by Rebecca King
“What makes you say that?” Oliver challenged. “What makes you think he has been meddling?”
Elspeth sighed. She had no proof to support her claims but suspected that if she told the men before her they would either accept her suggestion or disprove it.
“Look at the facts. Frederick has made noises about having the house off us for years but done nothing to make it happen. He has suggested many times that I should marry him, but not pressed me. Now, both him and Voss start to harass me, and all because they know Thomas has died. Why? Why Voss? He has never made any interest in me known before now. He has never shown any interest in the house either. Why now?” Elspeth fell silent and waited. She had no idea what had come over her. She had never been so brash or daring in her entire life. It felt wonderful, releasing even, in an oddly daring sort of way. So much so, she was compelled to stand her ground, even in the face of so many stringent objectors.
“You are going home,” Aaron announced suddenly.
“No. I am not,” Elspeth snapped.
When Oliver made a move toward her, she yanked her arm out of his grasp and hurried across the lawn in just the same way Aaron had. When she appeared in front of a side door to the annexe, she lifted a hand and turned the knob on the door quietly. Thankfully, it swung inward without hindrance.
Before any of the men from the Star Elite could catch up, Elspeth boldly stepped into Rollo Voss’s house.
Silence greeted her. She stood for a moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the absolute darkness within the property. Thankfully, Voss hadn’t seen fit to close the shutters. There was enough moonlight flooding the room to cast everything in shadow, which was enough for her to traverse the room without falling flat on her face.
“Stay close,” Aaron breathed into her ear.
Elspeth jerked, and threw him a dirty look over his shoulder. She looked behind him only to gasp in dismay to find the door closed, and no sign of his friends.
“Where are they?” she breathed into his ear.
Aaron almost groaned. He had never felt anything so seductive in his entire life as the hot brush of her breath against his cool flesh. All sorts of scandalous images flickered through his mind, to the point that he had to clench his fists to stop himself from touching her. He couldn’t however, do anything when she clutched at his head and slammed a kiss onto his lips that startled him.
This time, he was the one who gasped, at the shock of her bold move, and the ferocity of the desire that slammed into him and tormented him with a white-hot surge of raw need. Aaron immediately clamped an arm around her and hauled her against him. Their kiss was brief, hard, and full of the emotions neither of them dare mention. Their bodies touched, collided, and melted together as each sought to answer the call of its mate.
Elspeth was his as far as Aaron was concerned, she just didn’t know it yet.
Elspeth stepped closer. For the life of her she couldn’t have drawn away. Being this close to him, in a stranger’s home, in the middle of the night, was the most daring thing she had ever done in her life. It was addictive – or maybe that was him. Whatever it was that compelled her to seek out this precious moment, it was theirs to share. She couldn’t – wouldn’t break it.
Eventually, though, when the kisses became inadequate to quench the raging thirst she had for more – more of him – she reluctantly released him. Stepping back, she threw him a defiant look that contrasted with the heat in her cheeks and turned to look for a door that would take them deeper into the house. Elspeth knew that turning her attention to finding Voss was enough to prevent her from giving in to temptation, turning back around, and kissing Aaron again. If she did that she knew they would spend the next hour or so indulging in several more sensual kisses that would steal her senses again, and she would be useless then to get the information she wanted out of Voss if they did find him.
“Let’s go,” she whispered to Aaron.
Aaron lifted his brows and opened his mouth to ask her where she thought she was going only to find her already at the door. When she disappeared into the hallway beyond, he practically flew across the room and raced after her.
“Wait. You can’t just go sauntering casually around here,” Aaron growled.
“I know where he is,” she replied with a smirk.
Aaron squinted meanly at her. “I beg your pardon?”
He stopped her when she would have started to climb the stairs.
“I came in here once when his housekeeper was here. She showed me around the house because Voss was in London. He didn’t know I had a tour of his home that day. I think I can remember where the master bed chamber is,” Elspeth explained.
Aaron groaned when he saw the flash of her white teeth in the darkness and knew then that she was enjoying driving him to distraction.
Still, it will help that she knows her way around here, he mused wryly as he followed her up the stairs.
On a purely masculine level, he eyed the back of her cloak and wished she would take the damned thing off. As it was, he could only imagine the gentle curve of her backside sashaying up the long, winding staircase.
“Damn,” he whispered when he silently opened the door to the bed chamber seconds later.
Elspeth stepped back only to gasp when she slammed into Aaron’s solid chest. She clutched at his hand as the shadows at the end of the corridor shifted. Together she and Aaron watched Oliver step out of the darkness. When she looked at Aaron, it was to find him grinning at her, clearly quite pleased at the obvious fright she had just had.
“Child,” she bit out.
Aaron continued to smirk and opened the bed chamber door. He made no attempt to keep quiet. When Elspeth would have stepped before him, he held her back only to purposefully step in front of her.
“Now where in the Hell has he gone?” Aaron asked in consternation when he saw the bed chamber was empty.
“Maybe to search my house,” Elspeth retorted. Strangely, she didn’t think she was all that wrong.
Aaron lifted his brows at her but didn’t argue.
“We may as well search while we are here,” he suggested to Oliver.
“Where is the candle?” Elspeth asked as she squinted into the darkness.
“Don’t light one. We don’t want to alert anybody that we are here. That way, we can get back out without anybody knowing we have been,” Oliver warned.
“Keep quiet,” Aaron whispered.
Elspeth had no choice but to stand perfectly still at the side of the bed chamber and watch the men search through the drawers and cupboards in the large room. When Oliver disappeared beneath the huge four poster bed, she bent down but couldn’t see anything other than gloom. Aaron, with a bold display of masculine strength, hauled himself up by his hands, until he could see the top of the canopy of the four-poster. Seconds later, he dropped to the ground with a packet in his hand.
“Gold,” he grunted at Oliver.
Oliver nodded, stood up and brushed himself off.
“Nothing downstairs,” Niall murmured from the door.
“Nothing up here,” Jasper added from behind him.
“So, Voss is not at home,” Aaron murmured.
The clock on the mantle struck three.
“He isn’t out at a dinner party or anything,” Elspeth warned. “I tell you, he is probably searching my house.”
“We will go through the study a bit more thoroughly. You need to get home,” Jasper warned with a nod to Elspeth. “We can search better alone.”
Elspeth scowled at him. She knew she had been as much use to them as a sieve in a rain storm but refused to allow them to take over an investigation into one of the most important issues of her life, and only tell her what they thought she needed to know. She wanted to know everything, so she could contemplate facts from the viewpoint of the person involved. Elspeth could see no reason why the men felt they had to be so secretive, but she knew they had been.
Unless they know something that I don’t, she mused, eyeing
Aaron with renewed suspicion.
Elspeth made a mental promise to herself to have an honest and open conversation with Aaron just as soon as she was back at home. For now, all she could do was follow the men back through the house and leave them to what they did best.
“What in the Hell possessed you?” Aaron ground out when they were back at the house.
“I am not going to be kept in the dark over the investigation,” Elspeth protested.
“We are trying to keep you safe, or do you not remember that someone has tried to break into this house, and two men have already made their dubious intentions known to you? Men whom, I might add, have taken criminal measures to try to get into this house illegally,” Aaron snapped.
“I am not going to be kept in the house and told only what you think I should know. You have no need to be so secretive, unless you have something to hide yourself,” Elspeth retorted coldly.
“I just don’t want you to worry,” Aaron countered.
“Sitting at home and worrying is not supposed to cause me worry, is it?” Elspeth scoffed.
“We have to find out what Frederick and Voss are up to, and to do that we need to search their houses, preferably when they are not there,” Aaron argued.
“I know, which is why I want to be there,” Elspeth replied.
“What would you have done if he had been there?” Aaron bit out.
“You were there as well. Like you have just said, you want to keep me safe,” Elspeth said with a shrug.
“Not when you are going into their houses and are trying to hide from us,” Aaron retorted. “You are lucky Oliver found you.”
“Don’t you think we have to focus on Frederick and Voss?”
“We are,” Aaron retorted.
“No, we are not. We are arguing about why you are so secretive and expect me to sit at home and not worry. This is my life, Aaron. I am involved, whether you like it or not. Right now, I am under threat from two men who have both made their identical intentions clear within days of my brother’s death. It is why I have suggested that Frederick and Voss are working together and want this house. It won’t matter to them which of them have to marry me to get the property. What I don’t understand is why they would be that desperate,” Elspeth sighed. “I have to know, Aaron. You can’t protect me from that.”
“A man would have to be desperate to marry you, is that what you are saying?” Aaron demanded, his voice ripe with disgust.
“I am saying that neither man have seen fit to marry in their lives. They are both eligible bachelors. Frederick is in his mid-forties, Aaron, and has never had anything more than a passing fancy. Voss is in his early fifties and hasn’t married either. Don’t you think it odd that both men suddenly want to marry me at the same time, while they have both made me aware of their interest in the property?”
Aaron squinted at her. He knew then that she had no idea that a man might want to marry her just because she was young, beautiful and had all the attributes a sensible man should want in a wife. He also knew, especially after tonight, that when not mired in grief, Elspeth had a wayward side to her that would drive him half out of his mind with worry, but he didn’t want to be the one to kill it. In fact, for the first time since he had arrived at her house, Elspeth looked vibrant, alive, determined, stubborn, but more importantly had lost the terrified, haunted, bereft look that had torn him apart. Because of her adventure tonight, Aaron knew he had seen a completely different side to Elspeth, and it was enticing. He was intrigued and delighted that she was more of a match for him than he had realised.
“Damn,” he cursed. “What the Hell am I going to do with you?”
When he couldn’t think of a single word of warning to make her want to leave the investigating to him, Aaron crossed the distance between them and hauled her against him for a very thorough kiss. This time, the restraints and caution that he had previously exerted failed him. He slammed a hard kiss onto her luscious mouth that was part warning, full of the desire, love, and fear he truly felt, and contained all the commanding he yearned to be able to put words to.
“Tell me to stop,” he breathed several moments later. “I make no apology for what we are doing. I confess, I have wanted to do this for a very, very long time, but you have never shown me the slightest hint that you see me as a man, rather than your brother’s friend.”
Aaron had no idea why he should feel the need to pour his heart out to her right here and now, but he did because he could find no reason not to. It helped if she was to understand just how important she was to him. While he still shied away from placing a label on the way he felt about her, he knew instinctively that it was pure and unadulterated love, just like his friends had said.
“I would move Heaven and earth to keep you safe,” he breathed against her lips.
“I had no idea you felt this way. You never told me,” she chided softly.
“What would you have done had you known?” he demanded.
Elspeth leaned back to look at him. “Been shocked,” she replied honestly.
“Why? Did you not see me as a man?” Aaron asked.
“Of course I did, but you were also Thomas’s friend. I didn’t think you noticed me,” she whispered.
“May I ask you something private?” Aaron began.
“I think it is a little late for us to be keeping secrets, don’t you?” Elspeth asked with a pointed look at their close embrace.
Each breath she took pressed her ribs against his. Every time he spoke, his voice reverberated through her. Their gazes were so close Elspeth knew that all she had to do was edge infinitesimally closer and their lips would touch. She felt as though she could see deep into his soul, they were so entwined. Unfortunately, she suspected he would also be able to see into her soul. It made her wonder what he would see.
“I know it is very early days since you lost Thomas, but I want you to know that you are not alone,” Aaron assured her. “I am always going to be here for you.”
“I don’t want you to feel duty-bound to say that,” Elspeth warned.
“I don’t,” Aaron argued. “Why would I?”
“Because you missed Thomas’s funeral. I don’t want you to feel that you must make up for not being there during that time. I know you wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” Elspeth replied honestly. She spoke from the bottom of her heart. While at the time she had been disappointed that he hadn’t turned up, now that she knew the reason why he had been prevented from attending the funeral, she knew it was something he had been unable to avoid. She was practical enough to understand how unfair it was to blame Aaron for something he had no control over.
“I don’t think I would have been able to string two sentences together if you had been here,” she admitted honestly. “I had never been so beleaguered by anything in my life. Not even our parent’s deaths had such an effect on me.”
“It must have been a Hell of a shock,” Aaron sighed.
He pressed a kiss against her temple that was so tender it brought tears to her eyes, but they weren’t tears of grief, or drawn from the darkest of her memories. They were because of the gentleness she found within him. For the first time in her life Elspeth felt cared for, protected, and it was wonderful, not least because it steadied her swaying world and made her feel like a person. Aaron’s affection chased away the darkest of shadows and wrapped her in the warmest of golden glows. She knew now that with him by her side she could fight any foe and would come out stronger and better for having him with her. Unfortunately, she had no way to put this knowledge into words without making an utter fool of herself. She doubted he would understand, so she sought a way to show him instead.
Aaron sucked in a breath when her gaze searched his for a moment before her loving look slid slowly down to his lips. His body responded with a determination that was difficult to ignore.
“Life is for the living,” she whispered.
“We have to decide what we are going to do,” Aaron said with as much sternn
ess as he could manage. Unfortunately, it came out more as a quiet plea than any stringent demand.
“About what?” Elspeth murmured distractedly, her gaze still lingering longingly on his chiselled lips.
Aaron succumbed to temptation and gave her the kiss she wanted but lifted his head again before she could kiss him back. He grinned at the discontent on her face. When her brows started to lower, he pressed another kiss on her lips, and this time lingered a little longer. Just when she started to respond, he lifted his head.
“Us,” he breathed against her lips.
“Us?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “I want this, but on a permanent basis.”
Elspeth lifted her brows at him. “You do?”
“Absolutely,” Aaron warned.
Elspeth began to smile, but it dimmed again.
“What?” Aaron prompted. He was prepared to vanquish all her ghosts if that is what it took for him to be able to have a future with her. “You can tell me.”
“I feel guilty,” Elspeth admitted gently.
“Why?” Aaron already knew but wanted her to voice her reasons why she felt it wrong to live her life. “Thomas would not object to this.”
“Why do you say that?” she asked curiously.
“Because he always said to me that you needed a husband just like me,” Aaron said.
Elspeth huffed a laugh. “That’s strange because he always said to me that I needed a husband just like you.”
They both smiled ruefully.
“Do you think he might have been doing a little matchmaking? You know, putting the thought there for us both to contemplate?” Aaron murmured.
“I think he was. He wasn’t the kind of person to actively get involved, but he was quite heavy handed with his hints,” Elspeth said.
Aaron had to admit she was right.
“I think we owe it to him then to see where this is going to take us,” Aaron suggested.