A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite Book 6)

by Rebecca King

  “I don’t know what to do,” Clara whispered. “Except tell the truth, and I don’t know how.”

  “What was that, dear?”

  Clara squealed and spun around in surprise when she heard that voice directly behind her. “Edith. I didn’t know you were there.”

  Her guilty eyes flickered to Flo, who stood just a few feet behind her.

  “Care to tell us what is going on?” Flo demanded.

  “I was just going to put a pot on to boil. I think we need to then have a chat about Niall,” Clara began warily.

  “Yes, I think she has to know the truth, don’t you, dear?” Flo replied firmly.

  Clara nodded but before she could speak, Edith jerked and craned her neck to peer at something out in the garden.

  “What is it?” Clara asked, turning around to look.

  Edith frowned at their reflection for a moment or two before she seemed to realise what Clara had just asked.

  “What, dear? Oh, I thought I just saw someone outside,” she murmured with a heavy frown. “I could have sworn I saw someone dart around the corner of the outbuilding just now.”

  “Really?” Clara immediately wondered if it was Erasmus.

  “Are you sure? Did you see who it was?” Flo demanded.

  Rather than move to the window, Flo yanked the back door open so she could see the garden.

  “Aunt Flo, it is going to do no good to stand in the doorway like that. What do you intend to do if someone appears in the garden?” Clara chided.

  “At least he knows he has been seen. I hope that whatever blackguard is out there knows that he isn’t as good at hiding as he thought he was,” Flo retorted. With that, she stepped back into the room and slammed the back door with a resounding thud.

  Clara shook her head chidingly at her but didn’t take her to task for her bravery not least because she hoped it was Erasmus Boyle out there. If there was one person Erasmus didn’t like or seem inclined to want to annoy it was Aunt Flo.

  “I think it might be Erasmus again,” Clara sighed. “He is a pest. If it hadn’t been for Niall, God only knows what would have happened to me.”

  Clara met her aunt’s curious look and briefly explained what had happened and how Niall had saved her from being seriously assaulted.

  “Well, thank heaven your Niall was around,” Flo announced with no small measure of satisfaction.

  “I don’t know where he is now,” Clara whispered.

  “I am sure that snake has slithered off home,” Edith replied.

  “I am sure he will reappear sooner rather than later,” Flo assured them.

  “Well, whoever it was out there has most probably gone by now so I shall get off home,” Edith announced to them both.

  “Are you sure you will be all right going home by yourself? You are welcome to stay, you know,” Clara offered even though Edith and Flo were already making their way through the house to the front door.

  “I shall be fine but thank you anyway. It is not far to go,” Edith assured them with a merry twinkle in her eye.

  “Care to tell me what is going on?” Flo demanded once the door was closed behind Edith and she was alone with her niece.

  “I lied.”

  “Of course, you did,” Flo said firmly.

  “Are you not cross with me?”

  “One should never lie, you know that,” Flo chided. “However, given what that Boyle boy did, it is understandable that you felt you should.”

  Clara told her everything else.

  “The Star Elite, eh? They are a dangerous lot, but you already know that,” Flo warned.

  “He didn’t seem all that dangerous,” Clara whispered.

  “No, they don’t, which is why they manage to catch the unwary off guard. They are merciless when crossed.” Flo frowned thoughtfully. “I wonder why he is here?”

  “I wish I could ask father.”

  “No. You mustn’t do that, dear. Not just yet anyway. Let’s leave it for now. I am sure that if your young man is one of them then he will make an appearance again sometime soon.”

  “Niall is not my young man,” Clara countered flatly.

  “Well, if he isn’t then he is a damned protective stranger,” Flo snorted.

  “Aunt Flo, you should not swear like that,” Clara chided.

  Flo threw her a dour look. “At my age there are not many things I cannot do. It is one of the few benefits of old age. Not many people can take you to task over things because you are old than them.”

  Clara looked over her shoulder at the window. “Do you think it was Niall who Edith saw?”

  “If not, then it was the reason why Niall is here, don’t you think?” Flo countered.

  Clara looked at her aunt and was suddenly assailed by a trepidation that slammed into her with a ferocity that stole her breath.

  “What do we do?” she demanded with eyes that were wide with fear.

  Was it Erasmus who was trying to worry her? Was it Niall keeping watch, or another of the Star Elite out there watching her? If so, why? She jerked when her aunt answered her.

  “Right now, dear, we wait.”

  “For what?”

  “The truth to unfold.”

  Clara opened her mouth to tell her aunt that she had just told her the truth only to find herself standing all alone in the hallway. With a nervous look over her shoulder at the kitchen, Clara hurried after her aunt.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Once in the parlour, Flo demanded Clara tell her again what had happened with Erasmus. This time, she stopped Clara’s descriptive report each time she wanted to ask for more clarity. Only once Flo nodded sagely in understanding was Clara then allowed to proceed until almost everything had been relayed in exacting detail.

  “Well, in my opinion your Niall is one of the Star Elite,” Flo murmured. “He is therefore someone who is most probably here because of something to do with your father. What that might be is anybody’s guess. I doubt your Niall is going to tell us even if we ask. Atticus can be closed mouthed about matters pertaining to his work and I don’t doubt your Niall will be just the same.”

  “I do wish you would stop calling him ‘my Niall’,” Clara sighed.

  “Well, he has to be considered your Niall seeing as everyone in the village now thinks you are engaged to the man,” Flo retorted.

  “I wish I knew what Niall was up to,” Clara sighed. “I mean, why would father send him?”

  “I don’t know much about what your father gets up to, or what this Star Elite actually do but I can assure you that Atticus wouldn’t send those men here without good reason. Because they are here, we must consider that there is some other threat in the area, and it doesn’t come from Erasmus,” Flo said.

  Clara was shaken by the absolute certainty in her tone.

  “It might also be best if you allow everyone in the village to think you are engaged to Niall for now. If there is someone nearby who is up to no good then they will have to get through your young man, and that isn’t going to be easy if he is one of the Star Elite,” Flo continued with an emphatic shake of her head.

  “What do we do if he is not with the Star Elite?” Clara had to ask. She felt sick at the thought that Niall might indeed be someone who was just passing through the village.

  “Then he will leave quickly before his engagement lands him with a fiancé he didn’t expect to have.”

  “I am not going to be engaged to him,” Clara snorted.

  “Well, something made you come up with that story. Out of everything you could have said to Edith and Erasmus you decided to become engaged to Niall. I think you should ask yourself why. What on earth possessed you to tell anybody that he was your fiancé? Maybe Niall is the kind of man you would like to be engaged to?”

  Clara was already shaking her head before her aunt had finished, but she didn’t get the opportunity to speak before Flo lifted her hands to stop her excuses.

  “Just think about it. For now, keep your eyes and ears open, and whil
e you are at it lets close all the shutters tonight. I don’t want to sit here being watched even by the Star Elite.” Flo shivered and stared blankly into the fireplace.

  Clara did the same but then realised that the fire hadn’t been lit. The dark void of the empty grate made her shiver. Now that she came to think about it, the room was rather cold. In fact, the entire house was. It had a damp air to it that was dank and uninviting.

  “How about I go around and light the fires? If we put more candles on maybe this house won’t appear so foreboding?” Clara offered her aunt a smile and watched the elderly woman nod.

  Clara spend the next several minutes moving from room to room, lighting the fires until they were roaring heartily away and quickly chasing away the lingering chill. Rather than snuff the candles before she left each room, she lit two more and then moved on. Eventually the house began to grow warm and, somewhat surprisingly, eased the worried tension neither Flo nor Clara had realised was there.

  “I didn’t realise we were going to have a storm,” Flo whispered quietly.

  Together, they listened to the wind rattling the windows and howling around the corners of the house.

  “At least we are inside where it is warm and safe,” Clara murmured.

  She turned her attention to her sewing not least to give herself something to do with her hands. Her mind wandered, though, to the thought of Niall standing outside, in the darkness, being buffeted by the wind and rain. For some reason, that bothered her more than the thought that Erasmus might still be sitting out front on his curricle.

  “Go and see to that rattling shutter in the kitchen, would you, dear? I can hear it banging and it is annoying, don’t you think?”

  Clara dutifully dropped her sewing into her basket and hurried through the house to the kitchen. Once there, she slammed the shutter back into place. She was about to reach up to slide the second shutter back into position when a furtive movement within the darkest shadows outside caught her attention. As she watched, about half-day down her garden a dark shape left the protection of the trees before darting back into the thicket.

  “That’s too big for a rabbit or a fox,” she whispered.

  She looked for the shadow again, but matter how much she tried, Clara couldn’t see anything but the swaying of the huge oak trees being tugged about by the strengthening wind. Her heart thundered as fear grew. Clara knew what she had seen. Someone was out there, in the garden, most probably watching the house. A part of her wished it was lighter outside so she could see if someone was lurking near to the house, or if her imagination was playing tricks on her.

  Was that Niall? If not, was Erasmus spying on her, or was he trying to scare her? Who else could be lurking in her garden at eight o’clock on a stormy evening? If someone wanted to talk to her, why hadn’t they knocked on the front door like any normal person would?

  “The only person I know who would want to lurk in the shadows and try to scare me is Erasmus,” she whispered with a shudder. “He probably wants me to go out there just so he can accost me again.”

  With a loud thump, Clara slid the shutter closed and secured the catch before hurrying to the back door and sliding the bolt across.

  “Now what?” she sighed when a rapid series of knocks sounded on the front door.

  “Clara, dear? See who that is, would you? I wonder who has decided to call upon us at this time in the evening? Are you expecting anybody?” Flo called.

  “No, Aunt, I am not,” Clara sighed as she hurried to do as she was told.

  As she made her way to the door, Clara was very aware of who she wanted their unexpected caller to be, and it wasn’t Erasmus Boyle. While there was no logical reason why she should instinctively hope that Niall had chosen to call upon her to see if she was all right, Clara hoped he had anyway.

  “He has probably left the village by now,” Clara muttered, well aware that she was going to drive herself out of her mind if she began to hope it was Niall every time there was a knock on the door. “I must stop doing this. I must stop doing this.”

  “What’s that, dear?” Flo called.

  “Nothing.”

  With another sigh, Clara yanked the door open only to stare in disbelief at the small group of people standing on her doorstep. Before she could say anything, Clara was swamped with a barrage of questions and excited chatter which shattered her otherwise calm and uneventful evening.

  “Ladies,” she said somewhat hesitantly, immediately stepping back to allow them into the house.

  “Cooeee! It’s us, dear. Let us in, will you? It is freezing out here,” Audrey, a neighbour who lived down the street called from the back of the assembled group of visitors.

  “What’s wrong?” Clara blinked when she stood back only to allow not just Audrey, but Edith, Sissy, and Babette into the hallway too. “Good Lord, is everyone all right?”

  “Of course we are,” Sissy chided, brushing past her to drop the heavy parcel she carried onto the hall table. She then proceeded to snatch her shawl off her shoulders and bundle it up before shaking it back out again and hanging it on the coat stand.

  At a loss to know what to say, all Clara could do was watch everyone remove their shawls and cloaks and make their way into the parlour. She briefly contemplated asking everyone if they had seen anyone suspicious lurking outside, but immediately dismissed actually doing so because she knew her friends would worry about their own safety during their journeys home.

  “As you know, I was going to sit with Isadora for a while, but she isn’t feeling very well. I was just on my way home when I met Sissy and Babette who were trying to decide what to do with their evening. Well, Erasmus came by and so I told them what had happened earlier. I thought they ought to know what happened to you, my dear. You know, just so they can make sure they aren’t accosted by him, especially now that Erasmus knows that you are off the market.” Edith beamed proudly at Clara, who was doing her best not to roll her eyes and sigh in annoyance.

  Clara studied the shadows outside through the still open doorway, partly in search of Niall and partly in case anybody was lurking at the front of the house.

  “Are you waiting for someone?” Edith asked, peering outside to see what had captured Clara’s attention.

  “Oh, no,” Clara replied, mentally cursing herself.

  “Are we interrupting something?” Babette stood on tiptoe to crane her neck and see into the parlour a little better. “Do you have a guest already?”

  “Is it true?” Audrey demanded without preamble before Clara could answer Babette.

  Clara looked helplessly at Flo who now stood in the doorway of the parlour with a thoughtful smile on her face.

  “I think that you need to tell them everything, don’t you?” Flo suggested. “I mean, their excitement is palpable. It is only right that you tell them all how you met your Niall, and all about the wedding.”

  “So, it is true,” Sissy grinned. It wasn’t a question.

  “Well, there is a story there,” Clara began awkwardly, glaring at her aunt.

  “You must tell us, dear,” Babette commanded with a militant gleam in her eye.

  “My, you dark horse,” Sissy teased. “I never suspected a thing.”

  “You never breathed a word.” Babette’s frown was dark as she pouted at her friend.

  “I never had any clue, but I told you that it wouldn’t be long. Didn’t I?” Edith looked askance at the group who all nodded their heads.

  “Ratafia anybody?” Clara asked weakly.

  “God, no. Can’t stand the stuff,” Babette snorted. “How about some nice hot chocolate?”

  “Well, I could put the pot on to boil,” Clara suggested. It was only the chorus of agreement from all the ladies that convinced her that hot chocolate was to be served.

  She followed everyone into the parlour and waited while the ladies settled themselves. As soon as she could, Clara then hurried into the kitchen whereupon she paused to rest her hands briefly on the kitchen table and prayed fo
r the strength to get through the evening. At best, she could only hope that her friends would forgive her for the lies she had told. At worst, they wouldn’t consider her a friend anymore, or believe anything else she said. She lowered her head and tried to think of the best way of telling them the truth, but nothing seemed right. Whenever she tried to think of a way to break the news all she could think about was the excitement the ladies hadn’t been able to contain, and just how upset they were going to be when they heard the truth.

  “God, it’s awful,” she whispered miserably.

  Usually, she would be delighted to have her friends call upon her at any hour and would have eagerly sat with them exchanging stories about their lives and experiences. Tonight, Clara’s thoughts were occupied with trying to find a way to extricate herself from the mess she had gotten herself into.

  “I say, Clara, are you quite all right? Is Rita not here to make your hot chocolate for you?”

  “Rita goes home in the evening,” Clara informed Edith, who appeared in the doorway. “As soon as dinner is served she tidies up and goes home. She will be back at dawn. It is not how others run their houses, but it works for us.”

  “Is your aunt going to be upset that we have descended on you like this? We don’t want to upset her,” Audrey asked. “I know it is very rude to call upon you unannounced, but I didn’t think she would be all that bothered by our indiscretion given your delightful news.”

  “Aunt Flo doesn’t mind who calls upon her. She is pleased to have company because it keeps her up-to-date with village gossip,” Clara assured them.

  Somewhat appeased, the ladies edged deeper into the kitchen. Clara, well aware that she didn’t normally entertain guests in the kitchen, looked worriedly at the door leading to the main body of the house.

  “Maybe we should go back to the parlour?” she suggested hesitantly.