by Rebecca King
The man stared at her, as if weighing up his options. But there were none. He knew that she would because she had. He had to decide if continuing to try to break into the house was worth the risk of losing his life. When he stepped forward again, Geranium pulled the trigger again, but this time her shot went wide. However, the window shattered beside his head and showered him with glass, but it didn’t deter him. Now that the window was broken, the man began to redouble his efforts to get into the house.
The sound of shattering glass could be heard even from several streets away because it was the only sound to be heard in the stillness of the obsidian night. The men from the Star Elite immediately ceased all conversation and nudged their horses into trots. While the front of the houses on Geranium’s street appeared untouched, the back of the houses revealed the source of the noise.
‘Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have left her,’ Ronan growled when he saw the dark figure kicking the shutter in Geranium’s library with forceful determination. Beside him, Mrs Unwin was talking to him while her husband stood guard at the end of the garden. Thankfully, Mr Unwin was watching his wife, and her brother trying to break into the house. His distraction gave the Star Elite the opportunity to retrace their steps until they were out of sight. Securing their horses, they then split up.
Ronan raced down the road to the front of the house but then faced the problem of how to get Geranium to answer the door without alerting Gorman to the fact that he was there.
‘Given the noise he is making, I doubt he will hear you if you tap on the glass,’ Joshua hissed.
‘I doubt Geranium will either,’ Ronan snorted.
‘Try.’ Roger removed his flick knife and did everything he could to jimmy the lock to force the window open, but it wouldn’t give.
Ronan tapped loudly on the glass. Three times. Stop. Three times. Stop. Three times. Stop. He then stepped back and hooted three times like an owl. Again, he waited, then hooted three times more. On his third series of hoots, Geranium slammed the bolts back and yanked the door open.
Ronan stepped into the house but left his colleagues to deal with the intruder. Quietly closing the door, Ronan bolted it and then turned to face Geranium.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked softly. Before she could answer him, he hauled her into his arms and pressed a loving kiss to her temple. ‘Are you all right?’
Geranium nodded. She regretted that he released her but stepped back and let him go when he went to help his colleagues, who were bellowing orders at the intruders. By the time she joined them at the back of the house, the race to catch the fugitives was on.
Roger was hindered getting out of the house by the ties that Ronan had secured around the handles of the door and the locks he had added to the windows. Cursing fluidly, he jerkily removed the extra security but kept a wary eye on what was going on outside. Thankfully, Daniel, Hamish, and Dean, had all approached the property from the carriage track, and were already in the lane waiting for the intruder to try to escape. Because of how easily Lynchgate had managed to escape before, Daniel was the only one to enter the garden. Hamish was waiting for the intruder in the garden to the right of Geranium’s house and Dean was in the neighbour’s garden to the left. The men were therefore prepared for Gorman when he vaulted over the wall, leaving his stunned sister helpless on the terrace.
‘Oswalde, come back here!’ Ursula Unwin shouted. She stared in horror at her brother as he vaulted over the wall and disappeared into the darkness leaving her to face the Star Elite alone.
‘He is a fiend and has no loyalty to you,’ Daniel warned.
She glared at him, but strangely smirked as she watched him walk toward her.
‘Stay right where you are.’
Daniel froze when he heard that masculine command from behind him. He knew that it wasn’t Oswalde because the fugitive was with Hamish in the neighbour’s garden. Dean, aware that Hamish was going to need support, was already on his way to help his friend subdue the criminal. Daniel’s only support was still in Geranium’s house. Unfortunately, they were delayed by the locks Ronan had put onto the doors.
Daniel was relieved of his weapon by Mr Unwin, who waved frantically at his wife to beckon her toward him while holding a gun to Daniel’s head. Daniel stared at the house and knew that he could lose his life at any moment. All it would take was one twitch from the man’s finger, and that would be it. His future with Tabitha would be destroyed before he had even had the chance to experience true joy with her. All sorts of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, coursed through him, but only briefly. He had worked for the Star Elite for several years and had been in this situation on many occasions in the past. He knew what to do to keep his life and was aware that there was not a moment to lose.
Stepping sideways, Daniel ducked low and kicked backward with his leg, ramming his boot into the back of Mr Unwin’s knee. Before Unwin could point both weapons at him, Daniel grabbed Unwin’s gun and twisted it behind Unwin until his fist was at shoulder height. Unwin grunted as pain exploded in his shoulder. He swore as he was forced to bend forward to ease the pain, but Daniel didn’t ease his hold on the man’s hand as he stepped behind him. Slamming a fist into the back of Unwin’s neck was enough to make Unwin distracted enough for Daniel to grab his wrist. Unwin was helpless to prevent Daniel’s boot from slamming into the back of his outstretched arm, which broke at the elbow. The loud snap of Unwin’s arm breaking made Mrs Unwin cry out in horror. Angrily, she charged forward, and tried to slap Daniel only for Daniel to step out of the way. A few hard punches drove Mr Unwin to his knees. When he turned around, Daniel grabbed Mrs Unwin’s hands and easily wrestled them behind her before forcing her onto her knees beside her stricken husband. Daniel didn’t stop until she was bent over with her head on the floor. Only then did he start to secure her wrists with his neckerchief.
Mr and Mrs Unwin, on their knees in Geranium’s garden, stared at each other in horror as the full import of their situation began to dawn on them. Neither of them tried to physically challenge him again because they knew that the Star Elite would kill them. However, Mrs Unwin was still angry, and tipped her head around so she could glare balefully at Daniel out of the corner of her eye.
‘Now what?’ she challenged. ‘You really have nothing on us. I mean, you have just disarmed my husband, who was hiding in the bushes because he heard all the commotion at Miss Snetterton’s residence. We came here to try to help her.’
Daniel pursed his lips and nodded. ‘So that is why you were standing beside the intruder, unarmed, while your armed husband cowered in the bushes, eh?’
Mrs Unwin swore at him. Daniel knew that she was a feminine parody of her brother.
‘We have done nothing wrong that you can prove,’ Mrs Unwin snarled.
‘I am afraid that I am arresting you on several charges that can be proven right now.’ Daniel squatted down so the woman could see him a little clearer. ‘You are trespassing on private property. Neither of you have permission to be here and this is no time for a social visit. People like you who generally lurk in bushes in someone’s garden are up to no good. Then, you have been seen with a known fugitive trying to break into the Snetterton residence. You are going to be arrested for harbouring that fugitive, your brother, Oswalde Gorman. I don’t doubt that his things will be in your house when we search it, Unwin.’
‘Then you will be trespassing because you don’t have permission to enter my property,’ Mrs Unwin argued.
Daniel, becoming annoyed at the woman’s juvenile arguments, sighed. ‘I work with the Star Elite. I have more authority than the magistrate. I can do what I like. I can kill you if I think my life is in danger, and nobody is going to put me behind bars for it. This weapon I have just taken off your husband is on a neighbour’s land at a time when an intruder was trying to break in. Moreover, you have just been stupid enough to attack an investigator with the Star Elite.’
Mrs Unwin curled her lip. ‘Prove it. It is your word against mine.’ Sh
e looked at her husband. ‘I didn’t do anything. Did you?’
‘Not a thing,’ Mr Unwin replied. ‘However, I can attest that he purposely broke my arm.’
Daniel pointed to the men in the house who had been watching everything. ‘I have witnesses who all work with the Star Elite.’
Mrs Unwin swore again but before she could say anything else, Roger, Ronan, Peregrine, and Joshua, finally found a way out of the house and came to join him.
‘Hamish is in there still, I think,’ Daniel informed Roger with a nod at the neighbour’s garden.
‘I’ll go and find him,’ Roger said before stalking straight past with Peregrine right behind him.
‘Do you need a hand?’ Ronan asked Daniel.
Geranium, who had followed the men out of the house, clutched her shawl tighter around her shoulders and slowly descended the steps of the terrace. As she walked across the grass toward Mr and Mrs Unwin, and the men from the Star Elite, she was painfully aware of the woman’s spiteful gaze watching her. Geranium sucked in a breath and forced herself to meet the older woman’s eyes. For once, she didn’t see Mrs Unwin as anything more than a criminal; someone who had scorned others for simply going about their business purely because she had wanted to detract attention from her own criminal behaviour. It was annoying.
‘Anybody can throw insults and abuse at people, Mrs Unwin, if they have a mind to.’
When she started to speak, the men from the Star Elite stopped what they were doing and waited.
‘But I have learnt that facts matter. If someone chooses to insult an innocent person, it says more about the abuser and their arrogance than it says about the innocent victim. An abuser’s self-righteous need to try to criticise others, and to invade people’s lives to do it, says a lot about their own doubts and criminality. People who often abuse others, poking and prying into other people’s lives to find something to criticise, have the most problems. Nobody should feel the need to poke at other people to make themselves feel better about who and what they are. Often, it is the people who criticise the most, often in unfair circumstances, who are the most troubled, or are too weak to resolve their own problems. They are mistaken by believing that finding fault with others excuses their own judgmental conduct. It doesn’t. It never can, because anybody who needs to go out of their way to abuse others really has nothing in their lives to hold their interest. I feel sorry for you, for not having enough in your life to keep you busy enough to find something better to do with your time. I pity you for your inability to resolve your own problems. I feel sorry for you for the mess you have made of your life. However, criticising my conduct and trying to ruin my reputation like you have hasn’t made you a better person. You are still a criminal; a weak person who needs to face justice which will, I hope, make you stop your abusive habits. I hope you are released from prison duly chastised, with no intention of doing anything that will put you back behind bars. If not, then you are going to spend a very long time going in and out of prison because you aren’t strong enough to resolve your problems while you keep your freedom. God didn’t give anybody the right to abuse others just to entertain themselves, not even you. The bible says: ‘What God has joined together let no man put asunder.’ It isn’t for you to destroy or try to destroy any part of anybody’s life, no matter what you find offensive about it. It isn’t right for you to try to take anything from people who have already suffered so much in that workhouse. I hope the judge gives you a long sentence. I, for one, shall not spend another moment of my time thinking about you. By the time word gets out about what you have been doing, everybody is going to know what you really are because facts don’t lie.’
With that, Geranium turned and marched back into the house with her shoulders squared and her spine straight. She knew that the men would work together to find Gorman, and make sure that Mr and Mrs Unwin were put behind bars together with anybody else who had abused the people in the workhouse. She could only hope that the judge who presided over their case was fair and honest and put them all behind bars before throwing away the key.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘He is in the woods. We need help,’ Hamish panted from the entrance to the garden.
Daniel nodded grimly and waved toward Mr and Mrs Unwin. ‘They are going nowhere.’
Indeed, the tight ropes securing the hapless couple’s hands and feet, also tied them together, making it impossible for either of them to move much less wriggle free or untie each other.
‘I’ll get Geranium to keep an eye on them from the safety of the house. If either of them tries to break free, she can shoot them.’ Ronan raced toward the house leaving his colleagues to go after Gorman. He hated to have to leave Geranium again but knew that she really was safer locked inside the house, keeping guard and prepared to shoot anybody who appeared at the now broken window. From her position beside it she could see Mr and Mrs Unwin.
‘Are you all right? Did you find Gorman?’ Geranium asked when Ronan appeared in the open doorway several moments later.
Ronan threw her a dark look. ‘I have to go and find him. Do you still have the gun?’
Geranium nodded. ‘Do I have to keep guard over them?’
‘From the house. Don’t leave the house,’ Ronan ordered. ‘If you see Gorman in the garden untying the Unwins, shoot at him. He should get out of the way. It is going to take him a few minutes, so you can reload and shoot again. However, we intend to try to catch him. He is in the woods at the moment.’
‘I’ll be fine. Go. Go.’ Geranium made shooing motions toward the door. ‘He has to be caught, Ronan.’
Ronan grinned at her. ‘God, you are fierce,’ he whispered. Admiration shone in his eyes as he smiled at her.
Geranium returned his smile. At some point, when she had a moment to contemplate what she had done to protect her home, she would be horrified at her ability to shoot any living soul. On the other hand, she had been forced to do it to protect her home, her parent’s house, and her own life.
I don’t regret the way I feel for Ronan either. I know this way of life is who he is. It is in his blood.
Geranium felt her smile dim. The atmosphere between them became charged. Ronan looked fleetingly outside; a silent warning that he had to go. Without knowing what he was going to face, and if he would come back, Geranium did the only thing she could think of.
When Ronan looked at her, he blinked in surprise to find that Geranium had narrowed the distance and was so close to him that he could see her fine lashes. He smiled down at her but was stunned when she clasped his head in her hands and landed a kiss onto his lips that was shocking. It was bold, brazen, and explorative to the point that he placed his hands on her hips and tugged her forward with one swift jerk that removed all air between them. He then held her firmly against him while he showed her the true force of his emotions. He didn’t care if it scared her or left her wanting. He wanted her and had no intention of shielding her from the desire he had for her, which seemed to grow each time he held her. It was a part of who he was now. Ronan doubted he could ever simply turn around and walk away from this, from what they shared. It was life changing. No woman, not even Estelle, had ever had the ability to challenge his life with the Star Elite. But as he stood and kissed Geranium, Ronan had to battle with the need to stay and kiss her, or go and find his colleagues and, hopefully, Gorman.
He didn’t get the chance to make his mind up. Geranium forced herself out of his arms by planting her dainty hands on his broad chest and shoving him toward the door.
‘Go. You have work to do. I shall be all right here by myself. Just stay safe.’ Geranium crossed the room to the small table where her gun sat waiting for her. She lifted it but couldn’t resist one last, longing look at Ronan.
When their eyes met, a wealth of understanding and regret flew between them. She recognised his desire and wanted nothing more than to be able to indulge in it as well, but they would have to wait until later.
‘Stay safe,’ he growled. �
�Don’t venture outside, no matter what happens.’
Geranium nodded but knew he hadn’t seen her because he had already stepped outside. Rather than stalk into the night, he waited on the terrace until she had secured the ties around the handles of the doors. Once she was safe, Ronan winked at her. He then ran toward the wall bordering the neighbour’s property and vaulted over it with an effortless grace that was startling.
Warily, Geranium reluctantly turned her attention to the two people she really didn’t want in her garden. With nothing else to do, and nobody in the house to talk to, she dragged a chair over to the French doors, found herself a blanket, took a seat, picked up her gun, and settled down to keep watch. One thing she really couldn’t do now was let the Star Elite down by allowing anything to happen to their newly captured criminals.
Ronan was worried. He glanced back at the house and contemplated whether he should stay with her. He couldn’t be sure that Gorman hadn’t ventured into the woods with the intention of doubling back to try to release his sister or get to Geranium again.
At the edge of the woods, Ronan could hear someone crunching through the undergrowth. He eyed the safe house just a few feet away. Tipping his head to one side, he weighed up his options. It didn’t take long for him to realise that he just couldn’t force himself to stomp off into the night and leave Geranium vulnerable.
‘Damn it all to Hell,’ Ronan growled.
It irked him that he wasn’t following orders. Roger had told everyone to get after Gorman; to leave Geranium to guard the Unwins from the safety of the house. While he didn’t doubt that she could, Ronan wasn’t comfortable with her doing it. For once, in his entire career with the Star Elite, Ronan ignored his orders. He lingered when he should have joined his colleagues. He looked back at Geranium’s house when he should have left it far behind. He hesitated.
Consequently, when Gorman crept out of the undergrowth a few seconds later, Ronan was in the carriage track to watch him. But, rather than head straight toward Geranium’s house, Gorman went to Mr Quinton’s.