by Rebecca King
“You won’t ever find out unless you are foolish enough to go out without a chaperone again.”
“I was not without a chaperone. I came to town with my aunt. She came with me to Cecily’s house and then went on to her friend’s for tea. I am supposed to meet her at the dress shop in half an hour.”
“Well, you aren’t going to be there,” Joshua announced. “I really don’t think it is wise of you to go standing around on street corners given this Billy is around, do you?”
Annalisa sighed. She didn’t answer because she had to concede he had a point. She just wasn’t prepared to let Joshua know that.
“Billy?”
“He comes from a gypsy camp on the outskirts of town,” Annalisa whispered.
From the pained look on her face, Billy was a pain in the proverbial. Joshua lifted his brows when she slid a look at him.
“They arrived about two months ago now. Not long after they arrived, the head of the family took ill and hasn’t been well enough travel. The entire group have set up a semi-permanent camp. Since then all sorts of crime has been happening in the village.”
“Like what?”
“Pickpocketing mostly. But there are rumours,” Annalisa muttered evasively.
“People think Billy is the burglar.”
“There are rumours that the group are getting ready to move on and need money before they go. Everyone is hoping that they just up and leave and everything stops.”
“You don’t think it will.” Joshua wondered if Roger knew about the gypsy camp.
“No. I don’t think Billy will leave. He has said on several occasions that this is his patch now. I don’t think he would want to leave it for long because it would mean he would lose his standing with the other thieves in the area. If there is trouble to be had, fights in the tavern and that sort of thing, you can be sure that Billy is always around if not directly involved. He has a group of younger children who thieve for him. They steal clothing off washing lines, or apples and fruit off the market traders, that sort of thing. Others steal vegetables out of people’s gardens, or tools out of garden sheds. They don’t go out and purchase what they need like everyone else, they steal it from others. Unfortunately, the people around here do work for what they have and don’t have much worth stealing.”
“It isn’t a very big jump for Billy to go breaking into houses,” Joshua mused.
“Not really, but I don’t want to cast aspersions on anybody.”
“Does the magistrate know about this Billy?”
“Yes, but you have to understand that Billy has people who help him. They help him steal things and are happy to lie for each other. I have no doubt that whenever the magistrate has asked them if they were involved he has always heard a very credible story that the suspect is somewhere else, with plenty of witnesses who can attest to it. Their guilt is impossible to prove.”
“Nothing is impossible,” he assured her when he heard the helpless tone of her voice. He knew she doubted Billy would ever be put behind bars. “Look at the petty thief just now. I assume he was one of Billy’s friends.”
Annalisa nodded. “They have never targeted me before but they have others.”
As he walked beside her, Joshua had the distinct impression that they were being followed. When he glanced over his shoulder, all he could see was a young boy who was playing with two stones, but he knew instantly that the young lad would run if he tried to talk to him. The lad was there to watch and try to hear what was being said and had been sent by Billy.
“I think we had better continue this conversation when we get you home, don’t you?”
“What about Aunt Yvette? She is going to be worried about me if I am not at the shop to meet her.”
“Leave your aunt to me. I shall make sure she gets home safety,” Joshua assured her.
Annalisa lapsed into fraught silence. She should have been reassured that Joshua was beside her. She did, for the first time in forever, feel completely safe despite what had happened, but she couldn’t rest not least because she suspected Billy was still around.
“There is more, isn’t there?” Joshua pressed after several moments of thoughtful silence.
“Who are you?” Annalisa whispered.
“You know who I am.” As they walked, Joshua scoured the street for more of Billy’s group.
“I know what you have told me,” Annalisa countered. “But is it the truth?”
“Do you still doubt me?”
“How could I not? You are brave. After what has happened, that could not be in any doubt. However, you are not honest because I do believe you have lied about being Mr Richardson’s relation. You appear out of the blue, tell us stories that just don’t ring true, happen to be around when I am, for the first time in my life mugged, and then have a curious interest in the vagrant, highly troublesome family in the area.”
Joshua mentally winced and had to concede she had a point. “Has this Billy ever threatened you?”
Annalisa hesitated.
Joshua went still and stopped walking when Annalisa didn’t immediately answer. When she tried to continue walking, he stopped her by placing a gentle hand on her arm.
“Not threaten, no. He has made it clear that he wouldn’t be averse to joining my family, shall we say,” Annalisa muttered politely, aware that her cheeks were now aflame.
“He has made his dishonourable intentions clear to you, has he?”
Joshua was raging, and wanted to warn this Billy away, not least because he felt ferociously possessive over her. It was all he could do not to hustle Annalisa home and bolt her inside where she was safe.
Instead, Joshua slid a look at the young boy who had also stopped and was edging closer so he could listen to their conversation. Determined to give the young boy something to tell Billy about, Joshua stepped closer to Annalisa and lifted her hand in his.
Slowly, while he looked deeply into her eyes, Joshua pressed a lingering kiss to the back of it. His steady gaze spoke volumes. He wanted her and made no attempt to hide it.
Annalisa wanted to snatch her hand away but was too entranced by the feel of his lips against her skin. Her heart skipped a beat before increasing in pace until it began to pound heavily. The world around them faded. All worries vanished instantly. In their place was a warmth that cascaded all about them and entwined them in a joy that was enchanting. Neither of them expected it. Neither of them could step away from it. Annalisa and Joshua stared into each other’s eyes while they tried to decide if they should indulge it further.
When pressing a kiss to her hand wasn’t enough, Joshua stepped closer. A part of him expected Annalisa to object to his proximity. They were, after all, out on the street for the world to see. But this part of the street had no houses on it. In fact, the boy was the only likely observer and he was someone Joshua wanted to witness what he did next. Rather than step away and offer Annalisa his elbow as any courteous gentleman should do, Joshua stepped closer, slid an arm around her waist, and tugged her gently toward him. The air between them began to crackle. Joshua felt every nerve stretch taught. He waited.
Annalisa instinctively lifted her hands to his chest but not to push him away. When her gaze fell to his lips, Joshua sighed. His height meant that as he tugged her closer, he hauled her up onto tiptoe. She had no choice but to lean against him. Annalisa felt certain that if she released her hold on his shirt she would topple backward, or that was what she tried to tell herself to excuse the hold she had on him.
Before she could ask him what he thought he was doing, Annalisa watched Joshua’s head lower toward hers. The second his lips touched hers, a fission of delight slithered down her spine. It elicited a shiver of awareness that made every fibre of her being snap to attention and clamour for more. A tendril of thrilling excitement followed it, which compelled her to dance with danger and savour the moment. While she should have pushed away she stayed where she was and allowed him to settle his lips upon hers. He was so painfully close, she could feel his breath agains
t her cheek, but it was a warm rush of delight that only heightened her enjoyment of the moment.
The softness of the sweet caress of his lips which slid so slowly over hers was beguiling. Annalisa daren’t breathe for fear of breaking the spell that wove its way around them. When Joshua’s lips pressed harder, searching for more, Annalisa gave herself over to the tenderness and allowed him to probe.
It was shocking. Wildly thrilling, enticing, and yes the most adventurous thing Annalisa had ever done. She knew she was being scandalous. This man was, after all, almost a total stranger to her. Yes, he lived next door. Yes, he seemed a fine and credible gentleman. He worked with the Star Elite, for goodness sake. Joshua fought to ensure criminals rightly faced justice for the crimes they committed. He was brave. There could be no braver man than Joshua. However, Annalisa couldn’t forget that Joshua frequented a world she was completely unfamiliar with. He had freedom whereas she did not. He undoubtedly did things, went to places, and experienced more than she could ever dream possible. They were worlds apart. Yet in this they were together, as one, a unit. While different, their two halves matched, and made a complete entity that was solid, unshakeable. They made a couple who complimented each other. She was soft against his hardness. She was gentle against his harshness. He was strong and wholly masculine against her femininity. Combined, they were a powerful force driven closer together by mutual desire.
Within seconds of their lips touching, though, that powerful force of desire met its first challenge. Passion flared to life and threatened to consume them both. Together they faced a deluge of sensations which threatened to sweep away all trace of common sense, logic, and reasoning. Neither of them could deny it. Hands searched and tried to drag the other closer. Mouths mated and challenged and duelled for supremacy as they both demanded more. Hearts thundered as emotions roared to life until they were both helpless against its onslaught.
“What are we doing?” Joshua growled when he managed to find the will to wrench his head up.
They stared at each other in consternation.
“I don’t know,” she breathed.
It was addictive being in Joshua’s arms. So much so, Annalisa didn’t want him to move, but he did. He seemed to realise where they were, and that they could be caught locked in an intimate embrace at any moment.
Joshua stared at her as if he had never set eyes on her before in his life. For a moment, he was too stunned to think. There was nothing he could say that would either explain or excuse what had just happened. From the look on Annalisa’s face, she was equally as shaken.
“I should apologise.” But he wasn’t going to.
“I won’t ask you to,” Annalisa whispered.
When Joshua looked around, it was to find the young lad had gone.
He has probably run back to Billy to tell him what he has witnessed.
Joshua hoped so in any case because he now really did feel possessive toward Annalisa. He had never felt so compelled to do what he just had with any woman before, but he wasn’t sorry for it. He had never met anybody who had ever made him instantly forget everything, who he was, who she was, where they were, and more importantly, his job, his investigation, his life with the Star Elite. But Annalisa had made him forget all those things, and more. Like why he wanted to return to London when his part in the investigation into the burglaries was over.
Now that is dangerous territory.
“I have to return to London when my job is done here,” he warned her, as if she had just asked him a question.
“I never asked you to do otherwise,” Annalisa protested flatly, more than a little shaken by just how much the thought of his leaving hurt.
Annalisa knew that the day Joshua rode out of her life would be the day she lost something she would never find anywhere else, with anyone else. While Joshua had, in a few short moments, opened her eyes to a whole new world, he had just slammed the door on her choices as well. Annalisa now knew that nobody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what he had to offer, what he did for a living, would ever come close to being Joshua, her brave warrior who was a little bit less than honest.
CHAPTER SIX
Annalisa was still reeling from the kiss several days later when she was supposed to be teaching Thomas to read. The young son of the local tavern owner came to the house twice a week for Annalisa to teach him how to read and write. It was slow progress on account of Thomas’s tendency to fidget, but he was able to read to her quite fluently now. Unfortunately, Annalisa had yet to hear a word he had said. The sole focus of her attention was on the man who lived next door who was, unless she was very much mistaken, watching her.
The last few days had dragged on indeterminably. Annalisa had done everything possible to carry on as normal but had been unable to forget what had happened with Joshua on the side of that road. Now that she came to think about it, her behaviour had been scandalous. What she had felt with Joshua had swept aside all common sense and had cast everything she had been raised to be completely out of the window. Annalisa had no idea what it all meant. What she did know was that Joshua now plagued her dreams just as much as he demanded her attention throughout her day. She wanted to know where he was and waited impatiently to catch just a brief glimpse of him every day. That wasn’t what bothered her the most, though. Her need to see him again, to talk to him again, and yes for him to kiss her again, was now stronger than ever.
“That’s very good, Thomas,” she said when she realised Thomas had reached the end of the chapter in the book he was reading. “You are doing very well and are a lot smoother with your speech.”
“Thank you,” Thomas beamed.
“Same time on Friday?” Annalisa lifted her brow and smiled at the young boy who slammed his book closed and nodded happily.
“Mam says I have to wait here for Pa to fetch me,” Thomas reported when Annalisa was sliding the book back onto the bookshelf.
“Oh? I thought I was to escort you home?”
That was the usual arrangement. Annalisa usually walked the young man to the end of the street and watched while Thomas skipped to the tavern doorway and disappeared inside.
“I know but Pa said that it isn’t safe to ask you to walk me anymore on account of what happened to the Warden.”
“Oh?” Annalisa tried to appear casual but could do nothing about the intent look she levelled on the young boy who was blessedly oblivious to her acute interest.
“Yes. He was found dead a few days ago. He fell on a knife or something, I don’t know.”
“You heard this?”
Thomas looked guilty. “I heard my Mam telling Mrs Darling.”
Annalisa nodded, but wondered if the young boy might have misheard. Rather than take him to task over it, she chatted amiably to him while she waited for the lad’s father to appear.
“How are you, Mr Arthur?” Annalisa asked him when he arrived a little while later.
“Fine, Miss. How is the young rapscallion getting on?”
“He is doing very well. Thomas has been telling me all about the Warden, on account of him having overheard your wife’s conversation with Mrs Darling,” Annalisa replied with a pointed look at the now embarrassed young boy.
“Aye, it’s a shame, that is. That poor man.”
“He fell on a knife?”
Mr Arthur looked cautiously at Thomas and told him to go and wait by the gate. When Thomas was out of earshot, Mr Arthur sidled closer and threw a worried look at Annalisa
“He was murdered. Someone stabbed him in the back and took the church collection. It has shaken everyone up, I don’t mind telling you. The locals are in an uproar, and what does that foolish magistrate go and do? He has gone to London so he doesn’t have to deal with the problem. I had heard that the Star Elite are here, but nobody has seen hide nor hare of them. Everyone’s living in fear, I don’t mind telling you. Then there was that Mrs Asquith. She was burgled and had a pouch of coins and a vase stolen. I did hear that the vase has since been returned
to her, though. Then there was that Mr Julian with the church takings. Mrs Dilleray was also burgled, then Mr Smitherson was murdered. He was stabbed in the back.”
Annalisa stared at him in disbelief. “When? Why didn’t we hear of it?”
“All of them were struck a few nights ago and all overnight. Nobody knows what to think anymore. I mean, if the Church Warden isn’t safe, none of us can sleep soundly in our beds at night. I have got customers who refuse to come out for a drink now for fear of what might happen to them on their way home. Everybody is living in fear of their lives.”
“We haven’t heard anything about it.”
“No. You won’t either. Nobody stops to talk anymore on account of them not knowing who they can trust. It’s a shame because people are afraid to even pass the time of day now,” Mr Arthur reported.
“Let’s hope they catch whoever is responsible soon,” Annalisa murmured.
“I wouldn’t hold out much hope,” Mr Arthur growled. “The Star Elite are looking useless.”
Annalisa opened her mouth to argue that the Star Elite knew what they were doing but then closed it again with a snap. She had to wonder the murders were why she hadn’t seen much of Joshua of late. What she had seen happen at his house over the last few days was several men coming and going from the house at all hours of the day and night. It seemed to confirm that they were all the Star Elite, but that set her to wonder what they were doing, and why there needed to be so many of them. Moreover, why so many of them couldn’t catch one murderer. Rather than raise any of her concerns with Mr Arthur, Annalisa chatted to him about the dismay of the locals before Mr Arthur eventually took his leave.
Annalisa watched him go and tugged absently on her shawl when a chill wind teased the fringes. However, the warmth of the soft material did little to ease the chill that began to permeate her bones. It rather felt like the icy warning of foreboding of dire events to come, but as she looked up and down the street everything looked just as ordinarily peaceful as it always had. Now, though, there was an air of watchful tension about the place that was unmistakeable.