by Rebecca King
His concern grew as he searched the kitchen and found very little in the way of food to feed a house full of hungry men.
What on earth were they going to try to serve for breakfast? Marcus thought with a frown as he shut the door to the almost bare cupboard.
His gaze landed on a small package resting on the hearth. Minutes later he stared blankly down at a small cut of beef. It was odd that it was left next to the fire and not stored in the scullery where it was cooler.
What on earth was going on?
“Looking for something?”
Marcus sighed and scowled at the young lad, who looked back with his brows lifted in supreme arrogance.
He is good, Marcus mused ruefully. I didn’t even hear him move.
For someone who worked for the Star Elite, that was rare. Marcus began to look at the boy in a new light.
“I am looking for something to eat,” he explained. “However, raw beef isn’t going to do the job. Do you not keep a loaf of bread out for the guests in case they get hungry?”
Ben shook his head.
“Most of the guests stick to their rooms at night. They don’t creep around with their boots in their hands.” His gaze dropped meaningfully to the said boots Marcus held.
“I have just been for a walk. I suffer from insomnia,” Marcus lied. “I find the night air soothes me. Unfortunately, it also gives me a raging appetite.”
He frowned at the empty kitchen table and wondered if the lad, or his sister, would be offended if he bought some extra food.
“The kitchen closes after dinner in the evening,” Ben warned darkly. “We also ask the guests to remain in their rooms at night. How did you get in?”
Marcus sighed heavily when the lad’s gaze sharpened.
“More importantly, why does the magistrate seem to patrol this village in the dead of night?” Marcus replied, evading his question.
“Is he out there?”
Marcus nodded. “Yes. Lloyd and that sidekick of his are skulking around in the woods. I got the distinct impression that I was being threatened about something, but I haven’t done anything wrong. I have to say that I have never seen a village as nocturnally busy as this one.”
Determined to leave Ben with something to think about, Marcus ambled casually to the door.
“Best to stay inside then,” Ben warned. “You know, so that you don’t get caught up in anything you should stay away from.”
“Oh, I can hold my own,” Marcus drawled. His meaningful gaze met the lad’s. He waited for the mild threat to register on him.
“I am sure you can,” Ben replied thoughtfully.
Marcus nodded to the cut of beef. “Best get that moved somewhere colder. It looks hot.”
He sauntered into the hallway, the look of guilt on the lad’s face lingering in his mind. It told him far more than any words could. The beef had been stolen. That meant the situation in the house was so bad that the lad was stealing food to get by.
His anger flared, but it wasn’t at Ben. It was at his sister, Jessica.
Did she not know what would happen to her if she got caught with stolen meat in the kitchen? She would have no argument against the inquisitive magistrate.
Somehow, though, Marcus doubted the magistrate would put her behind bars. If she didn’t end up in gaol, Heaven only knew what the man would force Jess to agree to once he was in a position to hold theft over her head. It was a no win situation either way for her.
That made him incredibly annoyed; at the magistrate, the brother, and the circumstances in which she lived. The house was nothing short of a ramshackle dump. It was incredibly difficult to understand why lodgers would pay to live in such a place.
That though was enough to draw his attention back to the other lodgers. He knew there was something odd about them; he just didn’t know what.
But I will find out, he mused and made himself a promise that he would search their rooms at the first opportunity.
He made his way up the stairs but, when he turned the corner to his bedchamber and slammed into a delightfully feminine figure he hadn’t realised was there. His arms immediately swept around her to hold her steady when she stumbled. She was so close that her gasp was lost somewhere in the region of his chest, but he paid it no attention. His mind locked on her delicate scent, and how wonderful it felt to have her flush against him.
He looked down at her at the same time she peered up at him.
Even standing on tip-toe she barely reached his chin. Tipping her head back, she immediately became lost in the dark promise in his eyes, and the comfort of his warm embrace.
“I am sorry,” she whispered, ensnared by that gentle gaze.
When she had bumped into him, her hands had lifted instinctively and now rested against the solid wall of his chest. She made no attempt to move them. At the moment they didn’t feel as though they belonged to her.
“It’s alright. No harm was done,” Marcus whispered.
He lifted a slightly shaking hand and tucked an errant curl behind one ear, and breathed in her essence. It was honeysuckle. Sweet and natural, just like her. Logic went out of the window. Reasoning followed it. Nothing could have stopped him from dipping his head and placing his lips over the warmth of hers. He elicited a gasp from her and eased back so that he didn’t frighten her.
“Jessica,” he whispered.
Her name on his lips washed over her. A shiver slid down her spine. It was only when the silence between them thickened that she realised he was expecting her to say something. She tried to think of something but couldn’t. She didn’t usually converse with her lodgers while still in her nightgown – in a darkened hallway – wrapped in their arms in the middle of the night.
It was then that the reality of their situation slammed into her, and she realised what she was allowing to happen.
“I am sorry, I shouldn’t have-” she murmured as she pushed away from him.
Marcus sucked in a reluctant breath and slowly released her. He had no idea what had just happened, but his body ached. Wrapped in the pale fabric of her night gown as she was, Jess looked angelic. The halo of her long hair tumbling wildly around her shoulders made her look wild and carefree. The mental image of her running through a wildflower meadow flickered through his mind with such clarity that he yearned for it to become a reality. He swiftly closed the door on it when his body began to respond and forced himself to focus his attention on more mundane matters.
“I heard voices you see, and wondered who was up and about,” she explained self-consciously. She wanted to tuck her hair up but didn’t have her pins.
I must look an awful fright, she thought in horror.
“I was downstairs, having a conversation with your brother,” he explained.
Jess frowned. All trace of the warm flush of desire she had just relished immediately receded, and left shame in its wake. Of course, there had to be a reason for him to be up and about in the middle of the night, and it was not her.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” she gasped, forcing her attention back to her brother. “Is he alright?”
When she tried to side-step around him to go and check on Ben, Marcus captured her arm.
“He is fine. I just found I couldn’t sleep again so went for a walk. When I came back, I ran into your brother,” Marcus hastened to assure her.
“You couldn’t sleep?” Jessica parroted. “What do you mean ‘again’?”
Marcus tried to ignore the way her lips glistened in the moonlight. When his body began to tremble with the need to touch her, he made himself turn away. He had to put some distance between them before he did something rash like hauling her back into his arms for a very thorough kiss. That would most definitely lead to the bedroom.
“I don’t sleep very well,” he replied, hating to have to lie to her. “I have been for a walk. When I got back, I ran into your brother. I didn’t realise he slept downstairs.”
“Yes. There aren’t enough bedrooms. Ben sleeps
in the scullery,” she replied.
Marcus smiled. “I am sorry to have kicked you out of your room.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she hastened to reassure him.
She wanted to ask him what the kiss had been all about, but she couldn’t. Not even when she noticed him studying her lips with a thoughtful frown.
“I will say goodnight then.” His words were interrupted by four chimes from the grandfather clock downstairs.
“Or good morning,” she grumbled to hide her awkwardness.
With as much aplomb as she could muster, she turned around and hurried back to her room. She had to close the door on the sight of Marcus watching her. While it felt rude to shut him out, she had no intention of offering him anything. She didn’t run that kind of establishment.
As she turned away and removed her wrap she was painfully aware that her hands shook, but it had nothing to do with the coolness of the room. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had just been woken up in the early hours by strange noises downstairs, or had bumped into someone at the top of the stairs.
Her disquiet was generated purely by the strangeness of the feelings surging through her, brought forth by the new lodger. The unwanted emotions she experienced had nothing to do with fear, uncertainty, suspicion, or curiosity, which were all of the things she knew she should expect to feel for him. Her feelings were instead focused firmly on the wild thrill of excitement, anticipation, and feminine curiosity his kiss had created.
She had never been that close to any man other than her brother before in her life. Even when she had hugged Ben, he stood still long enough for only the briefest of hugs. Her father had passed away when Jess had been a young child. She had been so young that she didn’t even have the faintest recollection of what kind of person he had been. She had never had a suitor either, so had no idea what it felt like to be held, or kissed, or loved, by a man.
It felt strange to be in Marcus’ arms. Warm and reassuring, yet so delightful that she rather reluctantly had to admit that she wanted to try it again. Not just the hug either. She wanted him to kiss her again as he had just now. She touched her lips with wondering fingers and smiled.
Flopping over in bed, she jerked when the clock in the hallway chimed five times. She had spent the better part of an hour thinking about him and what they had shared, and she hadn’t even realised how much time had passed. With a wide yawn, she threw the covers back and got up.
She was in turmoil. She would never manage to get back to sleep in the half hour she had left before she had to light the fires. To try to get her mind off Marcus, she needed to keep busy. It was time to go downstairs and get the bread made and baked for breakfast. Then she had to get the meat cooked, and the table set for breakfast. Hopefully, by the time she had finished all of that her attention would be more focused on the life she led, not the man she would like to be a part of it.
Unfortunately, her day went downhill rapidly as the morning progressed. To her disgust, while she was serving the guests breakfast, Ben took the opportunity to leave. The loud slam of the back door closing behind him stoked her anger. She hurried to the kitchen window and caught sight of him on the edge of the woods. It was too late to call him back.
“Damn you, Ben,” she whispered. “You have to help me at some point.”
She had no idea what had gotten into her brother of late. He used to be a willing and able hand, happy to take his fair share of the burden. Of late, it rather felt as though he had lost all interest in the place, and didn’t care what happened to it, or her.
“At some point, something has to improve,” she whispered. “You had better hope so in any case because if it doesn’t, and something goes catastrophically wrong, we are going to have to leave.”
“Are you alright?” Marcus asked from the doorway.
“Oh!” She spun around, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment at being caught talking to herself. “I didn’t realise you were there.”
She made no attempt to keep the anger out of her voice. If she was honest, it unnerved her how easily Marcus popped up here and there without making a sound.
“The ale jug is empty,” he declared, lifting the jug for her to see.
Marcus made no attempt to approach her. He had witnessed the worry on her face as she had stared after her brother. Although he hadn’t been close enough to hear everything she had muttered beneath her breath, he understood that she was angry at Ben.
Was she afraid he was going to steal again?
Marcus had spent the better part of the last two weeks following people around the village. While Ben proved to be the most elusive, he had followed the lad to the rectory, where he had stayed for quite a while, to Retterton. His visits there were frequent enough to cause concern, but Marcus had yet to find out what he did while he was there. Ben had not met with his contact again, nor had he done anything outwardly suspicious that warranted being followed. Both Lloyd and Carruthers loitered – practically everywhere, without really getting much done, and there had been no sign of Ben’s contact at all.
So far, although they were an odd group of people, they weren’t as suspicious as the other guests living at the lodging house. All four of the other guests were like shadows in the night, whose behaviour was most definitely not matching their characters.
Marcus therefore rather felt the solution to his problems lay within the house.
“I think there is some more in the keg in the scullery,” she replied. “I will bring some through.”
“There is no rush. Most of the guests have gone now,” he informed her.
He wanted to engage her in conversation, but she didn’t give him the opportunity to. She snatched the jug off the table and hurried into the scullery.
“Something smells nice,” he murmured. He eyed the pot on the fireplace responsible for the delicious scent of roast beef that was teasing his nostrils and sighed in dismay.
“It is for dinner,” she replied, her voice growing louder as she re-entered the room.
Rather than hand him the pitcher, she carried it into the dining room, effectively dismissing him. Determined not to be avoided, Marcus followed her. When he got there, he watched her for a moment. She was a hive of activity collecting the plates and stacking them, clearing the table and sweeping the floor.
Shaking his head, he found his disgust for the rather selfish brother growing by leaps and bounds. Would it be best if he pursued the lad? If only to force him off his wayward pathway of illegal activity? After all, the Star Elite’s investigation was the reason Marcus was in the house in the first place. His work for them had to come first, over and above any other situations that arose. Any other problems the Parkinsons had were an entirely private matter and, if Ben were involved with Sayers’ gang, they would be resolved in time.
“Best get to it then,” he murmured reluctantly.
Right now, he needed to get out of the house, if only to clear his head for a while. Focusing on following Ben gave him the perfect excuse. He had no doubt the lad was off to Retterton again. Maybe, this time, he would be succesful in following him anywhere other than the tavern. It was odd. Ben went to Retterton, straight to the Dog and Ferret tavern. Once inside, though, he vanished completely. A search of the entire town failed to give any clues as to where the lad had gone. Neither did he ever appear in the tavern.
“It is odd, but I will find you,” Marcus promised as he stomped into the trees.
He could search the house later, once he had cleared his head of the woman and was able to focus on his job properly.
Jess watched him go and heaved a sigh of relief. He was altogether too watchful and had a tendency to linger. It was as though he was waiting for something, or looking for something, and it was unnerving. Without challenging him about it, there was nothing she could do. The man was far too handsome for his own good. It was distracting to be the focus of his rather avid attention. She had found him watching her for far longer than was polite, but had to wonder what he w
as studying. She was neat, tidy, presentable, if a little plain. There was nothing about her appearance that was objectionable. Nor could it attract him in any way. So why did he stare so much?
“How can I object to the man simply wanting to talk to me?” She murmured aloud as she dropped the plates into the bucket for a wash.
She couldn’t. It would be foolish if she did.
It wasn’t that she was averse to having to talk with any of the guests. It was just that she hadn’t stopped to engage anyone in conversation for a very long time, especially someone like Marcus. She had no idea what to say. It wasn’t as if they had anything in common because she knew nothing about him.
“I could ask him why he is here,” she murmured as she watched him disappear after Ben. “Just what are you up to?”
CHAPTER SIX
It galled Marcus to admit it, but he had just lost his target - again. He glared around the silent woods and swore.
You did give him a good head start because you were panting after his sister, you fool, he thought in self-disgust.
Without knowing who Ben’s contacts in the area were, Marcus had no idea which way he should go to try to intercept him. If he followed him all the way to Retterton, the lad would just vanish again, just like he had on every other occasion Marcus had tracked him to the town.
Determined to accomplish one positive thing today, he turned around and made his way back to the boarding house.
“You need to get your mind off the woman, and the family problems, and back onto what you are here for,” he muttered in disgust.
His curse was loud when he remembered that he had yet to write to Barnaby and Sir Hugo. With that in mind, he lengthened his stride, determined to get one task done to help the investigation along a little. Once in the house, though, it quickly became evident that things had changed while he had been away.