been sure he ever wanted it. To share moments like this, where the investigator in him was able to put his boots by the door and focus on the pleasure of the here and now, and the woman in his arms he cared about. It proved just how much Poppy had changed the way he viewed life.
For the first time since he had joined the army many, many moons ago, he felt as though he wanted to stop, rest for a while, and savour the world, preferably with Poppy.
They lay together for a very long time. The silence within the room was broken only by the rhythmic ticking of the clock in the hallway downstairs. Eventually, the slow and steady pace of her breathing and the limpness of her hand as it rested in his warned him that she had fallen asleep. His own eyes started to droop until the clock in the hallway chimed. Tenderly easing a few stray stands of hair away from her face, his eyes roved lovingly over her refined beauty. She really was perfection personified with peach flushed cheeks and a delicate rosebud mouth.
“Poppy?” he whispered, but failed to rouse her.
Easing away from her, he tucked her in and gathered his clothes. It was only when he was on his way out of the room that he realised that for all of his curiosity and questions, he had forgotten to ask her probably the most important question of all: where she wanted to live once this was all over.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I thought I had finished with this,” Luke growled. He tugged his collar up and hunkered deeper into his
jacket when the morning chill swept down his spine. He followed Barnaby and Jeb into the park and was aware that as he walked that he was instinctively scanning the trees for the watcher.
Although he had left Marcus in charge of the safe house, and Poppy, he would much prefer to be back in bed with her. It irked him to have so many questions he had yet to find answers for, but this was the problem with being an investigator. Everything had to be resolved in time, with a lot of work and effort, and that meant that he couldn’t rest just yet, and savour some time alone with the woman in his life.
He was fairly certain now that he loved her. He just needed to spend some more time with her before he decided what to do next about their relationship. As far as he was concerned, their future together was definite. However, he would feel considerably easier about that once he had her acceptance of his marriage proposal. Unfortunately, he suspected that she still intended to go back to Cumbria as soon as the business with Clarence was all sorted out. He just had to find some way of persuading her not to.
“What?” Jeb asked, his face drawn into his habitual dark scowl.
“Walking around cold parks at the crack of dawn.” He watched his breath fog out in front of him in disgust. He had been heading out to see if he could find Toby when Jeb and Marcus had appeared at the back door with news; news that had brought him back to the park he least wanted to see again.
“It’s through here,” Jeb declared quietly and led them deeper into the woods. They had walked steadily toward the spot where Poppy had found the body on the path, but were nearly on the opposite side of the woods before Jeb drew to a stop and motioned to the ground before them.
The shoes were the first thing Luke saw, followed by the well-cut and very expensive breeches worn by many men of means.
“Thrown in the river again?” Luke asked as he studied the ground beneath the body. It was almost the exact same spot where Joshua Samson’s body had been dumped. He stood and dispassionately studied the now mottled face of Rupert Balgravia. The stench of the rotting flesh made his empty stomach churn, but he quickly shoved his disgust aside and focused on what he was there to do. Apart from a thinning mop of chestnut brown hair liberally smattered at the sides with greyish white strands which bracketed large jowls and rather protruding fish-lips, there was very little in the way of distinguishing features – apart from the mottled damage visible around the throat.
“Strangled. Again.” Luke snorted. “Anything in his pockets?” He watched Jeb shake his head in confusion. “Do you have any idea how long he has been here?” He suspected it had been several days at least. From the look of it, this man had probably been killed the same day he had disappeared.
“Do you think he may have been kidnapped?”
Jeb shook his head. “There has been no ransom demand.”
“Does he have any known debts?” Luke looked at Barnaby who shook his head. “With the wealth this man has, he wouldn’t need to borrow anything from anyone.”
“Do you think he disturbed the burglar?” Jeb asked with a scowl.
Luke thought about what Poppy had said and shook his head. “Poppy is right. Nobody would get into a house the size of his without taking an incredible risk of being seen by numerous staff, especially so early in the evening when everyone is still awake.”
“So he left the house voluntarily with the painting?” Barnaby asked.
“He may have been blackmailed over something” Luke reasoned. He was really thinking aloud but felt as though he was stumbling around in the dark rather than coming up with any credible answers.