Capturing Sir Dunnicliffe (The Star Elite Series) (18 page)

Her sudden nakedness made her feel acutely uncomfortable and she quickly covered herself up, sitting on the
opposite side of the bed under a cloud of humiliation.

“I’m sorry,” Harriett whispered, her cheeks flaming. Suddenly she
desperately needed to get out of the room and be by herself. She had humiliated herself enough for one night, and didn’t know what else to say to him.

With a sob she lunged from the bed and scurried toward the door, ignoring him when he reached out to stop her.

“Harriett-” Hugo growled, wincing at the obvious distress on her face. By the time he got to the door, she was disappearing into the small bedroom she slept in next to the kitchen; the slamming of the door resounding hollowly through the now silent house.

Hugo wondered if he should just go outside and take over from Archie, because he knew that sleep would not
come to him that night. He was wide awake, his body positively humming with need for her.

Running a
weary hand down his face, he paused outside the door to the bedroom, his ears straining for any sound of her sobbing within the small room. With a sigh he eased the back door open quietly and slipped out into the night. The last thing he wanted was to visit the local graveyard, but given what had just happened with Harriett, he needed some fresh air to clear his thoughts. He hoped the cool night air would go some way to calming his libido. If not, he was in dire trouble indeed, and it wasn’t only from attempted murderers and spy smugglers. 

The following morning Hugo was tired, grumpy and in no mood for any awkwardness. Throughout the night his thoughts had remained firmly locked upon Harriett, lying all alone in the cottage she called home. The cold air of the midnight hour had done little to cool his ardour, and he was still plagued by the clawing need to lay claim to her, in spite of the changes it would bring to both of their lives.

By the time he had watched dawn creep over the horizon, he knew the decision
on whether he should consider making her his wife had already been made for him, and that didn’t do anything to ease his growing bad temper. By the time he returned to Harriett’s cottage at first light, he found the door locked to bar his entry, which fuelled his temper even further. He briefly contemplated kicking the door in, but decided instead that Rupert could manage to keep an eye on her more than adequately from the outside. Harriett was clearly capable of ensuring the cottage remained barred to visitors, leaving him free to start to finalise matters so he could leave the village.

His knock on the doctor’s door remained unanswered
. He frowned up at the bedroom windows for a moment, wondering if everyone was still abed. Had he seen a shadow shift within the house? He couldn’t be sure, but he wasn’t about to give up.

Making his
way toward the rear of the property again, he climbed over the garden wall with familiar ease. He blithely ignored the haphazardly stacked boxes Joshua had used to hide the strange disc, and made his way to the back door. Until he had confirmed where Joshua and Marion were, he couldn’t risk alerting them that they had been watched. It didn’t come as any surprise to find nobody at home. He was surprised though, to find the door unlocked and open for anyone to wander in. Hugo wondered if it was meant to be that way, and immediately felt his hackles rise.

Something was definitely amiss. For Joshua to go missing was excusable. He was the doctor for the village
, after all. But for Marion to disappear at the same time? Especially at the same time that someone made an attempt on Harriett’s life?

Pausing just inside the doorway, he allowed the silence of the house to settle around him before beginning a thorough sweep of the
narrow terraced property, from the kitchen he was standing in, to the room in which Harriett had been attacked. The sight of the unmade bed, and the tray of partially eaten toast he had shared with Harriett at breakfast the previous day, confirmed that nobody had returned to the house since the attempt on Harriett’s life.

But di
d that mean that Joshua and Marion were assassins? If so, why hadn’t they succeeded in killing her? Joshua was bigger and stronger than Harriett. It would be relatively easy to overpower a semi-conscious, defenceless woman.

A vague flicker of a thought filtered through his mind, and he carefully tucked it to one side to analyze later, when he was away from any potential danger. Until then, there was one more room in the house he needed to search.

Easing open the door to the study, his closer inspection of the brandy barrel still sitting in polished splendour on the dresser told him everything he needed to know. Cursing fluidly, he quickly finished searching the kitchens before quietly leaving through the back door. His suspicions were correct. He had found enough to know that Star Elite had one massive problem on their hands, and the village needed to find themselves a new doctor, because he was fairly certain that neither Joshua or Marion would be back.

Having searched the small yard at the rear of the property, and in particular the haphazardly stacked boxes Joshua had used as a hiding place the previous day, Hugo
pulled himself back over the wall.

He needed to arr
ange a meeting with the others so they could change their allotted tasks. Unfortunately, with what he had learned at the doctor’s house, it looked as though Harriett was going to need her own personal bodyguard, and that had to be him. The need to keep her by his side became sharp, and was enough to prompt him into lengthening his stride and hurry around the harbour.

At first Harriett ignored the knock on the door. Hugo was the last person she wanted to see that day, if at all. Humiliation still gripped her in its fearsome claws and, although it was starting to be replaced by bitter regret, it didn’t do anything to help ease the thick layer of guilt that assailed her. She didn’t know what to say to him, and didn’t want to hear his excuses anymore. He had made it clear that he had no interest in marriage, or anything of a permanent basis. Although she was grateful he had had the wherewithal to keep a hold of his senses, it was faintly galling that he hadn’t been as carried away by what they had shared as she had.

When the knocking persisted, Harriett sighed and slid the bolt back. Her brows rose when she opened the door and found Simon on the doorstep rather than Hugo. Immediately she stood back to allow him to enter.

“Are you well?” Simon asked, taking note of the expression on her face.

Harriett nodded, and offered him a brave smile that
did little to reach her eyes. “I am fine. I wasn’t expecting you today, are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just thought I would check on you.” He glanced around the seemingly empty cottage with a frown. “Are you on your own?”

“Hugo went out in the night to do his watch, and hasn’t been back since.”

“Do you think he is
meeting the others?” Simon’s voice was laced with concern.

Harriett snorted inelegantly. “I am sure he is
holed up somewhere with his men,” she replied, somewhat waspishly.

“I really would prefer it if you would come and stay at the Manor,” he sighed, knowing she was likely to refuse – again.

Harriett paused in the process of putting a pot of water onto the fire to boil, and immediately made a decision.

“
Do you know something? I think I would prefer to be at the Manor as well.” Not only for the reassurance of additional people being close by in case of a problem, but because it would limit the amount of close contact she would have with Hugo.

She knew that she didn’t have the fortitude to refuse him if Hugo made any attempt at kissing her again. It was galling to realise just how much
control he had on her emotions. Especially when he seemed to have no difficulty staying away.

“Then if you want to
go and put a few things in a bag, we will head off. No time like the present,” he replied, unable to keep the bright smile off his face. In reality he wanted to shuffle her out of the door before she had second thoughts. He wondered what had happened between her and Hugo to make her suddenly change her mind about staying at the cottage. Whatever had brought her change of heart, he could only be grateful for it.

He was bristling with impatience when Hugo opened the door minutes later, while Harriett was still gathering things to take with her. Simon almost groaned as he watched Hugo enter, and look at him with a dark scowl.

“Where’s Harriett?” Simon was the last person Hugo wanted to see.

Harriett appeared silently in the doorway. Whatever she was about to say was lost as Archie suddenly opened the door behind Hugo. He had no sooner closed the door behind him than Harriett was aware of movement in the hallway behind her. With a squeak she lurched across the room toward Hugo, gasping in surprise when Rupert ambled into the kitchen
from the hallway.

Her eyes grew round at the realisatio
n that he had been in the house without her knowing it. She jumped when the door opened again; this time an unfamiliar elderly gent wandered casually into the room.

“It’s
perfectly fine,” Hugo murmured soothingly into her ear, pulling her tightly against him. In that moment he knew that he would give the woman clinging to him anything she wanted, whenever she wanted it. He would, and could, deny her nothing.

It wasn’t lost to anyone that
, as soon as Harriett had felt threatened, it had been Hugo she had gone toward. Hugo whose reassuring hold she was now sheltered in.

Harriett’s gaz
e was locked on the elderly man now standing in her kitchen.

“Archie
, stop it,” Hugo warned, a hint of humour in his voice.

Harriett’s eyes grew round with surprise when the elderly gentlema
n removed his cap, and an older-than-normal Archie turned to grin at her.

“Sorry,” he grinned, looking anything but apologetic.

“How do you-” Harriett gasped, jumping when the latch lifted on the back door, and Jamie swept into the kitchen, dressed in workman’s clothing. He looked like he had spent the day in the tin mines, prevalent throughout Cornwall.

“I asked everyone to meet here because there have been developments,” Hugo explained, more than
content for Harriett to remain plastered to his side.

A fact that Harriett only just seemed to have realised, as she ease
d away from him, flushing with embarrassment at their intimate hold.

Rupert deposited Harriett’s bag on the table, glancing quickly at Hugo who turned to frown down at her. He didn’t need to ask her to know exactly where she had been planning on going.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” Hugo growled at Harriett, flicking Simon a hard look.

Harriett turned to stare at him, only just noting the tension thrumming through him.

“Joshua and Marion have gone missing,” Hugo announced, leaning against the dresser behind him. “Moreover, they pose a significant threat. I have strong suspicions that they are not who they claim they are, and indeed have links to the smugglers.”

“I thought the smugglers had gone?” The question was out before Harriett could stop it.

“They are French spies themselves, and have disappeared into the woodwork,” Hugo replied. “I think they are the first link in the chain of spy smugglers; the people who are arranging for the spies to come to English shores and helping them to disappear.”

Hugo knew that had captured the attention of his men, who remained alert and watchful, patiently waiting for him to bring them up to date.

“Although at the time I had other things on my mind, there were one or two things that were a little odd about the doctor in Padstow. Yesterday I watched him carrying something when he returned to the rear of the house - only he didn’t take it inside. Instead he wrapped it in a black cloak, and hid it in a haphazardly stacked pile of boxes in the yard.”

“Did you see what it was?” Archie asked, all trace of humour gone.

Hugo shook his head regretfully.

“What did it look like?” The question came from Simon.

Hugo described the small round disc not much bigger than the palm of his hand.

“Sounds like something he would use to signal someone,” Simon announced with a scowl.

“Like ships?”

Simon nodded. “Especially in daylight, you can use the sunshine to signal to ships out in the estuary. There were enough ships out there yesterday, and it was quite pleasant sitting outside eating pasties.” His eyes met and held Hugo’s for several moments, both men remembering their conversation clearly.

“But who is Marion then?” Harriett asked her father with a frown, as though he knew all the answers.

“I don’t know
. An accomplice, another spy?” Archie frowned as he stared out of the window, clearly contemplating the possibilities.

“A woman?” Harriett gasped, shooting a look at Hugo.

“Most definitely. Everyone can be involved in smuggling and spying; women and children have been known to carry messages. It seems that people realise children are less likely to be stopped and searched, as most people don’t think about children running up and down the streets.”