by Rebecca King
“Not tonight. Please not tonight,” she quietly pleaded, her breath no more than a whisper in the silence of the night. “Just go away or be someone I else. Please don’t be him. Please don’t be him. If it is, I shall bloody scream at the top of my voice and not stop.”
“There is nothing to scream about.”
That taunting, almost lazy voice which slithered toward her out of the darkness was enough make Clara inwardly cringe. She knew Boyle was now standing directly behind her. She could feel the hot whoosh of his breath snaking down her neck but forced herself not to show her revulsion or fear. Instead, Clara forced herself to tip her chin up to a haughty angle before she turned to glare at him with eyes that were cold and hard.
“What do you want, Boyle?” she snarled, as coldly as she could manage.
It sounded so unlike her usual cheery self that she had to wonder if that voice was actually hers. Rather than wait for him to answer, Clara resumed her journey but, unsurprisingly, Erasmus had no intention of letting her escape so easily. Within seconds, he darted around her and planted himself firmly in her path, physically blocking her from leaving.
Clara slammed to a stop and braced herself. Lifting a haughty brow, she waited and made no attempt to hide her disgust of the man who was nothing more than a repulsive pest.
Erasmus Boyle was someone Clara could only describe as sleazy. He had no charm, graciousness, or understanding of what it meant to be a gentleman. His background could only be described as questionable, as were his business dealings from which he earnt most of his supposed wealth. The rumours swirling around about him were of shady business dealings, most of which were with the criminal element of the area.
I don’t doubt that cousin of his, the magistrate, helps to keep him out of gaol.
Unfortunately, since Erasmus had appeared in the village almost a year ago, he had made his lecherous intentions toward Clara perfectly clear and had made no bones about the fact that he considered her a woman who was very vulnerable to predators, namely him.
“Get out of my way please,” Clara bit out in a voice that was harsh and clipped.
“Let me escort you home.” There was a hint of command in his tone that left Clara in no doubt he was going to walk with her whether she accepted his pro-offered arm or not.
“Go away,” she growled. Although she tried to glare at him, Clara suspected it was far too dark for him to see it.
If he does see it, from the look on his face he thinks it is highly amusing to defy me.
As he always did whenever she objected to his advances, Erasmus began to smirk with an arrogance that made her want to slap him. It was only the thought that doing so would lower her to his level that prevented her. It would be incredibly satisfying but would undoubtedly be something he would take full advantage of in one lecherous way or another. While she wanted to rant at him for being so spiteful, she forced herself to ignore the challenge in his eye. Rather than give him anything more than a dour look, Clara stepped out onto the road and resumed her journey.
But Erasmus clearly wasn’t finished trying to unnerve her. The sound of his boots ringing on the cobbled pavement was familiar enough to assure her that it had been him she had heard moments ago. He had been following her. Watching. Waiting to harass her again, just like he usually did.
“It isn’t safe for you to be out at night,” Erasmus drawled. Despite hurrying alongside her, he made a point of sliding a lecherous look over her.
“I am sure you would be the first to make sure anybody caught out on a night like this would be unsafe,” Clara snorted.
“It is dark, and we are alone,” Erasmus murmured suggestively.
Clara eyed the end of the street longingly. As she walked, Clara found that it wasn’t the man beside her who caused her the most alarm. Something had settled between her shoulder blades and left her with a decidedly uncomfortable feeling that was dark and sinister, and unlike anything she had ever encountered before. She daren’t look behind her though, just in case Erasmus wasn’t alone and had friends to help him.
Strangely, I don’t think this has anything to do with the toad.
“You should know better than to wander around at night all by yourself.”
When Clara didn’t reply, the toad grabbed her elbow in a cruel grip which burned into her flesh even through her thick cloak. Cruelly, he yanked her to a stop and swung her around until she faced him.
“Get off me!” Clara slapped at his hands when he tried to push her against the wall of the house they were passing. She struggled and stepped out onto the street but couldn’t get Erasmus to loosen his grip. “How dare you? Get your hands off me at once.”
Unsurprisingly, Erasmus continued to ignore her.
Clara dug her heels in. She glanced around wildly but nobody else was around to help her. Even if she tried to scream, she doubted that anybody would leave the safety of their houses to race to her rescue, or even hear her in time to do anything about Erasmus, who seemed determined to drag her toward his curricle at the end of the road.
“Get off me.”
“I am going to take you home.”
“Using your curricle,” she spat, digging her heels in to stop him dragging her anywhere.
“If you like,” Erasmus drawled.
“It’s not even facing the right way. Besides, my house is just beyond it. There is no need for me to go anywhere with you. Unhand me at once, do you hear?”
Erasmus smirked. “What are you going to do? Eh? Call for the magistrate?”
They both knew that would do no good because his cousin was the magistrate and tended to make excuses for Erasmus’s criminal behaviour. Everyone in the village knew that the magistrate would do nothing to stop his cousin doing whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, Erasmus knew that too. Even so, that didn’t stop Clara from slamming a heavy fist into his bicep in a way that hit the muscle. Erasmus immediately scowled when pain lanced up his arm. His hold instantly eased, leaving Clara able to twist away.
“Manhandle me again and I shall fell you where you stand,” she snarled. “Your cousin may be the magistrate, but my father is the Secretary of State, and has authority over every magistrate in the land. Do anything to harm me and I shall damned well have you and your disreputable cousin arrested.”
Erasmus’s eyes flashed spitefully, but whatever he intended to say he fought to withhold. Temporarily at least, his face turned a little contrite. Clara would have believed he was apologetic, if she didn’t know how nasty he was.
“There is no need for all of this,” Erasmus soothed. “All you have to do is come with me. I shall take you home.”
The word ‘eventually’ hung over them and left Clara in little doubt about what would happen in the intervening period should she be foolish enough to go anywhere with him.
“I have already said ‘no’, Boyle. Do anything to try to force me again and it is kidnap. I shall have you arrested for it because I shall go to my father,” Clara snarled.
To her horror, Erasmus was more focused on his lecherous attack, and completely ignored her as he attempted to slide an arm around her waist.
“Just one little kiss, that’s all,” he urged, his voice a low murmur.
“Go to Hell,” Clara snarled, pushing at his chest and leaning away from him as far as it was possible to go.
It didn’t stop Erasmus from leaning over her intently, his gaze locked on her lips. Desperately, Clara slapped at his head as she twisted around to avoid the moist sucking motion he was making.
“Jesus, you look like a beached trout,” she snarled.
Erasmus blinked at her in astonishment, as if he had never heard such a slur. He paused temporarily but not long enough for Clara to take advantage of his momentary distraction.
“I said no!” she bellowed. “Get your hands off me and go away, Erasmus Boyle.”
Again, and again, she slapped at him as he tried to grab her wrists, her elbows until he eventually succeeded in grabbing her by the waist before
trying once again to force her into his arms.
“If you dare think I am going to carted off anywhere with you then you can think again,” she growled when she managed to force him away.
Clara realised her mistake, though, when she turned around to walk away. Before she could take even one step, Erasmus moved to stand directly behind her whereupon her slid both arms around her so he could suggestively press the entirely length of himself against her back and lift her off her feet. Clara’s stomach recoiled in revulsion.
“We need to talk,” Erasmus growled huskily into her ear, clearly finding their struggle arousing.
“We have nothing to say. I have told you to leave me alone, and I meant it,” Clara snarled, tugging on his arms with cruel fingers.
“You have to know that this desire between us cannot be ignored.”
“Desire? Desire? I couldn’t desire you even if I was dead,” Clara spat. “Nobody finds you desirable, Boyle. You are a lecherous toad. Get your damned hands off me at once.” When he didn’t, Clara jammed her elbow into his stomach. When that didn’t force him to release his hold, she stomped down on his booted foot with her heel as hard as she could.
He winced when the edge of her booted heel jammed into his toes.
“There is nothing between us. There will never be anything between us. Now get away from me,” Clara screamed, jamming her booted foot down onto his foot again for good measure. When that still didn’t work, she balled her hand into a tight fist and rammed it as hard as she could under his jaw, snapping his head back with a heavy jerk. The resounding clack of his teeth snapping together was just about as rewarding as being instantly released.
Clara wasted no time putting several feet of distance between them, but before she left, Clara issued him with one last glare. Erasmus was clutching his jaw and glaring maliciously at her, but Clara didn’t let that thwart her. Without thinking about what she was doing, she narrowed the distance between them but only so she could slam a flat palm against his uncovered cheek with as much force as she could muster. The loud slap of her flesh against his skin was enough to make her fingers sting but she didn’t regret it. Clara waited and watched the imprint of her fingers appear on the now ruddy flesh beneath his now spiteful glare.
“I hope that hurt. Maybe next time you try to force yourself on a woman, you consider that they might not be as vulnerable as you hoped they were. Touch me again, and I shall have you arrested, Boyle, no matter who your relations are,” she growled.
“It is about time you had a man in your life force you to behave with more decorum,” Erasmus growled, surging toward her with his hands outstretched.
He took no more than two steps before those hands were grabbed in a ferocious grip that made Erasmus bellow with pain. An ‘oomph’ of surprise was forced through his lips when he was roughly slammed face-first against a nearby wall. He was rendered helpless with such swift force that Erasmus was left with his face pressed tightly against the coarse brickwork rendering him unable to speak or hassle anybody before he could even gasp for breath.
CHAPTER THREE
“Move one more time and you are going to need a surgeon to help you heal,” the stranger growled at Erasmus as he pressed him harder against the wall. “I most definitely won’t allow you to walk properly again. The lady said ‘no’. Got it?”
“Get off me,” Erasmus protested. “Who the hell are you? What does this have to do with you? Get the hell out of here. You can’t do this to me.”
“I can do what I want. I just heard the young lady say to you that she wasn’t interested, yet you continued to force yourself upon her. That is assault, fool. Now why should I want to ignore someone who accosts young women on the street? We all know what has been going on in Leicestershire and Derbyshire. Are you one of the kidnappers, eh? Should I send for the Lord Chief Justice’s men?”
“Eh? What? That has nothing to do with me,” Erasmus cried, this time with none of his previous arrogance. In fact, he sounded petulant and whiny and utterly terrified that he was going to be arrested for a crime he hadn’t committed.
“Well, those young women were accosted on the street as they went about their business. They vanished too, undoubtedly against their will. From what I have witnessed, you have tried to accost this woman and tried to force her to go somewhere with you. That is kidnap. I think we should notify the Lord Chief Justice about your behaviour. It strikes me that it looks like you had something to do with the disappearance of those young women who vanished not all that far away.” Niall’s curious gaze slid to the young woman in question. “In fact, your victim tonight also matches the same description as the other women who were snatched.”
“I am not a kidnapper,” Erasmus cried. “I just wanted to talk to her.”
“But you were going to force her to go somewhere with you that she didn’t want to go. She said ‘no’ several times, yet you ignored her. Forcing women to go somewhere they don’t want to go is kidnap. Forcing someone like her off the streets when you have no authority to do so puts you under suspicion as being responsible for the kidnap of the other women who have disappeared in Leicestershire and Derbyshire,” the stranger reasoned.
“I had nothing to do with that,” Erasmus cried, clearly panic-stricken.
“Prove it,” Niall demanded.
“I-I just wanted to talk to her.”
Niall turned to look at the stunning young woman who was watching everything with wide eyes, but an avid curiosity that warned him she wasn’t distressed. She was angry, and more than happy that Erasmus was getting his comeuppance.
Niall lifted his brows at the young woman. “Do you want to talk to him?”
“No.” Clara shook her head vehemently.
“Did you want to go anywhere with him?”
“Never. I have told him to leave me alone but he won’t.”
“I was only going to escort her home.”
“But I only live at the end of the street,” Clara replied before Erasmus could attempt to justify his bullish behaviour.
“So, there is no need for you to go for a ride in his curricle.” It wasn’t a question, but the young woman shook her head. Niall nodded. “It’s kidnap.”
“Unhand me at once,” Erasmus cried, now struggling to try to get away from the wall.
Niall refused to allow him to budge, not least because he wanted to give Boyle an idea of what his victim had experienced when she had been accosted.
“It is strange, but I just heard the young lady say that to you and you ignored her. Now why should I do what you want?” Niall growled.
He turned a querying brow on the young woman and forced himself to ignore the wild thrill of attraction that appeared out of nowhere and hovered between them. When their eyes met there was a hint of something; a spark of a connection that left neither of them in any doubt it was there. It simmered in the air and wrapped around them both, entwining them in a shared universe that not even Erasmus could intrude upon.
“Did he hurt you?” Niall asked softly, secretly wondering what the hell it was about her that was so appealing.
Yes, she was stunning. Yes, she was fierce and determined. He had seen that for himself when he had watched her struggle so ferociously as she had fought for her freedom. Yes, she was able to argue her cause, and was feisty and quick enough to be able to stand her ground against a challenge. But that wasn’t what had nudged a deep, protective instinct hidden deep within him. It wasn’t her looks either. Niall had seen even more beautiful women and never felt this instant connection with any of them before.
“Mother of God,” Niall snarled, more to himself than to anyone else. Forcing his thoughts back to the man now struggling against the wall, he contemplated what to do with him.
“He didn’t hurt me, he is just persistent and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Clara murmured.
All sorts of questions were flowing through her. She wanted to know who this handsome stranger was. Why he was in the village. Where he had come
from. Where he was staying. Moreover, why he should create within her a spark of attraction she had never felt toward any man before. He was handsome, that was unquestionable. He was tall, broad shouldered with dark, smouldering eyes that seemed to stare straight into her soul. He was gentle when he had to be yet fierce when crossed. Of that there could be little doubt. In just a few short seconds he had made Erasmus look like a snappy little mongrel while he remained cool and unruffled. Clara had no idea who this handsome stranger was, but she knew that he was a man who was in command of his world. Someone who could deal with whatever problems came his way with a calm, matter-of-factness that ensured results.
He is my hero. It is as simple as that.
Clara sighed, but it was heartfelt and full of longing rather than driven by boredom or fear.
He is probably married with half a dozen children; Clara thought a little ruefully.
“Who is he?” Niall asked.
“His name is Erasmus Boyle. He is a local businessman who enjoys making women, m-me, uncomfortable,” Clara reported, sliding a somewhat wary look at Erasmus.
“Where is your chaperone?” Niall looked all about the street but it appeared that the foolish young woman was all alone and Boyle had taken full advantage of it.
“My aunt is at home waiting for me. I have been to the church and was walking home. That’s all. I go to church every Wednesday and often walk home. It isn’t very far. Nothing like this has ever happened to be me before, not until he arrived in any case. Serpentine is usually a safe village. It is a shame it is spoilt by Boyle.”
“But you still shouldn’t be walking out alone,” Niall snapped. “Serpentine cannot be as safe as you think it is or he wouldn’t have accosted you.”
Clara mentally winced because she knew he had a point. Still, she tipped her chin up and glared at him. While she was grateful for his help, she could see no reason why she should have her behaviour questioned by this stranger.