Lies and Misdemeanours
Page 24
Moments later, the sound of the heavy door hitting the ground reverberated through the silence of the night, but nobody paid it any attention. No sooner had it hit the ground than the men began to hammer, tug, and pull two of the long planks off the main framework.
“Got one,” Marcus cried.
He carried it with Charlie into the grain barn. Thankfully, it was long enough. They slid it carefully over the grain pit, directly behind Hetty, and waited while Wally and Simon slid a second one directly beneath her feet.
Once in place, Charlie began to sidle across the coarse planks toward her.
“I’ll go too. I am a bit lighter than everyone else,” Marcus suggested.
He copied Charlie’s side-steps, and began to sidle across the planks. They bowed dangerously low beneath the weight of both men, but mercifully didn’t break while the men crept toward her.
“Stay still for me, darling,” Charlie murmured gently once he reached her. Sweat popped out on his brow as he stood on tip-toe, and balanced his weight so that he didn’t fall off the plank into the grain, and inadvertently kill her himself.
He looked at Marcus. “I’ll hold her so that she won’t fall any further if the grain slips again. Can you reach the rope?”
Marcus shook his head. “Not above her head. Lift her weight a little. I can cut the rope at the back of her neck. Just keep her still so I don’t cut her.”
Hetty had never been so glad to see anyone before in her entire life. She looked deeply into Charlie’s eyes, and saw all of the raw emotion there that words couldn’t convey.
She was cold, hungry and tired, but nothing was important beyond the fact that Charlie was alive, and unharmed, and there to save her.
“Keep looking at me,” he murmured as he lifted her weight, and held her tightly against his chest to steady her.
“I love you,” she whispered.
She just had to say the words. Now that he was there before her, nothing could hold them back. She wanted him to understand just how important he was to her.
“Hold that thought for me, darling,” Charlie replied, but didn’t get the chance to say anything else because the ropes suddenly became loose, and she was free.
“Come on, this way,” he murmured. He held her hand and guided her toward safety.
Hetty copied his movements, and side-stepped along the plank. No sooner had her feet hit the ground than Wally and Simon were there to sweep her into huge hugs amidst many prayers of thanks for her safety.
“Come here,” Charlie growled when she was finally released.
He held her tightly against him while everyone else removed the remains of the door, and set to work securing the barn.
The most he allowed Hetty to move was to one side of the grain store so that they were out of the way of the ebb and flow of the men. Then, he couldn’t deny either of them a moment longer. In spite of the watchful gazes of her brothers, he captured her lips in a kiss that left her breathless.
“I love you, Hetty,” he murmured.
Her gasp was loud. She leaned backward to look up at him with wide eyes. “You do?” she whispered softly.
“More than anything in the world. Coming to Hemsley was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“How can you say that?” she protested. “I mean, you nearly died.”
“I know,” he replied gently. “But I found the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Her heart thundered heavily in her chest. “Oh? What’s that?”
“You. We may have saved your life tonight but, the other day, you most certainly saved mine.”
“We saved each other’s,” she whispered.
He knew she didn’t quite understand him. “You have saved me from the gallows,” he murmured as he gazed tenderly into her eyes. “But you gave me my life back in so many ways. You made me realise what is important in life. It isn’t my work, or my colleagues. It is you. Having someone to come home to; to laugh with; to hold; to love, gives me purpose in life. A reason for being. Nobody can ever replace you.”
Hetty tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but couldn’t get the words out. Tears loomed but she didn’t want them to fall. She would do that later, once they were safely tucked up in bed. Right now, it was more important that she get the words out she really needed to say.
“I know that I couldn’t let you die. Not only were you innocent, but on the night that you appeared on my doorstep, drunk, slurring your words -” She shook her head, momentarily lost for a way to describe the impact he had had on her.
He coughed uncomfortably, and had the good grace to look a little sheepish.
She kissed his chin. “You looked so handsome. I knew that my life would never be the same. You meant so much to me, even then. There is nothing I won’t do to keep you.”
“I love you, Hetty. You saved my life, and in doing so gave me so much more than a chance of a future. You gave us a chance of a future together, and that is something I will never take for granted.”
“We have been given a chance, haven’t we?”
“We have,” he agreed ruefully. “We have had to fight for it, but we have finally managed it. So, I think that that we don’t waste a single moment. I love you Hetty Jones.”
“What about your work with the Star Elite?”
Charlie shared a smile with Hugo over the top of Hetty’s head before he looked deeply into her eyes.
“I am sure that we can come up with something a little closer to home,” he murmured wryly, and caught Hugo’s firm nod before his boss gave them a few minutes of privacy.
He rather suspected that he was going to be leading the new rural branch of the Star Elite in Derbyshire, and quite looked forward to the challenge.
Before Hetty had the chance to say anything else, she was swept off her feet.
Safe and secure in Charlie’s arms, she laughed loud as she was carried toward a wonderful new future – with her husband.
The End.
COMING SOON…….
ELOISA’S ADVENTURE
Released JULY 2015
Eloisa shall go to the ball….or will she?
Having spent many weeks preparing to go to her first ever ball, Eloisa leaves home full of excitement and anticipation. Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate events leave her stranded in the middle of nowhere instead. Help comes in the unlikely form of a huge gothic castle, and her rather reluctant host, Nicholas Taylor-Faulkes, Lord Brantwood.
However, it quickly transpires that Brantwood is not the place of safety she had hoped it would be. Eloisa is quickly plunged into a desperate battle for survival in the long, draughty corridors, where more than the ghosts go bump in the night.
Nicholas finds himself feeling more for his guest than any respectable host should, but is determined to protect her, whatever the cost to his sanity. It quickly becomes impossible to ignore the raging desire that surges between them but, with the dangers looming ever closer, Nicholas is faced with a desperate battle to keep them both alive while trying to unmask the cold-blooded killer who stalks the house.
Will the castle’s sinister secrets prevent any chance of a happy ending? Or will he be forced to let her go just to keep her alive? If he does, will he ever get her back again?
RELEASED AUGUST 2015
OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA KING
Further details on all of Rebecca’s books can be found on her website:
Rebeccaking-author.co.uk
Shattered Dreams (Released April 2015)
Lies and Misdemeanours (Released July 2015)
Eloisa’s Adventure (Released July 2015)
TIPTON HOLLOW SERIES
Harriett (Tipton Hollow Book 1)
Beatrice (Tipton Hollow Book 2)
Tuppence (Tipton Hollow Book 3) (Coming soon)
Constance (Tipton Hollow Book 4) (Coming soon)
STAR ELITE SERIES
Capturing Sir Dunniciffe (Book 1)
Smuggler’s Glory (Book 2)
His Lady Spy (Book 3)
Lord Melvedere’s Ghost (Book 4)
The Lady Is Innocent (Book 5)
My Lord Deceived (Book 6)
Captive Surrender (Book 7)
Ghost of Christmas Past (Book 8)
THE CAVENDISH MYSTERIES
If You Were Mine (Book 1)
Cinders and Ashes (Book 2)
Chasing Eliza (Book 3)
The Gallows Bride (Book 4)
The Prodigal Lord Cavendish Returns (Book 5)
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Archie and the Battleflat Adventures: The Harriman Mystery
BOOKS BY LOUISE MARSDEN
Redemption – Released August 2015