by Rebecca King
“We are going somewhere safe,” Luke replied.
“I won’t go another step until you tell me who you are,” Poppy declared firmly. She yanked her hand out of his when he tried to tug her into motion again.
“Look, I am not going into any of that while we are in the middle of a street where anybody can overhear us,” Luke sighed. His exasperation grew when she merely looked back at him blandly and refused to budge. “We are just going somewhere where we can talk without being disturbed.”
“We could do that back at the coaching inn. We don’t need to go anywhere else,” she replied. “I demand you take me back there this instant.”
“I can’t,” Luke said.
Poppy sighed in frustration and wondered briefly whether she should just take her chances and try to find her own way back. Now that she was alone with him she realised just how stupid she had been to allow him to guide her through the streets because she was completely lost - still. She felt vulnerable, alone, and afraid, and it was the very worst place she could be because she now had to rely on the enigma that was Luke Brindley to guide her to safety without even knowing if he could be trusted. She couldn’t lose sight of the fact that she had just asked him the same question she had asked several times before, but he had yet to give her a straight answer. However, he expected her to trust him and answer his questions.
Luke saw the doubt in her eyes and shook his head in disgust. Although she looked relatively innocent, he couldn’t forget that many a decent man had been taken down by an innocuous looking lady. He wasn’t prepared to be one of them. Although Poppy didn’t look like a brazen thief, looks could be deceiving.
“You need to come with me,” he declared coldly. It irked him to have to force himself to be stern with her, but he did because that was his job.
Poppy’s stomach flipped. She took a wary step back as she fought the panic that threatened to overwhelm her at the ruthlessness on his face.
“No, I don’t. Thank you for your help so far, but it is time I was leaving now,” she stammered. She tried to turn around and hurry into the smog but barely got further than three steps before her bags were suddenly yanked out of her hand. Her cry was loud as she whirled around. Her eyes were wide with fear and anger.
“Give them back,” she cried, only to watch Luke’s broad shoulders disappear into the gloom. She had little choice but to follow him. At first, when she raced forward she couldn’t see anything except smog. Whirling around in a desperate circle, she battled tears and anger as she tried to listen for any sound of movement, but everything was cloaked in silence that was overwhelming. “You are nothing but a thief,” she screamed.
“Come with me then,” Luke challenged from within the depths of the smog. He was aware that she couldn’t see him, but he most certainly hadn’t lost sight of her. Whoever that man had been who had accosted her in the street was most probably right. He suspected from the weight of the bag he now held that it contained money – and a lot of it. Until he could ascertain who owned it, he couldn’t let her have it back.
Poppy’s stomach flipped when she heard his voice closer than she realised. She stepped forward and peered into the gloom and thankfully could just make out the shadowed outline of a man; Luke. When she reached him her desperate gaze fell to the bags in his hand. She tried to take them off him but he lifted them out of the way and shook his head all too slowly.
“Come with me.” He didn’t wait for her to reply, merely turned around and strode in the direction of what he hoped was the safe house. This damned fog was so thick that he struggled to see his own feet, but he did have his bearings and was at least able to pick out familiar houses around them and knew they were heading in the right direction.
Thankfully, Poppy did indeed stay close behind this time, and within minutes they entered the kitchen of the safe house.
“Take a seat,” Luke ordered, closing the kitchen door behind them. He slid the bolt across, partly to warn Poppy that she was going nowhere until they had talked, and she had told him everything – the truth this time, and partly to keep out unwanted intruders because he couldn’t be entirely sure they hadn’t been followed.
Poppy watched him place the bags on the table and push a chair out for her. She looked at it and contemplated taking her bags and leaving, but suspected he would just stop her before she even got to the door.
It was clear that whoever he was he had no intention of allowing her to evade his questions this time. Still, if she was going to be forced into answering his then he could answer a few of hers in return.
CHAPTER TEN
Luke looked at her. In candlelight she was even more beautiful than he remembered. Even as scared as she was there was an ethereal presence about her that was downright captivating. He wanted to reassure her. He wanted to hold her and coax her to confide in him gently. He wanted to protect her and assure her that everything really would be all right. If only she trusted him. But in the back of his mind he couldn’t forget the man in the street just now, or the huge bags in the middle of the table.
Once he had allowed silence to settle between them, he poured them both a goblet of brandy and, once she had refused the offer of something to eat, settled down into the chair opposite.
“Who was that man?” He asked with one eye on her ring finger. He hadn’t seen any physical similarities between the two but then it had been too gloomy to get a proper look at the man who had accosted her. Whoever he was, Luke suspected that he was just as thuggish as his demeanour toward Poppy had been.
“Who are you?” she countered. With more brazen daring than she really possessed, she stared back at him when he threw her a warning look and made no attempt to answer.
“Is he your husband?” Luke persisted.
“Who are you? Why are you helping me? I think it is safe to say that you are not just some ordinary gentleman.” She eyed his suit but doubted he actually had a job to go to. “Just who are you? Why are you involving yourself in this? What does it have to do with you?”
Luke mentally grimaced at that and tried to warn himself that it was inevitable he would have to face her questions at some point. He contemplated lying to her but suspected she had little trust in men as it was. He didn’t want to exacerbate the problem. If he did, he may never get her to tell him anything. With that in mind, he decided not to threaten her, but adopt a more amenable tactic.
“I work for the government. That is all I can tell you right now. I was trying to capture one of the pick-pockets who accosted you in the park the other day when I stumbled upon you, and the pick-pockets. I gave chase because I needed to get hold of one of them to ask them some questions about what has been going on in the park of late, but then you screamed when you found the body.”
Poppy frowned. “What has happened of late?”
“How long have you been in London?” Luke countered.
“About two weeks now.” She could see no reason to lie.
Luke nodded. “Then you wouldn’t have read the articles in the broadsheets about the spate of quite ruthless muggings at knife-point that have occurred in that park.”
Poppy looked confused. “Those pick-pockets who accosted me carried knives?” She just couldn’t see it. Some of the children had barely been old enough to hold a fork, let alone handle a knife.
“No, I don’t think they were. Did you see any on them?”
Poppy shook her head. “No, the younger one tried to distract me so the older could creep up from behind. They were pick-pockets not hardened criminals.”
Luke’s eyes met hers. “Pick-pockets are hardened criminals, no matter how young they are. They are stealing other people’s belongings and don’t give a damn for sentimental value, worth, or the upset they cause. Don’t lose sight of that. They have masters who demand they steal a certain amount each day, and they get beaten or go hungry if they don’t.”
“Oh, how awful,” she whispered, horrified at the very thought.
“You will never see a w
ell-dressed pick-pocket, Poppy. However, of late I think the gang that usually roam the streets around the park have been shoved aside by a much bigger and considerably more ruthless group of muggers who are vicious. People who have refused to hand over their money and valuables have been beaten, mugged anyway, and on two occasions now, knifed.”
“Was that man I found one of their victims?” she whispered, feeling slightly sick with the knowledge of just how close she had come to danger.
Luke shook his head. “So far, the bigger gang don’t appear to have taken to strangling their victims. They like to bully and beat; they don’t kill. There certainly don’t appear to have been a spate of strangulations in the area as far as I know.”
He watched her blanch and wondered if he was scaring her too much, but then didn’t want her to leave the house and put herself at risk. She had to be aware of just how dangerous London could be and understand fully the dangers a single woman was in whenever she stepped outside of the door without a suitable chaperone. If worrying her, in turn, meant she was less likely to sneak out of the house while he wasn’t looking then so be it.
“Who was that man? Do you know who he is yet?” she whispered. She took a sip of her brandy but then wished she hadn’t when it blazed a trail of white-hot fury right down to her stomach and made it churn alarmingly.
“I was hoping you could tell me that,” he murmured. Hungry, he tore off a chunk of bread and offered her some before he slathered his liberally with butter.
“Me? Why should I know?” She shook her head and watched him.
“Well, you are the one in trouble,” he countered without any hint of accusation.
“I am not in trouble,” Poppy protested. “Not the kind that would warrant anyone to try to strangle me. I had nothing to do with the dead body I found, and that is the truth.”
Luke sighed, relieved that they were finally starting to get somewhere. “What kind of trouble are you in Poppy?” He hoped to God she didn’t tell him she had killed someone. He was a member of the Star Elite, and could manage to pull many strings when and if he ever needed to, but getting someone off a murder charge was going to be impossible.
“I am not in trouble. Clarence is,” she sighed. It felt odd to confide in a total stranger, but the fact that he didn’t know her helped her divulge her deepest secrets. She rather felt that if she knew him any better she wouldn’t want him to think the worst of her and so wouldn’t be inclined to confide as much. Or maybe she would. He was strong, and had a commanding, take charge manner about him that warned her there wasn’t much he hadn’t seen or done in life that hadn’t taught him how to cope with adversity. She didn’t know if that was why she wanted to lean on him and let him take over her problems. It was a little disconcerting.
“Clarence?”
“The man who just accosted me in the street,” she explained. She watched his gaze slide to her ring finger and shook her head. “He isn’t my husband. He is my father.”
Luke heaved a mental sigh of relief, but didn’t move, didn’t speak or show any sign of emotion as he considered which question to ask her next.
“He accused you of being a thief.”
Poppy sighed. “He is my father but not much of a father, if you ask me,” she declared ruefully. “He drinks to excess, gambles money he doesn’t have, and spends most of his time in and out of brothels. He is a charlatan who has squandered so much money that he has rendered us nearly destitute. He came to London purely to borrow money from a cousin so he can repay a creditor he owes quite a lot of money to. Well, he actually ordered me to borrow the money from a cousin because Peter hates Clarence, and wouldn’t loan him a penny.”
Luke frowned at that. “I thought you said you came from Cumbria?”
“I do.”
“So, has Clarence run up debts in London?” He knew something didn’t add up.
“Not as far as I am aware. He has been too busy drinking to travel anywhere.”
“He ran the debts up in Cumbria?” He waited until she nodded. “In that case, why has he come to London to pay the debts off?”
“He borrowed money of someone somewhere who told him to make a repayment in London apparently. I don’t know,” she sighed.
She wished now that she had pushed Clarence for more information. “Clarence didn’t tell me too much. He was reluctant to discuss it and got defensive when I asked him why we couldn’t leave London as soon as we had the money from Peter.”
“Do you know the name of the creditor?”
She shook her head. “I asked him several times. He told me it was none of my business.”
“Yet he wanted you to borrow the money on his behalf?” Luke shook his head in disgust and leaned back in his seat. He was relieved to see the honesty in her eyes and, for the first time since he had met her, he started to trust her.
“I didn’t want to be the one to borrow money from Peter, but Clarence made it clear that our house in Cumbria was at risk of being taken by the creditor if we didn’t repay the money he owed. So I had no choice. I went to Peter and asked for a loan so we could clear some debts. Clarence didn’t come with me, so I took the opportunity to tell Peter what I knew, although at the time I didn’t realise our situation was as bad as it is. Peter gave me enough funds to cover everything but instructed me to make sure that I sorted myself out with it and didn’t just hand everything over to Clarence to fritter away.” Poppy sighed and looked at Luke. “As soon as I borrowed the money, Clarence told me that he had sold the house in Cumbria along with everything in it, and had cleared the debts off. He also told me that we were never going back to Cumbria.”
“So if he cleared the debts off with the money from the house, why does he need more money from Peter?” Luke asked with a frown.
“I don’t know how much debt Clarence is in. Every time I asked, he got aggressive and refused to answer me.”
“That money is in this bag, I take it?” Luke asked. He watched her nod reluctantly.
“Minus a few expenses for lodging for the last few days, and a ticket back to Cumbria.”
“Did you pay the creditor any of it?” Luke asked, but suspected she hadn’t.
Poppy shook her head. “He didn’t turn up. Unfortunately, the body did.”
When she watched Luke’s face change she knew instinctively the direction of his thoughts and shook her head. “No, before you ask, I do not know if that man was the creditor I was supposed to hand the money over to.”
“So why aren’t you with Clarence now? Did you run with the money when you didn’t make payment?” He wasn’t sure what to think right now, but at least she was talking to him.
“When the creditor didn’t turn up, and you left me with the body,” she said accusingly, “I got worried because it looked bad that I was standing over a dead man with a bag full of money. I left, but then went back to the hovel. I couldn’t tell Clarence I hadn’t made the payment because he would have spent the money on drink and gambling, and would have pushed me into going to another meeting, which is something I was never going to do. It was a stupid risk to take in the first place, and all because he couldn’t be bothered to go himself.”
Luke mentally applauded her logic. “So when the creditor didn’t turn up for his money, you decided to keep it and do what exactly?”
“Cousin Peter told me to use it to sort myself out and not hand it to Clarence. Cumbria is all I have ever known. I don’t belong in Peter’s world, mainly because he and Clarence hate each other so much. I was going to go back to Cumbria, and see if Clarence had actually sold the house, or if I could get any of my belongings back. Because I know there a bit better than London, I was going to try to find work.”
“Doing what?” Luke had to admit it, he was hooked on her story and wanted to know more.
“I don’t know. Whatever someone wanted me to do that would pay a wage.”
Luke had a few ideas but quickly turned his attention back to the table.
“So the money is righ
tly yours,” Luke replied, relieved that she wasn’t a thief.
“Well, sort of.”
“Well, it either is, or it isn’t.”
“I left with the money because I don’t see why Clarence should have it. As far as I am concerned, the money is rightly Peter’s. Clarence has lied to me about a lot of things. I cannot honesty be certain that he hasn’t lied about owing someone so much money. It is a loan that Peter gave to me. I had intended to keep some of it for myself anyway, but hand some of it over to the creditor to clear only part of Clarence’s debts off but not all of it. I do firmly believe that Clarence should clear some of it himself. I don’t care if he has to go to work to do it; he has nothing else to do with his time. Peter told me to use it to sort myself out, so that is what I intend to do now.”
“How much debt has he run up?” Luke snapped. “How much is in the bag?”
“Five hundred pounds.”
Luke sucked in a startled breath. “Poppy, you cannot go about in London with a bag containing that kind of money. Heaven’s above woman, are you asking for trouble?”
“Well, nobody knows what is in it,” she declared defensively.
“Are you sure?” He challenged. “That woman in the coaching inn who knocked you over certainly seemed intent on getting her hands on it. Then your father seems to want it back, and then there were the pick-pockets in the park. Just what are you not telling me?”
“Nothing,” she countered. “I am telling you the truth. I didn’t kill the man in the park. I am not a thief. I borrowed this money off a cousin. Ask Peter if you want to. I will give you his direction. You can go and see him personally and ask him what happened between him and Clarence. He will confirm what a scoundrel my sire really is. Once I had sorted myself out, anything I didn’t spend I intended to return to Peter, and arrange to repay him any money I used.”