by Rebecca King
He has also removed his shirt.
In the golden flame of the candle, his skin shone like burnished gold. The ridges of muscles rippling his torso gleamed as he moved to drop his soiled shirt onto the table beside him. He had positioned himself so that his knife wound was accessible by Geranium, who could do little more than stare at him.
‘Are you all right?’ Ronan prompted when he saw her staring at his chest. He fought a smile and watched her edge closer.
‘What happened?’ Geranium asked to try to get her mind focused on what she should be doing.
‘I got stabbed,’ Ronan said simply. He could see no reason to try to protect her from the truth of what had happened. ‘Gorman tried to fight me off and had a flick knife I didn’t see. He managed to dig it in before I could step away. It isn’t deep but it needs to be cleaned.’
Geranium’s hands shook as she wrung a strip of cloth. She looked up at him when she began to dab at the blood on his side, but he was staring at the wall opposite. The sight of the blood on his skin, the split in his flesh, was enough to make her feel sick. Her hand shook even more to the point that she had to rest it onto the table to steady herself. While it rested there, Ronan placed his hand gently over hers.
Their eyes met.
‘It is my life,’ Ronan whispered. ‘The Star Elite is more than my job. The men are my friends. I cannot just stop.’
Geranium nodded but remained quiet. Now that she had experienced the reality of what he did she was painfully aware that he wasn’t able to offer her any promises. But after her experiences with people like Gorman, Lynchgate, and Mrs Unwin, she understood why he felt the need to do what he did.
‘What happens now?’ she asked quietly when a lengthy silence had fallen between them. It took a lot of effort to force herself to meet his steady gaze. They both knew that her question had two meanings. When she couldn’t bring herself to rephrase the question to ask him what she truly wanted to know, Geranium coughed and turned her attention back to cleaning his wound. ‘I mean, do you need to still search through Judge Sminter’s things, or will you move on?’
‘Mr Harrison can interrogate the guards and make sure that they face justice for their crimes without our involvement. We have been tasked with finding out who has been stealing money from the workhouse. Now that we have also found all the people involved with what happened to Reynold Muldoon as well, our investigation is effectively over. There is still some work to do, but Harrison will be able to do it. We don’t need to stay.’
‘But will you?’ Geranium mentally winced because the question was so instinctive that she didn’t stop to think about why she felt the need to ask him.
Ronan coughed. ‘We have another investigation to do about sixty miles away from here.’
Geranium struggled to keep her face impassive. She stared at his wound which she dried before sorting through the cloth to find a piece she could use to place over his wound.
‘I need to find something to secure this pad to the wound,’ she said quietly.
When she dried her hands and turned to leave, Ronan captured her hand in his and tugged her back around to face him.
‘I am sorry,’ he whispered regretfully.
‘You haven’t done anything wrong,’ Geranium murmured with tears in her eyes.
‘I shouldn’t have kissed you, and-’
And let me believe that there might be something more between us.
‘It’s all right,’ she assured him quietly. She offered him a smile but felt her chin start to wobble and so tugged her hand out of his. It hurt that he let her go so easily. It felt as if it was a harbinger for the future; a warning that he was going to walk out of her life and not return.
The only consolation Geranium had was that she had met him. She knew now that she had changed considerably since her parents had left, and in just a few days as well. It was inevitable that she could never go back to the person she had been, content to live in a house with her parents.
It’s time for us both to move on.
She didn’t say as much to Ronan because he wasn’t going to be a part of her future. Determined not to cry in front of him, Geranium quietly went to fetch a sheet which she tore into one long strip and used to tie the pad to Ronan’s side. When she had finished, she gathered up the things she had used and tidied them away all without looking at him.
Ronan watched her move about the kitchen. It felt as if some sort of impenetrable shield had descended around her. She seemed untouchable. He had no idea how to talk to her, to reach her. He suspected that if he tried, she wouldn’t talk to him because of the way he had awkwardly told her that he wanted – needed – to go, if only for a little while. The urge to try to make her talk to him was strong but Ronan was painfully aware of his colleagues gathering in the garden.
As if to prove that his time alone with Geranium was over, Roger appeared in the doorway.
‘What happened?’ he demanded as he stalked into the kitchen with a heavy scowl on his face. ‘I have sent for the doctor. He is coming to the safe house.’ Roger looked at Geranium. ‘Are you all right? You are going to have to come to the safe house too, I am afraid.’
‘Oh, but I thought the danger is over,’ Geranium protested.
‘No. Not yet. During the skirmish at the workhouse, a few guards disappeared. Harrison’s men are trying to find them as we speak. We have to go and help them search the area before the guards get too far away.’ Roger pointed at Ronan. ‘You are going to have to stay here.’
‘But the guards won’t think to come here, surely to goodness,’ Geranium called when Roger seemed to assume that she was going to follow his orders without question.
‘I am afraid that with Gorman living at the Unwins, it is likely at the guards would come here if only to try to find him. They know he wasn’t in the workhouse. He is their boss, the man who pays them, and the man who gives them orders. It is likely that they will turn to Gorman for help seeing as he was the one who got them into the mess that they are in. They are villagers, so are likely to stay in the area they are familiar with. You can’t stay here until we have found all the guards,’ Roger said. ‘I am sorry, but it would be better if you come to the safe house. We cannot spare the men to guard you right now, and you cannot stay here alone with the door in the state it is in. It is going to take a couple of days to get repaired.’ With that, Roger left the house.
Geranium sighed.
‘It isn’t so bad. I am afraid that I am a bit wounded, but I can still provide adequate protection,’ Ronan said gently when he saw the despondency on her face.
Geranium didn’t want him to provide adequate protection. She was starting to wonder what she had to do to get him to see her as a woman, a potential mate, and not someone whom he had to look after. She had looked after the house, protected it from intruders, and had battled with Lynchgate, and had survived. She had grown stronger and now knew how to use a gun.
What I won’t be able to do is sleep properly in my bed at night knowing that the door is so badly damaged that it might as well not be there.
‘Go and pack a few things and come and meet me outside,’ Ronan urged when Geranium didn’t move.
‘No,’ Geranium protested.
Ronan froze. He sighed because without throwing her over his shoulder there really was nothing that he could do to force her to go to the safe house.
‘I have done everything I can to help you and your friends, but I really must stay here now. This house is not secure. I cannot simply move out of it and let anybody walk in here. What would I say to my parents if the place was emptied while I was sitting in the safe house? I might be safe but everything my parents have gathered in their many years of marriage isn’t.’ Geranium tipped her chin up and willed herself not to cry. This truly felt as if she was creating a rift between them that circumstance would prevent them from ever repairing.
But he is an investigator for the Star Elite, and I am a country miss with no prospects. He has already m
ade that clear. Now it is time that I do too.
With a sigh, Geranium squared her shoulders. ‘Rupert will be here soon. He can make sure that the door is secured.’
‘Rupert isn’t coming, remember? Roger told him to take a few days off. He won’t be here until Monday at the latest,’ Ronan sighed. ‘Look, I can fix the door myself, or at least make it safe. Just stay here.’
With that, he slammed out of the house. Geranium stared after him through the window. While she didn’t allow herself to cry, the weight of her emotions left her slumped against the table. She stared at the floor, torn between the need to go after him to tell him that she had changed her mind, and the need to preserve what was left of her shattered heart. It was difficult to understand what it was about Ronan that captivated her so. Whatever it was had captured her heart and refused to relinquish it. She refused to call it love. That wasn’t possible. Yes, she desired him. Yes, she felt a need to be with him, which grew stronger every day. Their partings always came too soon even when they struggled for words. She suspected it was because she wanted to say things that she knew she couldn’t. He always had the ability to make her feel fuddled. Her mind refused to work properly whenever he was nearby. All she could think about was Ronan.
‘Are you all right?’ Peregrine asked quietly.
Geranium jerked and looked up at him. The smile she offered him was tinged with sadness, and fleeting. Peregrine stepped into the house.
‘You are leaving.’ It wasn’t a question.
Peregrine nodded. ‘We will go and join the search but as soon as it is over then we will leave. It should take no more than a few hours. We will leave sometime tomorrow.’ He glanced out of the window. ‘Today.’
‘Then it is all over,’ Geranium whispered, staring at the now empty spot in her garden where the Unwins had been sitting.
‘Yes, the village can now return to normal, and everyone is free to go about their lives. There is no further threat from Lynchgate. He is dead. He was found at the workhouse and had either killed himself or been murdered by Gorman. Whatever happened, his position as Chair of the Governors is well and truly over. I am sure the rest of the Governor’s won’t miss him much.’
Geranium didn’t really care much about what happened at the workhouse. She knew that there were many who were passionate about their work in the place. The workhouse would, at some point, be returned to the way it should be run, and would probably stay that way forever more. It was purely selfish, but what concerned Geranium was that she was going to do next.
‘Thank you for your help,’ she offered, trying her hardest to pretend that everything was all right.
‘You really must come to the safe house, you know,’ Peregrine murmured.
Geranium shook her head. ‘I have already told Ronan that I have to remain here and look after my parent’s house while they are away.’
‘If you are sure,’ he whispered doubtfully. ‘Look-’ Peregrine hesitated before heaving a sigh. ‘Because of the work we do we often move around the county. While we are local to Leicestershire, our work keeps us away from our homes for months at a time. You have seen the hours we work. None of us are ready for our pipes and evenings beside the fire. Roger, the man who has just been and given you orders, has a new wife at home who is expecting their first child, yet Roger has been away from home for about six weeks now. He is anxious to get back. Leonora accepts his absences because she has relations nearby and is a strong woman, but there are many women who wouldn’t tolerate their husband never being beside them. They want, and need, the presence of their husbands in the marital home.’
‘But not everyone is like that,’ Geranium argued.
‘No, not everyone is like that,’ Peregrine repeated. ‘The men who aren’t married just haven’t found anybody who is that understanding yet. I hope I do. I hope all my colleagues do, but for now we are all happy to keep working for the Star Elite. It is who we are.’
‘I wish all of you every success with your future investigations,’ Geranium offered. ‘Thank you for your help the other day in town. It was very kind of you.’
‘It was the least we could do seeing as we were the ones who allowed you to stumble into our investigation.’
Geranium wrinkled her nose up. ‘Well, I didn’t stumble into it really. I hit Ronan on the head.’
Peregrine grinned. ‘We had hoped that it would knock some sense into him but there you go. Maybe next time, eh?’
Geranium rolled her eyes but when she looked at Peregrine there was a hidden message in his eyes that Geranium read with far too much accuracy.
‘Give him time, eh? You have only just met. He needs time to come to terms with how much you have tossed his life on its head. I think you might need a bit of time to assimilate what has happened over the last few days. It has been incredibly busy and fraught for all of us. Maybe once the dust has settled you will see everything that has happened as one horrible nightmare you want to put behind you. If not, then maybe you will be able to make a few decisions on what you want for your future.’
‘But how do I contact him?’ Geranium hissed. ‘Like you have said, he works with the Star Elite and moves about a lot.’
‘Ronan will contact you.’
Geranium heaved a sigh because she knew that wasn’t likely to happen.
‘I don’t think Ronan will be going too far,’ Peregrine mused. ‘I think that he might find a reason to come back sooner than you realise. For now, we will arrange for someone to come and fix the door. We will leave it up to you to decide what to tell your parents about the last few days.’
Geranium nodded and watched Peregrine saunter out of the house. To her dismay, it was Hamish who appeared to repair the door a short while later.
‘They have captured one of the guards but two are still missing,’ he told her without her having to ask.
‘Where is Ronan?’ Geranium hated the possibility that he might have gone out riding so soon after being stabbed just to avoid her.
‘He is being seen by the doctor. He hates all the fuss, but Roger insists that he gets medical help,’ Hamish explained as he began to fix the door. ‘This shouldn’t take long, then you can at least lock the door without fear of someone being able to kick it down. You need to get Rupert to replace the panel in the shutter. Not that anybody would try to kick it down now. I hope that peace will be restored.’
With no real interest in desultory conversation, Geranium left Hamish to it and began to wander around the house. In the hallway, the clock struck four. Dawn was already peering over the horizon and had cast everything in a dark blue haze that was somewhat eerie. Usually, on mornings like this, Geranium would have loved the sight of the low mist lying in the valley, seemingly cupping Lynchgate House in an unearthly mist. Today, she found it rather sinister. She yearned for the sun to shine and the birds to sing, but it was far too early for that.
With a yawn, she settled down into a chair in the sitting room but soon found her attention turning to Ronan again. There were so many questions tumbling around in her mind that she struggled to know what to think. All she could contemplate was that the man she suspected she cared about far too much was going to walk out of her life, and she wasn’t likely to ever see him again.
Ronan winced when the doctor tied off the last stitch but heaved a sigh of relief that there was no lasting damage done.
‘Right, it should start to itch soon. That will be good news. I will leave this with you. If it starts to go red and sting you need to put some of this on. It will hurt but it should kill off any infection.’
‘Thank you.’ Ronan offered the doctor a grateful smile, but it disappeared the second the doctor left the room.
‘There is one guard left,’ Hamish told him when he entered the house half an hour later. ‘And Geranium’s house is secure. She looks exhausted so I have told her to get some sleep.’
‘Harrison’s men are on their way to fetch these papers so as soon as the last guard has been found we are read
y to go. Roger has said that we are to pack everything up and be ready to leave. It’s time to move out,’ Peregrine announced.
Ronan, for the first time in his entire Star Elite career, didn’t relish the prospect of leaving a safe house. He knew he had to, that it was wise that he treated this investigation like all the rest, but this wasn’t the same as all the other Star Elite investigations he had been involved in.
Because Geranium has been involved with this one.
‘Have you made any decisions yet?’ Peregrine asked quietly.
‘About what?’ Ronan asked absently as he dropped his saddle bag over his horse.
‘Geranium,’ Hamish and Peregrine said together.
‘What about her?’ Ronan asked feigning disinterest. ‘She can go back to her life. I am sure she will be relieved to have it return to normal.’
‘I don’t doubt it, but you cannot intend to simply ride out of her life, can you?’ Peregrine shared a worried look with Hamish.
Ronan knew that it was a damned foolish thing he was about to do but he had to. He wanted nothing more than to go and see Geranium and ask her again if he could stay for a while and spend some time with her. What he hadn’t told her was that the Star Elite were going to take a few days off before they began another investigation. He had a few days. She was alone. There was nothing stopping him – them.
Except me.
‘I have things to attend to elsewhere,’ Ronan bit out.
‘You cannot intend to return to Estelle, can you?’ Peregrine looked shocked.
‘I am not the kind of man to lead any woman to have false expectations of me, even of me being her lover. I have to go and talk to her before I make any decisions about whether to call upon Geranium again,’ Ronan explained briskly, his movements swift and jerky and the only outward sign of his agitation.
‘If you leave it for too long you are going to be mired in another investigation and the opportunity to court Geranium will have passed you,’ Hamish warned.
‘Then she will not have been meant for me,’ Ronan bit out.