by Rebecca King
“Good morning, Miss Carney. How may I help you today? The usual is it?” the grocer asked as he hurried toward her.
Sophia nodded absently and rattled the order off. While she waited for the items to be selected and placed in her basket, her gaze wandered to the empty street outside.
It was then that she saw him. Tallish, dressed in ordinary labourer’s clothing, at first glance there was nothing extraordinary about him. She would have dismissed him entirely if it hadn’t been for Tabitha’s disappearance. There was just something about him that was odd.
A frown marred her brow as she studied him. From this distance, she couldn’t decide on his age, but judged him to be in his mid-forties. There was something about the way he was staring straight at her that set the small hairs on the back of her neck on end. It was too intense, far too probing, and more than a little worrying given what had happened to Tabitha. It felt as though he knew her, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember having ever seen him before. There was something almost sinister about him that assured her she would have remembered if their paths had ever crossed. She firmly believed he was someone she didn’t ever want to cross paths with and, strangely, found herself scouring the street again in search of Jeb.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Mr Gregory,” she began nervously without taking her eyes off the man now watching her just as intently as she was watching him.
“Yes, Miss Carney?”
“Who is that man over there?”
“Where?” Mr Gregory looked about the shop.
When he didn’t join her beside the window, Sophia looked at him.
“The man outside. Have you seen him before?”
Mr Gregory dutifully turned to look out of the window. “Who?”
Sophia pointed to the man across the road only to gasp to find nobody there. She glanced up and down the street, but there was no sign of him.
“It doesn’t matter,” she murmured vaguely. Worried about who he was and why he had been watching her, Sophia absently paid for her purchases and left the shop.
“Yoo-hoo, Miss Carney? Oh, I say, Miss Carney?”
Sophia groaned at the high pitched sound of Mabel’s voice. Although she liked the woman, at the moment Sophia just wanted to get back to the relative safety of Delilah’s house so she could think over what had happened.
Still, that was no reason for Sophia to snub the lovely elderly lady. With that in mind, she adopted an overly bright smile and waited for the woman to reach her.
It is surprising just how spritely an elderly lady could be when she had a piece of juicy gossip to impart, Sophia mused but then immediately felt uncharitable for doing so.
“I am so glad I caught you,” Mabel gushed.
“Good morning, Miss Harvell,” Sophia said politely.
“Have you heard the news?”
“About Tabitha? Yes, I am afraid so,” Sophia replied sadly.
“It is a shame isn’t it? Such a waste of a young life, I say,” Mabel reported.
“Have you heard something else then?”
“Pardon?”
“Well, I heard she had gone missing. Have they found her then?” Sophia was starting to grow concerned that the gossip she had heard in the butcher’s shop hadn’t been as accurate as she had first thought.
“Oh, well, I am not sure, but it is most unusual. It is so very unlike Tabitha to just vanish like that and well, these things never end in a nice way do they?”
Sophia was shocked. There was nothing to say that Tabitha hadn’t fallen down a rabbit hole and got her foot caught or something, yet according to Mabel, reports of her demise were inevitable.
“Well, I think it is best not to jump to conclusions. It's hard to say what has happened to her until they find her. It is best to just wait and see,” Sophia replied carefully.
She wasn’t going to be drawn into Mabel’s tattle-tailing, and knew she had to be careful what she said or else it could be misconstrued and would be repeated, most probably out of context.
“Good morning, Miss Carney, Miss Harvell,” Jeb said smoothly as he stopped beside Sophia. “How are you both this beautiful morning?”
Sophia closed her eyes on a silent prayer that the flurry of awareness deep in the pit of her stomach didn’t show on her flushed cheeks, and nodded politely.
“Have you heard anything?” Mabel began without preamble. “I hear your father has sent the labourers out to help with the search.”
“No, nothing yet, Miss Harvell,” Jeb replied. “That is why I was passing through the village. Seeing as you are here, I would be relieved if you would give me the pleasure of escorting you home. I think that it would be best not to wander around the village on your own for the time being. You too, Miss Carney.” He lifted a hand up when Miss Harvell began to look flustered. “I am not suggesting that anybody is in any danger, but it is better to be safe than sorry is it not?”
Sophia wanted to take her leave, but then remembered the man who had been staring at her moments earlier. While it seemed that he had vanished for now, the thought that he might re-appear made her strangely reluctant to take her leave of Jeb’s reassuring solidity. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him about the man who had been staring at her but, given Mabel’s tendency to fret, decided to wait until she could speak with Jeb a little more privately.
“Oh, well, I was going to the butcher’s shop for some meat for Friday. We are having a tea, you know. I do hope you are both joining us?” Mabel gushed, and quickly launched into a list of the cakes she would be offering.
“Of course, both Delilah and I are looking forward to it,” Sophia replied once Jeb had accepted the invitation on behalf of his father. “You must tell us if there is anything we can bring.”
“Why nothing. Not at all. Of course, we wouldn’t expect you to contribute. No, that would never do,” Mabel replied, quite put out at the notion.
“I know my father was quite beside himself at the thought of taking tea with you,” Jeb replied smoothly and mentally apologised to his father for the fabrication.
His father’s actual response had been to groan, put his head in his hands, and declare that he would prefer to have his eyelashes plucked out.
“We shall be delighted to see you on Friday.”
Before Mabel could begin gossiping again, he held his elbow out and nodded toward the butcher’s shop down the road.
“Let’s get you to the butcher’s shop then.” He looked over the top of her mob cap at Sophia. “I will then escort Miss Carney home.”
Sophia didn’t object and was, in fact, somewhat relieved when they left Mabel in the shop, and made their way toward Delilah’s house on their own.
“How are you this morning, Miss Carney? I hope my unannounced house call yesterday didn’t upset your aunt?”
“Why would it upset her?” she asked cautiously.
“She just seemed a little worried about something,” Jeb replied. “I hope my request that you call me Jeb didn’t put her out.”
“Oh, no. Delilah is quite easy going about such things. She finds the pomp and circumstance of formality tedious, and I have to say that I agree with her.”
“Excellent,” Jeb declared with a smile. “I have to confess that I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments.”
He watched her glance up and down the road with a frown.
“What is it?” he asked softly.
Sophia had to tell him. “I saw someone watching me this morning while I was at the grocer’s shop.”
“Oh? Who was it?” Jeb asked carefully.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him before. I don’t know many people in the village, you understand, because I haven’t been here for very long. But there was something about this man that was a little alarming,” she murmured.
Jeb stiffened and frowned at her. “Alarming? How so? Did he approach you?”
“No, but he was staring rather avidly at me. It wasn’t a cursory glance of someone watching or wa
iting for someone.” Sophia sighed and wondered if she saw things that weren’t there. “I am sorry. It sounds nonsense, I know, but there was just something about this man that was worrying. Maybe I am wrong. I had just heard about Tabitha’s disappearance and it had thrown me. Just ignore me. I am sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Jeb protested. “You did right to tell me.”
He glanced up and down the road but couldn’t see anyone. Mainly because he suspected that nearly everyone was out in the fields searching for Tabitha.
“What did he look like? Do you see him now?”
If there was one person in the village he suspected without a fanciful bone in her body it was Sophia.
“No. He vanished just as quickly as he appeared.” She looked at Jeb. “Forgive me. I am a bit jumpy this morning.”
Jeb shook his head sadly. “It is best for now that you don’t go wandering around by yourself. Take Delilah with you if you have to go anywhere, and make sure you do so in the daytime. Try not to go out at night unless you can help it and especially not on your own. When you go to tea on Friday, go with Delilah. The men are going to escort you ladies home when we are done. I don’t want to scare you unduly but until we can find out what happened to Tabitha, everyone has to be a little more cautious.”
Sophia nodded and frowned at the road ahead.
“What do you think has happened to her? From what I hear, she doesn’t appear to be the wayward type.”
“I have no idea,” Jeb sighed. “Just be warned that from past experience, this is not likely to end happily.”
There was something in his voice that warned her that he was talking from experience.
“That is just what Mabel said,” she replied thoughtfully.
Jeb knew from his work with the Star Elite that Tabitha was not likely to have wandered off unaided. Did her disappearance have anything to do with the stranger Sophia saw? He didn’t know yet, but he had every intention of finding out.
“What did he look like?”
Sophia described him as best she could.
“I will see if I can find him again,” Jeb asked. “You did right to tell me.”
Silence settled around them for a moment. Tabitha, the thief, and Delilah’s problems aside, it was really rather nice to be able to relax and simply enjoy the morning – for both of them.
“Here we are,” Jeb murmured once they reached Delilah’s front door.
For once in his life Jeb didn’t want to say goodbye to a woman he was interested in.
Usually, when he took a lady out, his patience was tested to the limit. Not least because he found the average woman’s tendency to ramble on about nonsensical matters rather tedious. If they weren’t giggling unnecessarily, or dithering on about nonsense, or dropping hints about matrimony or expectations then they were simpering and clinging as though completely unable to stand on their own two feet, and he found it as annoying as Hell.
Sophia, however, was nothing like that. She did stand on her own two feet. Rather too much for his liking. Her touch on his arm was light. The silence that had fallen between them was relaxed in nature, and companionable to the point that he felt comfortable around her. There was no hint of pretence or wariness in either of them and it made a refreshing change. It was wonderful to be with someone who spoke when they had something to say, otherwise was perfectly content to remain quiet. It went some way to reaffirming his belief that he might just have found ‘the one’ he hadn’t entirely been sure he was searching for.
Still, there she was, and he wasn’t prepared to look a gift horse in the mouth. Now that she was there, he intended to do everything he needed to do to keep her in his life. He just had to decide how to go about it.
“Thank you for escorting me home. I have to confess that I feel a little safer having someone with me,” Sophia declared honestly. She could see no reason to lie to him.
Jeb lifted her hand off his arm and drew it up to his lips. The kiss he placed on the back of her soft skin made her shiver. Jeb saw the flash of awareness in her eyes a second before her gaze fell shyly to the floor.
He smiled softly. He hadn’t been expecting shyness, but it was there anyway. He was delighted by the intriguing mix of emotions she revealed. Suddenly, he wanted to see all of Miss Sophia Carney’s facets, and hopefully unearth that passionate nature so carefully hidden from the world.
Again, he kissed the back of his hand, but it still didn’t appease the growing hunger deep within him. He lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes. He could sense no fear or hesitation in her as he leaned forward slowly. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her.
Sophia watched his head lower slowly toward hers. She felt trapped, mesmerised even, but couldn’t have moved away if her life depended on upon it. Her soft sigh shimmered over their lips seconds before his came to rest upon hers and stayed there. The gentle pressure wasn’t threatening but rendered her helpless.
Seconds later his lips had gone. As quickly as that, the kiss was over, and he lifted his head again. The wave of disappointment that crashed through her snapped her out of her daze. She looked at him in consternation, unsure what to do next.
Jeb forced his attention away from the luscious curve of her lips and tried to focus his mind on something less tempting.
“I will see you on Friday?” he murmured huskily.
“Yes, Friday,” Sophia whispered.
“Until then, Sophia.”
He was about to turn away but then paused and looked back at her. Before he could stop himself, he returned to her, yanked her into his embrace, and slammed a kiss on her lips that left her reeling.
Her fingers had barely touched his jacket before he was gone again. On trembling knees she was left to slump weakly against the front door and watched him slam the gate closed behind him with a resounding thump. As he walked back toward the village, his gaze remained locked on hers right up until the moment he disappeared from sight.
Dazed, stunned, awed and delighted, Sophia completely forgot about the news sweeping around the village, the strange man, and Mabel’s opinion of Tabitha’s fate, and let herself into the house with a soft smile on her face. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she had to take a moment to rest against it while she willed her shaking knees to hold her up long enough for her to climb the stairs.
CHAPTER NINE
It was with a mixture of trepidation, fear, and excitement that Sophia made her way to the Harvell’s home that Friday.
After what had happened on the doorstep the other day she couldn’t wait to see Jeb again. The hours had passed so painfully slowly since she had last seen him that Sophia felt like she was going stark raving mad.
The only issue that dampened her excited anticipation was the presence of the stolen hairbrushes tucked away in her bag. She hated to think what would happen if she got caught with them in her possession. The thought of Jeb’s reaction was simply horrifying and would almost certainly mean the end of their association. Feeling tainted, she couldn’t wait to get rid of them, and glared at her aunt when she swept past her and out of the front door.
Once outside, Sophia slammed the door closed behind her and followed her aunt down the street.
“Don’t sulk, Sophia,” Delilah drawled with a slightly mocking look at her niece’s scowl.
“I am not sulking,” Sophia snapped through gritted teeth.
Her aunt’s smug expression made her fury burn even brighter. She decided then that Delilah needed to be pushed to return the items.
Eyeing the Harvell residence ahead, and before she could talk herself out of it, she suddenly thrust the bag at her. When Delilah didn’t immediately take it, Sophia pushed it harder until she had no choice but to hold it.
“You stole them. You are going to put them back, Delilah,” she ground out and turned away.
Delilah’s mouth opened, but she didn’t give her chance to say anything. She marched the last few steps to the front door of the Harvell residenc
e, and knocked loudly.
She was aware of Delilah’s evil stare as they swept inside but didn’t care what her aunt thought, felt, or wanted. The truth was that Sophia had no intention of getting caught with stolen items in her bag no matter how much Delilah lied. It irked her that her aunt had promised to return the items she had taken, three at a time, and had continued to do so right up until the moment they had left the house. Unfortunately, Delilah had then quite cunningly announced that she wasn’t going to return anything because it was too much of a risk to take. She had swept out of the house before Sophia could argue, leaving her to snatch the bag off the table.
As a result, the silent clash of wills between the two ladies had soured the relationship even more. To the point that Sophia seriously doubted it could ever be rekindled to even ordinary civility. Still, she couldn’t ignore the fact that a crime had been committed, several times, right under her nose. She was compelled to do whatever she had to in order to protect the family name, in spite of Delilah’s best attempts to sully it.
Once at the Harvell’s though, Sophia’s disappointment faded a little. Tea was a sparse affair indeed, accompanied by luke-warm tea, and dried cake that should have been thrown in the fire days ago, but that didn’t matter. Jeb was there, and his presence made the discomfort worthwhile.
“Good afternoon, Miss Carney,” Jeb murmured huskily as she entered. He bowed politely at both Sophia and her aunt. “Miss Carney. How are you both on this fine afternoon?”
“Fine,” Delilah replied absently, clearly not interested in making conversation.
“I am very well, thank you,” Sophia replied with a smile. “How are you?”
His smile widened when her gaze dropped to his lips again. He knew she was remembering the kiss he gave her. If they had been alone he would have kissed her again, but in deference to the other rather watchful guests had to content himself with a smouldering look that was full of sensual promise.