ABDUCTION

THE STAR ELITE’S

CAPTURE AND SURRENDERSERIES

Book One

by

REBECCA KING

© 2021 by Rebecca King

The moral right of R L King to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by theCopyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage andretrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. All relevant international copyright

laws are hereby applied prohibiting reproduction of any kind in any format without writtenpermission from the author, R L King. Any unauthorized reproduction will result in legal action being

taken.

This book is a work of fiction.Names, characters, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are usedfictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, either living or dead, events or locales is entirely

coincidental.

Further titles in this series will be published shortly.

Cover designed by The Miscellany@ rebeccaking-historicalauthor.com

TABLE OF CONTENTSPROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONECHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREECHAPTER FOURCHAPTER FIVECHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVENCHAPTER EIGHTCHAPTER NINECHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVENCHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEENCHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEENCHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEENEPILOGUE

THE LOCAL HEROES SERIES (STAR ELITE)TEMPTING EVIE – CAPTURE AND SURRENDER SERIES

NEVER THE TWAINLOVING THE STRANGER

OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA KING

PROLOGUE Cliffthorpe Manor belonged to Charles Kane, the Earl of Longbourne, an aristocrat who was

lauded by many of his peers as a fine, upstanding gentleman. But while his friends and associatesadmired him, the locals who lived in the neighbouring village of Little Bragton hated him. The Lordwasn’t a cruel man, per se. He just had little sympathy or time for the struggles and difficulties of hisimpoverished neighbours and tenants who were often on the receiving end of his legendary temper ifthey presented him with a problem. Lord Longbourne’s time and attention was reserved purely for hiscarefully chosen, titled, wealthy, and well-connected friends, and he made sure that everyone knew it.

That said, the Lord’s reputation was of little consequence to the two men who slowly pushed asmall side-window open at the back of the mansion in the darkest hours of one cold night inSeptember. The intruders were only concerned about being as quiet as possible while they invadedthe Lord’s house. And they were successful too. The only noise that could be heard was the dull hissof wood sliding effortlessly against wood as a small window was eased open. Neither trespassersaid a word as they peered into the darkened room; a scullery located at the back of the house besidethe kitchen.

With a brisk nod at his associate, Frank leaned further into the room. He felt his friend’s handsbeneath his boot and used the leverage to heave his lithe frame silently into the property. Once inside,there was little he could do to help his friend climb into the house except keep a watchful eye on thedoor leading to the kitchen. He had no fear that any dogs would scent his presence. The barn full ofdogs the Earl used for hunting was located on the other side of the huge estate, at least a mile awayfrom the luxurious mansion so that their persistent barks didn’t disturb the obnoxious Lord. Whatconcerned Frank was that a kitchen boy, or an overly alert butler, might hear the occasional rustling ofclothing or feel the cold draught of air sweeping into the warm property through the open window.

“Hurry up,” Frank breathed at his friend, Ernie, who was still struggling to get in.Ernie stopped squirming long enough to glare at his friend before he resumed trying to wriggle

his ample girth through the narrow window-frame.“You could have helped me,” he hissed once he was inside. He conveniently ignored just how

much he had to tip his head back to glare up at the much taller man.Frank shook his head and worked hard not to issue a stinging epithet. He had to content himself

with glaring ominously at his friend and pushing a forceful finger to his pudgy lips to warn Ernie toshut up. Shaking his head in disgust, Frank waved his friend closer and crossed the room to press anear against the door leading to the kitchen. The only sound that he could hear was the pounding of hisown heartbeat. It was reassurance enough that their entrance to the house had gone unnoticed. Evercautious, Frank eased the door open and peered into the large kitchen.

A faint orange glow from the fireplace still lit the room adequately enough for them to beassured that nobody slept before the fire, and that no dogs lay on the threadbare rug waiting to barkfuriously at them.

“Go,” Ernie hissed impatiently. He hated to linger because in his mind the longer they stoodaround the more chance there was of being caught. He glared at Frank’s back, but when Frank stilldidn’t step into the kitchen, shoved him roughly in the back and propelled him into the room.

Frank hissed a curse and whirled to face his friend, but Ernie purposefully took his time closingthe scullery door. Without looking to see if Frank was following, Ernie then crossed the room to findthe door leading to the main body of the house.

“We should have used an upstairs window,” he grumbled.

“Really,” Frank snorted sarcastically. “And how are we supposed to get him out that way? Askhim to jump?”

Ernie didn’t answer because he really didn’t know. He had no intention of admitting that to hisfriend though. While he liked Frank, Ernie knew that his colleague, associate, and friend, could bebrutal when crossed. There was nothing that Frank liked more than taking advantage of what heperceived to be people’s ‘weaknesses’. That was one of the reasons why they were in the Earl ofLongbourne’s house in the middle of the night. The Earl’s weakness, despite being despised by thevillagers and most of his staff, was his pride and joy: his son.

“Rupert whatsis face,” Ernie muttered. “That’s who we are after.”“What?” Frank scowled.“That’s the lad’s name. Rupert something or other,” Ernie replied.“Does it matter?” Frank breathed with a heavy sigh.He scowled darkly at Ernie but resisted the urge to tell his friend to shut up. Ernie tended to

sulk. When he sulked, he retreated into himself and refused to speak. The problem was that Ernie wasthe only one who knew the layout of the house and could show him the fastest route out of the propertyif they disturbed someone. The likelihood of someone waking up was going to increase just as soonas they got their hands on the lad, so Frank couldn’t afford to offend his friend to the point that Erniewouldn’t talk to him, or else Ernie might just rush off and leave him behind.

At the top of the stairs, Frank paused and looked at Ernie who was peering warily at each of thedoors barely visible in the darkness. He mentally prayed that Ernie could remember which roombelonged to the young boy or all of this would have been for nothing. Silently, he held his hands outpalms upward.

Ernie pointed to a second set of stairs just off the main landing. Narrow and winding, they wentall the way up to a third floor along which were two rows of doors lining one long corridor.

“To the right there should be another small hallway. At the end of that there is a door to thenursery. The boy sleeps in there,” Ernie breathed.

Frank lifted his brows. It seemed odd to him that anybody would have a child and then stashhim in the attic rooms with the servants. But he wasn’t here to question what the aristocracy did. Asfar as he was concerned, the fact that the boy was in the attic made his job easier – sort of.

Ernie swept past him and hurried to the door in question before Frank could even decide if itmight be feasible that the boy was there. Once the door was open, Ernie peeked cautiously into a hugeattic room. Thankfully, the tall windows lining the far wall didn’t have shutters. The uncoveredwindows allowed cloud-streaked moonlight to occasionally flood the room with enough hoary glowthey illuminated two doors at the far end of the room. The main body of the rectangular spacecontained several desks, and rows and rows of bookshelves together with what appeared to be achalk board and a globe of the world. On the walls were large maps of England, the world, andforeign countries.

It was the school room.Ernie grinned proudly at his doubtful colleague and immediately set to work trying to find the

young boy. When he pushed open a door set in the farthest corner of the room, he spied an adulttucked up in a huge four-poster bed, snoring loudly, and blessedly oblivious to the fact that he was nolonger alone. Ernie retreated and quietly closed the door. He winced theatrically at the loud click thatechoed around the empty school room. Turning to face Frank, he pointed to the neighbouring door inthe opposite corner of the room.

Frank immediately ventured closer to it and eased the door open. He nodded once, elaborately,

when he spied a young boy tucked up beneath the covers of a huge four poster bed. Frank’s heartbegan to pound as he crept into the room and waited for Ernie to join him. Together, both men thentiptoed toward the bed. They both knew the serious consequences should they get caught trying tosneak the Lord’s son out of the house in the dead of night. But now that they were in the house, in theson’s bed chamber no less, it was far too late for either of them to back out now.

“Who are you?” a young voice piped up from the depths of the covers when Frank nudged thebed’s small occupant awake.

“The new footmen,” Ernie muttered, hitching his dirty breeches up. “Your father has sent us tofetch you. You have to come with us.”

“Where is Mr Dalton?” Rupert yawned and sleepily rubbed his eyes before peering around theroom. He scowled deeply at the wary look the men shared. Despite his youth he knew immediatelythat these men were up to something bad. Besides, they were strangers, commoners, and therefore notto be trusted. “What do you want?” he demanded, tipping his chin up with pugnacious arrogance.

“We just told you,” Frank hissed. “Now get up and get dressed. Your father wants to see youurgently.”

“Where is he? My father. Where is he?” Rupert asked, reluctantly throwing the covers off sothat he could climb out of the huge bed.

Troubled, he began to rummage around on the chair for his clothing and swiftly pulled onbreeches, his shirt, and a jacket, but was still shivering when he turned around to face the strangemen. He gasped when he realised that one was standing directly behind him. So close, in fact, thatRupert had to tip his head right back to be able to peer up at the stranger’s face.

“What are you doing?” he demanded dourly.“Come on,” Frank growled, grabbing the young boy by the shoulder to propel him toward the

door. “You have to come with us. But Mr Dalton must stay here, so be quiet or he is going to be crossat you for disturbing him. Are you allowed out of your bed at this time of night?”

“No,” Rupert replied.“There you go then. You don’t want to get into trouble with Mr Dalton, do you?”“No.” Rupert shivered, but this time it was to theatrically show the men how little he wanted

that to happen.“Good. Put your boots on.” Frank stepped away from the bed and turned to share a worried

look with Ernie. They both wanted nothing more than to bundle the young lad up in a blanket orsomething and rush out of the house with him before anybody was disturbed, but this seemed to be thebetter way of kidnapping the young lad they were after.

Rupert gamely sat on the floor and tugged his boots over his chilled toes. Once he was back onhis feet, he jumped up to yank his thick, woollen cloak off the peg beside the door.

“Hush. What did I tell you about not disturbing Mr Dalton?” Frank growled when the young boyhad retrieved his cloak but was making far too much noise about it.

Rupert froze when he saw the anger on the stranger’s face. He scowled deeply because he wasrarely spoken to with anything other than respectful deference by his father’s staff. It was highlyunusual for anybody other than his father, or Mr Dalton, to chastise him about anything.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, even more doubtful about the wisdom of trusting thesemen. Now that he came to think about it the room was unlit, and there was no sign of any of thehouse’s other staff like Mrs Lawrence, his father’s housekeeper, or Mr Bakewell, his father’s butler.

“We have told you. Your father has sent for you. He is downstairs, in the carriage. Hurry up.”Frank propelled the young boy’s slight frame toward the door when Rupert hesitated.

Rupert’s boots clattered across the floor as he struggled to keep up with the speed the strangermoved him. Unbalanced, he stumbled and fell when Frank inadvertently released him. Before hecould clamber to his feet, the strangers grabbed him and hauled him out of the room. Rupert knew thenthat these men meant to hurt him if he didn’t do as he was told.

“How dare you touch me?” he demanded loudly, twisting, and squirming against the stranger’stight grip. He tugged at the fist clutching the back of his jacket, but the stranger was too strong.

“Shut up,” Ernie ordered.Frank cursed bitterly when he heard the bed springs squeak in the tutor’s bed chamber.“You get him, and I will deal with this little pain,” Frank muttered to Ernie with a nod at the

tutor’s door.Rupert began to struggle in earnest when Frank grabbed him again and forced him across the

room toward the door to the hallway. When he opened his mouth to scream out for his tutor, a large,gloved hand slammed over his mouth, stifling his cries. Rupert kicked out but was helpless when hewas lifted off his feet and wrapped in the arms of his attacker. He wriggled and squirmed but couldemit nothing more than faint squeaking noises beneath the pressure of the man’s tight hold. Panicbegan to overwhelm him as he clawed at the hand, but he couldn’t remove it, not even to breathe. AllRupert could do was hang from the man’s tight hold and watch his tutor room, the place where he hadcalled home for all his seven years of age, disappear as he was dragged through the door and out ontothe darkened landing. Once in the darkness, however, something foul and horrible was pressed overhis mouth. Rupert struggled to breathe and was forced to suck in the terrible odour. He wasunconscious before he hit the floor for a second time that night.

Inside the room, Rupert didn’t see Mr Dalton charge out of the bed chamber with a dark scowlof annoyance on his face, and Mr Dalton didn’t see Ernie’s fist swing at him out of the darkness. MrDalton was rendered unconscious by the second punch that hit him in the face. Ernie lingered longenough to drag the tutor back into his bed chamber and lock the door on his way out. Pocketing thekey, Ernie then hurried after his friend, who was carrying the unconscious young boy down the stairs.

Together, Ernie and Frank paused on the staircase long enough to tie the young boy’s handsbehind his back and gag him, just in case he woke up. Frank then hefted the lad’s slight frame over hisshoulder and followed Ernie back through the house to the kitchen. He was physically shaking withfear and exhilaration when he shoved the young boy out of the scullery window, and into Ernie’swaiting arms a few short minutes later. The men grinned at each other through the narrow gap. Neitherof them could believe that their daring plan had been that easy to carry out. They both expected tohear the loud retort of gunfire, or an angry shout, but once Rupert was outside, Frank quickly followedhim. He hated to have to linger any longer, but he hovered outside long enough to carefully close thewindow on a still silent house.

Mere seconds later, the dark shadows of the men, with their bundle, scuttled across themansion’s neatly tended lawns toward the trees within which a carriage waited to take their newcharge to his new life – until the Lord of the manor emptied his purse and paid the ransom.

CHAPTER ONE Simon Armitage slapped the papers he was carrying onto the battered surface of the large desk

his colleague, Harvey Reynolds, was seated at. Harvey, the lead investigator of the Lancashire StarElite, lifted his brows, and watched Simon glance appreciatively around the somewhat modestlyluxurious study.

“All right?” Harvey asked as he eyed the exhaustion cupping Simon’s weary eyes.He was surprised to see the boss in his office and was curious to know what investigation they

were going to be given. As happened with any other investigation his team had, Harvey felt a wildthrill of anticipation sweep through him as he patiently waited for Simon to catch his breath before hetold them of the reason for his visit.

Simon tore his gaze away from the trees directly outside the window and studied the men in theroom.

“This house is damned hard to find,” he muttered. It wasn’t a criticism. An appreciative tonelaced his rueful acknowledgement.

Nestled about half a mile away from the small village of Little Bragton, the Star Elite’s basewas close to all the main routes in and out of Lancashire yet discretely nestled amongst woodland thatvery few locals ventured anywhere near. It was so well hidden that Simon had ridden around for agood half an hour trying to find the place, and he had been given excellent directions by Sir Hugo.

“Thank you,” Simon murmured appreciatively as he accepted a goblet of fine brandy thatHarvey’s colleague, Chandler, held out to him.

Simon allowed the silence to fall again while he sipped at the amber liquid. He was cold, tired,and deeply troubled because he knew that the news he had come to impart wasn’t going to bereceived well. But he had a job to do, a reason for his visit, and the sooner he got on with it thesooner he could return to his loving wife’s arms – eventually.

“Go on,” Harvey prompted when he couldn’t withstand Simon’s reluctance to talk for a secondlonger. He lifted his brows again when Simon looked warily at him.

Simon took another deep, fortifying sip of brandy. He paused for a moment to absorb thewarmth that slid down his gullet and settled deep in the pit of his stomach. At any other time, hewould have savoured the ripe taste on the tip of his tongue but at present he was just too tense toenjoy anything. The brandy was to strengthen his resolve to face the Star Elite’s latest, and mostdeeply troubling investigation, that was all.

“What’s happened?” Harvey prompted when Simon appeared to have forgotten they were allstill waiting for him to tell them why he had travelled all the way from London, in the pouring rain, insuch haste that he now neared the point of exhaustion.

“How familiar are you with Charles Kane, the Earl of Longbourne?” Simon asked.Harvey’s brows shot up. “He is liked by his peers but despised by everyone else. He has a

reputation for treating the locals, and the people who work on his estate, like shit. He lives near here,in Cliffthorpe Manor, I believe. Why? What’s happened to him?”

“Nothing. But his son was kidnapped the night before last.”Harvey stared at his boss in disbelief. “Kidnapped? From where? Why weren’t we told about

this before?”“The son was snatched in the middle of the night from Cliffthorpe Manor,” Simon bit out. “The

boy’s tutor was knocked unconscious. Apparently, he was awoken by a thumping noise coming fromthe boy’s bed chamber but is unsure of what time it was. When he went to investigate, one of the

kidnappers repeatedly punched him until he was unconscious. He didn’t see anybody beyond the fistthat hit him and heard nothing except for the heavy thump that woke him up. He never saw Rupert, theyoung boy who was taken.”

Baffled, Harvey squinted at him. “If this happened the night before last, how did you get toknow about it so quickly in London?”

“Sir Hugo has been visiting a friend of his who lives near here; Lord Appleworth.”“Appleworth in Kimbleby?” Harvey’s brows shot up.Simon nodded. “I was with them. We have been discussing some troubling events taking place

in Norfolk. I was preparing to leave for Norwich when Longbourne turned up at Appleworth’s house.He – Longbourne – stormed straight in and demanded to speak to Sir Hugo.”

“How did Longbourne know that Sir Hugo was with Lord Appleworth?” Chandler interrupted.“Because Longbourne had heard about Appleworth’s shooting weekend and tried to get himself

invited. Appleworth refused to invite him, though, because he knows that Sir Hugo doesn’t like theman,” Simon explained. “Anyway, Longbourne appeared at Appleworth’s house and demanded tospeak to Sir Hugo. He has - requested - that the Star Elite find the boy. Apparently, Longbourne senthis butler here to fetch you yesterday, but you weren’t here so they sent for the magistrate instead.Longbourne took great pains to complain to Sir Hugo about your lack of availability and moanedabout having to rely on an inept magistrate whom he clearly believes is unqualified for this kind ofinvestigation.”

“We have been helping the men in Leicestershire hunt for the highwaymen. We only got backlate last night,” Harvey explained somewhat defensively. “We can’t just sit around and be atLongbourne’s beck and call. Besides, given how little the man helps anybody else, he can hardlymoan about our lack of availability can he?”

“I know. Sir Hugo warned him that he is in no position to demand anything from the Star Elite,”Simon replied. “He told Longbourne to leave the investigation to the magistrate.” Simon’s warninglook told him that the magistrate had also been treated shabbily by the arrogant Lord.

“And?”“And Sir Hugo himself sent for the magistrate. The magistrate, a man called Rivers, I believe,

was going to call upon you to request your help because he is baffled by the decided lack of evidence.There is nothing to indicate how the intruders entered or left the property without being seen orheard.”

“But they did,” Harvey muttered. It wasn’t really a question, but Simon nodded once, briskly. Simon leaned back in his chair and looked at the men in the room. This regional branch of the

Star Elite was lounging negligently in various locations about the lavishly decorated room. Rory, andLander were standing beside the huge bay windows overlooking the neatly tended garden. Albionwas sitting beside the door watching the exchange intently. Ellis and Deveraux were slouched inlarge, wing backed chairs beside the fireplace but were staring fixatedly at the far wall as theylistened to the conversation. Heath stood beside the door with one brawny shoulder propped casuallyagainst the wall while Chandler was sitting on the end of the desk that Harvey was sitting at. All themen were now watching him so closely that Simon felt decidedly uncomfortable, on edge, and a littleguilty even though he had done nothing wrong.

“The magistrate searched the house but found nothing odd. Nothing was moved or disturbed.There were no footprints and no doors left open. Nothing. The magistrate has already spoken to thestaff, but nobody knows how the kidnappers got in or out of the house with a distressed young boywho most probably made a lot of noise.” Simon shook his chilled shoulders to get the wet material of

his shirt off them.“It isn’t likely that he left quietly,” Harvey snorted disparagingly. He tipped his head and stared

thoughtfully out of the window. “Unless the boy was bound and gagged or drugged into silence.”Simon nodded. “Apparently, the doors were locked and bolted, the shutters were closed and

undisturbed, and the windows were all closed too. The only window that might have been used, and Isay ‘might’ because there is no evidence that it was used by the kidnappers, was in the scullery. Thelock on that wasn’t secured like it should have been, but then nobody in the house can remember whenit was last locked, or last opened. The only problem is that the window is tiny. However, it wasunlocked.”

“Good Lord. You would think that the Lord wouldn’t allow silly mistakes like that to happen,wouldn’t you?” Harvey murmured. “And the Lord has not received any threats, or made any newenemies lately?”

“No.”“Does he have any unpaid gambling debts, or has anybody threatened his family?”“No.”“Does he have any financial problems? Might the child have a fortune the Lord needs to keep

his estate operational?”“Not as far as we are aware, no.”Harvey leaned forward in his seat. “Has the Lord received any ransom demand?”“Nothing,” Simon confirmed.Harvey puffed out his cheeks and leaned back again but, before he could ask Simon any more

questions that his boss couldn’t answer, Simon carefully placed his now empty goblet onto Harvey’sdesk and stood up.

“Now that Appleworth’s hunting weekend is over, Sir Hugo is returning to Leicestershire to re-join the hunt for the missing highwaymen. I would stay and help you with this, if only becauseLongbourne can be an arrogant bore at the best of times, but I must go to Norfolk to investigate thebodies that have been appearing on the shore. That must take priority because people are beingbrought into the country illegally but are washing up on the shores dead.”

“We will investigate the abduction,” Harvey confirmed mostly because Simon’s presencemeant that the Star Elite had to.

While his handsome face remained impassive, Harvey began a mental check list of all thethings he had to do to get the investigation underway and began to mull over what information theywere going to have to source. Within seconds, though, he was interrupted by Simon rapping hisknuckles on the desk.

Their eyes met.Simon’s voice was a low growl when he said: “Find out if the son does have a fortune he is set

to inherit when he reaches a certain age, or if Lord Longbourne has made himself any enemies whomight hate him enough to want to hurt him. What I do know about him is that he isn’t liked by manypeople in the county that he calls home, so it may be that one of the locals has played a part in whathas happened. What I know is that a lot of titled and wealthy people are going to be unsettled by whathas happened, so try to keep it quiet. If this doesn’t appear in the newspapers, the kidnappers aregoing to want to make their presence felt in some other way, possibly with a ransom note. IfLongbourne has already gone to the newspapers, you are going to be inundated with demands from thearistocracy in the area who will all want answers and promises that the Star Elite will keep them safein their beds at night. Try to stay unobtainable, eh?”

“I am not going to spend my time explaining what we do to any of them,” Harvey snorted.“I am afraid that some of them will demand that you pay them a visit to explain yourself

anyway. You have Sir Hugo’s permission to ignore them and refuse any demands they make. Get onwith finding Rupert. That’s the young lad’s name. You need to go and see Longbourne first. He ismaking noises about putting the disappearance in the newspapers. Stop him,” Simon warned.

Lander frowned. “Doesn’t it make more sense to publicise Rupert’s disappearance? It will beharder for the kidnappers to hide him then.”

“Yes, but they may kill him if they can’t move him around without someone recognising him,and the risks of hiding him increase tenfold,” Simon warned. His tone lowered even more when hegrowled: “The lad may already be dead so search the local area too.” Fuelled with a sense of urgencyto get the Norfolk investigation over with so he could return home to check on his own family, Simonturned toward the door. “Right, well, I will be on my way. I must go and get something to eat but wantto be in Norfolk in the next day or so. Time is pressing. I have people smugglers to capture.”

“What’s happening there?” Harvey asked conversationally mostly because it was unusual to seeSimon looking so worried.

Simon pursed his lips and shook his head. “We have a number of bodies appearing on theshorelines of Norfolk, but they aren’t locals. They appear to be from Denmark, or other countries inthat neck of the woods, but we can’t identify them. A few of the locals who live close to the shorelinehave reported seeing lights and boats out at sea in the middle of the night. Many of the people beingsmuggled into the country die before they reach shore, but they have been stabbed or strangled ratherthan drowned as we would expect. More are arriving practically daily. It is a matter of priority thatwe find out who is smuggling or murdering people, and why so many foreigners are so close toEnglish shores in the first place. The last I heard, there were no significant wars or problems in anyof the countries over there that would warrant anyone wanting to risk a perilous sea crossing for abetter life in England. We need to try to find out what they were promised, by who, and why. Moreimportantly, what they paid the smugglers to get here.”

“Without finding one alive, that is going to be damned difficult,” Heath said.“I know,” Simon sighed. “So, I am going to bid you all a good afternoon and will be on my

way. What I would suggest is that you see Longbourne before he comes to find you, but don’t let theman tell you what to do. He must do as you tell him. Understandably, the man is worried, but he isstill arrogant and still has enemies. Search that estate, preferably before his staff trample all over itand destroy any evidence. The magistrate is on hand to give you any assistance you need, but he isgoing to stay out of it now unless you specifically send for him.”

“Is that at the request of Longbourne?” Harvey asked.“No, it is at Sir Hugo’s request. The magistrate doesn’t have the authority of the War Office to

deny any of Longbourne’s demands. If Longbourne doesn’t agree with what you are doing, we don’twant the man using the magistrate to work against you and do his own investigation. I am not havingLongbourne think that he can tell the Star Elite how to investigate his child’s kidnapping.” Simonlooked at the men. “Besides, we have no proof that Longbourne isn’t behind the kidnapping of hisown son.”

“Do the locals know about this?” Chandler asked.“Yes. Some of them work at the house. But I cannot tell you what they know or think about the

person or persons involved, or even what they think about the Lord. You are going to have to questioneach of the staff carefully and possibly some of the locals. Don’t trust anyone, eh?”

Simon knew that they wouldn’t. While this branch of the Star Elite consisted of more local men

than most of the teams, they had all undergone the same training in London to become operatives ofthe Star Elite. Simon knew that they would find whoever was responsible for kidnapping the youngboy no matter what it took. He just hoped that they wouldn’t be delayed in finding the lad by thearrogance of the titled and selfish Longbourne.

“Try and find this boy while he is still alive, eh? Regardless of who his father is he isdeserving of a life.”

“We have to. I get the feeling that everyone is going to be watching what we do becauseLongbourne isn’t liked around these parts,” Harvey muttered.

“Remember that the man has many enemies. You cannot discount anybody or any scenario. Dowhat you need to do, gentlemen,” Simon ordered before snatching up his papers and stalking out ofthe room with nothing more than a quick doff of his imaginary cap.

The men watched Simon through the window as he mounted his horse, turned it around, andsettled himself in the saddle before nudging his horse into a trot. Nobody moved or spoke until he haddisappeared out of the end of the driveway.

“I suppose we had better get over there and search the house just in case the lad has decided tohide from his father. I can only hope that nobody has trampled around the boy’s bed chamber toomuch,” Harvey sighed as he left his desk and went to find his cloak.

Lander tugged his boots on. “I don’t think I have ever seen Cliffthorpe Manor. I have riddenpast it a few times, but I haven’t ventured near. I have heard more about Longbourne, but never seenhim either.”

“You aren’t missing much. Cliffthorpe is what you would expect of a Lord’s estate. It is huge.The staff work hard to look after the place, but Longbourne doesn’t trouble himself when things gowrong. I hear that he gets nasty with his staff when problems occur, and they tell him about it. Runninghis house is something that he expects someone else to do while he gads about his friends’ housesenjoying himself,” Harvey growled with clear disapproval.

“What about his son?”“He doesn’t go. He has been under the care of a tutor named Mr Dalton, apparently,” Heath

read from one of the files that Simon didn’t take with him when he left. Inside the file was a singlesheet of paper. “This just has some information about Longbourne, his height, features, etc., and hisson’s name. Wife’s dead. House has been in the family for generations. No clues. Magistrate hasinvestigated. Found nothing. Longbourne’s angry and so the Star Elite have been called in via SirHugo. We have orders to over-ride Longbourne whenever we see fit. That’s it.”

“That isn’t much to go on,” Dev grumbled.“It’s enough. Let’s just get over there and searched the damned place,” Harvey muttered in

disgust. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find the lad hiding in the servant’s quarters or cellar just to try toget his father’s attention.”

At Cliffthorpe Manor, Freya carefully closed the door to the scullery and shivered when the

cold air within the damp room swept across her shoulders. She sniffed but then immediately wincedbecause she needed to be quiet. The last thing she wanted to do was alert him to her presence in thetiny room and get caught in the cramped space. A wave of revulsion swept through her when sheremembered the last time that she had inadvertently been trapped in the room with him. She had toavoid another incident like that at all costs.

In her haste to get out of the room as quickly as she could, Freya’s movements were jerky as shehurried over to her cloak, which she had hidden in a dresser normally used to store the house’s

disused cutlery. There, she dropped her latest wage into the small pouch of coins. She quicklycounted how much she now had at her disposal and calculated that she had enough to purchase a ticketto Leicestershire, the place her family still called home.

As she quietly replaced the coins, Freya pondered over the wisdom of going back. It had been averitable age since she had been back there. If she was honest, it was the very last place she wantedto go. But while she was filled with doubts about the wisdom of going back, there was nowhere elseto go.

“What are you going to do?” Molly, another of the downstairs maids, hissed from the doorway.She glanced over her shoulder warily before sliding into the room to press her back against the door,effectively holding it closed while she waited for Freya to reply.

“I have enough now – just,” Freya replied with rueful relief. “As long as I am careful, I shouldbe able to buy one ticket, and eat, and be able to pay for a room for a night or two. I may have to walksome of the way once I get to Leicestershire, but I really don’t mind.”

“What are you going to do about telling them?” Molly jerked her head toward the door. “Youknow that Bakewell is going to be angry that you want to leave.”

“I don’t care what Bakewell thinks. I am going because he makes me feel sick and I don’t intendto be his next victim.”

“He has started to stare at you rather a lot,” Molly muttered with a deep frown of concern. Hergaze turned knowing. “And you know where that leads.”

“I am not going to be forced into enduring one of his lecherous night-time visits. Thankfully, Ishare a room with you, but I still don’t feel comfortable being anywhere in this house by myself.”Freya studied her cloak. While she didn’t relish having to sneak out at night, or even spending anytime out of her room in the dead of night, it was her only option. She could only pray that she didn’tinadvertently stumble into the lecherous butler, or she would have another problem on her hands.

“What are you going to tell your family? You have been away from home for far too long to tellthem that you suddenly became homesick. Besides, you never really got on very well with yourmother. What do you think she is going to have to say about you turning up unannounced havingsurrendered your job in a house like this?”

Freya wanted to cry. When she thought about home she immediately felt as if the whole worldwas against her. There were so many doubts, problems, concerns, and fears running through her thatshe wasn’t at all sure what she was going to do. Her mother had barely tolerated her when Freya hadlived at home in her younger years. When she learnt that Freya had left a perfectly good job, even toavoid the ruinous advances of a repulsive butler, her mother would be angry.

“I have to go,” Freya murmured miserably.Molly looked sympathetically at her. “So, are you going to come upstairs at all tonight, or are

you going to skulk around down here all evening and wait until everyone has gone to bed?”“I am coming up to bed,” Freya announced firmly. She shivered and eyed the window with

trepidation. “I don’t want to linger down here in case I run into Bakewell.”“You know that they are going to think that you had something to do with Rupert disappearing,

don’t you? I mean, you vanishing into the night a couple of days after the Lord’s son was snatchedlooks suspicious even to me and I know why you are leaving and that you would never do somethingso heinous as to snatch a young boy out of his bed. But people will wonder if you were involved.”She tipped her head meaningfully toward the door.

Freya struggled to contain her tears and whispered: “Then the only thing I can do is hope that Inever have a reason to return to this part of the world again. In Leicestershire, people won’t know

where I have been working and won’t link the two events. As far as I am aware, news of thekidnapping hasn’t appeared in the newspapers yet.”

“What will you do for a reference? You know that future employers are going to want to knowwhere you have been working for the last year and a half. What are you going to tell them? LordLongbourne won’t give you a reference if you disappear.”

“I don’t want him to give me a reference because I don’t want Bakewell knowing where I havegone. I don’t want anything to do with this house anymore. Although it galls me to say it, I made amassive mistake coming to work here. While life in a big house seemed wonderful when I firstapplied for the position as a maid, the reality of life here is far from romantic. It involves long, hardhours of endless toil with sore hands and an aching back, little or no sleep, and so little life of myown I have started to wonder why I bother to get up in a morning.”

“You get up for the money in your pouch,” Molly replied dryly.“But to do what with it? What is the point of having that money if I only have one day off with

which to spend it? There isn’t enough time off for me to go too far. I have only ever been to Coplowto fetch the meagre supplies that I need to get by until the next month’s day off. It is ridiculous. Iwould have more freedom as a milk maid.”

Molly grinned and shrugged. “So do that then. Anything must be better than this. I would leaveif I could.”

“Why don’t you?”Molly sighed. “I am saving up to follow you,” she admitted.Freya looked at her friend with soft sympathy in her eyes. While she had concerns about

leaving, she could at least walk out of the door and the only person who was going to really pay theprice for it was herself. It was her own financial wellbeing that was taking a hit; her inability to feedherself that was in doubt in the future. Molly wasn’t in the same situation, though. Her family washuge, and money was in short supply. Any spare funds that Molly had was sent straight back to Irelandto help her parents feed the family. Molly being able to work was essential to everyone in Molly’sfamily.

“I am sorry,” Freya whispered sadly. “I don’t want to leave you, but I have to do this before Igo quietly out of my mind.”

Molly blinked rapidly and smiled bravely as she hoarsely declared: “I am sure my mam wouldwelcome me back with open arms if I went back to Ireland. It is just that I cannot guarantee that I willbe able to find a suitable position there that pays as much as this one. One day, I think I am just goingto have to take the chance and leave.”

“Especially if Bakewell targets you,” Freya finished for her, and was unsurprised when Mollynodded. “I wish I could help you find an escape if that ever happened.”

“That is why I am saving up. I have no idea who he is going to force himself on once you haveleft. If it is me, I am going to have to be like you and just leave. I have a few coins, just not enough if Iwant to eat while I travel.”

“There is no purpose staying miserable for the rest of your life,” Freya warned. She offered herfriend a tearful smile. “I know that I am a fine one to talk, but now that I have decided to go, I knowthat it is the right decision.” She thumped a hand into the centre of her chest with decided passion.“For me. You know?”

Molly did indeed know and nodded. “Well, I shall see you upstairs. One thing that I must warnyou about is that the magistrate says he has contacted the Star Elite about the boy’s disappearance.Bakewell has announced that the Star Elite should be here soon, so you must leave before they turn

up.”“What does the Star Elite have to do with me?” Freya asked blankly. “They won’t care about

what I am doing, surely to goodness.”Molly lifted her brows at her. “Well, if you get caught sneaking out of the house by them, they

are going to suspect you.”Freya opened her mouth to reply only to watch Molly slip silently out of the door. She found

herself staring at the closed door for a moment while she absorbed the silence of the room andMolly’s words of caution. She knew that Molly was right.

Freya wished that her thoughts were as silent as the room she was in, but they were churningwith a thousand worries now, the first of which was whether she was going to have the time to leavethe house before the Star Elite arrived to investigate the child’s abduction.

CHAPTER TWO Harvey studied the arrogant man before him with dispassionate curiosity. If he was honest, he

was a little shocked at just how dishevelled and distressed the Lord looked. He wasn’t sure what hehad expected. Maybe for the man to be grief stricken or tearfully pleading. What he hadn’t expected tosee was this unusual display of angst. It was odd because it appeared to be fuelled by something akinto anger rather than worry over the safety of his son. Given that this man usually left the raising of hischild to staff, and had little contact with his own son, Harvey hadn’t expected Lord Longbourne to betoo over-wrought anyway but hadn’t expected the lord to be almost coldly furious. In his eyes, therewasn’t any frantic desperation, just a dead-eyed worry, as if Longbourne was trying to hide his panic.Not his distress or grief but panic, worry, fury. Because what he was witnessing was unusual, Harveydistrusted the man on sight.

“I don’t care what it costs me, or what you have to do, or who to, just find my son,” Longbournedemanded in a voice which trembled from the force of his anger. His pale cheeks were drawn, greyeven, and his eyes cold and hard. “Get him back here.”

“Does he have an inheritance, or fortune?”“No. Well, yes. He has a fortune. Of course, he does. His grandfather left him a fortune and a

title, but it will be no good to the kidnappers because Rupert doesn’t get his hands on anything until heis eighteen. He has another eleven years yet.”

“We don’t think they are after Rupert’s fortune,” Harvey informed him.Lord Longbourne looked him straight in the eye. “I will pay them whatever it takes.”“No, you won’t,” Harvey replied. “If you pay them anything you are inviting others to target the

family in the future. Have you received a ransom note yet?”“No.”“Why would someone want him, aside from being able to exchange him for money that is? Do

you have any enemies?” Harvey watched the man’s reaction closely.Lord Longbourne sneered: “Everyone has enemies in this world. This country is inhabited by

some of the world’s richest people, but they aren’t all legitimate. While the newest fops have all theheirs and graces of some of the oldest families this country has to offer, the newcomers don’t have theestimable breeding. Their fortunes have, shall we say, been acquired through less than respectablemeans, if you get my drift.”

Harvey sighed. “Are any of these less than respectable people likely to be criminals?”“I don’t know.” Longbourne ran his hand through his hair again and struggled not to tug at it like

he had practically constantly since the search for Rupert had started. “I don’t know. I just don’t knowwho would do something like this.” He slammed a tight fist onto the hard surface of his desk andswore fluidly. “When these bastards are caught, I want them strung up. Do you hear me? Strung up!”

“Leave it to us, sir,” Harvey replied calmly yet firmly. “We will find them. For now, do wehave permission to search your premises from the attics through to the basement? We will also haveto search your grounds and outbuildings.”

“Yes, of course. You have the run of the entire estate if it will help to find my son.” The Lord’svoice drained of vitality and steadily became dull and lifeless the more he spoke. His eyes lost theirfurious spark. His shoulders slumped. His entire face hardened to the point that it looked almostwaxen.

“We will set to work then,” Harvey announced. When Longbourne didn’t respond, Harveyquietly left the room.

In the vast entrance hall, Harvey lifted his brows at his colleagues who had all been searchingthe rooms leading off the long corridors running to the left and the right of the main staircase.

“There are at least eight entrance points in the front room and hallway,” Heath informed him.“I have counted six possible entrance points in the formal dining room alone,” Rory added,

looking darkly at his boss.Harvey shook his head in disgust. “But they were all locked, I suppose?” he asked of the

annoyed looking butler who was hovering at the base of the main staircase clearly listening to whatwas being said. Harvey had disliked the man the second that he had seen the dapperly looking butler.There was something about the way that Bakewell looked down his nose at the Star Elite that madeHarvey want to punch him, especially because the man was nothing more than a servant in a suit.

A snob. That is what my grandmother would call him. An inveterate snob.“Right, well, you can show my colleagues up to the attics, and the basement. I want to see the

scullery and then question your staff.”“They are having dinner right now, sir,” Bakewell announced in rich tones that Harvey

suspected were fake.“That’s fine. Find me a room to use so that I can have a private conversation with them all and

arrange for them to come to me one-by-one as soon as they have finished eating.”“Tonight, sir?” Bakewell demanded, clearly horrified by the notion.Harvey glared at him in exasperation. “Yes, tonight, man,” he snapped. “I can see no reason for

any delay.” His voice lowered to a dark growl that was challenging. “Is there? Is there something youwant to tell me, Bakewell?”

Bakewell glared at him, clearly displeased at having to accept any orders from one of the StarElite. Harvey squared up to the man and squinted suspiciously at him purely to put the butler on edge.When they were toe-to-toe, Harvey leaned forward until his mouth was against the butler’s ear andstared over the man’s shoulder as he hissed: “If you know anything about what happened the othernight, I suggest you tell me now so that the judge can take your – assistance – into consideration whenhe passes sentence on you. Believe me when I tell you that I will find out everything about you.Understand?” He felt the butler tense.

Bakewell’s gaze slid to Harvey but because the butler didn’t turn his head the expression on hisface made him looked shifty. For one brief, infinitesimal moment, Harvey thought he saw a flash ofguilt in the butler’s dark eyes. It was enough to assure Harvey that his gut instincts were right.Bakewell was keeping secrets.

“It’s Bakewell, isn’t it?” he pressed when the butler seemed to have forgotten how to breathe,or blink, and merely stared straight ahead as if stunned speechless. “Well, Bakewell, do as I tell youand put your name on the list. I am not going to tolerate anybody obstructing my investigation,understand?”

Bakewell coughed discretely and stepped away. While he did nothing more than nod briskly,Harvey noticed a fine sheen of sweat on the butler’s brow.

“Put him on the list of suspects,” Harvey murmured to Deveraux ‘Dev’ who immediately wrotethe butler’s name down in the little black book he carried in his waistcoat pocket. “Then fetch mesomeone to question. I am not going to be delayed by that butler or anyone else. We can interview thestaff in here until the butler finds us somewhere below stairs.”

Harvey felt as if he was committing some sort of cardinal sin by appropriating Longbourne’sformal sitting room. The room was far too opulent for his tastes. It was also bloody cold because itwas so large and there was no fire in the huge, ornate fireplace.

“Gloomy, that’s what this sodding mausoleum is. Bloody gloomy,” Harvey grumbled as hesettled himself in a plush chair which creaked alarmingly beneath his weight.

“You feel it too, eh?” Albion murmured as he studied the locks on the windows and thenreclosed the shutters. “It’s a cold and empty house. It isn’t anything like the kind of home I grew up in.It’s hard to believe a young boy has been growing up here.”

“He hasn’t, though, has he?” Lander interjected. “The young boy has been growing up in theattic where he is out of sight until Longbourne wants to introduce him to his cronies.”

Harvey shook his head in disgust.“This is the house of someone who is wealthy, though. Now that I have seen one from the

inside, I am bloody grateful that I grew up in a house that was a heck of a lot smaller, and far moreinviting than this place,” Heath added. He shook his head when he bent down to study the highlypolished mantle and couldn’t find even a single speck of dust on any of the shiny surfaces.

“This is Freya,” Bakewell announced dourly from the doorway. “You can make a start on her.She is one of the downstairs maids. Her bed chamber is directly below the nursery. She might haveheard something.”

With that, Bakewell glared at the maid before he disappeared back into the hallway. Heathmuttered a curse when the butler left the door open. Crossing the room, he closed it with a quiet clickbefore positioning himself in front of the door in case the butler tried to reopen it.

Freya remained frozen in place as she studied the men scattered around the sitting room. Hergaze fell upon one of the men who was standing in the middle of the room. Upon seeing her, heimmediately bowed as if he was greeting the lady of the manor rather than a maid. Freya opened hermouth to tell him that he shouldn’t bow to her but realised that this was the Star Elite. Nobody toldthem to do anything.

Masking the fact that her heart was pounding, Freya lowered her gaze to the floor and dutifullydipped into a graceful curtsey. “Sir,” she murmured quietly.

“Please, take a seat,” Harvey said gently. He was a little stunned and couldn’t take his eyes offher.

He watched the young woman positively glide across the room toward him and suddenlystruggled to focus on the reason why he was there. The first thought that hit him was how in the hellsomeone like her could be anybody’s maid. She – Freya – was far too beautiful; refined; wellmannered; genteel.

Sodding stunning, that’s what she is.Harvey forced himself to keep his face devoid of all emotion, apart from a swift rueful look that

he slid at an equally bemused Albion, the more straight forward and practical of all the men. ButAlbion didn’t notice. He was too busy staring at the veritable vision of beauty before them too.

“Please, take a seat,” Harvey croaked once Freya was before him.He took a step back only to bump into a small side table upon which was a large vase, which

shuddered and wobbled before it tipped sideways. Suspecting it was expensive, Harvey lunged for itbefore it shattered and cost him his year’s salary. When it was safe, he immediately righted it buthanded it carefully to Albion who immediately froze and looked warily around the room forsomewhere safe he could put it.

Freya watched them fumble with the priceless heirloom and felt her lips twitch. She could feelthe uneasiness in all the men who were clearly unused to such luxurious refinement and suddenly felta connection to them because she had felt like that when she had first started working in the place.Without saying a word, Freya relieved the man of his burden and placed it carefully on a dresser

behind the door. Once it was safe, she then took a seat on the chair opposite the one the man from theStar Elite appeared to be using.

“You are-” Harvey began, aware of Deveraux edging closer so he could simultaneously makenotes in his little pocketbook and stare at the young woman.

“Miss Freya Yelland.”“And you are one of the upstairs maids.” It wasn’t a question.“No, downstairs,” Freya replied.“How long have you been working here?”“About eighteen months.” Freya wished there were something to do to put some life into this

conversation, but her answers were monotonous because there wasn’t much else that she could say.She risked a glance at the man before her, but when their gazes clashed wished that she hadn’t

looked up. There was something about his deep blue eyes that seemed to see straight into her soul.She knew he was curious, but only because he wanted information to help him with his investigation.Even so, she felt a connection with him that was shocking.

“Do you work in here?” Harvey whispered, although why he was wasting so much time askingher inane questions was beyond him. He didn’t really care which rooms she worked in and had noidea why he felt the need to ask.

Maybe it is because she looks as if she is going to rush out of the room and disappear overthe horizon if I so much as cough.

“No. This is Mavis’s room.”“Mavis?”“Another maid. She cleans this room, the formal dining room, and the conservatory. I clean the

master’s study, the library, and the lady’s sitting room at the back of the house,” Freya reported. “I dothe fires, sweep, and generally dust.”

Harvey replied. “Do you enjoy it?”Freya looked at him again. Again, her heart skipped a beat. “It is a job.”An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. An air of expectancy became almost palpable.

Freya knew that the men were studying her before she even looked at them, but she daren’t move, andcouldn’t challenge them over their curiosity. They were only here to question her – and the other staff.They had a job to do, a young boy to find. They were, after all, the Star Elite.

“What did you hear the night that Rupert Kane went missing?”“Nothing,” Freya replied bluntly. “Absolutely nothing.”“But your room is directly below the nursery, is it not?” Harvey persisted.“Yes.”“But you didn’t hear anything.” Harvey had no idea why he was pushing her so but squinted

suspiciously at her to leave her in no doubt that he didn’t believe her. He wanted to believe that shewas telling him the truth but there was something about her furtive behaviour and clear discomfortwhenever their gazes clashed that warned him that she also harboured secrets.

Is everyone in this house keeping secrets for God’s sake? Harvey mentally shook his head andscowled at the young woman opposite.

“No.”“At all.”“No.” When silence fell again, Freya looked at him and sighed heavily before announcing: “We

have to get up at four in the morning. We light the fires while everyone is asleep and polish thehallway and sweep the floors before the master gets up. We then spend our days sweeping, polishing,

and fetching and carrying things until late at night. Then, around ten or eleven o’clock, dependingupon if the master has any social functions or not, we are allowed to go to bed only to get up at four inthe morning to start all over again. So, when we do get to bed, we are exhausted, and sleep soundly.Sleep, to us at least, is precious. Not much disturbs us.”

Except for Bakewell.Freya briefly contemplated the wisdom of telling the men from the Star Elite about the antics of

the lecherous butler. She probably would have had she not already decided to leave her situation inthe horrid house. Now, having seen the men from the Star Elite, she knew that it was time for her to gobefore something else went wrong or someone else was attacked in some way.

Besides, Harvey is far too distracting.She had heard many stories about the Star Elite, but never much about their appearance.

Nobody had ever told her how powerful and handsome they were. Now that she was in theircompany, Freya had to force herself to meet Harvey’s gaze again. Together, they were powerful,overwhelming even. It was a little disconcerting to look up and find that the man was staringthoughtfully at her as if mulling over his next question.

When their eyes clashed again, she bravely tipped her chin up and forced herself to stare boldlyback at him. She watched the corners of his chiselled lips turn up slightly as if he applauded herstubborn strength, but he didn’t stop his questions.

“Does anybody get up in the night?”“Bakewell does sometimes.”“Did he that night?”“How should I know?”Her curled lip told Harvey that Bakewell wasn’t popular either.“Why does Bakewell get up in the night?”Freya struggled to know what to say because it wasn’t really her story to tell. She could only

hope that when her turn came, the current object of Bakewell’s lascivious advances would use theopportunity to tell the Star Elite what she was being subjected to. The problem was that most of theyoung women in the house needed the work and couldn’t run the risk of losing their positions byclaiming the butler of the household molested them.

“He checks on the house sometimes,” she murmured vaguely when she couldn’t think ofanything else. “I really have no idea. You will have to speak with Mrs Lawrence, the housekeeper, orBakewell himself.”

“You didn’t hear anything happening directly above your bed chamber all night because youwere tired,” Harvey repeated, pursing his lips, and shaking his head.

“Yes.”“Have you met Master Rupert?”“Only once. He was on his way out into the garden with Mr Dalton, his tutor.”“How is Mr Dalton? Do you like him?” Harvey squinted at her when she stared worriedly at

the floor.“He keeps himself to himself. He doesn’t really associate with the below stairs staff. I do

believe that Mr Dalton is the son of Viscount Smolton, but I cannot be sure.”“You are not from around these parts, are you?”“No.”“Where are you from?” Harvey demanded.“L-” Freya hesitated. She wanted to tell him whatever he wanted to know if only so she could

return to her room and keep her distance from him. There was something about this handsomeinvestigator that was too appealing. He was dangerous. Good at his job. Direct. Strong. Capable. Hewas powerful, and knew it, and used it to his advantage whenever he needed to, of that she had nodoubt.

He also knows that he is incredibly handsome.When he flashed her a winning smile, Freya felt her cheeks heat, and mentally cursed herself

because she never blushed. But with this man she did apparently, and it was galling that there wasnothing she could do to stop it, or him from seeing the colour of her heated cheeks.

“Is that all?”“You haven’t answered my question. Where are you from?”“Leicestershire,” Freya snapped.“Where in Leicestershire?”Freya knew that by telling him where she was going, she could never return there again. If the

Star Elite suspected her of being involved in Rupert’s kidnapping, they would just follow her there,and her mother would have even more of a reason to hate her.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation, Freya murmured: “A small village calledRavenstone.”

“Ravenstone,” Harvey scowled. “I have never heard of it.”“Are you supposed to have heard of it?”Harvey didn’t answer. He wondered if she was avoiding telling him the truth the way that she

was avoiding having to meet his gaze. He sensed that she had become tenser the more he hadquestioned her. What he couldn’t understand was why.

“When you have finished here, what will you do?” Deveraux asked.“I have to help the others clear the dinner things away. I am then off to bed.” She slid a look at

the clock.“Tell me about Master Rupert,” Harvey ordered. While his tone was conversational there was

a hint of hardness in his voice that left Freya in no doubt that his question was an order.“I know nothing about him,” she announced honestly.Now that, Harvey believed. Her tone was firm, her gaze direct. While he was pleased that she

was being forthright with him, he also now knew that she hadn’t been honest earlier.“Do you have any idea who might have snatched Master Rupert?”“None.”“Sure?” Harvey lifted his brows and waited.“I am sure.”“Do you have anything else you wish to tell us?” Harvey prompted, wondering if she was

reluctant to tell him anything because she had secrets and wanted to confide in him but wasn’t sure ifshe could trust him. “We are the Star Elite. Anything you tell us will remain a secret unless it issomething that we have to use in court or during one of our investigations.”

“I know nothing. As soon as everyone heard that Master Rupert had vanished, we all set towork searching the house. All of us. But nobody found any clues. All I know is that Master Rupertisn’t in this house and there are no clues to tell us how he left,” Freya whispered sadly. “I am sorry. Iwish there were something more I could say, or do, that would help you find him.”

“Have you seen any of the staff behaving oddly of late?”Again, Freya’s thoughts turned to the butler. “No,” she replied eventually but after a silence that

was far too long to be innocent.

CHAPTER THREE Later that night, Freya was finishing up in the downstairs sitting room when she sensed that she

was no longer alone. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt the presence of a tall man in thedoorway. Her immediate thoughts turned to the handsome investigator from the Star Elite who hadquestioned her earlier. While she already knew that someone like him wouldn’t be attracted to alowly servant like her, she could do nothing about the wild surge of delight that slammed into herwhen she thought it might be him who had come to see her.

Harvey Reynolds. That’s his name. It sounds posh.That thought was enough for Freya to look down at her sooty hands and the bucket of coal at her

feet, and sigh despondently.He most certainly wouldn’t be attracted to me. I look like a chimney sweep.When she eventually remembered that someone was in the doorway watching her, Freya looked

across the room. Her heart skipped a beat again, but this time for quite different reasons.“Mr Bakewell,” she murmured politely, mentally cursing when she watched the butler step into

the room and close the door quietly behind him. She squinted suspiciously at him when she realisedthat it took him far longer to close the door than anyone else. A part of her wondered what he wasfiddling with while deep inside she already knew that he was locking the door, barring the rest of theworld from interrupting them.

And me from reaching the rest of the world.Sweat popped out on her brow. Freya tried to assure herself that it was because she was

standing before the freshly banked fire. She began to tremble as a mixture of fear and anger floodedevery fibre of her being. In that moment she really did hate the butler. His elongated features, mop ofgrey hair, and narrowed grey eyes together with his almost cruel lips all atop a slender frame that wasalmost skeletal made the elderly butler repulsive. She hated him.

“What do you want?” she asked quietly.“Come and take a seat,” Mr Bakewell offered, unbuttoning his waistcoat with a casual ease that

alarmed her.Freya eyed the chaise with ripe distaste. “The Master has banned it. You should know better,”

she chided, her voice little more than a dull croak.“There is nobody to interrupt us. Everyone else has gone to bed. Those who are still up and

about are busy in the kitchen.”“I have chores to do before I can find my bed,” Freya replied.When Bakewell crossed the room, Freya sidled around the back of the chaise. She watched him

scowl and threw him a somewhat condescending look when their eyes met. His features hardenedwhen he saw her open dislike of him.

“I have had a few reports about you,” he warned, his eyes sliding lasciviously over her.The way he studied the soft swell of her bosom, and the delicate curve of her hips was enough

to make Freya shudder anew with stronger revulsion.“Reports?”“Come and take a seat,” he repeated.“No, thank you,” Freya bit out.Mr Bakewell glared at her. “It is not a request.”“I am going to retire for the evening. My chores are done,” Freya bit out. “Tomorrow is my day

off, so Susan is going to be doing the chores down here.”

“It is not Susan’s conduct I wish to talk about,” Mr Bakewell snapped.“I have not done anything wrong. I am sure that if Mrs Lawrence had an issue with my work,

she would have told me so herself. I don’t believe that dealing with the house staff is within the remitof your role, Mr Bakewell,” Freya bit out. She glared coldly at him and watched two large swathes ofred stain his cheeks.

She had angered him.Freya stared at the fireplace while she tried to decide how to get herself out of this situation.

What was happening reassured her that she was right to make the plans she had made for tomorrow;that after this there could be no going back, no resumption of her life prior to this moment. It wasdone. Over. Complete.

And time for me to move on.Freya studied the door across the room longingly but from her position beside the chaise she

could already see that there was no key in the door. Bakewell had not only locked the door, but hehad pocketed the key too. Mentally cursing, Freya turned to study the room and tried to decide whichroute out of the room was the fastest. There were connecting doors that led to the master’s study andFrench doors leading to the garden. Freya could only hope that the Master had already taken to hisbed, or she would have to tell the man all about the lascivious way Bakewell forced his intentions onthe helpless maids in the house tonight.

I, however, am not going to be one of them.She glared at the butler. “I think you should know that the maids have already been discussing

your behaviour and are contemplating reporting you to the Star Elite while they are here.”Bakewell froze. He pierced her with narrowed eyes that were suddenly cold and hard. Freya

didn’t doubt that she was now looking into the eyes of a sexual predator; a man who had no concernfor the welfare of the women he frequently molested. Consequently, she could feel nothing but uttercontempt for him, and a determination to fight him off no matter what it cost her.

“I warn you now that I am not going to have you spreading contemptable lies about me,”Bakewell snarled.

“You have nothing to fear from me. I, however, cannot speak for every other maid you molest.You see, some women, no matter how menial or subservient you think they are, can and often do gettired of being treated like possessions, objects vulnerable to a man’s desire. Men like you often thinkthat you can take what you want and damn the consequences. However, not all maids are vulnerableto you, or prepared to allow you to steal their souls for your perverted desires. No means no, MrBakewell, and it applies to you too.”

“Or what?” Bakewell taunted, sidling around the corner of the chaise.Freya took several steps back and put the chaise between them again and then started to

backstep toward the fireplace. “Or they can go and see the magistrate and report your assaults to him.While you do have a strong position in this household you won’t be the first butler to be relieved ofhis position for such wilful disregard for other staff’s safety.”

Bakewell snorted with incredulity. “Are you deigning to try to threaten me?” He raked her witha condescending look as if to question her morals.

“Give me the key,” Freya snapped. “And I will have no cause to question your conduct to theMaster.”

“He wouldn’t give you the time of day,” Bakewell snorted. “You are nothing more than achimney sweep. You are one of the lowest people in this house.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to pester me with your lechery,” Freya countered. “Give me the

key.” She held her hand out and waggled her fingers.Bakewell removed the key and put on a display of studying it carefully before he held it out to

her, clearly expecting her to approach him to take it off him.Freya sighed and shook her head chidingly at him. “You should know better than that,

Bakewell,” she sighed. “I am not joining your club.”“You are going to do as you are told. It is time that you learnt that you are just a maid in this

house,” Bakewell snarled.“Like you are just the butler,” Freya replied. “And can be released from your situation if you

are caught molesting maids.” She glared at him. “Or should I forget your recent lapse of duty byallowing the master’s son to be snatched out of the house you are supposed to have kept secure?”

“That wasn’t my fault.” Bakewell looked at her with wide, slightly horrified eyes.“You are responsible for securing the house at night, aren’t you?” Freya pierced him with a

direct gaze. “The Master may not have suspected you because he has been desperately worried aboutthe welfare of his son. However, while he, and the Star Elite, are mulling over who might be guilty oftheir lapse of duty in this house, they will have to consider that you are supposed to do a late-nighttour of the house to make sure that the property has been secured properly. Yet, you didn’t. Strangerswere able to creep into the property and kidnap the young boy out of his bed in the middle of thenight. And, supposedly, you were the last one up that night, and you were the one who supposedlylocked all the doors and windows. And you were the one who keeps the keys in your bed chamber.”

“It wasn’t me,” Bakewell hissed. “I had nothing to do with it.” It was clear from his ashencomplexion that all his lascivious intentions had suddenly vanished like a puff of wind. When hespoke next, his voice was panicked. “It wasn’t me.”

“You sound rather too insistent about that, Bakewell,” Freya drawled. “I take it that the StarElite didn’t get the chance to speak to you yet.”

Bakewell opened his mouth to answer only to close it again with a snap when he realised thathe would be answering a maid’s questions about his conduct. He shook his head but opened andclosed his mouth as he struggled to find the words that he needed to scorn her but failed because ofhis panic.

“I think that you should contemplate your options, Bakewell, before you speak with the StarElite. They will ask you where you were that night, and why you locked up after the kidnappers. Imean, you are the only one with a set of keys to all the doors and windows, aside from the Master ofthe house of course. I am sure that not even you would bother to try to persuade the Star Elite that theman arranged for his own son to be kidnapped, would you?” She lifted her brows at him and noticedthat his face now had a shiny hue to it that she knew was sweat.

He is guilty of something. He just didn’t expect me to challenge him about it.“In the morning, the Star Elite will speak to you and will probably ask you such questions. Your

poor attention to detail looks suspicious, does it not? Now, here you are, locking me in a room toforce me to do something that I have no wish to do. How guilty do you wish to make yourself look –forcing people to do things against their will?"

Bakewell looked ashen. At any other time, in any other location, Freya would have felt sorryfor him, but given what he had intended to do she could feel nothing but acute revulsion andincreasing anger at his audacity. She knew that if Master Rupert hadn’t been kidnapped, she wouldhave spent what was left of the night fighting off his lascivious intentions.

“I didn’t do it,” Bakewell snarled. “I am not going to have you going around this house tellingpeople that I did.” He lunged toward her; his face distorted by the strength of his violent rage.

This time, Freya stood her ground. When he charged at her with his hands outstretched as if hewas going to grab her throat, she yanked a poker out of the bucket beside the fire and held it aloft.

“Touch me and I will beat you with it,” she hissed. “I am not going to be mauled by you. Stayaway from me, Bakewell, or you are going to have many bruises to explain to the Master in themorning, and me at the magistrate’s office reporting your assault. Keep your hands to yourself.”

Freya was so intently focused on the man before her, and the feral rage on his face, that shefailed to hear the connecting door in the corner of the room open. She didn’t see a tall, dark figureslide through the door and stand in the shadows to watch. Instead, Freya stared hard at Bakewell andprepared to smack him across the head with the poker if he took one step closer.

“You are not going to tell anyone, understand?” Bakewell hissed.“People are already discussing it. You were the one with the other set of keys. You were the

last one to tour the house. Suddenly, the morning after he was snatched, all the doors and windowswere locked again. Nobody smashed the windows, did they? No, because they had a perfect way toget into the house. You let them in. Nobody kicked any of the doors in, did they? No, because they hada perfect way to get into the house. You let them in. I hope that the kidnappers paid you well to leavea door open for them, because it is going to cost you the rest of your life once the magistrate gets holdof you.”

“I didn’t do anything.”“You left the door open for the kidnappers to walk in,” Freya shouted.“Shut up,” Bakewell growled. He threw a worried look around the room but failed to notice the

dark figure in the shadows.“Why? It’s the truth. You have a habit of forcing people to do what you want, don’t you? I

mean, you like to force yourself on the maids. You like to force women to be locked into rooms withyou. You always moaned about how much of a mess Master Rupert made, even though the poor boyhardly ever left his nursery. It was you who never had a good word to say about the boy. Why?”

Bakewell stared at her blankly for a moment. In fact, his eyes were so glazed that Freyawondered if he was in full possession of his faculties. She didn’t doubt that this was the side of himhis victims saw whenever he visited their rooms. Unfortunately for Bakewell, it strengthened Freya’sresolve to fight him off no matter what it took. Hefting her poker, Freya held it aloft and bracedherself.

“You are going to shut your mouth, or I shall have you out of this house by morning,understand?” Bakewell growled.

“Are you threatening me too? Or are you going to arrange for me to be kidnapped as well?”Freya challenged. “I don’t think that you are in any position to threaten anybody seeing how guilty youalready look. You are only going to make your own situation worse. Be warned, Bakewell, I am notgoing to be bullied into silence, raped into silence, or threatened into silence especially by the likesof you.”

“Shut up,” Bakewell snarled. “Just shut up. I should have had you out of this house from dayone.”

“Why, because I wouldn’t allow you to molest me? Because I always managed to evade yourlascivious advances?” Freya taunted. “Well, if you want to threaten me you are going to have toexplain yourself to the Master. I am sure that he is going to want to speak to the other maids, not all ofwhom are going to remain silent just so you can keep molesting them. They will tell the truth aboutyou because it is enough to put you behind bars where you belong. Now, throw me the key, Bakewell.I am going to leave here. You are going to keep your hands to yourself, and if you want to make this a

personal battle, I shall be having a few choice words with the Star Elite about your conduct.”Bakewell hissed through his clenched teeth and took another step toward her but at the last

moment something made him hesitate. He was shaking with rage. Freya knew that this was far fromover. She hadn’t heard the last of this, and tomorrow was going to bring about the start of an evendarker period in this house.

Should I stay, which I can’t now.Mentally plotting what she was going to do, Freya watched Bakewell throw the key onto the rug

before the fire. Slowly, Freya stepped toward it. It was alarming that Bakewell didn’t step back. Hiseyes became even more spiteful when he realised just how uncomfortable she was around him.

“You will do what I tell you, when I tell you, and you shall not deny me,” he growled.Freya didn’t answer. She snatched the key up and stepped back. Circling around the chaise, she

hurried across the room and shoved the key into the lock but wasn’t quick enough to turn it and openthe door before Bakewell caught up with her. She mentally cursed when his hand slammed into thewooden surface, forcing the door closed and leaving Freya effectively trapped in between the doorand his body. She could smell the scent of tobacco and ale on his breath and shuddered in revulsionbut didn’t bother to do anything more than stare at the door.

“You are going to keep your mouth shut,” Bakewell repeated. “Or I will make you regret it.Nobody in this house is going to defy someone like me. I can get them released from their situationand ruin their lives, and they know it. You should too.”

Freya forced herself to yank the door open and this time put all her weight behind it. Bakewellwas completely unprepared for the door being so forcefully opened and was slammed in the chest bythe door when Freya stepped sideways. He cursed and stumbled back but Freya had already openedthe door enough to slide through the narrow gap.

Once she was in the main hallway, Freya lifted her skirt and raced toward the servants’ stairs.She pelted up the stairs and didn’t stop running until she was in the bed chamber she shared with herfriend, Molly. She was physically shaking from head to foot as she stood with her back to the doorand stared blankly into the room. Tears trickled slowly down her cheeks but she daren’t lift her handsoff the door long enough to swipe them away. For the first time in her life, she was truly fearful of herimmediate future. She was afraid that she wasn’t going to be able to leave this house withoutBakewell knowing about it, catching her, and doing God only knew what to her. Thankfully,tomorrow was her day off so she could walk to town and make sure that she took her belongings withher.

Then, I need never come back.“What I can’t do is carry my bag. I will raise suspicion if someone sees me leaving with my

belongings,” she whispered aloud.“Are you alright?” Molly sat up in bed and blinked sleepily at her.“I have to leave,” Freya informed her as if her friend didn’t already know.“Oh, God. Don’t tell me he got you too.” Molly clambered out of bed and raced across the

room toward her. She helped her shivering friend toward the bed and snatched a blanket off thecovers to drape it around her friend’s shoulders. “Do you need a doctor?”

“No. No. He didn’t get me,” Freya whispered. “But it was close. Too close.”Molly slumped down on the edge of the bed and stared at her friend. “You are definitely going

to leave now, aren’t you?”Freya nodded. “I can’t stay. He threatened me.” She slid a nervous glance at the door before

leaning forward and whispering: “I hate to have to say it, but I think that he had something to do with

Master Rupert’s disappearance.”“Did you suggest it to him?” Molly looked astonished.Freya nodded. “He told me that I had to remember my place in the house. I told him that the

maids won’t keep quiet about what he has been doing to them if they are questioned by the Star Elite.I also might have suggested that the staff think that he had something to do with Master Rupert’sdisappearance seeing as he has the only full set of keys and could have left a door open to allow thekidnappers into the house.”

“What did he do?” Molly gaped.“He paled and started to sweat and then threatened me with dire consequences if I didn’t keep

my mouth shut. He is guilty, Molly. I know it,” Freya whispered.Molly looked horrified yet intrigued. Eventually, she nodded thoughtfully. “So, he did have

something to do with it. Have you told the Star Elite?”Freya shook her head. “I hope that they are good at what they do and will ask him the right

questions when they speak to him tomorrow. Because of what has just happened, I am not going to behere to talk to them. It’s someone else’s problem now.”

“I have spoken to Mavis, Sarah, and Melissa. They intend to tell the Star Elite about whatBakewell has done to them, even if it means losing their situations. They cannot sell their souls toprotect that man. I think that they are taking comfort from the fact that it hasn’t just happened to themindividually. They are stronger together and determined that he isn’t going to touch them again. Hecould ruin them if he leaves them with child.”

“I know,” Freya hissed. “Could you imagine having to have that man’s child.” She shivered andwas suddenly struck by such an overwhelming urge to be sick that she had to focus on thinking abouthow she was going to get her belongings out of the house if only so she didn’t throw up. “I have togo.”

“Yes, you must if he has started to threaten you. Now that he has you in his sights the man won’ttake ‘no’ for an answer. He will bully you, threaten you, and generally make your life miserablewhile taking every opportunity he can to corner you until he has taken what he wants.”

Freya was already shaking her head. When she looked at her friend it was with her heart in hereyes. “I would rather be dead,” she whispered.

“Leave before you are,” Molly hissed.Freya froze. “Is that what you think they have done to Master Rupert? Do you think they have

killed him?”“I think that if they were going to demand a ransom for the young boy then one would have

appeared by now, don’t you think?”“Why would they take him then, if it wasn’t for money?” Freya whispered.“I don’t know, Freya, but the Star Elite will find out about it. I just hope that Bakewell did have

something to do with letting the kidnappers in. Then, he can be removed from all our lives, and wecan be left to get on with running this house in peace like we are supposed to,” Molly muttered beforeshe clambered back into bed.

Freya studied her friend as companionable silence settled over them. Neither felt the need tofill it. Freya didn’t need to ask her friend what she was thinking. She suspected that Molly was alsocontemplating if Bakewell could truly have been involved in the kidnapping.

“Of course, you do know that leaving in the morning is going to make you look guilty, don’tyou?” Molly murmured.

“I cannot stay. Not after tonight. Now, I have a problem, though.”

Molly sighed and sat up. “What?”“How am I going to get my bag out of this house tonight so I can pick it up when I leave for my

day off in the morning? People will know that I am walking out if I carry my carpet bag down thedriveway.”

“You are going to have to wait for Bakewell to go to bed, and then sneak it out. Just leave it inthe woods or something. You can fetch it in the morning.”

“But the Star Elite are on guard now,” Freya whispered.“No, they are not. They left earlier. There is no point in them guarding the house now the young

boy has been kidnapped. They were here to speak to the staff, to find any possible witnesses, and seethe place where the young boy was snatched from. Now they have all the information they need theyare out there looking for him. You can go and put your bag in the woods. Just make sure that Bakewelldoesn’t catch you or he is going to take great delight in accusing you of being involved in the boy’sdisappearance.”

With a groan, Freya shook her head in disbelief and sighed heavily. Just when she thought shehad life all planned out something always happened to throw her carefully laid plans upside down.Now, she wasn’t at all sure if it was better if she stayed or left. While she wanted to go and knew thatit was the right thing to do, she was saddened by the fact that she wouldn’t get to see the handsomeinvestigator from the Star Elite again.

CHAPTER FOUR The jerking of her head as she nodded off woke Freya up an hour before dawn. She gasped and

looked blearily around the room as she struggled to remember where she was and why she was sittingupright in one of the spindle-backed chairs beside the barricaded door to the room she shared withMolly. Dawn had already started to cast the room in a dull grey haze that created even more shadowsin the deepest corners of the room, but it was light enough for Freya to see her friend still tucked up inbed, oblivious to the world.

Freya wondered if she should wake Molly up but knew from experience just how precioussleep was. It was going to be late before Molly could rest again. She had to get as much sleep as shecould. Consequently, Freya eased quietly out of the chair she was in. Having already packed most ofher meagre belongings, it didn’t take long to gather up the remainder of her possessions and shovethem into her luggage. Once she had secured the last of the straps, Freya donned her cloak before sheturned to study her friend one last time. When she was settled somewhere else, Freya would write toher, here at the house, and hope that Molly hadn’t moved back to Ireland. If she didn’t get a reply,Freya was going to write to Molly in Ireland. Meantime, she could only hope that Molly would makeit out of the house unscathed. For now, there wasn’t really anything else that Molly could say or do,and nothing that Freya could do to help her.

“I have to go,” she whispered. With that, Freya squared her shoulders and crept silently out ofthe room.

Unsurprisingly, the house was still and silent. There was enough light for Freya to find her waydownstairs. Her heart thundered even though she wasn’t really doing anything wrong. Her palm wasdamp against the leather handle in her hand as she clutched her belongings. Freya mentally began topray that she wouldn’t stumble upon Mrs Lawrence or, worse, Bakewell. As she crept down thestairs and into the kitchen, Freya wondered if this was what the kidnappers had done, but immediatelythrew all thoughts of them to one side. She was nothing like the kidnappers, thankfully.

“I have done nothing wrong.” Even so, Freya was struck by a sense of guilt as she crept outside.The icy chill of the damp morning air slammed into her and immediately made her shiver,

despite the thickness of her cloak. Freya sucked in a deep, fortifying breath, and forced herself tothink of nothing more than crossing the garden and reaching the woods. The hour was still early. If shewas going to leave unnoticed, it had to be now.

Behind her, inside the kitchen, the huge clock above the fireplace began to strike five. Freyajerked and counted the chimes. Her gaze flew to the stable yard. If she didn’t get a move on, the stablehands would see her. Before she moved, Freya yanked the hood of her cloak up and ducked her head.Without daring to look up, she took a breath, dropped her gaze to the path before her, and focused onputting one foot in front of the other while she waited for that inevitable shout; the order that shereturn to the house to explain herself.

It was somewhat delightfully shocking when she reached the woods unchallenged just a fewshort minutes later. Hidden within the trees, she paused to glance back at the house, to reassureherself that escape really had been that easy. It was reassuring to find that nothing moved.

“I am free,” she whispered, clutching the small pouch containing her life’s savings that wastucked away in her cloak pocket. Thankfully, Mrs Lawrence had paid her yesterday, so she wasn’towed any wages. There was no need for her to ever return. “It is time I got on with my life.”

But as Freya turned to study the woods, she had to contemplate what she was going to do withher life now. She could go home, back to Leicestershire - her original plan. But she knew that her

mother barely tolerated her at the best of times and would be about as welcoming to her as Freya hadbeen to Bakewell. That made Freya hesitate because there truly was no place else for her to go. Shewas alone. In a world with no connections, no friend to help her, no situation to provide for her. Shehad nothing.

Nobody.No home.Not really any family to help protect her.Suddenly, the world of freedom was a daunting companion.“Now what?” For a moment, she contemplated if it really was a good idea that she left. At the

house, at least she had Molly. But as she thought that Freya contemplated Molly’s relationship withthe stable hand, Joshua, and wondered how long it would be before Joshua, a local lad who hadfamily and prospects, would want to wed the woman he adored. “Then I would have nothing anywaybecause if Molly didn’t return to Ireland, she would marry Joshua and live in the village.” Freyaknew that Bakewell then wouldn’t look twice at Molly because he wouldn’t risk the ire of a furioushusband by dallying with a man’s wife. Bakewell was, if nothing else, a coward.

Freya sighed and gave the house one last, lingering look before she turned away and stumbleddeeper into the woods. But she soon learnt that leaving was far harder than she had anticipatedbecause there wasn’t a proper trail she could use. Consequently, brambles tugged at her cloak andskirt, scratching flesh, and tearing at material. It took Freya several moments of stumbling, swearing,and tugging before she realised that she wasn’t really managing to get anywhere.

“Need a hand?” Harvey drawled having watched the young woman stumble through theundergrowth in random circles. His brows lifted when the cloaked figure froze but didn’t turn to facehim. He doubted that the young woman wanted to be seen, and consequently thought that by not facinghim she could keep hiding. He stepped closer. “It seems that you are stuck. It is a little odd thatsomeone should feel the need to get up at the crack of dawn to stagger around woods in a giant circle.I take it that this isn’t some form of ritual exercise, and that you actually intend on getting somewhere- eventually.”

Freya sighed and contemplated what to do. She studied the undergrowth before her but reallycouldn’t see any path. She couldn’t even see the other side of the woods, or the house now, so had noidea which way she should go to leave the area. If she stumbled onward anyway, she could end upback in the rose garden, right beside the house, and be faced with the need to explain herself to theStar Elite.

I recognise that voice. Freya knew it belonged to the handsome investigator she had met lastnight and was as shamed as she was horrified by having to meet him again in this predicament.

“I am trying to find the path that would take me to the village,” Freya whispered.Harvey recognised the owner of the voice the instant that he heard those soft tones. A shiver

raced down his spine. He immediately stepped closer and was immediately hit with a mixture ofworry and concern while anger burst into life.

“Oh?” Harvey stepped closer still.“It is my day off.”His gaze dropped to her bag. “You seem to have already done your shopping.”Freya clutched her bag a little tighter. “It is my laundry,” she whispered. “It is what I have to do

on my day off. My laundry and my shopping.”Freya squared her shoulders and forced herself to face him. Her heart flipped when she saw

him. Even encased in the shadows of a cloudy dusk, he looked incredibly handsome. As handsome as

he had looked last night.And tired.With dark circles beneath his eyes that she was sure hadn’t been there yesterday, Harvey

looked exhausted. As exhausted as Freya felt.He has been on guard duty at the house all night.Freya mentally groaned and wondered if his colleagues were inside the house too. If they were,

one of them must have seen her leave.Sneaking out of the house before dawn. Good Lord, I look guilty.“Let me see,” Harvey ordered.“Pardon?” Freya clutched her bag and took a step away from him.Harvey watched her and mentally prayed that she wasn’t involved in the kidnapping of the

young boy. While he wanted to assume that she was innocent, her escape from the house at this time inthe morning, clearly reluctant to be seen by the house’s occupants, looked suspicious even to him.

“Let me see the contents of your bag. If you are not lying you should have nothing but dirtylaundry in there.”

“No.” Freya scowled. “You are not going to rifle through my dirty laundry.”“Where do you do your laundry in the village then?” Harvey challenged, aware that the staff did

their laundry, on their days off, in the laundry room behind the stable block where most of the laundrywas washed. All the house’s laundry was then hung out in the kitchen garden located between thelaundry room and the house.

She is nowhere near either. She is escaping.Harvey stepped closer and studied her face. Even in the early morning, Freya looked pale,

exhausted, as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and no way of lifting it.“Where do you intend to go?”“I have told you, to the village,” Freya replied.Harvey took another step closer. He kept his gaze locked with hers in direct challenge while he

took hold of the handle of her bag. At first, she didn’t release it. Eventually, he had to tug it hard to gether to let go. When she did, he immediately dropped it onto the floor and began to rummage around init.

“It must be a very dirty job you have if you feel the need to launder your hairbrush and mirror,”Harvey muttered. He shook his head and forced himself to control his anger while he really wanted toshake her. If he was truly honest with himself, he was far more attracted to her than he had ever beento any woman in his entire life. What he couldn’t understand was why he had to be attracted to her. Itwas clear to him, even now, and he barely knew her, that she had serious problems, and if she wereguilty of being involved in the boy’s kidnap, they were problems that could put her in gaol for anexceptionally long time. If she wasn’t guilty, she had problems within the house that she clearly feltthe need to escape from. What he needed to know is if he should arrest her now, or later.

At least if she is in gaol there can be no connection between us.But as he contemplated that, Harvey felt nothing but bitter regret. He baulked at the idea of

arresting this young woman because it was clear to him that she was just a servant. Yes, she hadproblems, but then so did he. That didn’t mean he should be arrested for them.

“Problems,” Chandler announced suddenly.When Harvey whirled to face him, Chandler pointed to the house, to Dev who was signalling to

them from an upstairs window.“They know you have gone,” Harvey murmured to Freya, just to worry her. Dev had signalled

that he had something important to tell them and that he was going to leave his position to meet withthem in the woods, but Freya didn’t need to know that.

“I am not going back in there,” Freya hissed.“Got something to hide?” Harvey challenged.“No.”“Really?” Harvey snapped, his gaze dropping tellingly to her bag.“I have told you that it is my day off. I can take whatever I own wherever I want to go. There is

no crime in it,” Freya retorted coldly. “I demand that you let me go on my way.”“I am not restraining you,” Harvey snapped.“Then I can go.”“No. You are going to stay there.”“But I have done nothing wrong,” Freya protested. She mentally cursed when the first of the

stable hands appeared in the stable yard and began to open the barn door. She knew that her lastchance of escaping had just vanished.

“Then why are you out here at this time in the morning?” Harvey demanded.“Let her go,” Chandler suggested. He watched Dev scurry out of the house and race across the

garden toward them.Harvey sighed and pointed at Freya. “You stay right where you are.”Freya hated being told what to do but knew that if she defied the Star Elite they might arrest her,

and then what was left of her choices would be destroyed.Dev nodded at her and offered her a smile when he stopped beside his colleagues. Harvey

scowled at the man, but Dev’s next words floored him.“You, miss, have to remain under the protection of the Star Elite,” Dev announced.“What’s happened?” Harvey demanded, his brows lowering as his tone darkened.Dev lifted his brows at Freya but when she merely stared back at him and refused to talk, he

threw a worried look over his shoulder.“I think that we have to get her to a safe house and then we can talk.” Dev stepped cautiously

toward the young woman and smiled gently at her again. Although he approached her, he made surethat he wasn’t close enough to pose any kind of threat to her. “Let me take your bag, eh?”

He bent down to pick it up and pointed to a narrow trail that Freya hadn’t seen hidden in theundergrowth. “Go that way, miss.”

“Dev? What’s happened?” Harvey demanded.“An incident last night that puts a different light on what goes on in that house,” Dev replied.

“And Miss Yelland here is our star witness.”Freya gulped and stared at him. “What do you know of it?” she whispered.“I was there. Well, for some of it,” Dev replied bluntly. “I will say that you handled the

situation far better than most women would. I applaud you for your presence of mind and strength. I –my colleagues – need as much information as you can give us.”

Freya couldn’t help it. She began to cry. But these were no ordinary tears. She didn’t utter apeep as she stared blankly at the man before her while huge drops of water spilled from her lashesand down her cheeks.

Harvey felt every kind of fool for his harsh treatment of her and bitterly regretted that he haddoubted her. As she was, he had to wonder what on earth had led him to believe that this youngwoman was cruel enough to do anything as heinous as snatch a child from his home. She lookedhelpless; devastated; confused; and vulnerable.

“Come on. Let’s get you somewhere safer,” he urged gently.“I am not going back into that house,” Freya bit out through clattering teeth. She hadn’t been

aware that she felt cold yet for some reason couldn’t stop shaking.“You are not going back into that house. You are going to come with us, to our safe house.” Dev

took her by the elbow and steered her forcibly through the woods, propelling her into motion withoutFreya even realising that she was moving.

“Dev?” Harvey interrupted. “What happened in there?”“The butler happened,” Dev replied, throwing him a warning look that was full of disgust.

“Very nearly.”He turned his attention to getting the young woman moving again. He was concerned by how

much she was shaking. But whether it was because she was fearful of being forced back to the houseor from the sudden realisation that she was safe at last, Dev couldn’t decide. What he did know wasthat he was now going to make it his mission to find out what else Bakewell, the lecherous butler, hadbeen doing in that house, and if some of it was connected to the kidnappers who had snatched MasterRupert. He knew that Harvey and his colleagues would all feel the same once they heard about whathe had witnessed.

“Up you get,” Dev murmured once they had reached the horses the Star Elite had hidden in thewoods.

Before Freya could protest, she was tossed into the saddle. She clung on for dear life, but Devdidn’t give her the chance to slide off again, or demand to be put back onto the ground. He tugged thehorse into a walk and began to lead it out of the clearing.

“You take Albion’s horse. You can bring it back when you return to duty later,” Harveymuttered.

Dev gratefully climbed onto his colleague’s horse. He knew that if there was a problem, andAlbion needed a mount in an emergency, he would use one of the Lord’s horses in the field beside thewoods.

When they neared the safe house, Dev tipped his head back and made a strange screechingnoise. A few seconds passed before he received several screeches in response.

“Is that a Reynard?” Freya whispered in confusion.Dev grinned. “That is one of our colleagues.”Freya stared at him but couldn’t force a smile in return. She was too aware of the tension that

hovered in the air. Tension and curiosity. They were waiting. To hear what their friend had to say. Tohear her side of the story. While Freya didn’t want to tell them what had happened, she knew she wasgoing to have to. What she didn’t know was what they were going to force her to do once her freshordeal was over.

CHAPTER FIVE Harvey followed Freya into the safe house and led her to the plush sitting room at the side of

the property which overlooked the garden. The room was the warmest and most inviting in the house.He hoped that Freya would be comfortable enough here to feel able to talk openly to them about whathad happened. If not then Dev was going to have to whether Freya became upset or not.

“Right, well, before Miss Yelland tells you the full story, I will tell you what I saw,” Devbegan. “I was on my patrol last night, as I had been since the interviews ended at 9pm. I heard voicesin the sitting room which I understood, from my last tour of the downstairs rooms, to be empty. Ilistened to see if I could identify who was inside just in case it was Lord Longbourne. But I heard aman and a woman’s voice, so nudged the door open. I saw Miss Yelland, and the Butler, Bakewell.”

“Go on,” Harvey urged when Dev fell into a somewhat uncomfortable silence.It wasn’t that he was discomforted by having to relay what he had seen. Dev just didn’t want to

upset Freya anymore. He took a breath and looked apologetically at Freya.Her heart went out to him when she saw how uncomfortable he was. “Bakewell has forced

himself on a couple of the maids who work at the house,” she whispered because she really couldn’tspeak any louder. She coughed to try to clear the croak in her throat. “It appears that last night hechose me as his next victim.”

“Good God,” Rory exclaimed, staring at her in shock.Dev pursed his lips and met Harvey’s angry glare. “I saw him challenge her. He locked her in

the room with him and told her that she had to do what he told her to do, or he could effectively haveher out of her situation. Miss Yelland had the foresight to use a poker against him and challenged himover whether he helped the kidnappers. Thankfully, it was enough to distract him long enough to makehis amorous intentions wane.”

A series of curses and muttered hisses littered the air.Harvey positioned himself in front of Freya. “I apologise for my behaviour earlier. I take it that

was why you are desperate to leave.”Freya nodded and swiped angrily at the tears she couldn’t stop. “He has cornered me a couple

of times. Each time he gets more forceful. I know that he did the same with the maids he has alreadyattacked; to the point that they couldn’t fight him off when he did attack them. He made it clear that Iwas to be his next target. That was why I used the poker. And I am not sorry for it. If he had comenear me, or persisted, I would have hit him and probably not stopped.”

“Good for you.” Harvey squatted before her because he didn’t want to worry her by leaningover her. “I am sorry you had to go through that.”

“It wasn’t all that bad really. I just know that if I stay in that house, he would eventually cornerme. Next time, he would make sure that I can’t deny him or escape. Bakewell is a lech and has forcedhimself on at least three of the maids.”

“Was Lord Longbourne told?” Harvey asked.“No. The women Bakewell has attacked are terrified of losing their situations because they

need the money. Besides, it is just their words against Bakewell’s. Bakewell has made it clear thatthey won’t be able to get to speak to the Master, and if they do the Master won’t believe them becausethey are lowly maids.”

Dev nodded because that was what he had witnessed last night. “Do all of his victims stillwork in the house or have any of them left?”

“Three of them still work in there. A fourth left. I am not sure where she went,” Freya

whispered.“Give me the names of the three who are still there. Does he still go to them?” Harvey asked.“I don’t know. Nobody really dares talk about it. They get upset. It is shameful for them, that

such horrible things happen. They shouldn’t have to live in such fear. It isn’t right.” Freya fell silentwhen Harvey reached out and clasped her hands in his.

“I promise you that we will make him face justice for what he has done. No man should dosomething that heinous, especially to maids below stairs. He will be out of his situation, whether theLord knew about what happened or not. If he knew, he should have summoned the magistrate andrelieved Bakewell of his situation immediately.”

“If he doesn’t know, then the Lord has to be told so Bakewell can be kicked out. He isn’t fit tohelp run a house like that. Below stairs or not, this is one shameful secret the Lord doesn’t needstaining his name right now. He has enough problems already,” Lander said.

“I have to question you about the fourth maid. I need to know a little more about her.”“Why?” Freya asked. “There are three maids in the house who will be able to tell you what

happened to them. That should be enough, surely.”“I need to make sure that he faces charges for all the women he has attacked, we have to speak

to all his victims,” Harvey explained.“Molly should be able to tell you about her. The fourth maid worked in the house before I

arrived. I never met her. Molly told me about her. I think her name was Katie, but I cannot be sure,”Freya replied.

“Molly is the upstairs maid in the house,” Dev said.Freya nodded.“Well, let’s get back to the house and speak to them,” Harvey said to his men. He turned to

Freya. “You need to write a detailed description of what happened to you. On a separate piece ofpaper, I need you to write down what you know about the attacks on the other women. I need detailslike when, where, and how frequently they happened. The more people that know about it in thathouse, without the Master being told by anyone, means that it isn’t just Mr Bakewell whose situationhas to be in jeopardy, but Mrs Lawrence’s too.”

“Oh, but she cannot know about them, surely,” Freya protested. Her objection died on her lipswhen she saw the way that Harvey studied her steadily without blinking. “You think she knew.”

“I think that if you heard about it as a maid, she will have heard about it as the housekeeper.Nothing gets past the housekeeper in such a place, does it?”

Freya shook her head.“So, if she didn’t tell the Master of the house, and she knew, she cannot be trusted to run the

house properly, and protect the female staff adequately enough to ensure they are safe, can she?”Harvey challenged.

“What are you getting at?” Freya asked. “Do you think that Mrs Lawrence is involved in whatBakewell is doing? How?”

“I am not sure. That is why I need a detailed account of what has been going on from you, andthe other victims in that house. I do think that there is a serious question of how safe that house is foreveryone who lives there. What I do know is that house has serious problems. A child has beensnatched from there, from the middle of a group of people, and nobody supposedly saw or heard athing. Further, several women have been attacked, and again nobody saw or heard anything.Something is wrong, seriously wrong, and not just with the level of security – or lack thereof – butwith the credibility and reliability of the people in supposed authority who live there.”

“You can’t think that Mrs Lawrence had anything to do with the child’s kidnapping, surely.”Freya didn’t really have much to do with Mrs Lawrence. The elder woman had a spiteful way ofstudying the maids as if mentally scorning them. While brisk to the point of rudeness, she had alwaysbeen fair and polite, just distant, and silently condemning. To the men of the Star Elite, she said: “Shealways spoke kindly to me, but mostly kept to her quarters. I only ever saw her when she was givingme orders. But she wasn’t cruel, or harsh in any way. She was fair.”

“But that doesn’t mean she is capable of doing her job properly. Part of her job is keeping yousafe, and she failed miserably, didn’t she? She didn’t keep any of the maids safe any more thanBakewell kept the house secure.”

Harvey looked at his colleagues. He didn’t doubt that they were all contemplating the samething. They all knew that Longbourne left the running of his property to his staff. Had they takenadvantage of the Lord’s absence to do whatever they wanted under his roof because they knew theycould get away with it as the people supposedly ‘in charge’?

“We will go and speak with Molly,” Dev informed her.“Please don’t let Bakewell or Mrs Lawrence know that it was Molly who told you anything or

they will become insufferable to her. You have no idea what Bakewell can be like,” Freya pleaded.“They may release her from her situation if they think that she has betrayed them.”

“If they have nothing to hide, they shouldn’t feel the need to get rid of her. Releasing her fromher situation hints to us that they have secrets they don’t want us knowing about,” Harvey challenged.When he saw the doubt on her face, he tried a different tack. “Look, think about it this way. If theythink that we are talking to Molly, and keeping an eye on her, she is one of the safest people in thehouse. I would challenge them if they tried to release her, or she mysteriously disappeared in themiddle of the night.”

“Pardon?” Freya blinked at him.What Harvey had just said made him stop and think too.“Mother of God,” Dev whispered.“Do you think the boy saw something and they had to silence him?” Lander asked.Harvey shook his head. “I don’t know but I am going to damned well find out.”“But Bakewell doesn’t supervise the maids. Mrs Lawrence as the housekeeper does that. What

could Mrs Lawrence have done that Rupert might have seen?” Freya demanded with a scowl, eventhough it was unlikely that the Star Elite would know.

“We don’t know the full story about what the Hell they are both up to in that house, but we willfind out,” Dev growled.

“You have to understand the natural order of such situations, Freya. If Bakewell had a problemwith the standard of your work, he should take it to Mrs Lawrence and let her deal with you, shouldn’the?”

“Well, yes. That is the normal order of things,” Freya conceded.“Bakewell threatening you with releasing you from your situation, confident in the knowledge

that he can, hints that he has the confidence of Mrs Lawrence and knows that she won’t challenge him,doesn’t it?” Harvey pressed.

Freya stared at him in disbelief. “Good Lord,” she whispered. “I never thought about it thatway.”

“That is what we do,” Harvey replied with a ready grin.He was inwardly relieved that Freya had been inadvertently caught up with the horrid events in

the house and wasn’t party to their planning or execution. He hated to see the tears on her face, and

the slump of her shoulders. When she wasn’t crying, she was stunning. When she wasn’t frowning, hersmile was enchanting. It was a shame that circumstances in her life had brought her to become a maidin a Lord’s house. In his mind, she deserved far better.

“I will get you some paper and a quill,” Ellis offered before hurrying into the study.“Come and sit over here,” Harvey suggested, gesturing toward a writing bureau tucked beside

the window. “I need you to write down what happened. Dev has to do the same.”“Why? Can’t I just tell you?”Harvey shook his head. “It needs to be in your words as a witness. I must put both statements

before a judge and so can’t write it for you. If you do this now, you won’t be required to go to courtwhen we put Bakewell before a judge for sentencing.”

Harvey edged closer. He did so slowly and carefully and waited for Freya to tense and stepaway. When she merely looked enquiringly at him, he offered her a tender smile. He didn’t want herto be afraid of him, or of any of the Star Elite for that matter and knew now that he had to take thingsslowly and steadily to gain her trust.

“You have nothing to fear from any of us in this house. You are safe here. So, for now, pleasefeel free to make this house your home. We do have men on guard here, and they will be patrolling thegrounds and house, so don’t be alarmed if you see shadows shifting at the end of the garden or hearthe floorboards creek upstairs. If there is a problem, shout out for help. The men are here to protectyou.”

“But don’t surprise them by creeping up on any of them. They are all armed and are ready toshoot if they are caught unawares. If you see them, and need to talk, make a noise or something andkeep a respectful distance until they see you. Let them come to you, eh?” Dev added.

Freya nodded but started to wonder what she had let herself in for. “How long do I need to behere?”

“As long as it takes to find the kidnapper of Master Rupert and find out what is really going onwithin the walls of Cliffthorpe Manor,” Dev replied before Harvey could. He watched Harvey nod.

“Where were you going when this is over?” Harvey asked gently. “Do you have any family inthe area?”

“I have nowhere to go,” Freya replied honestly. “I need to find a new situation. I don’t supposethat Mrs Lawrence is going to give me a reference now, but I just couldn’t tell her that I have nointention of going back there. I know that she would tell Bakewell, and he would probably stop mefrom leaving somehow.”

“Because you couldn’t tell her what Bakewell had done last night,” Dev finished for her.“Why not? If she is your superior, your supervisor, you should have been able to go to her to

tell her what had happened. She should have at least listened to you and if she doubts Bakewell, toldthe Master instead. That is the normal way of things. I cannot believe that none of the maids have toldher what that man has done to them,” Lander grumbled.

“I am not sure if any of this has anything to do with the kidnapping of Master Rupert, but Iintend to find out,” Harvey muttered. “What I think we must do is start with the maids and find outwhat happened, and who they told if anybody. Then I think we must put a watch on Bakewell. I wantany nightly wanderings stopped and reported, and I want to know whose room he tries to visit in thenight. If he has a habit of wandering the hallways in the night, he must have seen the kidnappers. Then,I want to speak to Mrs Lawrence, because I want to know what the Hell she has been doing in thathouse because it quite clearly isn’t her job. While I am doing that, you, Miss Yelland, can do thestatement. You too, Dev. Then, we are going to have to try to find out if anybody else has left that

house in the last day or so.”“The stable hands come and go at all hours, but I am not suggesting that any of them were

involved,” Freya replied.She gasped and flinched when Harvey rounded on her.He mentally cursed at the instinctive flicker of fear he saw on her face before she masked it. It

warned him that she had been seriously shaken by what had happened, and still wasn’t comfortablearound him, or any of the men for that matter. That galled him because he wasn’t the kind of man whowould purposefully hurt any woman.

But Freya doesn’t know me well enough to know that yet. She will in time, though.That thought was enough to alarm Harvey because it hinted at plans that he hadn’t been fully

aware of making. It was such an instinctive thought, though, that he had to question what was behindit. He had certainly not acknowledged anything more for this woman than admiration, and sympathyfor her plight and the difficult situation she had endured. However, it was clear that something hadhappened to him since he had met her last night. It made Freya different to the rest of the women hehad ever met only he wasn’t at all sure why, or what in the Hell he should do about it.

For now, Harvey contented himself by offering Freya a seat, and refraining from asking if shecould read or write. Instead, he left the paper on the corner of the desk and put several feet ofdistance between them. When she began to scribble on the paper, he turned his attention to issuingorders to his colleagues. But while he spoke to his friends, Harvey was painfully aware of the womanseated across the room. Beside the window, bathed in morning sunshine, Freya looked even morebeautiful. There wasn’t anything about her that hinted she had once been a maid. In that presentmoment she looked elegant and refined, as if she belonged in the luxurious confines of his study.

Dev nudged him to draw Harvey’s attention back to him and then beckoned his friend out of theroom.

“What do you think her past is?” Dev asked his boss.“I don’t know but she isn’t a maid,” Lander replied. “Listen closely when she talks. There is a

hint of aristocracy there.”“Have you seen how straight her spine is, or how elegantly she is sitting at that bureau. She

would be in more comfortable climes in a ballroom with ton,” Heath added.“Who do you think she is then, and where do you think she really comes from?” Harvey asked.Dev clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s for you to find out. I am going back to the house to

speak with Molly. The staff have all seen me, so I can engage them in conversation and find out whichones have been attacked by Bakewell.”

“We have to remember that Bakewell will be uncomfortable having the Star Elite in the house.We don’t want him threatening the maids into silence. So, don’t approach them to talk when he isaround, or Lawrence for that matter. I can question them about the attacks once we are re-interviewing them all for our investigation into the kidnapping.”

With everyone in agreement, the men from the Star Elite all set about their duties leavingHarvey to return to the room that Freya was in. It was a shock when he reached it and found that Freyawas no longer seated beside the window where he had left her. With the window now open, and thewoman in question nowhere to be seen, Harvey let out a blistering curse and raced across the room.

CHAPTER SIX Freya crouched beside the small bundle of fur on the floor and carefully cradled it in her palms.

She could feel the tiny flutter of the animal’s heartbeat against the tender flesh of her hands. Holding itas gently as possible, she tipped her head to study it from all angles while she tried to decide what itwas but when curled up as tightly as it was, she couldn’t decide if it was a cat or a dog, or a furryrabbit or some other small creature.

“With no ears,” she murmured.“What are you doing?” Harvey demanded loudly. He slammed to a halt when he saw that she

was holding something soft and fluffy and incredibly tiny. “What is that?”“Well, it doesn’t have floppy ears so isn’t a bunny. It looks like a cat, or a dog. I don’t know.”

She lifted it again but couldn’t get it uncurled enough to take a closer look.Harvey stepped closer and forced the animal to uncurl so he could take a proper look at its

face. “It is a kitten. A tiny black kitten,” he murmured, looking around the garden. “Are thereanymore?”

“Do you have a cat in the house?”“We have men coming and going at all hours of the day and night. If we had something like that,

we would invariably forget to feed it, so no, we don’t have any animals in the house. We just have thehorses because they have a use,” Harvey murmured.

“See if you can find more. Who would leave it here? How did it get here?” she asked.Harvey didn’t answer. He cursed fluidly when he moved the overhanging branches of a large

bush and found not one, but four small kittens all curled up, mewling softly as they huddled togetherfor warmth. Harvey handed them to Freya until she struggled to hold so many tiny, squirming bodies.He smiled when he saw the delight on her face as she murmured gently to the hungry kittens. As hewatched her, Harvey realised that she couldn’t be cruel enough to hurt a young boy by snatching himaway from his family, but he still had doubts about whether she knew who did.

“Come on, let’s get them inside,” he sighed ruefully. “But I warn you now that the Star Elite arenot going to keep them.”

Freya smiled at him. Without saying a word, she handed him two. He cursed softly but cuddledthem protectively against his broad chest as he gently nudged her toward the house.

“God, they need a bath,” he grumbled, wrinkling his nose up.“Where do you think their mother is?” she asked, studying the bushes beside them.“I don’t know, but these kittens are tiny, and emaciated. Wherever she is, she can’t look after

them properly,” Harvey replied.“Let’s get them some milk.”“And a bath,” Harvey added. “But that’s your job.”Freya opened her mouth to argue but realised then that she had nothing else to do with her time

in the house.Once inside the kitchen, Harvey placed the kittens onto the rug in front of the fire and went to

fetch a bucket of water. “There are some cloths to dry them with in the cupboard in the pantry. I willhave to go and fetch some milk.”

Freya lifted one of the tiny bundles of fur. Now that he had uncurled, his small round face, atopof which were too delicate ears buried amongst the matted fur, was so cute that she immediately felther heart melt. She knew instantly that she was going to have to do everything possible to keep it,even though it was likely to bring her nothing but trouble and heartache.

Mostly because I have nowhere to call home right now myself. I cannot even look aftermyself. The Star Elite are having to do it.

“Penny for them,” Harvey murmured when he returned to the kitchen and found Freya staringblankly off into space while she cuddled one of the kittens.

Freya blinked at him and didn’t answer. Harvey knew then that she hadn’t heard a word he hadjust said. He gave her a moment to realise that he had just asked her a question. When she merelyblinked at him and didn’t answer, he sighed heavily.

“You like that one, don’t you?”“I like all of them. They are beautiful.”“But-”Freya sucked in a deep breath. It felt intimate to have such a hushed conversation with him

while they were alone. She couldn’t remember having ever been alone with any man before, not evenwhile at Cliffthorpe Manor. In fact, contrarily, that had been something she had been desperatelytrying to avoid while she had been there. Here, though, she didn’t mind being alone with any of theStar Elite.

So long as it is Harvey.While he was just as powerfully built as his colleagues, there was something softer about him,

and more approachable than the others. He didn’t put her on edge like the others did. Freya knew thather awkwardness around him was driven purely because of her awareness of him as a man rather thanan investigator with the Star Elite. He posed more of a danger to her because he made her forgetthings – like that she had to be on guard around men like him because no man could be trusted. Shehad no idea what he wanted but what she did know was that it would never be her and that left herwary of him on a completely different level because she didn’t want to embarrass herself by givinghim any hint that she was attracted to him.

“Why am I here?” she asked quietly. “I mean, I was going to leave the area anyway. Why can Inot give you my statement and then be on my way?”

“Bakewell accosted you last night, Freya. There is nothing to say that he won’t try to come andfind you once he realises that you have left. We have no idea if he had something to do with Rupert’sdisappearance. If he did, he may make you disappear too. What you must understand is that he tried toattack you last night. You know about his lascivious behaviour. What neither of us know is just howviolent the man is and what he is prepared to do to make sure you don’t tell us about him. I hope thathe is just a lech who has taken is authority over innocent young women too far. However, we have noway of knowing if he isn’t more of a sinister threat to everyone in that house.”

“You cannot take the risk that he will come after me to silence me,” Freya whispered feelingsick at the very thought of just how much danger she had been in last night.

Harvey stepped closer, but only because he wanted to lower his voice. Being able to speaksoftly to her was enough to stop her tensing and looking hunted whenever she talked about what hadhappened in that house. It was, to her at least, a place where she would never feel safe – had neverfelt safe. It was therefore always going to cause her problems whenever she had to discuss what shehad experienced while working there.

“What happened?” he whispered.Freya tipped her chin up. “You know what happened. Your friend told you.”“I know what he told me, and I know what you have written in your statement,” Harvey argued.

“But what circumstances brought you to work there?”“I needed a situation that would provide me with a roof over my head and some money to live.”

“Where are you from?”“I have told you. Leicestershire.”“Do you have family?”“Yes.” Freya shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Her relatives were the last

people she wanted to talk about.“Who are they?”“Why?”“I need to know more about you.”“Why?” Freya stared hard at him as the sudden realisation dawned on her that he doubted her

credibility. “Oh, I get it. You are keeping me here while you find out about me because you think I aminvolved with the kidnappers.”

“I never said that,” Harvey murmured, propping his hips against the dresser behind him. Hefolded his arms and watched her fidget. He knew that she was uncomfortable and hiding something. “Iwarn you now that I will make it my mission to find out everything there is to know about you. Youcannot stop me. I have men – contacts – up and down this country that will find out everything aboutyou. If I have to, I will ask Lord Longbourne for a copy of your references and go to them to find outmore about you. But I warn you now that if those references are fictitious, it could land you in gaol.”He raked her with a careful look. “You are what? Two and twenty?”

“Three and twenty,” Freya corrected.“If you did have another situation somewhere else before you moved to Cliffthorpe Manor, you

couldn’t have been there for long,” Harvey murmured. “Are your references real?”“Yes.”“Where did you work?”Freya didn’t answer. She stared at the floor beneath his boots and felt every kind of fool for

entertaining whimsical girlish dreams about having a man like Harvey attracted to her. He was onlyinterested in someone like her because of his doubts about her credibility. Her heart ached. For thefirst time in an awfully long time, she felt completely alone. As if she was facing the entire world,which she now had to battle by herself just to stay alive.

“I used to work on a farm. I was sixteen when I started working there. I was a milk maidinitially, but when the farmer’s wife took ill, I helped around the house a bit. When the farmer’s wifedied of a wasting disease, I was already their sort-of maid. The farmer didn’t need me anymore, so Iwas without a situation. Thankfully, the local squire was looking for a maid, so I applied for thesituation. Because he knew the gentleman farmer, he gave me a chance. But then the squire decidedthat country life wasn’t for him and that he wanted to relocate to his house in London. He was havingsome sort of financial problems, I think, and wanted to be closer to his investments.” Freya tutted andsighed. “I am not entirely sure, but I suddenly found myself needing to find another situation. I startedto look in the newspapers and saw an advertisement that Mrs Lawrence had put into the Daily Heraldfor a downstairs maid at Cliffthorpe Manor. I applied and got the position of downstairs maid.”

Harvey tipped his head and studied her carefully. “There is more to that story,” he announcedsimply because he knew, deep in his gut, that there was. His gut was never wrong. As if to prove it hewatched two large swathes of pink appear in her cheeks and shook his head in disgust. “You aregoing to have to learn to trust us, Freya. We can protect you from whatever predators are out there.But we must know who we are protecting to be prepared for whichever kind of predators are likely tocome after you. Yes, we can deal with Bakewell, the sexual predator. Yes, we can deal with anyother kind of predator, but who? What are they? Who are they? Where are they coming from?” When

Freya still didn’t answer, Harvey had to fight to contain his annoyance. “Who is your family? What isyour lineage like? Is your family wealthy?”

“I don’t see how that is of any concern of yours. That has no relevance to what went on atCliffthorpe.”

“You aren’t going to tell me if you hail from the backstreets of London, or the slums inLeicester then.” It wasn’t really a question.

“I don’t come from the slums in Leicester.”“Prove it.”“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”“Yes, you do,” Harvey growled, stepping closer. “Because I am one of the Star Elite. You must

prove everything to me. You must tell me everything. If you don’t, I will find out anyway, but you willfind it harder to clear your name if you are suspected of having committed any crimes.”

“I haven’t.”“Prove it,” Harvey challenged.He hated being so forthright with her but wanted to know if there was anything likely to stand

between them if he did allow any further closeness between them. He was already aware that aconnection lingered in the air around them, slowly but steadily cocooning them in its silken arms,binding them together forever. He knew that he could still break free. That it wasn’t too late. He couldturn around and walk away and force himself to forget about her. In time, she would become a merememory just like all the other women who had crossed his path.

Eventually. But Freya is different. She is going to be difficult to forget – to leave behind.He crossed the room until he was standing before her. She had to tip her head back to look up at

him. While she wanted to leave, she couldn’t. Instead, her heart pounded. They both heard her breathinvoluntarily hitch when he slowly and very gently lifted a stray strand of hair away from the cornerof her mouth and tucked it carefully behind her ear. The soft brush of his fingers against the tenderflesh made her ear burn. It didn’t really matter much because it matched the flood of colour in hercheeks.

Freya felt branded. That brief touch had created a thousand tiny sparks of heat to shoot acrossthe back of her head whereupon they then gathered and began to race down her spine. She shiveredeven though she wasn’t cold.

“You were wealthy in Leicestershire, weren’t you?” he whispered. “You can trust me.”Freya shook her head, but Harvey had no idea if she was denying that her family had been

wealthy or telling him that she refused to trust him.But then I have effectively made it clear that I don’t trust her.“You have to stay here.”“Am I a prisoner here?” she asked boldly, squaring her shoulders, and forcing herself to ignore

the emotions coursing through her, and remember that this man was probably going to put her behindbars if he suspected she did something wrong.

“No,” Harvey replied carefully.“So I can leave?” Freya pushed. She squared her shoulders and stared at him, partly to warn

him that she wasn’t going to be seduced by him, and partly to prove to him that she could stand herground against him.

“No.”“But you have just said that I am not a prisoner here.”“You are not a prisoner.”

“I can leave then,” Freya pushed.“Where do you want to go?”“I have to find a new situation somewhere else,” she replied.“How are you going to do that without a reference?”“I can use my old references.”“From the squire in London?”“Yes, if I have to,” Freya said firmly. “I know where he lives. I am sure that he won’t mind.”“Where are you heading? Back to Leicestershire?” Harvey was adamant that she wasn’t going

to leave no matter what and made a mental note to warn his friends that she was likely to try to sneakaway from the safe house.

“No.”“Where then?”“I don’t know.” Freya involuntarily curled her hands into tight fists. “I don’t know where I am

going to go. All I can do is find somewhere to stay while I search the newspapers for advertisementsfor a maid again. When something turns up, I can apply for it and if I get the situation, I can movethere. If not, then I will keep having to search for situations further and further afield until I findsomething. A situation that turns up will decide where I go. I am afraid that you, as one of the StarElite, probably don’t understand the way that it works for someone like me, but this is it. I cannot tellyou where the situation will appear so I cannot tell you where I am heading. What I will do is movefar enough away from here to make sure that Bakewell cannot find me. It will probably be a town, ora city; somewhere with cheap accommodation that I can afford for a few weeks while I find asituation that provides accommodation too. That is all I can tell you. I am not keeping secrets. I haveno intention of going back to Leicestershire and therefore see no relevance in your needing to knowwho my parents are. Leave them alone.”

“Are they still alive?”Freya didn’t answer. She sighed heavily and stared at the floor. Thankfully, the huddle of

kittens began to wriggle and mewl even louder as their hunger grew. They tumbled out of the blanketthey were nestled in and began to wobble and stagger across the kitchen floor. Freya glanced downwhen she felt something bump against her foot. Swooping down she picked up a bundle of fur andthen looked at Harvey, who continued to stand before her, staring at her as if he were unwilling toaccept what she had told him.

Harvey was running everything she had just said through his mind. He knew that she was tellinghim the truth but was inwardly appalled by it. All sorts of questions came off what she had told him.Like what was she going to do if she didn’t find a situation? How was she going to afford to keep aroof over her head? Would she eventually return to Leicestershire if she didn’t find another situation?But he didn’t ask any of those things because the closed expression on her face warned him that sheresented being pummelled with questions. If he was honest, none of it was relevant to hisinvestigation into the criminal activity at Cliffthorpe Manor anyway. He wanted to know what Freyaplanned to do next for personal reasons. However, now that he knew, he was worried – deeplyworried. If what she had just said did anything, it warned him that he couldn’t simply allow her to goabout her business when the Star Elite no longer needed to protect her from the likes of Bakewell.

“Look, just remember that if you try to leave here you will be making yourself look guilty. Wearen’t here to do you any harm. We are curious about you because, like I have said, we need to knowwhat kind of predators we should anticipate coming after you. If you really have nothing to do withthe kidnappers, and you were innocently targeted by Bakewell, and your references are legitimate,

you have no reason not to tell me about your family.”“You are very clever,” Freya replied, feeling somewhat disappointed that he was still pushing.And that his curiosity about me is because of his work with the Star Elite. His use of ‘we’

assured her of that.Tipping her chin up, Freya glared defiantly at him and then started to wonder why she felt

drawn to someone who clearly didn’t trust her or seem to like her very much. Before she could speak,Harvey leaned closer.

“I will find out all your secrets,” he promised, his voice no louder than a husky rumble.Freya didn’t reply. She stared boldly at him and tried hard to hide just how much she was

trembling. Before she could form a protest, his lips settled gently over hers. One heartbeat, two, three,four, thundered through her. However long they stood together, their lips pressed together, theinvisible cords hovering around them drew tighter compelling them to close the narrow distance.Harvey lowered one hand to her hip. He knew that holding her was the wrong thing to do. Kissing herwas the wrong thing to do. She was in the house for him to investigate and interrogate in that order.But it was too late now. His lips had touched hers and his life had changed forever.

It was that thought that gave him the determination to lift his head and look deeply into her eyes.“You are going to have to learn to trust us at some point,” he murmured against her lips before

forcing himself to step away from her.Freya tried to hide her tears by burying her face in the soft fur she still cuddled against her

chest. She couldn’t force herself to speak. There wasn’t really anything she could say that wouldn’tmake him linger, and stare at her, and make her question whether it was a good idea to distrust theStar Elite. Until she could clear her thoughts, and contemplate the last few days, and moments, shehad no idea what she should think.

Harvey mentally cursed when she didn’t respond. He knew there was a heck of a lot of work todo before he could get her to confide in him. For now, he needed to write a letter to Roger and theLeicestershire group of the Star Elite to ask them to find out what they could about the Yelland family,and if they had a missing daughter called Freya. He also needed to find out a little more about thissquire she used to work for, and if he has any kind of connection to Lord Longbourne.

“Harvey? If I am not allowed to leave, but am not a prisoner here, am I at least allowed to gointo the village to fetch something for the kittens to eat and drink?”

Harvey face was cold as he studied her for a moment. “As long as you leave your worldlygoods here then I suppose it can do no harm. But tell the watch where you are going. The village isabout twenty minutes away on foot. If you are not back within the hour, I will come and find you and itwill be the last time you leave. I warn you now, Freya, that if you decide to try to run, I will put youbehind bars.”

Freya stared at him through tear-filled eyes and didn’t answer because she knew that he would.That was enough of a warning that he was the very last man she should ever allow to kiss her. In fact,he was the very last man she could ever think about trusting.

CHAPTER SEVEN Freya tugged her cloak tighter about her shoulders with a shiver when gusty wind billowed

around her and tugged relentlessly on the edges of the coarse material and insisted on snaking a colddraught up her spine. She sniffed miserably and yanked her hood up only for the wind to playfullysnatch it off her head again. Shoving hair out of her eyes, Freya eventually gave up trying to controlher cloak and squinted at the houses that made up the small village of Hamley Bridge. From adistance, the properties built from the same golden stone looked just as warm and inviting as thehouses in Little Bragton. The thatched rooves, the soft curls of smoke coming from the chimneys, thegolden glow of candle-light hovering in the windows, were all a part of a quaint scene of tranquilcountry life that was infinitely appealing.

“Unfortunately, the weather ruins it,” she grumbled with a disgruntled look at the sky.Quickly closing off the defeating yearning to sit before a fire, Freya ducked her head and

lengthened her stride. She was growing increasingly worried by the fine mist that had rapidlydescended over the area. It was now so thick it hovered threateningly over the cottages, casting theentire village in an eerie fog that deafened her to the wider world, and encased the quiet village in asomewhat eerie silence. The trees circling the town, the babbling brook, the tall, square Normantower of the church, and the surrounding fields, were obliterated by the lowering white clouds whichwere releasing their deluge upon the unfortunate souls still out in the inclement weather. Within a fewmoments, Freya was as unnerved as she was soaked.

And cold. And miserable, and now more confused than ever thanks to Harvey’s kiss.She wanted nothing more than to sit beside a nice warm fire and enjoy just a few hours of

peace. Instead, she was outside, in the cold and rain, sniffling miserably while she hurried through astrange village in search of something she could feed stray kittens.

And myself, she added thoughtfully when her stomach rumbled loudly.At the bakery, she purchased a bun for herself before moving on to the grocery. Minutes later,

with her milk and several other items in her hands and cloak pockets, Freya left the small confines ofthe shop.

It was then that she bumped into a stranger.“Oh, sorry,” she cried when the man slammed into her but immediately and somewhat

theatrically staggered several paces backwards.Freya gasped in fear when the man before her muttered something unintelligible and stared hard

at her while his friend circled around to stand behind her. She glanced over her shoulder at him whenshe felt a tug on her cloak.

“What do you want?” Freya demanded loudly, hoping that the grocer was watching her throughthe window.

Scowling at the strangers, she watched them look at each other. Neither of them spoke to herbefore they hurried off. Baffled, Freya remained where she was and watched them for several longmoments, until they disappeared. It was alarming that they kept glancing back at her. When they hadgone, she shook her head in consternation, and began to walk quickly in the opposite direction. Whilethe incident was merely an accident, there was something about the way the men had kept looking ather that worried her. It was as if they knew who she was and had deliberately bumped into her. Whatshe couldn’t understand was why.

Curious to see if they were going to double back and follow her, Freya stopped and turned tolook at the far end of the street. To her growing concern, the men were openly standing on the street

corner watching her.“Something is definitely wrong about you two,” she muttered. “I don’t know what you are up to,

or what you want with me, but I am not going to be vulnerable to you.”In the back of her mind, the recent events at Cliffthorpe Manor, and Harvey’s words of caution

earlier, returned to haunt her. She wondered if the men were linked to either incident. Just in case theywere, Freya threw them one long dark look before she promptly turned her back and hurried away.

As she rushed through the village’s deserted streets, Freya continuously glanced behind her. “Ishould be relieved that they aren’t following me, but I am not,” she whispered.

Determined to leave the area before either man could return, Freya ducked her head against thedriving wind and rain and scurried back to the Star Elite’s safe house. By the time she reached it shewas shivering but it had nothing to do with the cold or how soaked she was. Freya was scared.Terrified. Shocked by what had happened. It could have been a figment of her imagination but thepalpable hostility that emanated from the two men had been sinister.

“What’s happened?” Harvey demanded when he saw the look on Freya’s face when shestumbled through the kitchen door and slammed it behind her. He glanced at Rory out of the windowand signalled to his friend to ask if everything had been alright. Rory signalled that everything hadbeen fine. So why was Freya pale, shaking, and looking terrified?

“Are you alright?”Freya nodded. She didn’t speak as she carefully put the jug of milk she carried onto the table.

Her hands shook as she then dug around in the pockets of her cloak for the rest of her newlypurchased possessions. She decided to leave the bun she had bought in her cloak, even though it waswet, because she was no longer hungry.

“What’s that?” Dev asked when she tugged a small packet of something out of her cloak and afolded piece of paper fluttered to the floor. He swooped down and picked it up before she could. Heunfolded it and read: “If you want the boy, ten thousand pounds. Put it in the box behind the Barn andOwl in Killington by midnight tomorrow.”

Freya felt the world rock beneath her boots. The room swirled as her heart slammed to a stop.She felt hot. Cold. Hot. She shook and stared blankly at the paper in Dev’s hand. Horror clawed ather while at the same time abject denial hovered on her lips. She wanted to snatch it off Dev and denythat’s what it said, but all she could do was stare at it.

“It was the men. Those men. In the village.”Harvey snatched the note off Dev and read it before glaring accusingly at Freya. He held it aloft

for her to see. “Why?”“I didn’t do it!” she protested loudly.“Harvey,” Dev warned.But Harvey was too focused on his fury to hear his colleague. He glared at her. “Why? Why

would you have anything to do with the kidnap of a young boy? Why, Freya?” He was aware that hewas shouting, that his colleagues appeared to try to find out what was going on, but all Harvey couldfocus on was the young woman before him and the deep sense of betrayal that made him unusuallypanic-struck. “Why, damn it?”

“I didn’t write it.”“No? Then why in the Hell is it in your cloak?”“I don’t know,” Freya cried. “I didn’t write it. It isn’t mine. I-I bumped into someone as I came

out of the grocery. Two men. They stared at me strangely. I don’t know them. I have never seen eitherof them before. It wasn’t me. It must have been them. They must have put that into my pocket when

they bumped into me.”As she spoke, her words faded until they were a whisper. When she stopped talking, a heavy

silence settled over the room.“Unless she met with someone while she was in the grocery, she didn’t meet anyone,” Rory

confirmed. “There were two men who bumped into her when she came out of the grocery, but theydidn’t stop walking. They did, however, keep glancing at her.” Rory left the men to decide forthemselves if it was because they too had realised that Freya was stunning.

Harvey opened his mouth to speak only for Dev to glare at him. “Did they speak to you?” Devasked.

Freya shook her head. Rory confirmed it.Dev watched Rory step out of the house, followed by Heath and Lander. The men were going

back into the village to see if they could find the two strangers again. Harvey rounded on Freya, butDev had already positioned himself before her to block his friend from asking her anything else.

“Can you draw them for me?” Dev asked quietly.“I only glanced at them.”“You must have looked into one of their faces.”“I did, but there were two of them. I am not sure how accurate I am going to be.”“Did they have long hair or short?”“Short.”“What colour?”“One was silver. One was dark brown.”“Beards?”“Yes, on the one with the brown hair. They wore dirty clothing.”“And they were together?”“Yes. Well, I think they were. They were walking down the street together.”“Tell me what they did. Did you see them speak to anyone else?”“No.”“Who were they?” Harvey demanded.“I don’t know,” Freya cried. “I don’t know. I didn’t write that. It isn’t my note. I wouldn’t do

something so heinous.”“But you had the note,” Harvey growled.“Will you stop?” Dev snarled at him. “Go out and tour the grounds. Now.”Harvey scowled and forced himself to relax. “I am sorry,” he whispered.“If you don’t trust her or believe her, that is fine. Nobody says that you have to. However, it

isn’t fair to just assume that neither of those men, whom Rory saw as well, planted the note on her.One of them, if not both, must have. Can you be sure that they haven’t followed her here fromCliffthorpe Manor?”

“No.”“So, they may have been watching this place,” Dev pressed.“We have to search the grounds as well as the village,” Rory offered from the doorway. “If

Freya didn’t put that note there then those men did, which means that while you are standing aroundhere pestering innocent women, we are losing our kidnappers.”

“Go,” Harvey ordered without moving.Freya stared at him. She shouldn’t be surprised at his behaviour. He was, after all, one of the

Star Elite. They had been tasked with trying to find the missing boy. It was only to be expected that

they would suspect everyone, even her.“You aren’t going to find Rupert by standing here and pestering me, are you? If you are so

concerned for his welfare, why are you in this house pummelling me with questions?” she bit outcoldly.

Harvey stared hard at her. “We need information.”“I don’t have any to give you. I am not involved in what happened to him. My family have

nothing to do with any of this. My past does not relate to the kidnap of a young boy in Lancashire.That is fact. If you are prepared to waste time pestering me because you quite clearly have nobodyelse to suspect, I wonder if you are the right men to investigate this case. You are quite clearlyincompetent and lazy, and prepared to make anybody face charges for this crime whether they areguilty or not. I, however, am not prepared to go to gaol because you are not capable of doing your jobproperly. If your friend, Rory, saw these men, why did he not follow them? They bumped into me inthe street. He saw them. He is one of you. Why have you not asked him to draw pictures of what thosemen look like? Oh, I know, you think that you can lay the blame on me because I am a servant with nofamily, or money, or connections to help me prove my innocence if you put me behind bars. I am theperfect scapegoat, aren’t I? Well, you can all rot in Hell before I will allow that to happen. Now,unless you are going to arrest me, I am leaving this house. I have committed no crimes and don’t seewhy I should be imprisoned here while you find some reason to put me behind bars.”

“Freya.” Harvey reached out to stop her when she tried to leave the kitchen only for her toshake him off.

“Leave her,” Dev ordered. “You both have to calm down.”Harvey hissed a string of epithets that made Dev round on him. “Just what in the Hell is your

problem with her? What do you have against her?”“I don’t have anything against her,” Harvey snarled. “But you have to admit that the note makes

her look guilty.”“How do you know that those men haven’t been watching this house? I mean, half the sodding

village knows that this is our safe house – our base. It is the area’s worst kept secret. The problem isthat those men could make enquiries about where to find the Star Elite and be watching and waitingfor one of us to leave so they could plant that note. It could have been planted in any of our pockets.Would you accuse us just as readily?”

“No, but I trust you. You work for the Star Elite. She was directly below the boy’s nurseryduring the kidnapping and didn’t hear anything.”

“But these people work long hours, Harvey. They are up before dawn, work their backsides offall day, and then only go to bed when it is late. They are the first to get up in the morning, the last togo to sleep at night, and they earn every penny they get the hard way. It is not an easy life. I don’tdoubt that when these people go to bed they sleep soundly. Sleep is precious. You should know that.They must make the most of it when they can get it. We make the most of it whenever we can get it. Nojudge is going to be prepared to condemn someone like her to a life in gaol just because you don’tbelieve that she was too tired to hear the kidnappers nobody else in the house heard either. Thekidnappers were, naturally because of what they were in that house to do, very quiet and determinednot to make a sound. If you are going to condemn Freya because she didn’t hear anything theneveryone else in that house is just as guilty and must be arrested too, including Lord Longbourne. Ifyou don’t think that you can put them all behind bars, then you must accept that it is not fair to focus onher and her alone. What about the maid she shared a room with? Why have you not arrested her?”

“She hasn’t been caught creeping out at night, has she?”

“Freya wasn’t caught creeping out in the dead of night, Harvey,” Dev challenged. “She left firstthing in the morning. You know that. We all know that. Don’t twist facts. And you know that Freya leftbecause Bakewell, the rapist, cornered her and made it clear that he was going to target her next. Doyou not think that she wouldn’t tell a judge about what happened? Do you not think that you makeyourself look incompetent by being determined to put Freya in front of a judge when she was merelytrying to escape being raped? What kind of organisation do you think we are here? What in the Helldo you think that Sir Hugo would say to all of this? He would at least apply common sense, Harvey. Ifyou don’t think that you are up to the job, quit. Go and do something else. But this persecution of her,whyever you don’t like her, has to stop.”

“I am not persecuting her.”“Yes, you are. She is as much a victim in all of this as that young lad who was snatched. If you

don’t like her, or are confused about how you feel about her, keep your sodding distance,” Dev spat.“Don’t keep pestering her and accusing her as if she has done something wrong. It isn’t fair, and sheis more likely to forget something important because you keep making her feel defensive. Besides, ifshe knows something, it may be that she won’t tell you because you may try to twist it and use itagainst her. Stop hindering our investigation.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Harvey protested.“You already have,” Dev snapped. He huffed a deep breath and lowered his voice as he sidled

closer so that his words were for Harvey’s ears alone. “We have seen the way you look at her. It isquite clear to us that you are attracted to her, but don’t let your affection for her interfere with yourjob. She is not under suspicion. I witnessed what that bastard did, Harvey. She was terrified, shakinglike a leaf, and Bakewell clearly had every intention of making the most of being stuck in that roomwith her. It is understandable and admirable that she wanted to leave to avoid being vulnerable to asexual predator. You cannot blame her for it. No judge would let you. Nor will Sir Hugo. She wasright to leave. If you didn’t support her escape and forced her to stay in that house or made her feel asif she had to return there just to make sure she wasn’t blamed for crimes she didn’t commit, andanything happened to her while she was there, you could be seen as guilty for allowing a crimeagainst her to be carried out. Sir Hugo will have your hide and I, for one, would let him.”

“I know. I know she is innocent, but it makes me damned frustrated when she just won’t talk tome,” Harvey growled with a frustrated sigh. He raked a shaking hand through his hair.

“Then maybe you should stop accusing her of things she hasn’t done and start talking to her as ifshe is one of the victims in all of this. Why do you need to know about her family in Leicestershire?”

“Because she doesn’t want to talk about them. We don’t know who they are. How can we besure that she hasn’t got connections or relations who have long criminal records?”

“She has been working in that house for eighteen months and has kept her situation. That shouldtell you that she has been doing a credible job. How much more do you need than that? Leave heralone, Harvey. Stop trying to find reasons to push her away.”

“I just want to know why she won’t tell us about her past,” Harvey sighed.“Maybe it is because you keep accusing her of things she hasn’t done. Do you really want to

know about her past because she is a suspect, or are you interviewing her for the position of yourfuture wife? Is there more of a personal reason for your curiosity?” Dev watched the shiftingemotions on Harvey’s face. It was quite telling that his friend didn’t immediately deny the latter.

“I have never met anyone like her. She turns me inside out and I cannot understand why. I hate itbut at the same time hate the fact that she doesn’t trust me and won’t confide in me.” He held his handsout, palms upward in a beseeching gesture. “I am not used to handling women. I am feeling like I am

stomping around a pottery shop. Everywhere I stand I am stomping on something that is fragile andgoing to break. I don’t know what I am doing. Each way I turn, there is always something blocking myway and whichever way I turn I am always falling over my own toes.”

“You like her.” Dev grinned, even though it wasn’t funny. He had never seen Harvey sobefuddled or thwarted by someone before. “I have seen you fist-fight, scrap like someone who haslived his entire life in the backstreets of London, argue and outwit even the most cunning criminals. Ihave seen you stand in the shadows and grab a criminal off the streets with such silent deftness noteven the birds in the trees above your heads were disturbed. I have seen you swim through muddyponds to fetch errant criminals, and ride through blizzards after information to help with aninvestigation. I know that you handle a knife better than all of us put together and have a keen mindthat can solve even the most complex puzzles. And here you are, completely perplexed by a woman.”

Harvey winced theatrically and sighed heavily. He wanted nothing more than to be able to denyit, but what Dev had said was right. The truth could not be thwarted.

“She matters, but I will be damned if I can understand why. Why her, and why now?”Dev pursed his lips. “Does that really matter? What matters is that she was nearly attacked, and

Bakewell, her attacker, is living not all that far away. Further, someone out there, possibly linked tothe kidnappers, knows that she is here and with the Star Elite. We have no proof that these kidnappersare after someone who is titled and wealthy so that they can be paid a ransom, or just want people forsome reason. What we do know is that Freya needs our help. We also cannot lose sight of the fact thatthese men managed to bump into her. Today, they walked away. Tomorrow, they may decide to snatchher. Because we need to ensure her safety now, we cannot risk her life by letting her walk out of here,but we cannot confine her here against her will. So, for now, control yourself. Put your feelings forher to one side and focus on the investigation.”

“I wish I could,” Harvey muttered. “But she is gorgeous. She is clever, gentle, loving. You haveseen the way she was with the kittens. She is beautiful, inside and out.”

“She is indeed beautiful,” Dev agreed. “But you have to keep your mind on the investigation.For now, at least.” He clapped his friend on the back. “You are too used to getting the job done, myfriend. Some situations need a little finesse. You cannot go into a romance, barging and charging youway through things like a bull in a China shop. Go slowly, and carefully. A young woman’s affectionsare at stake. Take your time, eh? Maybe then she will learn to trust you and will confide in youthrough choice and not through force.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Harvey asked when Dev was half-way to the door.“Then you are going to have to understand that a relationship without trust is not really any

relationship that can survive the test of time, is it?” With that, Dev left the kitchen and went to join hiscolleagues searching the grounds.

CHAPTER EIGHT Freya stood in her bed chamber and swiped at the tears on her cheeks. She sniffed miserably

and studied her bag. The last thing she wanted to do was pick it up and leave the safety the Star Elitehad given her, especially because she wasn’t sure that the money that she had in her pouch was goingto last for long. But she couldn’t stay in the house. Not now.

I shouldn’t have agreed to come here in the first place.She wished that she could take the kittens with her but knew it would be impossible to carry

them and her belongings. They had to be left to the men to take care of, and that was another reason tocry.

Her sigh was heavy as she ambled over to the window to stare blankly at the acres of rollingfields outside. The town was barely visible on the horizon to her left, but Freya already knew theplace was indelibly printed on her mind. It had created hope within her heart, and a dream for thefuture that she wished could be hers.

A goal I could work towards.Whether or not it was a credible goal she ever stood a chance of achieving was another matter

entirely. Those houses cost far more than she could afford. She couldn’t even rent one room in one ofthose properties much less an entire house.

“Maybe one day,” she breathed.She jerked when she was interrupted by soft tapping on the door. Freya briefly contemplated

the wisdom of answering it but suspected that whoever it was would simply come into the room if shedidn’t open the door.

“Sorry,” Harvey murmured contritely when she did eventually pull the door open.Freya blinked at the small arrangement of flowers he was holding out to her. She had seen the

blooms in the garden earlier and felt her lips twitch as she reached out to take them off him. Themental image of him picking them out of the garden lingered in the back of her mind and touchedsomething deep within her heart because it was a kind gesture that she didn’t expect an investigatorwith the Star Elite like Harvey to even think of.

“Thank you,” she murmured quietly.“I know that you aren’t involved in the kidnapping. It was wrong of me to accuse you,” Harvey

began bluntly, mostly because he couldn’t think of any way to soften his words. Whenever he wasnear her, he struggled to get his thoughts in order. Like the kittens, they refused to line up when hewanted them to, and he ended up stumbling over them like a clod.

“I think that I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. You should suspect everyoneuntil you have caught those who are responsible. You must. Even me. But I didn’t do anything. I didn’thear anything, see anything, or have any involvement in that note. My frustration is that I cannot provemy innocence.”

“Can we start again?” Harvey asked carefully. In the back of his mind, Dev’s wise words ofcaution rattled around in his mind. “I will stop asking you questions about your family although I willconfess that I am still curious about you.”

Freya nodded. She suspected that he was going to find out about them anyway because he could,and would, contact his colleagues in the Star Elite. “I left my family because they made it clear that Iwasn’t welcome to stay,” she began. “I was sixteen. My mother hated me, basically.”

“I am sorry,” Harvey murmured.“Don’t be. It was a relief to be able to leave the house,” Freya replied bluntly. “I had to go.

Staying would have made me so miserable. The problem was that while my mother wanted me toleave, she also wanted me to work and send money home. But because I have been working as amaid, and my earnings haven’t been much, I haven’t sent much home. When what I sent back toLeicestershire was deemed not enough by her, she wrote a note telling me that I was useless andselfish and that I was to send more. But I couldn’t because I didn’t earn anymore. There was nothing Icould do. It was Molly who told me that my mother didn’t deserve any of my earnings or time, andthat I should stop sending anything back. My siblings, her house, is my mother’s responsibility. I hadto put a roof over my own head, to do the work required of me to keep my job so I could afford toclothe myself and live.”

“You did the right thing,” Harvey assured her. “Did she have anything to do with you leavingthe situation at the squire’s house?”

Freya was surprised that his guess was so accurate. “She kept turning up and chatting to thehousekeeper there. My mother told her all sorts of rubbish about me, nearly all of which was criticalin some way. Mother liked to taint people’s opinions of me and had no qualms about airing all ourdirty laundry to others if it curried their favour. She liked to gossip about anybody and anything, solong as it was someone else’s business or faults she could discuss. Anyway, after a few weeks, thehousekeeper then started to behave oddly with me. I caught her staring at me a time or two, and otherstaff whispering and sliding looks at me. It was as if they knew something about me that even I didn’tknow. It didn’t take long for me to realise that my mother had been telling them stories to make themdoubt my credibility. When the squire announced that he was leaving for London, and that all the staffwere to be released because their services were no longer required, I knew that I had to take thechance to leave the area. I began to look for work further afield and found the situation at LordLongbourne’s house.”

“Have you heard from her lately?”“The last time I heard from her was about six or seven years ago,” Freya admitted. “I haven’t

sent any money back home in a long time and don’t intend to. So, to answer your earlier question, Ishan’t be returning to Leicestershire. There is nothing there for me now.”

“You shouldn’t go back to someone like that.”“If you went to ask her about me, she would tell you about the person she thinks I am. The cold

hard reality is that she doesn’t know me. She never took the time to find out who I really was backthen, and so made up what she didn’t know. Even though she was my mother, she had no qualms aboutcriticising me to other people just to be able to have some gossip she could impart. She liked todamage the way people thought about me or viewed me. I don’t doubt she would do the same withyou if you asked her questions about me. She knows nothing about my life, what I have done whileworking in that house, or the person I am today, but that wouldn’t stop her telling you all of the issuesshe perceives I have ever had.”

“I see no reason why we have to go to Leicestershire.”“But.”Harvey smiled and edged into the room. “Do you have any relatives who have a criminal past?”“No,” Freya smiled. “My relatives are all rather staid and boring. Those who my mother hasn’t

scared away that is. I never really had any contact with my other relatives because my motherfrequently offended them and scared them away with her high-handed arrogant criticism of them.”

“She is a snob,” Harvey snorted.Freya winced. “Whatever she is, it is in the past and has to stay there. You, of course, must do

what you need to do for the investigation. Just don’t expect me to stay around to hear what she has to

say about me. I doubt it would be good.”“I don’t need to go and see her,” Harvey assured her. “I just don’t want you to feel as if you

cannot talk to me. I am afraid that I have gotten a little too used to dealing with the criminal fraternity.With them, I will apply pressure to get them to tell me what I want to know. But not everyonedeserves to be treated so harshly. I apologise for my brash behaviour, and the upset it has caused you.Of course, you are free to go wherever you want if you wish. You are not under house arrest and arefree to leave. But I would be personally delighted if you decide to stay here. There is plenty of food,and wood for the fire, and you are free to do nothing more with your days than look after the kittensand contemplate life.”

“I would love to,” Freya whispered.“But-” Harvey smiled to soften the sound of the blunt word.“I have no idea what I am going to do when this investigation is over. I mean, I cannot stay here

forever. I need to move on.”“Why don’t you just take a week or two to contemplate what kind of situation you want when

this is all over? If you wish, you can keep the kittens in your bed chamber with you and spend yourtime looking after them. You did, after all, find them. I have work to do to bring Bakewell to justiceand find the fools who kidnapped Rupert. Because we don’t know if the men who you bumped intoare connected to Bakewell, you are in danger. Take the sanctuary the Star Elite are offering tocontemplate what you want to do with your life, your future.” Harvey edged closer. His voicelowered as his gaze softened. “I hope that while you are here, we can spend some time together. Youhaven’t learnt anything about me yet.”

Freya’s brows shot up. She was stunned that he wanted to tell her about himself. It was a littlegalling that she had been so self-absorbed that asking him questions about himself, his life, his past,his family, just hadn’t occurred to her. But it was clear that he wanted to further their acquaintance,and while she was wildly thrilled, she was a little stunned by it.

“I should like that,” she murmured almost shyly.Harvey smiled and realised then that she was still clutching the now mangled flowers. “I think

there is a jar downstairs you can put them in.”When he went to step back, he backed into the door, the handle of which jabbed him in the

backside. He tried to grab it when it started to swing shut and jammed his elbow painfully into thecorner of the door. Cursing fluidly, he grabbed the swinging door and held it away from him while hestepped carefully away from it.

Freya did her best to hide her mirth by burying her nose in the flowers. His fumbling,befuddled, awkward state was bemusing because he was habitually always so self-assured. She wascurious to know if it was the romantic gesture of handing her the flowers that he was unfamiliar withor if he was as affected by her as she was by him.

I hope it is the latter.That thought was so intriguing that Freya contemplated it as she watched him wrestle with the

door. It was wonderful to see the softer, more human side to him. It reminded her that he was a manwho was just as vulnerable as everyone else. While he was one of the Star Elite and could beintimidating when he was focused on his investigation, he was also a person, with a character andlikes and dislikes and problems just like her.

“Well, I had better go before this door kills me,” Harvey murmured ruefully when he hadmanaged to stop it attacking him.

“Thank you for the flowers,” Freya replied gently, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “And for

not killing yourself with the door.”Harvey smiled and shook his head. “If you find the time, do you think that you could try to draw

the men you saw in the village?” He mentally cursed and regretted seeing the good humour drainaway from her face to leave her looking pale and drawn.

“Yes, of course,” she replied somewhat stiffly.“I am sorry for how I behaved earlier. I am a crude oaf who tends to stomp into situations

rather than step quietly.”“But you have doubts about me still,” Freya said, her gaze and tone sharpening. “It is

understandable.”“Have you seen those men around Cliffthorpe Manor?”“No, I don’t think so. The only people I have seen of late is the staff, Lord Longbourne, and the

Star Elite. I haven’t had a day off since last month,” Freya reported. When Harvey hovered in thedoorway, she offered: “I will try to draw the men, but you may need to show the drawings to Rory tosee if he can add any further details. I only had a brief look at them and was shocked and disturbedmore by the way they kept staring at me.”

“It may have been unnerving because you knew they were watching you, probably because theywere making sure that you were the same women they followed from here,” Harvey replied.

While she was talking to him more openly now, he still felt a distinct distance between them. Itwas edged with wariness, and a faint hint of tension that Harvey wasn’t sure how to remove.However, he could take comfort from the fact that she was at least talking to him and was inclined towant to stay.

For now.So, pricking his thumb with the thorns from the roses in the garden, and fighting doors, was a

small price to pay.“We generally sort ourselves out for food as we come and go at all hours of the day and night.

There aren’t any set meal times for everyone so help yourself to some food when you get hungry,” heoffered mostly because it gave him a few more moments alone with her.

Freya nodded but had no intention of leaving her bed chamber. She needed time alone to think.“Freya.” The name tumbled off Harvey’s lips with a natural ease that was shocking. “Don’t

worry too much about the future, eh? The Star Elite don’t have a habit of abandoning people to livesof destitution or servitude. We have a duty to make sure that you are accommodated, with enoughmoney to survive, somewhere you will be permanently safe.”

Freya opened her mouth to ask him what he meant by that only to find herself staring at an emptydoorway. A scowl lowered her brows while at the same time she was wildly curious to know whatthe Star Elite could do to help her secure a better position somewhere else. As far as she wasconcerned, being a maid was all she was capable of. She had no real education. No real skills tooffer any employer. While the Farmer’s wife had taught her to read and write, she had no formaleducation either. What did he mean?

“It’s too late to ask now,” she sighed, wondering when she would see him again.For now, all she could do was wait for Harvey to return. When he did, she intended to ask him

a few choice questions of her own and he wasn’t going to leave until she had some very frankanswers.

CHAPTER NINE An hour later, Harvey rode into the stable yard at Cliffthorpe Manor and dismounted.

Curiously, the yard was empty. No stable hands ran out to greet them. No Head Groomsman came tohelp fetch their horses.

“The house looks to have been abandoned too,” Dev muttered.Harvey scowled as he studied the mansion’s chimneys. No smoke furled from the elongated

cylinders. None of the shutters had been opened. No maids could be seen at work in the kitchengarden.

“Do you think they have absconded?” Heath whispered as he studied the empty tack room andHead Groomsman’s office. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

Harvey shook his head and wandered toward the house. He didn’t bother to rap on the door, butslowly and carefully stepped inside. It was just as cold inside because no fire had been lit. Thekitchen was as deserted as the stable block. There were no kitchen staff chopping vegetables fordinner, or maids scurrying around with plates and buckets of coal and cleaning supplies. Neither MrsLawrence nor Bakewell were anywhere to be seen either.

“Where do you think they have all gone?” Dev murmured having peered into the kitchen’s largepantry and scullery and found both rooms just as empty as the kitchen.

“Let’s search the house while we are here,” Heath suggested.Together, the men ventured deeper into the main body of the house and eventually found a bored

looking footman slouched in a spindle backed chair beside the front door. From the way his head waslolling to one side, and how easily the Star Elite managed to walk right up to him without him evennoticing, the man hadn’t been put on guard duty.

“Humph,” the footman jerked and snuffled when Heath nudged him with his boot, and thefootman eventually realised that he was no longer alone. He blinked sleepily at them for a fewmoments before abruptly sitting bolt upright so swiftly that he nearly toppled off his chair.

“Where is everyone?” Harvey demanded.“They have gone to search the grounds for the young boy again,” the footman mumbled as he

swiftly tried to tidy his appearance.“Where is the Lord?” Dev asked although rather suspected he already knew.“Gone with them.”“Go on,” Harvey prompted when the footman suddenly looked doubtfully at them.“He – the lord – Longbourne that is, said that he wasn’t prepared to sit around here all day

waiting for you to find the blighters who kidnapped his son. He had to do something to find the boybefore he went stir crazy. The Master ordered everyone outside to search for him again.”

“Damn it,” Dev snarled in disgust. “Everyone is out there trampling through any fresh tracks.”“I did tell him not to,” Harvey drawled. “Even though we have already been through those

woods with a fine toothcomb, we don’t need him trampling over the area.”The men knew that the Lord’s actions hinted that he was trying to instigate his own

investigation, just like Simon Ambrose had predicted he would. That was something the Star Elitenow needed to thwart.

“It’s too late now. We have to find Bakewell,” Heath replied.“Let’s search his bed chamber.”“Is he in any danger, sir?” the footman asked having been completely forgotten by the Star Elite.“Tell me what you know about him,” Harvey demanded.

The footman looked worriedly at them. He slid a cautious look at the kitchen door, as if heexpected Bakewell to walk through it at any moment.

“Has he gone to search for the boy too?” Dev asked.“Yes, sir,” the footman replied.“Which way did he go?”“I am not sure, sir. The Master told me to stay in the house in case you returned, or someone

else called at the house. I was told to tell everyone that the Master was not receiving visitors.Otherwise, I was to stay here on guard.”

“For what?” Dev snorted.The footman shrugged.“What’s your name?”“Thomas, sir,” the footman replied.“Well, Thomas, tell me what you know about Bakewell. How long has he been working here?” “I am not sure, sir. I have been working here for three years now, sir. Bakewell has been here

for far longer than that. I am not sure exactly how long, though. Not many people dare question him, ifyou catch my drift.”

“Is he cruel, or violent with the staff?” Harvey pressed.“Not the punching kind of violent, sir,” the footman edged.“Then what kind of violent is he?” Harvey demanded.“I don’t wish to speak out of turn, sir.” The young footman clearly didn’t want to lose his

position in the house on account of talking ill of any of the staff. However, these men were from theStar Elite. They wouldn’t ask such questions if they weren’t essential. Bakewell had quite clearlydone something that the Star Elite intended to arrest him for, and Thomas was glad of it given some ofthe stories he had heard.

“If is out there searching for the young boy as you claim then he need never know about thisconversation. Tell me what you know.” Harvey folded his arms and waited.

“Bakewell likes the ladies, sir,” the footman muttered. “A little too much.” The young mancoughed awkwardly. “Even if they don’t like him.”

“Is he having relations with the staff?” Dev demanded.Thomas stared at the floor. Harvey stepped closer. “The man has to be arrested because one of

our men watched him accost one of the maids the night after Master Rupert was snatched. What I wantto know from you is who else he has attacked in this house.”

“Three of the maids,” the footman mumbled. He flushed and clearly didn’t want to say thewords aloud.

“He assaulted them,” Harvey said. It wasn’t a question.The heavy silence that fell over the hallway was condemning. It wasn’t until Harvey looked

across the hallway at Heath that he realised that Lord Longbourne was standing in the doorwayleading to the servant’s hall. It was clear from the furious look on his face that he had heardeverything.

“How long has he been doing it?” Longbourne demanded of the now terrified footman.“I don’t know, sir,” the footman replied, snapping to attention. He bolted out of his chair and

stood rigidly beside Harvey.“Does Mrs Lawrence know?” Lord Longbourne looked even more horrified than the footman.

He stared at the young lad as if unsure if he should believe what he was hearing.The footman hesitated but reluctantly nodded. It was a mere twitch of his head, just once, but

was as condemning as the snap of a judge’s gavel that condemned a man to death.“Good God, what else has been going on around here that I don’t know about?” Lord

Longbourne bellowed. He marched forward and grabbed the footman by his liveried jacket beforeslamming him against the wall. “Tell me if that bastard had anything to do with the disappearance ofmy son.”

The footman paled and began to shake. “I-I don’t know.” He looked around at the Star Elite forsupport, but none of them intervened.

Lord Longbourne shoved the footman roughly in the chest and hissed: “Tell me who else hasbeen making free with people in my house.”

“I-I don’t know. I just know that there was a terrible scandal the first time it happened becausethe maid he attacked was so distraught. It was hushed up below stairs, sir, by both Mrs Lawrence andBakewell. Nobody below stairs was allowed to speak about it – well, openly, sir. But peoplespeculated behind closed doors. She told her friends. There was nobody else she could tell, sir.”

“And one of them told you,” Harvey sighed. He suspected it might have been Freya’s friend,Molly, who was dating one of the stable lads.

The footman began to panic. “I didn’t have anything to do with it, sir. Nobody dares sayanything because we don’t want to lose our situations. Bakewell will fire us if he finds out any of ushave told you or even discussed it amongst ourselves.”

“But word gets out below stairs, doesn’t it? People talk regardless of their orders,” Harveymurmured.

“The maids are scared, sir. They are all worried that Bakewell will attack them next,” Thomasstammered.

Longbourne abruptly released the hapless footman and dispassionately watched the young ladslump against the wall for a moment with a look of abject relief on his face.

“I want Bakewell arrested for the assault of whichever female staff he has attacked in thishouse,” Longbourne growled ominously.

Harvey nodded. “That was our plan, sir. It is the reason for our visit today. I think that we mustfind out if Bakewell had a hand in the disappearance of your son too. He does, after all, hold acomplete set of keys to the house. It is strange that there was no broken windows or jimmied doors. Iknow that the scullery window might have been used but it is unusual for even that to have been leftopen the way it was. Someone had to have left it off the latch. An observant butler who did his jobproperly should have checked all the windows, including those in the scullery. Bakewell clearlydidn’t. It isn’t something that would ordinarily raise concern but given what he has been doing to themaids, we have to consider him as complicit in the kidnap of your son, of helping himself freely toanother life in this house.”

Longbourne closed his eyes and cursed fluidly. “He let the kidnappers in.” He had a strangeglint in his eyes, as if he were slowly but steadily becoming wilder with the more that he heard.

“You have to allow us to deal with this, sir,” Harvey informed him. “This is a legal matter. Ifyou get involved, we are going to have to arrest you for interfering in our investigation. Besides, ifyou go after him and do something rash in a fit of temper, you will have to be arrested for it. You willthen not be here to greet Rupert if we find him.”

Harvey watched Longbourne nod jerkily. Without uttering a word, the ashen man stumbled overto the large, sweeping staircase whereupon he slumped down upon the step and promptly dropped hishead into his hands.

“That boy is my life, my blood. I never realised before just how important he is to me. I want

him back. I don’t care what you have to do. I want him back in this house where he belongs. Get thatbastard behind bars. Bakewell. I want to know what he tells you. If Bakewell had a hand in letting thekidnappers in, then Lawrence had to know about it. They work together. He doesn’t do much withoutconsulting her, and vice versa. She should prove her innocence now. She did, after all, encourage themaids not to tell me about the attacks on them. I am not going to have that level of secrecy under myown roof. I am not going to have that level of vileness take place under my own God damned roof!”When he looked up to glare at Harvey, Lord Longbourne’s eyes were cold and hard, and full of rageand hatred. “I want to know what other secrets she – they – are keeping. Star Elite or not, Harvey,find out what they both know and keep them out of my sight. If I set eyes on either of those bastards, Iwon’t be responsible for what I do to them.” He glared at Thomas. “Tell the Star Elite everything youknow, boy.”

“Yes, sir,” Thomas replied briskly.Harvey hesitated. “I think you should know that we have received a ransom demand.”“What?” Longbourne shot to his feet. “Where from? Who delivered it? To here? When did it

arrive?”“Calm yourself, sir,” Harvey soothed. “It was given to one of your maids on her way into the

village, by two men who purposefully bumped into her and shoved it into her pocket. She was leftwith this note that demands a certain amount of money is left at a certain location in exchange for yourson. We think the men responsible for kidnapping your son left the note with her.”

“Pay it,” Longbourne ordered. “I don’t care what you have to do. Pay it. Anything. I don’t care.Just get Rupert back.”

“We don’t have a habit of paying ransom demands, sir,” Harvey replied firmly. “I am sorry, butwe will not divulge the contents of the note because it relates to one of our investigations. We don’tpay ransom demands because firstly, there is no guarantee that these people have your son andsecondly, if we pay them anything, they could just take the money, fail to return your son, and thendemand more money.” Harvey didn’t want to tell the man that his son might already be dead.

Longbourne swore. “If you had a son-” he began.Harvey looked sympathetically at him. “I would be the same as you. I would be tearing the

countryside apart to find him right now. Believe me, I can understand what you are going through. Ourjob is not easy. We see the darkest and most depraved of society on a regular basis. It isn’t easy forus either, especially when children are involved. What you must do is try to stay calm. Think clearlyabout the days leading up to that fateful night. Think carefully about anything that Bakewell orLawrence might have said or done, even by being more present than usual, or more absent, vague,distant, furtive, anything that was even slightly out of character or routine. It might give us some ideaof whether they were plotting something, or worried about something in the days leading up to yourson’s kidnap. Simple things like an odd look or furtiveness might be enough to prove their guilt.While you are doing that, you must stay here in case any more ransom notes turn up, or even Ruperthimself. Leave the investigating to us, sir, eh?”

Longbourne stared hard at Harvey. “We aren’t going to find him in the woods, are we?”Harvey slowly shook his head. He looked sympathetically at the Lord, but in that moment was

struck by how much he wanted to see Freya. Not only was she pretty to look at, but she also brought aray of light into his world of darkness and turmoil. Her calmness, her beauty and gentility, steadiedhis world. He wanted to hear her tinkling laugh; see her smile; watch her play with the kittens somemore. It was the first time in his entire life that Harvey had ever been struck by the need, the yearning,to seek out the company of a special woman before. Contrary to the plans he had made for his life and

future, Harvey rather suspected that it wasn’t going to be the last time he felt this way either.“Freya. Is she all right?” the footman suddenly asked.“She is fine. But because Bakewell tried to assault her, she obviously has no wish to return to

the house to work. It was her the kidnappers slammed into.” Harvey reported.“How do they know that she worked here?” Longbourne asked.“We think they have been watching the house. This house. That is why we didn’t want your staff

walking through the undergrowth. We have already checked it and located the tracks we needed tosee. They told us that the kidnappers took a path through the woods to a waiting carriage once theyhad Rupert. The carriage left the woods and turned onto the main road leading to Coplow.Unfortunately, we lost the trail on the main road. Now that the note has appeared, we neededeveryone to stay out of the woods so we can identify any new tracks the criminals might have madewhile they were watching the house and people in it.”

“Good God,” Longbourne moaned.“Just call everyone in, sir,” Harvey urged. “Leave the search to us, eh?”“I had no idea so much was going on that I didn’t see,” Longbourne muttered.“That is good news,” Harvey smiled.Longbourne looked at him in shock. “How?”“Because it means that we are doing a good job of hiding what we are up to. If you cannot see

what we are doing, and you are looking out for your son, the kidnappers can’t see us either. Whilethey are watching you, they won’t be watching us creep up on them.”

Longbourne looked truly stunned and shook his head in amazement.“Sir Hugo certainly knew what the Hell he was doing training you lot, didn’t he?”“Investigating criminal activity like this is far more complex than you realise. We don’t just

lurk on street corners and wait for criminals to fall over their own feet, but we don’t always tellpeople what we do. Not seeing anything happening is a good thing but it doesn’t necessarily mean thatnothing is happening. We just have to be as secretive as the criminals so we can creep up on them andcatch them in the act.” Harvey watched the Lord absorb that for a moment. “Thanks to Bakewell andwhat has been going on below stairs, you should be able to appreciate just how much a bit of gossipcan spread and become the worst kept secret. We cannot tell anybody what we are doing because weknow that gossip can be overheard, and the criminals just might overhear it and know how to thwartus.”

Longbourne nodded and shook his head in disbelief. “You do what you must,” he whisperedhoarsely. “I will call the staff in. I won’t get involved again.”

“Right, well, we will go and find Bakewell and Lawrence and get them behind bars. I wouldask that you appoint yourself a new, temporary, housekeeper but from the people who already workhere. Make sure that nobody takes any days off or ventures out of the house unless they have to. I don’twant anybody else being attacked or snatched from here. We now know that the men who stole yourson are still in the area. Earlier today, they were still in Little Bragton, so I doubt they will have takenyour son too far.”

Hope lit Longbourne’s eyes so swiftly that Harvey began to wonder if his first impressions ofthe man had been completely wrong. It was clear now that the man was desperately worried about hisson, and it wasn’t fuelled by greed or an aristocratically selfish disregard of his child. “Rupert is stillnearby?”

Harvey slowly nodded. “We think so. But please don’t get your hopes up yet. It is far too earlyto think that we can capture these men and find your son. We are going to damned well try, though.

Just leave it to us. We will start with questioning Bakewell and Lawrence.”“When do you have to get the money to them? How much did they want?”Harvey wished that he hadn’t had to tell the Lord about the note, but he knew that Sir Hugo

would not be happy about keeping the Lord in the dark over such matters. “It doesn’t matter. Youaren’t going to pay them anything.” He was almost at the door when the Lord’s voice reached him.

“I hope you know what you are doing by defying them. I hope that they don’t kill my sonbecause they don’t get their money.”

Harvey opened the front door and stared at the long, winding driveway for a moment. He knewthat was a very distinct possibility and that the Star Elite had to tread very carefully.

“We are the Star Elite,” was all he could say because the last thing he was going to do wasexpress his concerns to a man who was already worried enough. “You just get your house in orderand make sure that the staff are safe inside, and the house is kept secure. If you see people movingthrough the woods, don’t just assume that it is the kidnappers and send your men out to shoot at theintruders because it will most probably be us checking for new tracks.” With that, Harvey stepped outof the house, and closed the front door behind him before Longbourne could pummel him with morequestions.

With Heath on one side, and Ellis on the other, the men stood in contemplative silence for a fewmoments as they studied the neatly trimmed lawn and the luscious landscape stretching out for milesbefore them.

“Bakewell it is then.” Heath murmured.“And Lawrence,” Ellis added.“You get Bakewell behind bars, Heath. I will interrogate him in the morning. He is to be kept in

solitary confinement. No solicitors. No support. Nobody to talk to. Make him worry. Ellis, getLawrence in a cell by herself too. I want to know why the housekeeper of this place didn’t report thesexual abuse of her maids to her employer.”

Ellis lifted his brows when Harvey turned around and went to open the front door. “Where areyou going?”

Heath asked: “Are you not going to search the Barn and Owl?”“No, I am going after something far more important than that,” Harvey bit out grimly. He paused

in the doorway because he knew his colleagues were curious. “If we have an abusive butler in thehouse, and a secretive housekeeper who supports him, that tutor of Master Rupert’s must also bequestioned. It is a little too contrived that he was given a glancing blow on his head, just enough torender him unconscious for ten minutes or so, but not significant enough to do him any lastingdamage.” Harvey shook his head. “I am sorry, but everyone else in that sodding house seems corrupt.Dalton must be considered complicit in the kidnapping as well if only because he was in the roomnext door to the lad the whole time and didn’t hear a damned thing until the lad was out of the door. Idon’t believe it. Dalton is guilty and going to sit behind bars until he can tell me about hisinvolvement in the young lad’s kidnapping.” With that, Harvey disappeared back into the house.

He paused long enough to have a quick word with the Lord before he raced up the stairs insearch of the tutor. With his three main suspects facing arrest, Harvey was now able to move on tomore pressing matters, like how in the Hell he was going to keep an eye on a mansion and Freyawhile trying to search for and capture errant kidnappers who were far too good at hiding not justthemselves, but the young boy they had snatched.

CHAPTER TEN Later that night, Freya was sitting beside the fire listening to the gentle crackle and pop of the

logs in the fireplace. The sound was the only noise that broke the thick silence within the room butrather than find it soothing, Freya was on edge. Each time she heard the soft scuffle of footfall in thehallway, she jerked out of her seat as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. It wasn’t becauseshe had anything to worry about per se. She was warm, well fed, had no work to do, and was safefrom predators like Bakewell and the kidnappers. She should have been content with her lot – but shewasn’t.

Because of Harvey.He was an enigma. Although he was strong, tough, and capable, he was also tender, gentle, and

nurturing. She hadn’t expected someone in the Star Elite to be so confusing. They had a reputation forbeing ruthless, dangerous, and secretive, but as far as she could tell there was nothing secretive aboutthis group of men. They had all been open, honest, and largely welcoming. It was odd, in a way,because they had accepted her into not just their house, but their group, and their investigation, andappeared to be doing their best to make her feel at home. It was all so unexpected that she wasstarting to wonder if there was some alternative reason for them bringing her so closely into theirfold.

What did they want from her? Just how much did they suspect her?Just how much danger am I in?In addition to those questions, Freya was also aware that she wasn’t just worried for her own

well-being. She was now worried for Harvey’s too. He was out there somewhere; in the pouring rain;in the darkness; hunting child kidnappers. It was horrifying to think of him stumbling across suchheinous individuals, but this was what he and his colleagues of the Star Elite did. She didn’t – and inall honesty couldn’t – doubt his capability of doing his job. If he weren’t capable, he would be deadby now. In contrast, she wasn’t prepared for being in the middle of one of his investigations. Theywere exact opposites in every way.

“Penny for them,” Harvey whispered gently.Freya screamed and launched out of her seat so swiftly that Harvey had to jump forward and

grab her to stop her from stumbling over the small table beside the chair she so abruptly vaulted outof.

“Careful, you will do yourself a mischief moving that quickly. Do you want a candle lit? Thisfirelight barely lights the corners of the room.”

Harvey didn’t move. He studied the woman who had consumed most of his thoughts throughouthis day. No matter what he had done, where he had gone, what conversations he had shared with hiscolleagues, Freya had lurked in the back of his mind, refusing to fade into the shadows, refusing to beignored. Now that she was before him, his reason for coming to see her disappeared. In the goldenflickering light of the flames beside them, Freya looked ethereal. The autumnal tones of the shadowsflickered teasingly against the golden-brown dresses she had allowed to cascade over her shouldersand cast her in a rosy glow that was warm and inviting. This was the first time he had ever seen herhair down. She looked feminine, touchable, infinitely tempting.

Damn. Seeing her this way doesn’t do anything to help me forget about her even for a shortwhile.

Freya watched the interplay of emotions flicker over his face as he stared down at her andbecame increasingly alarmed about the reason for his sudden appearance. He was worried about

something; that was evident from the dark line between his eyebrows. He was also annoyed at hergiven the stern lines on his handsome features.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, wondering what had happened while he had been away. Did hehave bad news to impart? If so, how did it affect her enough to make him cross with her? “Harvey?”

It didn’t occur to her that it was improper for her to call him by his first name without hisencouraging such intimacy. His name tumbled out of her lips before she could even summon thewisdom to halt them. It felt so natural to call him by his Christian name that she didn’t stop to thinkabout if that was enough to annoy him. But when she tried to step away from his commandingpresence, his hands still clutching her shoulders prevented her from going anywhere.

“What’s happened?” she prompted again gently when she couldn’t stand the silence a momentlonger. “Have you found him? Master Rupert?”

“No.” Harvey mentally cursed at his own stupidity because here he was, contemplating kissingher, wondering about how much time he had spent throughout the day thinking about her, and all shecould think about was the kidnapped boy and his investigation.

As I should be doing.He forced himself to drop his hands but no matter how much he tried he couldn’t force himself

to step away from her. While he might not be able to physically return to his investigation, he forcedhimself to ask: “Tell me what you know about Mavis.” It wasn’t a question.

Freya blinked at him. The second she contemplated the possibility that Mavis might have hadsomething to do with Rupert’s kidnapping, she immediately dismissed the idea. “Well, I only knowwhat she has told me, about herself and her family.”

“Like everyone else.”“The other maids, like Susan or Katie, will be able to tell you more about her. She is really

good friends with them,” Freya offered. “Why, what has she done?”“She hasn’t done anything, I think.”The hesitation in his voice made her hesitate. “But?”Harvey sighed. He still doubted the wisdom of telling Freya the news, but his colleagues had

already confirmed that she had spent the day playing with the kittens and reading. She was innocent.“Longbourne sent his staff out to search the grounds and surrounding countryside for Master

Rupert. The man is at the end of his tether and had to do something.”“That’s understandable,” Freya murmured warily.“Yes. Kate was one of the staff who was sent out to search for the boy. She shares a room with

Mavis, doesn’t she?”“Yes.”“And Mavis was one of Bakewell’s victims, as was Kate, wasn’t she?”“Well, yes. Why, what’s happened?”“She – Kate - was searching the woods with some of the other house staff-” Harvey began.“And?” she pressed when Harvey fell silent again.Harvey sighed. “She disappeared.”“What?” Freya stared at him in horror.“She wasn’t kidnapped,” Harvey added. “I am afraid that she has been found dead. She was

killed by a heavy blow to the head. What is odd is that there are low lying branches on the trees thatshe was walking through, but they are too rigid to swing up behind her and hit her hard enough to killher. Someone murdered her while she was alone in the woods.”

Freya gaped at him. “She was murdered?” She clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle her

cry but all she could do was stare blankly at Harvey as the image of him became blurred by her tears.“Who? Who would do such a thing? It cannot be the kidnappers, can it?”

Harvey tugged her gently into his arms and held her firmly against him while she wept.“We don’t know,” he murmured gently. “What we do know is that Bakewell, Lawrence, and

Dalton have now all been arrested. They are all in solitary confinement in gaol. What we don’t knowis if one of them murdered Katie while she was in the woods because she was one of Bakewell’svictims.”

“You think that Bakewell murdered her to silence her?”Harvey sighed. “It is possible. I am not saying it is fact, just possible. Bakewell was nearby at

the time and wasn’t always visible to the other staff in the area. He had the time, and the motive, toleave the search, creep up on Katie, and bludgeon her to death.”

“Good Lord,” she whispered.“You were right to leave that house when you did,” Harvey assured her. “I apologise for the

way I treated you about that. It was wrong of me.”“You were right to doubt me. I am - was - just one of the maids.” She offered him a wry smile.

“My behaviour looked suspicious even to me. Molly and I discussed it the night before I left. Iconfess that if Bakewell hadn’t attacked me, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to creep out ofthe house at dawn, but after what he did, or tried to do, I had no intention of staying there to beassaulted by him. Given that I am just a lowly maid, I know that if he had attacked me, Mrs Lawrencewouldn’t have reported it to the Lord, or made sure that he didn’t do it again.”

Harvey smiled gently at her. “You are not a maid now. You are one of us now.”Freya snorted derisively. “We are worlds apart. You are one of the Star Elite. I am a poorly

educated maid.”“You are more than that,” Harvey murmured tenderly. Again, his thoughts had taken a romantic

turn whereas hers hadn’t, but he realised now that it was because she didn’t recognise her worth, herimportance to him, rather than any lack of interest in him as a man. “Don’t put yourself down likethat.”

“Pardon?”That somewhat guilty start of hers was enough to assure him that he was right.“You heard me,” he added quietly. “You are more than a maid.”“I don’t know what you mean. It is what I do for a living. It is all I can do.”He watched her step away and was forced to release her. He watched her busy herself with

fluffing the cushion of the chair she had just been sitting in before she folded the knee blanket and putthe book she had been reading back onto the shelving in the corner of the room.

“You know exactly what I mean, Freya,” he pressed, wondering if the display of houseworkwas to remind him of what she did for a living.

Freya studied the room but now that it was tidy, had nothing to do. She therefore had no choicebut to turn and face him. Because she couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge her lowly status to him,she desperately looked for another topic of conversation but, because of what had happened of late,her thoughts immediately returned to Cliffthorpe Manor, and its dangerous occupants.

“Do you really think that Bakewell had something to do with Rupert’s disappearance, and nowKate’s murder?”

“Yes, I do,” Harvey replied honestly.He mentally cursed at the physical and emotional distance she was putting between them but

knew that pushing her was likely to make her withdraw even more. So, patiently, he forced himself to

remain where he was and allow her the distance she required.“Why? What would he have to gain?”“Money,” Harvey replied succinctly.Because he needed to get his thoughts in order too, he captured her hand in his and tugged her

toward the chaise to sit beside him. Once there, so he didn’t do something rash like try to kiss her,Harvey leant forward and braced his elbows on his knees so that he could stare down at the rugbeneath his boots while he talked.

“We can agree that Bakewell has been assaulting the maids for a while and Lawrence musthave known about it. Because most of the staff also knew what was going on, primarily because themaids refused to be silenced and told their friends what had happened, both Bakewell and Lawrenceknew that there was a chance the truth would find its way to Longbourne. They both had to make plansfor the day that their sordid behaviour was revealed. Bakewell had to have an escape plan. I doubt hewould simply stay in the house and keep attacking the maids without one.”

“He would need money if he wanted to go far,” Freya finished.Harvey nodded.“But that doesn’t mean he has been involved in the kidnapping,” Freya argued.“He is one of three people in the house who hold a complete set of keys for the entire property.

The Lord has a set, but he is hardly likely to kidnap his own son. The housekeeper has a set and sodoes Bakewell. To get into the house the kidnappers needed one of those three to leave either a dooror a window unlocked. The Lord isn’t likely to agree to the kidnap of his own son, so that leavesBakewell and Lawrence.”

“But how would they meet the kidnappers?”“The kidnappers had to have approached either of them. Because of his behaviour toward the

maids, it must be Bakewell who let them in,” Harvey murmured more to himself than to Freya.“Good Lord,” she whispered. “So he was paid to leave a window open and give the

kidnappers a route into the house.”“Indeed,” Harvey replied. “He would agree to do it because he needed money to escape if his

crimes toward the maids was reported to the authorities, or Longbourne.”“What do you intend to do?” Freya pressed when they merely sat side-by-side and gazed

absently into the fire for several long moments.“I intend to interrogate him first thing in the morning. He is in gaol now, so cannot hurt anybody.

We will get him up in the middle of the night to make him tired and less able to be defensive. We willquestion him about what he has done then. I don’t doubt that he will be panicking now that he knowswe are aware of his attacks on the maids. He is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars,especially if he has murdered Katie too. What I can’t understand is why he chose to kill her. It doesn’tsolve anything because the other maids he attacked are still able to report his crimes. Maybe shethreatened him, or made it clear she was going to tell us about what he had done to her.”

“Didn’t she tell you when you interviewed her?” Freya interrupted.Harvey shook his head. “She appeared to have something she wanted to say, but she also

looked scared. You all did. You looked as if you wanted to be somewhere else too,” he announcedwryly.

Freya’s lips twitched but she could see no reason to deny it and so slowly nodded.“Whatever happened, because she is now dead, we have to assume that Bakewell is extremely

dangerous. He is a predator.” Harvey picked her hand up and cupped it gently. “I know that he isbehind bars now but because we don’t know if anybody else in that house is involved in what has

been going on, staying here with me is the safest place for you. Molly is going to stay with herboyfriend’s family for a while by the way. She says that she doesn’t feel safe staying in the houseanymore even with Bakewell behind bars. Besides, Joshua is worried about her and refuses to allowher to stay there. Until we can find out who is truly responsible for what crimes that have been goingon in there, Cliffthorpe Manor has to be considered a dangerous place for anyone to stay.”

“There cannot be anybody else involved in this, surely?” Freya protested.“We won’t know until we can get Bakewell to confess to all his crimes. Have you seen any

other staff behaving suspiciously lately?”“No. I have told you what I know,” Freya replied.She looked at their clasped hands. Hers looked incredibly small against his calloused palms

and thicker fingers. For a moment, she felt delicate, dainty, feminine even. Consequently, whilecommon sense told her to remove her hand, she left it resting against his palm and savoured thewonderful feelings that swept gently through her.

“Good. While you are here, are you still prepared to look after the kittens?”“Of course.”“While you are doing that, contemplate the last few days. Think about anything that now seems

unusual that you might have dismissed as irrelevant at the time. You know, someone whispering, orbeing strangely distant for no reason. Someone in rooms they shouldn’t be in, that kind of thing.Anything will help.”

Freya was so busy nodding that she didn’t see him turn to smile at her. When she looked at himto find out why he had stopped talking, and what he was doing, she found him mere inches from hernose. Her gasp was as soft as the look in her eyes as she watched him lean closer. Harvey paused. Hewaited, testing to see if she was going to move away. A part of him wanted her to pull away, to tellhim to stop. Someone had to put some common sense between them. When she didn’t, a wilful part ofhim was infinitely grateful that she wanted this closeness as much as he did. Still, he was sensibleenough to give her one last chance.

“Tell me to stop.”“Stop,” she dutifully repeated even though her eyes told him otherwise.When he merely sat staring at her as if still mulling over what to do, Freya slowly eased

forward and narrowed the distance between them herself.

CHAPTER ELEVEN Freya had no idea which one of them was the last to close the distance between them, but she

didn’t regret anything the moment their lips touched. Her heart pounded as she tasted the faintest hintof brandy and fresh air on his gentle kiss. It was intoxicating and addictive. It was impossible toresist. He was impossible to reject, especially when he slid his long arms around her and tugged heragainst the muscular warmth of his chest. She shivered when his warm lips swept gently across hersbefore settling tantalisingly against hers more fully. He was firm, but also gentle. His lips tested,teased, tempted, and questioned, rather than demanded. His presence sought to reassure her while hisstrength also guided her rather than cajoled her or forced her into anything. He waited with infinitepatience for her to decide if she wanted him to deepen the kiss.

Freya was glad that he gave her the time to get used to such an intimate moment. It felt bold andwanton to place gentle palms against the crispness of his white shirt. When he leant back against thechaise, his large palms against her back took him with her. They both paused, as if seeking thereassurance of the other that this was the right thing to do. After a moment of hesitation, they bothaccepted the moment and allowed their kiss to deepen and the passion to unfurl.

“Again. Tell me to stop,” Harvey growled huskily.“Your friends are going to be shocked if they see us like this,” she whispered.“I don’t care what my friends think,” Harvey murmured. “This is personal. This is between us.

It has nothing to do with the Star Elite’s investigation.”When she didn’t argue, Harvey slid a hand into the silken strands of her hair and cupped the

back of her head while he reassured her with the gentle persuasion of his lips. He made sure thatnothing more happened because he wanted her to get used to this closeness between them in her owntime, in her own way.

Besides, I want more of this. While we must court, we can at least explore, and spend timetogether.

When he eventually found the strength to lift his head, Harvey smiled into her slumbrous eyes.“You are so beautiful,” he breathed. “I don’t care what you think. It’s the truth. I deal with facts;logical, cold details without emotion. Emotion is something that cannot feature in my work. It cloudsjudgement and logic to the point that completing anything is damned near impossible. But the way Iam around you is different. You make me think about things that no investigator should be thinking.You make me forget the investigation and want things that I have never thought about experiencingbefore. I have always contemplated having a wife and children one day. You know, my own family.But that has always been something to experience at some point in the future; later in time; at someunforeseen date. I never expected to find myself thinking about them now, here, with you. But I am. Iwant you to understand that this is something that I have never done before in any of the investigationsI have been involved in. It isn’t something I should be doing now if I am honest, but on this occasion,with you, I don’t mind my emotions clouding my judgement and my thinking.” He smiled softly, almostgoofily at her. “In fact, I rather quite like it.”

Freya felt her heart melt and smiled at him. It was unusual, and slightly startling to find herselfin such an intimate situation with a man, but now that she had allowed it couldn’t regret anything. Infact, if she had a choice to repeat the last few moments again, she would do the same.

“I have never felt this cared for before, this protected,” she confessed.“Trust me,” he pleaded.“I do. I will. I promise,” Freya replied. “But you have to trust me. I have told you what I know.

I have been honest with you about my family in Leicestershire. I really don’t have any links to thekidnappers.”

“I know,” he breathed. “Somehow, I cannot see you being cruel enough to snatch any child outof his family home.”

Because he didn’t want to talk about the investigation now or give into temptation and kiss heragain and risk getting caught by his colleagues, Harvey reached out and picked up a mewling kitten.He leaned back on one elbow and placed it gently on her chest where they both watched it as ityowled repeatedly and rubbed its cheeks frantically against Freya’s shirt.

“I think we should call it Titan. For a little bitty kitten that has one large mouth on it,” hemurmured ruefully.

Freya smiled at him. “I was going to call it Daffodil,” she replied whimsically and watchedHarvey grin.

“You cannot name a kitten Daffodil. It’s black. It needs a bigger name, especially this one.” Heran a gentle finger down the animal’s back. Eventually, he pursed his lips and reluctantly announced:“Heath’s mother is going to take one of the kittens. Albion’s sister is going to take another. Devinsists that one should stay in the house to rat catch. That leaves the fourth.”

“I would love to be able to keep him,” Freya began with a heavy, somewhat sad sigh.“But you don’t know where you are going to end up,” Harvey finished for her.Freya rolled her eyes. “How do you always do that?”“What?”“Know what I am thinking.”Harvey grinned. “I am good at deduction and logic. Besides, if I were in your shoes, I would be

facing the same quandary.” He slowly sat up and picked the kitten up so he could return it to itssiblings. Then he helped Freya sit upright. While he didn’t want to break the companionableatmosphere, Harvey still had things he needed to say to her while they were alone.

“What I would say is that this investigation is going to go on for a while. I know we have a fewof the main suspects behind bars but finding Rupert, and the two thugs who kidnapped him, is going tobe difficult. They are out there somewhere, in thousands of acres of rolling countryside, and miles ofhills and fells. They could be anywhere. Even hiding in any building, in any town or city. It is going totake time. Until we find out who broke into Cliffthorpe Manor, and killed Kate, you cannot goanywhere.”

“Why?” Freya protested. “I wasn’t involved.”“No, but you have to understand that Bakewell may have targeted you the other night because he

needed you to be afraid of him.”Freya stared blankly at him. “Pardon?”“Are you sure you didn’t see anything the night that Master Rupert was kidnapped?”Freya struggled to contain her impatience. Her voice was sharp when she said: “No. I have

already told you a hundred times.”“Bakewell doesn’t know that. If he suspects that you saw or heard something, he may have

decided to target you with his lecherousness with the intention of making you too afraid to talk to us.”The more that Harvey contemplated that possibility, the more it began to solidify before him until itbecame a certainty. “The problem is that those thugs in the village recognised you. Whether theyfollowed you when you left, or were told who you were by Bakewell, they knew that you work atCliffthorpe Manor and were most probably likely to go back to the house or return here. The ransomnote was possibly put into your pocket to make you look guilty or complicit in their crimes. As far as

Bakewell is concerned, that would have stopped you being credible had you told us that he hadassaulted you.”

“Kate must have seen something,” Freya suggested. “She must have for him to kill her.”“Not necessarily,” Harvey murmured. “He may have been trying to silence her to stop her

reporting his attacks. I mean, without a witness, there is nothing to prove that he has done anything toanyone.”

“There is Mavis. He has attacked her.” Freya whispered. She looked at Harvey with eyes thatwere full of fear. “Where is she?”

“Mavis has been moved out of the house and is staying at her mother’s house in Coplow. Thereis no reason to suspect that she is in any danger now that Bakewell and Lawrence are behind bars.Besides, we don’t have the men available to guard her right now. They are all out looking forRupert.”

“Why can’t she come here? This house is safe. There is room for her.”Harvey contemplated his words carefully. “Because the Star Elite haven’t been tasked with

investigating the lecherous activities of the butler. I really don’t have any proof that what Bakewellhas done had any connection to Master Rupert’s kidnap. The boy’s disappearance is what we aresupposed to be investigating. I am just assuming the two criminal acts are connected becauseBakewell has already committed crimes in that house and is a suspicious character with little regardto other people’s wellbeing. It is hard to believe that another member of Lord Longbourne’s staffwould become as corrupt whilst working in the house. The same person, or people, must be involvedin all the crimes. But, because I don’t have any proof, they should be treated as separate cases. Themagistrate can check on Mavis, and make sure that no harm comes to her. We have to focus onlooking for Rupert.”

“Because Longbourne is wealthy.” Freya couldn’t restrain the sneer in her voice at the prospectthat crimes against the aristocracy had to take priority over anything mere maids were subjected to.

“No, because the young boy could very well be dead right now,” Harvey snapped. “Wealth hasnothing to do with it. We know that the maids are now all safe. Rupert isn’t. He is still out there andat the mercy of the men who kidnapped him if he is still alive. However, how long they will keep himalive depends on when they realise that they won’t get any money off Longbourne.”

“So, you are telling me that you would do this same thing for someone who was not titled, orwealthy?” Her words were demanding and gave Harvey no room to avoid answering.

“Lord Longbourne has the ability to question our credibility in the House of Lords if hechooses. It has consequences for the Star Elite because we work with the War Office. So, to answeryour question with brutal honesty, we must be involved in this case because of the politicalconsequences to us if we don’t. While we have no power over whether the boy is alive or dead, wedo have the ability to find him and return him to his family as well as find out what went so wrong inthe house that the kidnappers were able to get in. It’s a heinous crime, no matter whose house it tookplace in. To answer your question, we deal with crimes committed by all walks of society, against allmembers of society. We don’t have any political or financial preferences. The kind of investigationswe are tasked with completing are difficult cases a magistrate rarely has the wherewithal to conducthimself partly because he doesn’t have the country-wide links that we do, and partly because hehasn’t been especially trained to cope with hardened criminals like we have.”

“But the local magistrate knows the land and people around this area better than you,” Freyareasoned.

“But he has no knowledge or experience of dealing with members of the aristocracy like Sir

Hugo has,” Harvey argued. “I don’t. I want to hastily remind you of that. Sir Hugo, and SimonArmitage, our bosses, are au fait with all of that. Ton and their ilk. We are men who are out there, nomatter what the weather, physically chasing down and fighting hardened criminals. I am no snob,Freya.”

Freya studied him and immediately felt contrite for how judgemental she had been. “I amsorry.”

Harvey nodded. “Neither of us can do anything about our present situations, or our past. Let’sjust accept that our lives thus far have brought us together and that no matter what each of us does ordid for a living, we are here now, together. That is what is important. Nothing else.”

“I agree,” Freya replied with an apologetic smile. “Can we start again?”Harvey picked her hand up and kissed the back of her fingers.“What about you? Where do you come from?” she asked curiously, several moments later.“I am a Yorkshireman, born and bred. I hail from Fimney Dale. I have three brothers, and a

sister. My father is the butcher in the village and has several shops in other towns. While we aren’twealthy or titled, my family has over a century of ancestry in the shire of York. I joined the Army toget away from my father’s business because my older brothers were already helping him. He didn’tneed me. Besides, I didn’t want to settle down and marry at the age of one and twenty. I always had adream of seeing the world; of travelling to the America’s to make my fortune. Of course, I never quitegot that far. I got no further than France. When the war was over, I knew that I couldn’t simply retireto country life and work in my father’s business. Besides, my father has retired, and my brothers havetaken over running the family business. They don’t need my help and, if I am honest, even if I wantedto help them I wouldn’t. Not now. Not after the training I received in London with the Star Elite. It haschanged me.”

“You are used to a life of adventure.” It wasn’t a question.“I am used to life in the Star Elite. The Army is a version of the Star Elite, but the Star Elite are

not trained to march for hours, or fight on a battlefield. We are now taught how to fight in the streetsand investigate common criminals who shouldn’t be helping themselves to other people’s lives andproperty. It isn’t something that I can conceive of stopping. This is my life now.”

“What do you plan to do about finding Rupert?” Freya asked because she knew now that he hadbeen warning her that there could be no ordinary domestic life for them if they ever married.

“Like I have said, I need to interrogate Dalton and Bakewell. We are going to then search thearea in and around the Barn and Owl and be in position to watch the area and see who turns up tocollect the ransom money. Once we have the kidnappers in gaol they will be interrogated until theytell us where Rupert is.”

Freya hesitated for a moment. While the words didn’t pass her lips, the question was on herface and Harvey read her question accurately.

“I hope that he is still alive, but I don’t know,” Harvey murmured. He slid a thumb down thesoft silk of her cheek and sighed. “What I do know is that if I were in Lord Longbourne’s position, Iwould be tearing my hair out and prepared to do whatever it takes to get my son back too.”

Harvey didn’t think about how right it was to draw her into his arms and hold her again.Together, they stared into the fire and simply enjoyed the moment. There was no tension, no

expectations. There was just him and her, alone, together.“Ahem.”Harvey didn’t initially move. Instead, he tipped his head around to look languidly at Lander in

the doorway. One look at Lander’s face was enough to force Harvey to forget all about kissing Freya

again, though. He tensed and sat upright as he stared hard at his friend.“What’s wrong?” he demanded. “We have to get to the gaol and the Barn and Owl,” Lander replied, sliding a wary look at

Freya. It was clear that he was reluctant to discuss the investigation in front of one of their witnesses.Harvey offered her an encouraging smile but made no excuses about why he needed to leave

before he sidled around the chaise and went to join his friend in the doorway. Lander immediatelyreturned to the kitchen. Before he followed him, Harvey paused to look back at Freya.

“Try not to worry. Stay in the house and I will come and see you when I get back,” he offeredwith a gentle smile.

Freya opened her mouth to ask him when he would be back only to find herself staring at anempty doorway. Feeling somewhat confused and deflated while equally exhilarated and delighted,she slowly resumed her seat on the chaise where she spent the next hour or so staring into the fire,replaying everything that had happened while she mulled over what she should do next.

“What’s really wrong?” Harvey demanded once he was in the kitchen with his colleagues.“We took Mavis home to her mother’s but were followed,” Rory told him. “I circled around the

area, but the town is so damned busy anybody could have been hiding and I wouldn’t have been ableto find him. Without setting up a watch, I have no idea how many people followed us or where theywent. I have informed the magistrate. Rivers has promised that he will have a man watch the propertyfor us.”

“Did they follow you from Cliffthorpe Manor?” Harvey demanded.“Yes. I saw flickers of movement following us through the trees, I can tell you that much. But

whoever it was kept their distance and was almost indefinable in the darkness. I did notice that at onepoint the person following us wore a hat and cloak but then lost it, so I think that there was more thanone of them.”

“Now, why would they have any interest in Mavis?” Harvey murmured thoughtfully.“It looks like Bakewell is more involved with the kidnappers than we realised. Like you said, it

looks like he has assaulted the maids, partly for sexual gratification, but of late also to stop thewomen speaking out against him,” Rory offered.

“We have to get to the Barn and Owl soon,” Lander announced, checking his fob watch. Hesnapped it closed and tucked it back into his waistcoat. “I have already asked the magistrate to stationmen in the area, so we have backup if we need it.”

“Good. Then let’s go. Who is on watch here?” Harvey murmured, tugging his cloak on, anddonning his boots.

“Ellis. He is going to be inside the house tonight given that these men have the tendency to lurkin bushes too,” Rory replied.

Harvey grinned and relished the challenge that lay ahead of him as he stepped outside. “Well,let’s see if we can beat them at their own game then, eh, gentlemen?” With that, he went to find hishorse.

CHAPTER TWELVE Harvey’s enthusiasm died quickly when he reached the gaol. Inside, the three-storey stone

structure was dark and oppressive with dank corridors that smelt of unwashed bodies and dampness.The high sheen on the faded whitewash on the ancient walls told him everything about just howmiserable the place was. It didn’t help that their boots rang hollowly on the flagstone flooring, givingthe large corridors an empty feel of abandonment that was worrying. It was as if all the souls whoentered the place had been abandoned to rot by normal society.

Harvey shared a rueful look with his colleagues. “I will be glad when I am out of here,” hemuttered.

“He has been kept to himself, just like you asked,” the gaoler informed him briskly as heunlocked the door to Bakewell’s cell.

Even the jangle of the gaoler’s keys was ominous enough to make Harvey shudder and tug hiscloak tighter around himself.

“Thank you,” Harvey murmured as he stepped into the tiny cell.Inside, Bakewell sat slumped on the edge of his straw filled cot, staring blankly at the floor.

His face was pale in the darkness of the room. The wall sconces outside didn’t light much of thehallway. The feeble flickering of the small flames couldn’t even reach the tiny cell that was going tobe Bakewell’s home for a while.

Bakewell looked up at them with dead eyes. “I have nothing to say.”“Oh, I think you are going to tell us everything we want to know,” Harvey growled. He nodded

his thanks when the gaoler re-entered the room with a chair, some rope, a bucket, and several smallrectangles of wood.

Bakewell frowned at them. His eyes widened when he realised what was about to happen.Sweat popped out on his broad brow as he looked frantically around the room in search of a way out.

“Now, do you want to tell us everything you know freely, or do we have to beat it out of you?Either way, a young boy’s life hangs in the balance and I am not going to pander to you while there isa chance of finding him while he is still alive. What do you know?”

Bakewell slumped with relief. He immediately straightened again and adopted a formal stanceas he would have had he been in front of Longbourne. Despite his dirt-stained shirt, and dishevelledhair, his tone became more aristocratic and droller when he stated: “I have already told you what Iknow, sir. I had nothing to do with the boy’s kidnapping. I locked up the house tightly, as I always doevery night. I do a tour of the house. Of course, I check the second-floor windows, but never go intothe third floor because that is where the nursery is, sir. Besides, there is no way to get up there fromthe outside. So, I do a tour of the upstairs rooms that are unoccupied, and make sure that all thewindows and shutters are locked. Then I do the same downstairs, and make sure that all the doors arelocked too, sir. That is my nightly routine I carry out just before I go to bed, around midnight, sir.Sometimes later if the Master thinks he is going to need me.”

“Where do you leave your keys when you go to bed?” Harvey pressed.“On the small table beside my bed, sir. Just in case I need them in an emergency,” Bakewell

replied. “I keep them at arm’s length, sir. Nobody could have taken them.”“Your sleep must be precious if you go to bed at midnight but have to be up at six o’clock in the

morning.”“I don’t mind, sir. It is a habit I have gotten into over the years. It becomes a normal part of life,

sir.” Bakewell brightened now that he realised what the questioning was going to be about.

“And you are positive that nobody could have snuck into your room, helped themselves to thekeys, opened a door or window, and then returned the keys when they had finished.”

“No, sir. Nothing like that could have happened. I would have heard the keys moving, sir. I ama light sleeper. Besides, I unlocked the doors in the morning, sir. They were all locked, just as I hadleft them.”

“Are you sure?”“Yes, sir,” Bakewell stated firmly.“But I still doubt you, Bakewell,” Harvey murmured. He took a seat in the chair that was

intended for Bakewell and leaned forward so he could brace his elbows on his knees and staredeeply into the killer’s eyes. “You see, I know that you are a sneak, a bully, a liar, and a coward. Iknow that you take out your sexual desires on the maids in the house and threaten them with beingreleased from their situations if they report your attacks. I know that you have done this to at leastthree women, and have recently been seen, by one of my men, trying to do it to a fourth woman. Now,what do you have to say about that, eh? Why should I believe the word of a man like you, eh? You, alech who debauches women. Why would I believe that you weren’t the one who left one of the side-doors, or a window unlocked, so your friends could get into the house. All it would take is the turn ofa key, or lack thereof. Nobody would be able to prove you were involved. That is what you thought,didn’t you? The problem is, Bakewell, I find it hard to believe that someone as diligent as you claimyou are could miss something like an open window. I understand from having visited the house myselfthat at least two men entered the property without having to force their way in. Now, either you aren’tas diligent as you claim to be, or you deliberately left one of the windows or doors open to let themin.”

Harvey allowed several moments of tense silence to fall into the room. The Head Gaoler stoodsilently in the doorway: his dark clothing as ominous as Bakewell’s future. Bakewell’s swallow wasloud in the silence of the room. For several long moments, nobody spoke. Bakewell seemed to shrinkin size again. His shoulders slumped once more. His gaze lowered to the floor. He sat defeatedamongst his lies, a mere husk of the man he had once pretended to be moments earlier.

“Now, I think that for the time being, it is best that you remain in this gaol until you are putbefore a judge. But I warn you now, aiding and abetting the kidnapping of a young child, three rapesand the attempted assault of a fourth maid is enough to keep you behind bars for an exceptionally longtime. However, you cannot stay in solitary confinement all your life. You will have to go into themain gaol soon. Unfortunately, I believe that the prisoners take exception to having men like you forceyourself on maids and servants. You are going to have to watch your back, Bakewell. Sleep with yourback against the wall, eh? Preferably with one eye open because the prisoners in a place like this tendto force their own brand of justice upon the guilty.”

“It is the best place to be, though. Everyone knows about Lord Longbourne’s son’sdisappearance. Everyone will know about your arrest, and our suspicions over your involvement, andthe rapes you have carried out against the maids,” Lander added.

Harvey nodded. “People will be angry. You have made yourself a lot of enemies, Bakewell.”Bakewell gulped again. He didn’t move. He didn’t appear to be breathing very much either. He

stared silently at the floor as if in a daze. It was clear that he was finally realising how dire hissituation was.

“Now, firstly, there is nothing that anybody can do about the rapes. We have witness statementsabout the attacks from both Mavis and Kate, and several other members of staff in that house whowere told about what happened by the victims. Unfortunately for you, Kate’s death was unnecessary

because she had already told us about your assault of her. Her murder was useless in preventing youfrom facing justice.”

“I didn’t kill her.” Although Bakewell’s voice was firm, his hands shook as he twisted hisfingers together in a gesture that was decidedly nervous, and which accompanied the stiff set of hisshoulders and the hardness in the man’s eyes. “I didn’t assault either woman. They are lying.”

“Mrs Lawrence, Mavis, Kate, and Susan, and other witnesses who were working in the houseat the time, have all told us that you did rape the maids. So, I am afraid that unless you can give me thename of someone who can vouch for you, I am calling you a liar. I am therefore going to arrest you formurdering Kate to try to silence her. You will hang for your crimes, Bakewell. Given what you havedone, it is likely that your execution will be a public one. Now, I have reason to suspect that you wereinvolved in the kidnap of Rupert Kane as well. You have no conscience. You have no soul. You are amanipulator who has little regard for other people’s lives, or bodies. It is highly unlikely that anybodyelse in that house has a similar disregard for other people. If you help me, I will see if I can get yoursentence commuted to life behind bars. But you must tell me about the gang you are working for. Whopaid you to let them into the house, Bakewell? Where are they?”

Bakewell still didn’t answer. When he looked at Harvey there was such fear in his eyes thatHarvey knew he wasn’t going to get the man to tell him what he wanted to know very easily.Bakewell was afraid of what the leader of the kidnappers would do to him.

“Alright, if you won’t give me names, let me ask you another question. Is the person whoorchestrated or was involved in Rupert’s kidnap still in the house?” Harvey hoped to God thatBakewell wasn’t going to nod. If he did then it meant that Longbourne might have kidnapped his ownson.

Bakewell took a moment but eventually shook his head, just once and so slightly that hadHarvey been looking elsewhere he would have missed it.

“Which door?”Bakewell didn’t answer.“Alright then, which window?”“The scullery,” Bakewell whispered. “I was paid to leave the latch off the hook. The maids use

the scullery all the time and frequently leave the window open when they are working in therebecause the room gets hot.”

“It’s wide enough for someone to climb through, especially a young boy,” Albion murmured.Harvey studied Bakewell. “All right. So, you were paid by the kidnappers to leave the scullery

window unlatched. It is still a small window. How in the Hell did they get the boy through thatwindow without him making any noise? Was he alive when he left the building?”

“I wouldn’t harm the lad, or agree to anyone hurting him,” Bakewell huffed.“But you did. You allowed a window to be left open so that someone could snatch him out of

his bed in the middle of the night. That hurt him. Did you not stop to think about how Rupert wouldfeel seeing two strange men in his bed chamber at night? Or how he would feel being dragged out ofhis own home? He is a young boy!” Harvey cursed fluidly when Bakewell didn’t speak. “Do youknow something? I am inclined to send you to the judge and demand he gives you the maximumsentence for all the crimes you have committed. You are now also under arrest for the kidnap andpossible murder of Rupert Kane, Lord Longbourne’s son. Until you can prove that you weren’tassisted by a footman, or another member of staff in that house, I have to conclude that you were theonly kidnapper and that you are lying about having help and allowing else into the house to snatch thelad.”

“I didn’t kidnap him.” Bakewell’s voice dropped and became harsher, deeper, and moresinister.

When he looked at Harvey this time, it was from beneath lowered brows so that most of whatHarvey could see was the whites of Bakewell’s eyes. The man looked incredibly sinister, and verydangerous. In that moment, Harvey knew that the man was a killer. If he hadn’t killed Rupert, he hadmurdered Kate. Bakewell had also either orchestrated Rupert’s kidnap to extort money from the Lord,or to silence the boy because Rupert had possibly witnessed one of Bakewell’s assaults on the maids.

“What did he see you do, Bakewell?” Harvey challenged. “You got rid of him because youeither want money off his father, or the boy saw you doing something that would condemn you if hetold Longbourne.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Bakewell snarled having suddenly lost his misery and replaced it with icyfury.

“Who did?”Bakewell didn’t answer. Harvey felt a shiver of alarm slither down his spine. He dreaded to

think that the boy might have been dead when he left the house. “Was he kidnapped, Bakewell. Orwas he murdered in the house and his body hidden? Where did you bury him? Just give me a body,Bakewell. Give Longbourne his son back. Even dead, it is better than this. Do you not have anycompassion in your soul? What happened to the boy?”

“I don’t know. They - the kidnappers - approached me on my day off. I was in the tavern inCoplow, the Dog and Duck, and they came up to me and said they had a proposition for me; that Icould earn myself a lot of money for one simple task. That was all.”

“How much?”“A hundred pounds. They offered me a hundred pounds just to leave the latch up on the window

in the scullery and draw them a plan of the house. They said that the Lord had something that theywanted. I didn’t want to know what it was. I have worked in that house for a long time and workeddamned hard for long hours and little pay. I know that the Lord is wealthy, but he pays his staffpittance. There are priceless heirlooms in the house, and a vast wealth tucked away in the safe, yet theman barely pays his staff enough to survive. It isn’t fair.”

“But you didn’t mind taking advantage of the maids needing to work in the house, and they arein the same poorly paid situation as you. It is hypocritical of you to condemn the Lord for treatingpeople shabbily while you do the same. Besides, it is commonplace amongst his ilk for him to payservants a minimum wage for their work. Long hours are a part of the job. You knew that when youtook the position in the property. If you weren’t prepared for that then you shouldn’t have taken theposition there. How can you stay there, work with such a man, hate him for it, and not movesomewhere else? Why turn to a life of crime?”

“I was paid a hundred pounds. I could retire. Move away. Start afresh somewhere else.”“You couldn’t go far on a hundred pounds,” Albion snorted. “What did you plan to do when you

left and moved away? You would still need to work but wouldn’t have any references fromLongbourne if you had to run because you had raped the maids.”

“I intended to go abroad,” Bakewell announced. “I don’t want to stay in this damned country.”“You couldn’t afford to because of the risk of your crimes against the maids being reported and

you being hung for them,” Lander snorted.“Death by hanging is the price you are going to have to pay, Bakewell,” Harvey announced

grimly. “You were a good butler, which I don’t doubt you were at some point in your miserable life,yet you have thrown that life of security away for the sake of your base needs and a hundred pounds.

Your entire life, reputation, and future is ruined now because of what you did. If you wanted awoman, you should have visited a whore house on your day off. You have options. You are a butler,man, not dead.”

“He will be dead now,” Albion sighed. “It’s not the mess he has made of his life that we haveto concern ourselves with. It is the mess he has made of other people’s lives that is our main worry.Bakewell can go to the gallows. It is a far easier punishment than spending the rest of his life unableto go anywhere without having his life in danger. People will despise him wherever he goes now,even in here.”

Bakewell didn’t move or speak, but Harvey knew the man was listening to every word.“Where would they take him?” he demanded, nudging Bakewell with his boot.“I don’t know.”“Who are they?”“I don’t know.”Harvey stood up and removed his jacket. He crossed the room and beckoned to the Head

Gaoler who stepped deeper into the room and closed the cell door. Bakewell glanced at Harvey andfrowned a little when he saw Harvey rolling his shirt sleeves up. Albion put on a display of uncoilingthe rope while Lander made a point of repositioning the chair and bucket.

“What are you doing?” Bakewell demanded, nervously glancing from Harvey to Albion to theHead Gaoler and Lander and back again.

He paled and began to shake as he tried to climb backwards on his cot, trying to get away fromwhat was about to happen, but he was no match against the strength of Albion and the Head Gaolerwho hauled him off the cot and slammed him down into the chair. The Head Gaoler held him stillwhile Albion tied Bakewell to the chair with the rope. Only then did Harvey turn to face the prisoner.

“You are going to tell us what you know about the kidnappers. How you met them. Who theyare. When you were supposed to meet with them again. You are going to tell us what happened withKate. You are going to tell me what the kidnappers want with Mavis now. You are going to tell mewhere Rupert is. Understand?” Harvey growled.

Albion planted himself directly in front of the prisoner. “Look on the bright side, if theinterrogation kills you, it will save you having to wait to go to the gallows.”

Bakewell gulped and turned terrified eyes upon the Head Gaoler but the harshness on the man’sface warned the criminal that he would get no help from any of the lawmen in the room.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Freya was playing with the kittens when she heard the loud clatter of something hitting the

window. She frowned and stared at the closed shutters. At first, she contemplated going to see whathad caused the noise but knew that Ellis was outside somewhere.

He has probably knocked something over.Eventually, Freya settled back down again, but didn’t get to play with the kittens for long

because she was disturbed again, this time by Ellis.“Was that you?” he demanded from the sitting room doorway.Freya jerked. “I thought it was you. I thought you were out there.”Ellis scowled at her. They both turned to the window when the noise happened again. He

beckoned her toward him. “Come over here.”“Who is out there?” Freya clambered to her feet and rushed across the room.“Nobody who should be out there. We should be the only ones here. The others are either

investigating Kate’s murder, at the Barn and Owl, or interrogating Bakewell at the gaol. I have beentasked with keeping watch inside the house because it is safer than being out there with thekidnappers.” He threw her a rueful look. “Harvey is determined to keep you safe no matter what ittakes.”

Freya blushed but her delight faded when Ellis withdrew his gun and checked the shot. “Youaren’t going to need that, are you?” she cried.

Ellis didn’t answer. “Gather the kittens up and put them back into the basket.”He waited beside the door while she collected the animals and moved them into the kitchen.“Where is Harvey?” Freya shivered and tugged her shawl tighter about her shoulders.“He is interrogating Bakewell. Harvey has to find out who the kidnappers are.”“And if they are likely to have murdered Rupert.” Freya closed her eyes and shook her head in

dismay when Ellis nodded.She edged closer to Ellis when there was another clatter against the window. “Who is that?”“I don’t know but they aren’t going to get in here,” Ellis announced grimly. “All of the shutters

are locked. The doors are locked and bolted as well. If they want to get in, they are going to have tostruggle, and face a bullet.”

“But the doors and windows at Cliffthorpe Manor were locked and the kidnappers still gotinside,” Freya argued.

Ellis removed a pouch of bullets from his belt and held them out to her together with his sparegun. He frowned at her because he didn’t want to arm her but didn’t want her to be vulnerable ifintruders did get inside the house.

“I am not using that,” she protested.“No, you are not going to use it. Not unless something happens to me, and intruders make it

clear that they are here for you.”“Me? Why me? What do they want with me?” Freya felt sick.“I don’t know, Freya,” Ellis replied. “What do you know that they need to silence you for?”“I don’t know anything. Why does everyone think that I had something to do with the kidnap? Is

that why Harvey wants me to stay here?”“No. Well, I don’t know. What I do know is that Mavis, one of the maids that Bakewell

attacked, was followed home by someone. We suspect that it was one of Rupert’s kidnappers; one ofthe men who accosted you in the village the other day. What we want to know is what they want with

either of you.”“The only connection we have is that we have both worked at the house.”“And Bakewell tried to assault you both,” Ellis finished.“Has Bakewell sent them?”“If they have been sent by Bakewell, they probably don’t know that the man has been put behind

bars yet,” Ellis replied.“Do you intend to tell them so they leave us alone?”“No. We have to wait for the news to hit the newspapers. We don’t want a group of vigilantes

surrounding the gaol right now because it will hinder us taking prisoners there. Besides, we still needto keep the details of our investigation quiet because we still need to find Rupert. If word gets out thatBakewell has been arrested, and he is one of the leaders of the kidnapping gang, they may murderRupert because they can’t get ransom money out of Longbourne.”

“Good Lord. How do you do this?” Freya hissed. “How can you live like this? Second guessingeverything all the time is so difficult. I cannot stand it.”

“You are going to have to. You are not doing this just for yourself but for Rupert too. He is stillout there somewhere, probably scared, wondering where his father is, and wanting to go home. Wemust find him. If we can’t then we are going to have to put his kidnap in the papers and get people tosearch their homes, gardens, towns, and villages. That should make it difficult for the kidnappers tohide him.”

“But they could kill him like you said. Do you think that they have done something like thisbefore, to someone else’s child?” she asked. “They seem so difficult to find, it is hard to believe thatthis is the first person they have snatched.”

“I have to agree with you,” Ellis replied. “It has been planned incredibly well, to the point thateven we, the Star Elite, are struggling to find them.”

Freya turned to look at the window when she heard the noise against the window again. “Itsounds as if something is being thrown at the window.”

“They want us to go to the window to peer outside so they can find out which room we are inand who is here. They haven’t seen me on patrol so don’t know if there is one of us here, or more, orjust you, or if the house is empty. Let’s keep them guessing and stay quiet. They clearly don’t intend tocome inside. They are trying to lure us out. We are not going to rise to their bait and give them whatthey are after.”

Freya shivered and suddenly feared for Harvey’s safety when he returned to the house. To hersurprise, Ellis suddenly grinned.

“Before you ask, when they return, all of the men will ride around the perimeter of the house tocheck that all is well before they venture closer. They will stay in the shadows and make strangenoises and wait for me to tell them all is well. Only then will they come near the house. If they don’treceive my answering call, they will root out the danger lurking in the shadows for us.” He smirked ather astonishment. “We know what we are doing.”

“I am horrified,” Freya whispered.“It keeps us alive,” Ellis murmured with a shrug.“I am horrified that something as simple as leaving and entering your house can be so

dangerous.”Ellis shrugged. “It is why we do what we do. People should be able to go where they want

when they want without being targeted by cut-throats, murderers, thieves, or bullies. Allowing thecriminal fraternity to get away with their crimes means we are accepting having our lives and

freedoms hindered by thugs. That isn’t going to happen while the Star Elite are around.”That was so provoking that Freya immediately straightened her spine and her shoulders. “Once

couched in those terms, I can understand,” she announced. “So, what can I do to help?”Ellis laughed outright but softly so that only she could hear him. When he looked at her this time

his eyes twinkled. “Harvey certainly knew what he was doing when he chose you.”“Chose me? For what?” Freya asked blankly. She paused in the process of choosing a poker out

of the bucket beside the fireplace to turn to stare at him.Ellis pursed his lips to try, and miserably fail, to hide his smile. He was stunned that she really

had no idea what he meant. “You don’t like him?”“Well, of-of course, I like him,” she blustered, blushing furiously. “He is nice.”“Nice.” Ellis’s brows shot up. “Just – nice.”She wrinkled her nose up. “Well, he is more than nice. He is handsome. Charming. He is rather

wonderful.”Ellis rolled his eyes at the dreamy expression on her gorgeous face. “Please do not tell him that.

His head is big enough already,” Ellis teased.Freya smiled. “He doesn’t seem to be arrogant.”“He isn’t. Arrogance is for fools and isn’t to be mistaken for pride. Being proud about

something can oftentimes be seen as boastful, but there is no harm in it. He is proud of his work withthe Star Elite. We all are. We are all proud of our work with the Star Elite. We cannot be arrogantbecause it could get us killed.”

“You should be proud of what you do to help people. You are the pride of the nation, and forgood reason. While everyone is in awe of you, it is difficult to remember that you are still men. Youare as vulnerable as everyone else, even though you are considerably braver.”

“We have to be thoughtful,” Ellis corrected. “Brave, yes. We often go into situations that mostpeople avoid. We often fight the kind of people who most try to ignore or move away from. There canbe no room for cowardice in the Star Elite.”

“I know,” she whispered with a sigh. “I just wish that I could get Harvey to trust me andbelieve me when I tell him that I had nothing to do with Rupert’s kidnap. To answer your questionearlier, the only connection I have with Mavis is that we have both worked at the house and both beentargeted by Bakewell.”

Ellis nodded. “We have to assume that Bakewell probably leads the gang of kidnappers and,because of what he has done to you and the other maids, ordered you to be silenced. Permanently.”When he saw Freya slump into the chair beside the fireplace he added: “I am not saying it is fact. It isjust supposition.”

“How do you find out?”“Like I have said, Harvey is interrogating Bakewell in gaol. When he has finished, we will go

to the Barn and Owl and wait to see who turns up for the ransom money. Then we will arrest themand interrogate them to find out where they have hidden the boy,” Ellis replied.

By the time that Ellis had stopped talking, dull thuds echoed through the house from the backdoor.

“They are trying to kick it in,” Ellis muttered. He threw her a dark look. “Go upstairs and staythere. Don’t open the shutters. Find somewhere to hide. Take the kittens. I will call you when theyhave gone.”

“No. You cannot face them by yourself,” Freya argued. “I am not sitting upstairs going quietlyout of my mind while you face whoever is out there alone.”

She pointed to the door but squealed in alarm when the sound of splintering wood shattered thetension within the room. Ellis raced toward the door only to hesitate when he heard what soundedlike the hoot of an owl.

“What are you doing?” Freya cried when he grinned at her as if he was delighted by something.To her shock, Ellis tipped his head back and emitted several, ear splitting owl-like hoots.

“Help is here,” he reported before he hurried into the hallway.Ellis stood in the kitchen and watched a grubby hand appear through a small hole the intruder

had managed to kick through the panelling of the door. Fingers wriggled and fumbled along the doorjamb in search of the key, which still rested in the lock. Ellis waited until the fingers had the keybefore marching across the room. He kicked the hand as hard as he could before shooting at thepanelling. The bullet passed through the door at the place where he suspected the intruder stood andthe hand promptly disappeared.

“No!” Freya cried when Ellis slid the bolts back. Before he could reply several more shotsbroke the silence outside.

“Stay there,” Harvey called to him as he raced past the back door.Ellis dutifully slammed the door closed and waved Freya into the hallway.Harvey vaulted over the body on the doorstep and rushed around the corner of the house after

the dark figure who had been standing beside his newly deceased friend. Ducking low, he cursedwhen the boom of a gun caused the brickwork beside his head to shower him in fine dust. Hunkeringbehind a large rose bush, Harvey tried to see the gunman but nearly took a bullet to the head whenanother boom made the bush rattle. This time, the bullet came from beside the stable block. Harveyhad no idea where the bullet went, but the shot struck the bush far too close for him to stay where hewas. Unfortunately, there weren’t any other hiding places.

Several more gunshots within the woods assured him that his colleagues had already gone afterthe gunman and were now chasing him through the trees. Rather than join Albion and Rory in thechase, though, Harvey returned to the house. His heart pounded far harder than it usually did when hewas drawn into gun battles because his fear wasn’t for his own safety. He needed to see Freya andmake sure that she hadn’t been hurt.

Ellis yanked the door open the second that he saw Harvey through the hole in the door. “Youtook long enough to get here,” he grumbled ruefully.

“Freya.” Harvey peered into the room and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her standingbeside the fireplace. “Are you all right?” He stared at her until she nodded and only then heaved asigh of relief.

Harvey then bent down and flipped the dead man over. Together, both Star Elite men studiedthe intruder’s face. When Freya appeared behind Ellis, Harvey nodded to the corpse at their feet.

“Do you know him?”Freya studied the face but shook her head.Harvey cursed. “Is this not one of the men who accosted you in the village the other day?”“No.” Freya was certain that she had never seen this man before.“He doesn’t work at the house, or has delivered anything there?”“Not as far as I know, no. I don’t recognise him,” she announced firmly. “What does he want

with me?”“I don’t know,” Harvey sighed. “What we do know now is that you are in danger even here. For

whatever reason, the gang, and I think it is safe to say now that this is a gang of criminals we aredealing with, have chosen to target you, Freya. What we need to do now is find out why, and what

relevance this has to Rupert Kane’s disappearance.”Deep in the back of his mind, in a place that Harvey was reluctant to acknowledge, he still

doubted that Freya was being honest with him when she claimed that she knew nothing about Rupert’skidnap. He suspected that she had seen something that the kidnappers were worried about the StarElite knowing but for some reason was reluctant to confide in him still.

“Do we take this determination to get to her as a warning that these kidnappers have probablymurdered Rupert?” Albion asked as he studied the body before stepping over it to enter the house.

“They are armed, and not afraid to shoot. They don’t give a damn who gets caught by the bulletseither,” Rory added, shaking his head. He stood beside the table and reloaded his weapon. “They arearmed, persistent, determined. They are dangerous and are targeting Mavis, and Freya together. Wewill assume that this is the same gang of people who snatched Rupert. Now, unless they like to collectpeople like ornaments, they want the women for the same reason as they want the boy.”

“Well, nobody is going to pay any ransom for me,” Freya snorted in disgust.Harvey grinned. “Oh, I don’t know.” He laughed when she blushed.“Has anybody checked on Mavis yet?” Albion demanded.Rory shook his head. “I will go and see the watch and make sure that everything is fine. We

will go to the Barn and Owl first. The meeting is soon, isn’t it?”Harvey nodded but before he could issue orders, Freya announced: “I am not staying here by

myself.”“You won’t be expected to. Unfortunately, though, it isn’t safe for you to stay here with just one

man on watch either. We need everyone we have available at the Barn and Owl with us.”“I think we have to consider that this group might not want a ransom after all. They may be

trying to lure us out into the open to ambush us,” Ellis suggested.“I think you are right,” Harvey said. “We need to be prepared for an ambush rather than a

handover of money. The bosses in the War Office have insisted that no ransom is paid. We have tofind the boy whether he is dead or alive.”

“He has to be alive,” Freya whispered.“This group want people dead,” Ellis warned.Everyone nodded.“So you think that Rupert is dead too?” Freya wanted to cry.“It looks like it.” Harvey reached out and held her hand. “We have to find him either way.”“We have searched all the outbuildings, farmland, villages, and hamlets for miles around. So

far, there isn’t any trace of him,” Albion muttered. “They couldn’t take him to the cotton mills, could they?” Freya cried. “I mean, Coplow is the

last town before Cokehampton and the surrounding mills. It’s possible. What I don’t understand iswhy they would want to take him that far away.”

“Child labour. It’s free, and a mill would be the perfect place to stash him so that he couldn’ttalk to anybody about what had happened to him,” Ellis murmured.

As shocked and appalled as he was, Harvey was seriously starting to contemplate thepossibility that was what had happened to Rupert. Consequently, he wanted to saddle up and rideover to Cokehampton to continue to search even though it would be looking for a darning needle in ahaystack.

“It would be bloody impossible to find him if they disguised him and made out that he was anorphan,” Harvey murmured. He turned worried eyes on Freya. “What made you think about themills?”

“I just know that if they used the road on the other side of Coplow Woods like you said, thekidnappers had to go to Coplow. If they stopped, someone would have recognised Rupert. If theycontinued onward, they would have reached Cokehampton. The only place they could stash a youngboy of Rupert’s age there is in one of the cotton mills. They employ young children to gather cottonfrom under the machines.”

“They don’t employ them, though, do they? I mean, the children don’t get paid. They get fed,clothed, and that’s about it,” Albion grumbled. “It’s bloody atrocious, and incredibly dangerouswork.”

Harvey turned to study the body. “We have to get a drawing of him so that we can ask the localsin Coplow and Cokehampton if they recognise him. If he isn’t a local from Little Bragton or HamleyBridge, we must assume that he has come from further afield. That means that our investigation has tomove to Coplow or Cokehampton.” He turned to Freya. “I hope to God that you are right. While wedo have a mountain to climb to find the lad, I hope that is where they have taken him.”

“Why? He will be used for child labour. Do you have any idea how bad the conditions are inthe mills? The streets are no better. Poverty is rife. The accommodation is overcrowded. Sanitation isnon-existent. Crime is rampant. A young boy like Rupert wouldn’t survive. I went there for one day.Just one, and it took me a week to be able to sleep all night without waking up from the nightmares,”Freya cried.

Harvey stepped closer because he could see the fine shivers sweeping through her. He wantedto think that it was because a cold breeze was billowing into the room and her shawl was paper thin.In truth, he knew it was from what she had witnessed.

“If he is there, at least he will be kept fed, and will be away from the killers. He is alive. Hemight suffer appalling conditions for a while, but he will still be alive to see his father again. Thatcan only be a blessing,” he whispered before gathering her into his arms for a hug they both needed.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Freya snuggled against him and savoured Harvey’s warmth. She had missed him. It was odd

that she should feel this way about someone she barely knew but she did.“What happens now?” she whispered. Freya turned away from the gruesome sight of Rory and

Albion dragging the corpse into the stable yard and look at Harvey instead.“Now, you have to stay with us when we go to the Barn and Owl. It is going to be dangerous,

but we cannot leave you here alone with one of the men on guard. Not if they are trying to lure us out.I have to keep you safe, Freya, and it seems like the safest place for you is with me,” Harveymurmured.

“What about Mavis?”“Like I have said, protecting her is the magistrate’s job. We cannot be sure that these men don’t

want you dead because you saw their faces the other day” Harvey sighed.Freya blinked at him with wide eyes. “What do I do?”“Stay close and keep quiet.”Before he could leave, Freya had to ask: “Are you moving to Cokehampton once you have been

to the Barn and Owl?” No matter how she felt about Harvey, who she was already starting to suspectshe was falling in love with, she would never move there even temporarily.

Harvey knew from the way she said the word ‘Cokehampton’ that she hated the place. Becausehe was starting to suspect he wanted a future with her he was honest. “It is only twenty-five milesaway. I have to look for Rupert.”

Freya nodded. Feeling somewhat awkward now, she physically took a step back, but her mentalretreat was considerably larger. Harvey refused to allow her to turn away from what was starting toform between them, though, and followed her across the room.

“Some of the men have families on the other side of the county, fifty or sixty miles away,” heoffered. “They still get home to see their families. There is no reason why you could not set up ahome somewhere near here and allow me to come and see you whenever I can.”

Freya nodded but her silence was worrying.“You don’t think that you want to set up a home here?” he demanded.“I love the village, I really do, but I am not sure what people are going to think given what has

been going on in the house.”“The Star Elite’s base is here because it is close to all the main roads. We conduct

investigations all over this county, but we can also be asked to help other men in other teams. We alsogo to our main base in London, if necessary, but most of the year the farthest we ever go is to thecounty borders. Work will take me away from here for several days or weeks at a time, of course itwill, but I will always return.”

“I understand,” she sighed. “But things are different for me.”“You aren’t going back to Leicestershire, are you?” Strong objections to that hovered on his

lips until Freya shook her head. He puffed out his cheeks on a relieved sigh. “Thank God for that. Ithought I was going to have to make plans to barricade you in the house.”

Freya’s lips twitched. “It wasn’t a happy place for me.”“But you still won’t stay here.” It wasn’t a question.Freya sighed. “I am a maid. It is all I have ever been. Unfortunately, I can’t earn a fortune from

it. I have some money saved but it isn’t much and won’t be enough to purchase or rent a house in thevillage, especially near here. Most of the houses around here are far too expensive for me to even

rent. Even the cheaper ones are unaffordable to me.”“You aren’t going to have to either purchase or rent one,” Harvey assured her firmly. “You see,

you have to stay here for the foreseeable future because of our investigation. Even if the Star Elitemove to Cokehampton for a while, some of our men will pop back here for equipment and horses andthe like. We have a couple of lads who come in from the village to look after our horses that arepermanently stabled here. Otherwise, you will have this house to yourself if you stay here for a while.I know it is still a temporary arrangement, but you will be safe here. Most of the local criminals knowthis place belongs to the Star Elite and so avoid this area like the plague. Those who don’t aren’tlikely to stray into a house so heavily fortified like this. We have twelve-foot-high walls around theperimeter of the property. In the garden there is a thick, three-foot-deep layer of thorny bramble androse bushes. If someone is still determined to get through that they are going to have to try to get nearthe house through the gardens without being seen, and past the locked doors and windows.”

“Like that man did tonight,” Freya replied pointedly.“Yes, because they climbed on horses, and jumped over the privet. What they failed to realise

is that there is no easy way off the property. The one who escaped had to stand on the privet andclimb over the wall. We will now put additional safety measures into place to stop that happeningagain. What I am trying to say is that you are safer here than you would be in a house of your own thatisn’t fortified.”

“I know,” she breathed. “I would appreciate the time here to find a new situation somewhere. Ican move there when my time here is over.”

Harvey hesitated. “Leave that to the Star Elite, eh? This investigation may be over next week ormay not be concluded until next year. Whatever happens, you can go nowhere until every member ofthis gang has been captured and Rupert has been found.”

Freya watched Harvey kick the back door closed. “I don’t want to stay here alone tonight,” sheadmitted with a shiver.

“We need to go now.” He turned and ran an assessing gaze over her. “You are going to have towear a disguise to make you look like one of us. Tuck that hair up and possibly wear a long cloak anda hat. You should be unrecognisable in the dark.”

Freya felt sick at the thought that she was going to have to go to the tavern. “At some point in thefuture, I am going to talk about this with my children, and my grandchildren, and laugh about it.”

“What? Being forced by the Star Elite to go to a tavern in the dead of night to meet withkidnappers?” Harvey smiled ruefully.

“No. Well, yes, but also being drawn into an investigation carried out by the legendary StarElite,” she muttered.

Harvey grinned. “I am sure that they are going to be impressed by their grandmother’s wildways.”

Freya rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched. “I hope nobody I know sees me or they are going tothink that I truly am up to no good. I mean, firstly I leave the house just a day or so after a young boy iskidnapped, then I am staying at the Star Elite’s house. Now, I am going to be skulking around indisguise behind a tavern. Can this get any worse?”

“Well, you have just been shot at,” Ellis called from the hallway.“You are not helping,” she chided.Harvey laughed. “I think those kittens of yours are going to be feral enough to scare any nosy

gossip or intruder off. They certainly have long enough claws.” He swooped down to pick Titan offhis boot. The kitten’s angry cries were loud as his mouth was wide. His little black body wriggled

and squirmed until Harvey cuddled him against his chest.“He likes you,” Freya mused, feeling somewhat jealous of the affectionate kitten.“He is a pest,” Harvey retorted gently. “But I suppose we will have to keep him.”“You know, you are going to have to stop collecting strays at some point,” she suggested half an

hour later when she stepped out of the house and looked down at herself. She shook her head indismay and wondered what on earth she was being dragged into.

Most of the men were already in position at the back of the tavern but those who were still atthe base were going to escort Harvey and Freya to the tavern. They all turned to look at her when sheappeared in the doorway.

“Do we?” Harvey asked, raking her with a surprised look.“Well, I am homeless and have been taken in. The kittens are homeless and have been taken in.

The house is going to be full soon,” she mused. “Then where will you all go?”“The barn probably,” Ellis offered with a shudder. “I get the feeling that we are all going to be

squished in the barn with the horses while all the strays we collect live in the lap of luxury in thehouse.”

Rory sniggered and patted his gun. “I am armed. We can take a stand and challenge them if wehave to.”

“What several kittens and a woman?” Ellis snorted. “Go on then. I don’t stand your chancesmuch. I have seen the way you shoot.”

“What’s wrong with my aim?” Rory cried. “I can shoot you.”“His head is big enough,” Lander added with a snigger.“Only because he is standing still,” Harvey laughed.Freya was still smiling as she listened to the men tease each other. She was a little bemused at

their ready acceptance of her unusual attire, but if they weren’t going to make an issue of it neitherwould she.

Her smile swiftly fell, though, once she saw the horse that Harvey led toward her. Before shecould object to getting on it, Harvey lifted her into the saddle. Freya gasped in alarm when the horseshifted its weight and nearly unseated her.

“Sit still,” Harvey ordered gently.“Where is the saddle?” Freya dutifully did as she was told.“It is more comfortable for us both, and the horse, if we don’t use one. Just hold on to me. I will

lead the horse.” Harvey waited until she was as comfortable as she could be, and then clicked thehorse into a walk.

He kept the pace steady as they travelled down the driveway, to give Freya the time to get usedto the rhythm of the horse’s stride. By the time they reached the main road to town, she had relaxedagainst him completely and he suspected was starting to enjoy herself.

Overhead, a million stars twinkled merrily beside a round moon, which created a hoary hazeover the valley beside them. In the lee of the hills, a gentle brook twinkled in the silvery haze as itcascaded through the sleepy village.

“It looks enchanting,” Harvey murmured as he studied the cluster of buildings that made up thesmall village of Hamley Bridge. “It is hard to believe that anything bad could happen in such abeautiful place.”

“Those cottages are truly delightful,” she breathed.“But expensive,” he added. “Most of the cottages are owned by the Longbourne estate still.

Lord Longbourne’s great grandfather had them built. Over time, he has sold a few to his workers for

one reason or another. I think half of the village still belongs to the estate, but I think that theinhabitants of those cottages no longer work for him. They merely rent the cottages off the Lord. Theother houses are owned by ordinary people who work for a living. I know that the butcher and bakerfrom Coplow live here, as do several other businessmen.”

“I am just a maid,” she chided. “I can’t afford one of the houses no matter how much I wish Icould.”

“Nonsense. I would advise against renting from Lord Longbourne. However, there is nothing tostop you buying a house like that if you wanted. The Star Elite are going to have to make sure you aresafe. It might be that we are going to have to secure you in a house in the village, or one like it, so thatwe can keep an eye on you in the future seeing as we know that you don’t have anyone else to keep aprotective eye on you.”

“You couldn’t do that,” Freya protested, as horrified as she was hopeful.She had heard that the Star Elite were generous enough to help people far beyond finding

criminals who stole from victims or damaged their property. Some had been offered homes of theirown to live in. However, she didn’t think her situation was bad enough to warrant such generosity.

“I haven’t really lost any property or possessions because I never owned anything in the firstplace. The Star Elite don’t have to compensate me for anything,” Freya protested.

Harvey sighed. “No, but we have to make sure that you move to a safe environment. We aren’tgoing to get a reputation for being legendary if we just toss you out on the street to fend for yourselfwhen this is all over. We will provide you with a suitable home that you can live safely in withoutbeing under threat from intruders, murderers, thieves, or kidnappers. In a way, it means that you areless likely to be targeted by criminals in the future if you live near us. You would be at risk again ifyou went to work in another house like Lord Longbourne’s or move further afield. I am not saying thatall members of the aristocracy are criminals or have criminal activities going on under their rooveslike Longbourne does. I am just saying that the Star Elite cannot be assured that you will be safe if youare allowed to go on your way. So, what you had or were doing prior to being drawn into ourinvestigation is something that you can never go back to.”

“Good Lord,” Freya whispered, a little bemused as she was stunned. “But being a maid is all Ican do. How could I live?”

“Well, your resources are limited, so our options of finding alternative accommodation that youcould purchase yourself is limited because you will still have to afford to run the place. We can’tcover your daily living expenses. You will need to be secured in a cottage of your own that you canafford to live in. We don’t want you to rent somewhere, and be at the mercy of any unscrupulouslandlord, or be forced to rent one of your rooms to make ends meet and end up at the mercy of anycorrupt lodgers.”

Freya felt tears gather on her lashes. What Harvey was saying was far more than she had everdreamt possible or affordable for someone like her. But while she was delighted, she was equallyheartbroken because Harvey was making it clear that her future wasn’t likely to have him in it. Fromthe way he was speaking her future was going to be spent by herself even if she stayed in HamleyBridge.

He is going to move on to Cokehampton, and after that will probably move on somewhereelse, and somewhere else after that.

“If you had a choice of anywhere to live, where would you choose?” Harvey asked half a milelater.

“Hamley Bridge,” Freya replied instantly. “I know that it is close to Cliffthorpe Manor, but I

love this village. It is stunning.”Harvey nodded. “Houses in villages like Hamley Bridge are owned by the same families and

are handed down through the generations. Those that are rented have tenants in them constantlybecause Lord Longbourne moves people in as soon as someone moves out. However, I am sure thatthere will be a property vacant at some point. I will make enquiries as soon as I can.”

“Do you think that Sir Hugo will agree to help me?” she breathed several moments later.“I know he will. You are his responsibility now,” Harvey assured her.He was concerned by the tension in her shoulders. Freya was so rigid before him that he

wondered if she was going to shatter. He suspected it had nothing to do with the horse she was riding,or what they were going to do. She was understandably worried about her future, and where shewould end up.

“You have nothing to fear now,” he said gently. “I, personally, am not going to let you wanderoff and disappear from my life.”

“Pardon?” Freya blinked at him. She was suddenly glad that it was dark, and he couldn’t seethe expression on her face clearly. If he had been able to, he would have seen every ounce of the hopeon her face that was in her heart.

“I don’t have a habit of kissing innocent young women just for entertainment,” he murmured forher ears alone. “Did you not stop to contemplate that kissing you might suggest that I am starting tomake a few plans of my own? I don’t have a habit of debauching every stunning young woman the StarElite have to protect.”

“I know. You are nothing like Bakewell. You are one of the Star Elite.”“Trust me then. I am not going to see you out on the streets or working as a maid. Your life in

servitude is over now. For good.” His voice was so crisp that Harvey sucked in a deep breath andforced himself to soften it again.

He gently cupped her cheek. Despite her disguise, and his friends who were riding alongsidethem, he ducked his head and pressed a gentle kiss against her lips. It was brief but no lesspersuasive.

Freya’s breath hitched. She clung to the thick material of his soft cloak and cuddled closer.“We are going to have to make compromises, but I am sure that with a bit of negotiation we can

find a future together, if you feel that way inclined, that is,” he prompted hopefully.Freya’s heart melted. She smiled at the humility in his voice. It was wonderfully soft. She could

also see the tender way he was gazing lovingly down at her as if he were completely blinded to therest of the world.

“I think that we aren’t going to have to compromise much. I am unconnected in every way andam flexible. I really don’t mind where I live.”

“As long as it isn’t Cokehampton.” Harvey smiled.“As long as it isn’t Cokehampton,” she breathed.And as long as I am with you, she added mentally, but couldn’t quite bring herself to be that

openly bold with him yet.She would, at some point in their future, she hoped, but for now she wanted to savour the

newness of simply being this close to him without risking a scolding from Mrs Lawrence, orcondemnation from the gossips in the village. She wanted to simply be a person in her own rightrather than a servant who had to keep her head lowered and curtsey all the time.

“I want to live. To have choices. To be able to decide what I want to do and not live byeveryone else’s expectations.” Freya was shocked at the force of her outburst. “I am sorry. I didn’t

plan to say any of that.”“I am glad that you did. It is a start. That is what I want you to do. More of that. More honesty.

More choices. More decisions about what you do and don’t want,” Harvey assured her. “While youare contemplating life and what you want from it, consider a future, a home, that could be shared witha husband.”

Freya froze. “We don’t really know each other.”“I am going nowhere for long,” he promised.“You are going to Cokehampton.” She winced at the possessive chiding tone of her voice.“I will be back.” He was delighted that she was reluctant for him to go anywhere but now was

not the time or place for further intimate conversation.They were approaching the Barn and Owl.Harvey forced himself to focus on why they were there in the middle of the night. He

straightened his spine and informed her: “You have to stay behind me. Keep quiet and do as I tell youwhen I tell you. Alright?”

Freya nodded. She studied the thatched roof of the tavern with trepidation. Although it was atleast half a mile away she sensed danger was nearby. Her own spine straightened as her tensiongrew. She sucked in a deep, fortifying breath to steady herself and was infinitely relieved that Harveywas with her.

“I am so glad you are here,” she breathed.“So am I,” he replied huskily.Because she had no idea what the future held in store for either of them, Freya leaned up and

placed a gentle kiss against his cheek. Words weren’t necessary. She struggled to know what to say tohim anyway. He knew what he was doing. Besides, he had his friends with him.

“Do you know something? You are about the first person in my entire life that I have evertrusted,” she whispered.

“You are stunning, clever, and strong, Freya. If anybody is suitable to be the wife of anoperative of the Star Elite, it is you,” he said gently. “Just promise me that you won’t take any chanceswith your safety. We will talk again when we return to the safe house.”

He waited long enough to watch her nod before turning his attention to reining the horse to astop and dismounting. Now, it was time to catch Rupert’s kidnappers and, hopefully, find the missingboy.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN “Nothing has moved for the last two hours,” Dev informed him when Harvey found him ten

minutes later.Harvey studied the area. “Something is wrong.”“Like what?” Dev demanded. “Nothing has stirred.”“It’s too quiet.”“I know what you mean,” Lander muttered.“Was the tavern open tonight?”“Yes, and the inn keeper went to bed about an hour or so ago. Since then, everything has been

rather boring.”“Did you search the stable yard?”Dev nodded. “I even managed to search the tavern. I don’t think the kidnappers are using it as

their base.”“I will make a show of putting the money on the doorstep. Then I will back away.”“What if they are armed and shoot you? What if we have missed someone, or a gunman has

crept into the area, and we haven’t noticed?” Lander demanded. “It is foolish to be so visible.”“We have to make it clear that we have given them the money,” Harvey argued.The men all looked doubtful.“Why don’t I do it?” Freya suggested. “I mean, if they want to cut down anybody, they are more

likely to shoot one of the Star Elite. I am an unarmed-”“No!” Harvey’s voice was sharp.“But if they are trying to lure you out there is no better way than doing this, Harvey. You are

walking straight into their trap,” Freya hissed.“She is right.” Dev nodded.“I will do it,” Lander announced. He snatched the coin purse off Harvey before anybody could

argue, left the trees, and began to march down the road toward the tavern.They all watched him walk straight up to the door and drop the coin pouch onto the doorstep.

He then began to make his way back to the hiding place. The second that he began to jog toward theright side of the road, one of the kidnappers’ gunmen took aim and fired at him.

The bullet shattered a large branch of the huge oak tree directly beside Lander’s head. Landerdarted into the shadows and immediately hunkered down so that he was a harder target to hit as hescurried back to his friends.

The men from the Star Elite saw the white flash of the gun and immediately set off after thegunman.

“Stay here with Dev,” Harvey ordered Freya before disappearing into the trees.Dev nudged her behind him and ordered her to cover herself over with the cloak and remain

huddled on the floor before he took fire at the trees sheltering the gunman. Freya tried to peer over hisshoulder but from where she was sitting it was impossible to see anything because Dev’s shoulderswere so broad.

With a disgruntled huff, she slumped back against a tree and scowled at the road. Annoyed thatshe had no idea what was going on, Freya then twisted around until she was on her knees and able tosee the road before them. It was a little frustrating to see that the road was empty. Curious, sheallowed her gaze to wander steadily over the trees around them.

“Dev,” she hissed, jabbing him with her elbow.

When he ignored her, she nudged his boot with her foot. When he turned to look at her, shepointed to the tall, silent figure gliding effortlessly toward them. Dev slowly turned around andwithout standing up, pointed his weapon at the man creeping through the undergrowth.

Dev mentally cursed when he saw two more men behind the stranger. He realised then that theStar Elite had been lured into a trap.

“Stay there,” he breathed into Freya’s ear.He hoped to God that the gunmen didn’t see her. The last thing he wanted was for anything to

happen to Harvey’s future wife while he was supposed to be protecting her. Everyone in the StarElite had noticed the way that Harvey immediately went to find her the moment he returned to thebase. That when they were together, they were always whispering while gazing adoringly at eachother. He had never thought that Harvey would be the first of them to find a wife.

But he adores her, so I have to keep her alive.“We have to move away from them, as quickly and quietly as possible,” Dev breathed into her

ear. “Try not to stand on any twigs or branches. Don’t speak.”He stood up and kept one eye on the men as he helped Freya to her feet. Thankfully, the road

beside them was still and silent. But the woods were alive with shifting shadows and ghostly shapesthat were always moving. It was alarming just how many of the kidnapping gang there were.

Freya was shaking so badly that she clutched Dev’s arm with tight fingers when he steppedaround her. To Dev’s relief, Harvey appeared like a wraith beside them and immediately slid an armaround her waist.

Freya melted against him the second that Harvey touched her. She leant against him whenHarvey stepped around her and looked at the men Dev pointed to. It was wonderful to have him withher. Regardless of Dev’s strength and capabilities, Freya felt considerably better about everythingwhen Harvey was with her.

She was so lost in her thoughts that it took her a moment to realise that something had changed –Dev had gone. She looked around for him but was shocked to find that he had vanished. Amazed,Freya opened her mouth to ask Harvey where he was only to realise that she was meant to be quiet.Besides, he was looking at the shadows over her shoulder.

Harvey watched the figures try to move into position behind the Star Elite men chasing thegunman who had just shot at Lander. He hated to have Freya watch what he was about to do but hadno choice but to remove his flick knife from his boot. Selecting his first target, he stealthily left theshadows and crept up behind the unwary man’s back.

Freya had no idea what Harvey did but watched him slowly lower the motionless man to thefloor. The kidnaper hadn’t made a noise, so his colleagues didn’t even notice that one of theirassociates was missing. She hoped that Harvey was going to return to her now. Without him, she feltalone, vulnerable, afraid. She was terrified, it was that simple, and completely out of her depth –especially when one of the kidnappers appeared directly in front of her. She had been so focused onHarvey that she didn’t notice the shadow approaching. He hadn’t noticed her yet, but Freya knew thathe would the second that he stepped around the oak tree.

Her heart pounded. She looked around frantically for something she could use to fend him off ifhe saw her, but it was too dark to see the forest floor. The kidnapper froze when he stood on a twig,and it snapped loudly. To her horror, after a brief hesitation, he resumed his slow but steady advancetoward her.

Freya jerked in alarm when the loud retort of a gun shattered the silence so unexpectedly thateven the slumbering birds in the trees above their heads squawked in protest. She clamped her hands

over her mouth, but her swift movement and soft gasp was enough to attract the attention of thekidnapper whose eyes narrowed when he saw her cowering at the base of the tree. Freya tried toscramble backwards, out of the way. Something tugged on her skirt, but she daren’t look at what itwas. All she could see was the knife the man held. It was what he was going to use to kill her, shewas sure of it.

Before she could cry out in horror, the man’s eyes suddenly widened. He opened his mouth togurgle something, but words wouldn’t pass his lips. He stared blankly at her as if struggling tocomprehend what had happened. Freya closed her eyes against the sight of the dark stain that wasgathering on the man’s chest from the gash along his throat. She heard the dull thud of the man’s gunhit the floor, and hurriedly scrambled out of the way as the stricken man slumped to the ground.Rather than die, he writhed and squirmed as he gurgled and struggled for breath.

“Come here,” Harvey murmured, tugging her gently toward him when Freya seemed incapableof moving. He quickly propelled her several feet away from the grisly display and left the man to diewithout witnesses. “It had to be done,” he urged her softly.

Freya buried her face against Harvey’s chest and clung to him. She was so relieved to see himthat words failed her. When she looked up at him the urge to not waste a second of the time that shehad with him struck her. Despite the dangers surrounding them she clamped her hands on either sideof his head, stood on tiptoe, and pressed her lips against his.

In contrast to the gentle way that he had kissed her in the sitting room, Freya didn’t bother withgentleness or tenderness. The kiss was harsh, swift, forceful, but so full of her adoration of him thatall Harvey could do was cling to her. He was stunned at her boldness. His instincts were screamingat him to get her out of the area, but he was helpless with her pressed so intimately against him.Nothing could compel him to step away from her. He couldn’t find the will to force her to stop.Consequently, he slid his arms around her and tugged her against him and gave in to the passion thatclaimed them.

But only briefly. The embrace, and kiss, was over within a matter of seconds, but it had aprofound impact on them both.

Harvey, feeling more settled than ever, turned around and braced himself when he sensedmovement behind him. With a clear head he reached out to grab a new victim by the throat only torealise that it was Lander. But Lander wasn’t focused on them. He glared at Harvey before creepingsteadily toward another thug who was backing away from the tavern, as if he had seen somethinghorrible that he wanted to leave behind but couldn’t take his eyes off.

Harvey held Freya protectively closer and slid a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp ofhorror when Lander grabbed the kidnapper by the neck and twisted his head around until there was anaudible cracking of bones.

Freya clung to Harvey and struggled to contain the sickness that slammed into her. She gulpedand tried to think about something else. While she knew that what Lander had done had beennecessary to protect everyone’s lives, she still found what she had just witnessed sickening. But thiswas what the Star Elite did. They battled kidnappers, murderers, and brutal criminals who had nomercy for others. The criminals couldn’t be dealt with so effectively by a handshake and a bow. Theyhad to be prevented from threatening anyone by whatever force was necessary.

“I have to go. There are more of them,” Harvey murmured eventually. “I am sorry. Stay here.Do as you did before. You will be fine if you stay close to the ground.”

Freya didn’t even get the chance to nod before Harvey disappeared. She hated being alone. Thewoods around her were alive with people moving around almost constantly. In just a few short

minutes she learnt to hate the isolation because she was invariably drawn to something rustling, twigssnapping, or the bangs of guns being fired further away. She had no idea who was who, though,because it was too dark to see much of anything. What Freya did know was that there was no placeelse she would rather have been. She needed to be able to see the shadows move. Although shecouldn’t see him, she knew that Harvey was out there somewhere. He was one of those shadows.Therefore, everything was going to be alright – eventually because not all the shadows were herenemy.

“There are more of them than we realised,” Dev whispered when Harvey eventually found himhiding in some outbuildings at the back of the tavern. “This group has either conscripted some localmen into helping them or the have created a large group of thugs we have failed to notice.”

“We need to capture one alive,” Harvey muttered. “We cannot kill them all in case these are allthe kidnappers. We need to find the boy.”

But as he spoke another loud retort of a gun exploded and was followed by a cry of pain.Harvey sighed heavily because with the speed in which kidnappers were dying the Star Elite’soptions were disappearing rapidly, and the chances of them finding Rupert were reducing.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Sometime later, Freya came to the decision that she couldn’t remain in the woods any longer.

Having that man creep up on her earlier was enough for her. Now, she had listened to movementaround her for so long that she was starting to feel as if she was going quietly out of her mind. Moreimportantly, she knew that it was only a matter of time before one of the killers stumbled across herhiding place. It was a little worrying that Harvey hadn’t returned to check on her and it was thatworry about him that made her compelled to go and find him, but each time she tried to gather thecourage to do so something moved around her and left her completely terrified and frozen in place.

All she could do was pray that Harvey was all right. However, with that, Freya had toacknowledge that he didn’t need the distraction of having to look after her while fighting the killers.She was nothing more than a burden to him.

It is better if he focuses on staying alive in here.“He will come and find me when he realises that I have gone,” she tried, and failed, to assure

herself.Despite her lingering doubts, and the fear swirling through her, Freya began to backstep toward

the edge of the trees and into the silence of the undisturbed countryside.Once she was in an empty field on the outskirts of the woods, she glanced back into the trees

and saw white flashes of gun flares that were accompanied by the faint booms of guns being fired,echoes of the Star Elite’s gun battle with the kidnappers. It was reassuring that the kidnappers werelikely to be busy. She had to use their distraction to leave.

With a silent prayer that nobody would see her, Freya hurried back across the field towardHamley Bridge. It was a considerably longer journey on foot given that she wasn’t riding a horse, butthe more the peace and tranquillity of the deserted fields settled about her the more she began to relaxdespite being alone, in the dark, and in the middle of nowhere.

“Now what do I do?”In the back of her mind a small nagging voice was warning her that Harvey was going to be

angry that she hadn’t stayed where he had told her to. However, in her defence she wanted - needed -to be somewhere else. Somewhere safer.

In the village should do it. At least here half a dozen kidnappers won’t come running at me ifI do make a noise. In the village, at least ordinary people will be able to hear me if I scream forhelp.

“I need to find somewhere to hide,” she announced firmly when she reached the houses.Unfortunately, there was nowhere to go except the Star Elite’s base. That was nearby, but on the

other side of the village, but Freya still contemplated the wisdom of going there. What had happenedearlier when she had been there with Ellis made her hesitate.

“I have to go because there is nowhere else,” she moaned. It was going to mean a longer walkthan she had planned, but Harvey would eventually return there anyway, wouldn’t he? She hoped thathe would understand why she had to leave the woods and wouldn’t be too cross with her for makingher own way back.

“He did say that I would be safe there,” she muttered, but when her breath fogged out beforeher, and her voice echoed dully around the deafening silence, Freya clamped her mouth closed,ducked her head, and scurried through the night.

“Damn,” she whispered when she reached the house over an hour later, tried the back door, andfound it locked.

“Now, what do I do?” She checked under the flowerpot beside the back door, above the door inthe tack room, the stable block, other outbuildings, even under the rose bushes, but there was no sparekey hidden anywhere.

Annoyed, Freya turned to study the house. It was reassuring that she couldn’t get in because itproved that nobody else had broken in while the Star Elite had been away. She was amazed that shehad been able to sneak through a gap in the front gates as it was, but then she was slenderer than themen.

“How do I get inside now then?”Freya walked from one side of the property to the other and studied each of the windows.

Eventually, she decided that the best she could do was try each window. With a miserable sniff, shebegan to tug at the windows to see if any of them rattled enough so that she could put somethingbetween the window and the frame and lift the latches inside.

“Clever, clever,” she murmured with a grin when she tugged on a window in the study and feltit rattle. She shoved and tugged it and watched the loose latch rattle mere inches from her nose. Theurge to try to shove her fingers between the window and frame was strong but eventually Freyareturned to her original plan. All she needed was a small twig, or a knife or something that she coulduse to shove between the window and frame.

Several minutes later, after several false starts and broken twigs, Freya found something strongenough yet thin enough to slide in the narrow gap she managed to create between the window and theframe. She finally managed to wedge the twig under the latch and nudge the nudge the arm up so shecould unlatch the window.

Delighted by her success, she hurriedly opened the window, shoved her arm into the room, soshe could open the bigger window and, within seconds, slid into the sitting room. Once she was safe,she hurriedly locked the window.

It wasn’t until she had closed the last shutter that she realised she wasn’t alone in the room.Heart pounding, she slowly turned around, but her breath left her in a whoosh of relief when she sawHarvey, and the rest of the Star Elite, all standing in the doorway watching her.

“Do you know something? I would not have believed anybody who told me you could do that.Now that I have seen you do it for myself, I must question how you knew how to do it. Who taughtyou, and did you show the kidnappers those skills to help them get into Cliffthorpe Manor?” Harveydemanded.

Freya froze at the coldness on Harvey’s face. Her stomach dropped to her toes. She stared ateach man in turn but in that moment, they were all strangers to her.

“You have just been foolish enough to break into the Star Elite’s base,” Dev announced as ifFreya didn’t already know.

“What are you doing here?” Harvey demanded. “I told you to stay in the woods, did I not? Didsomeone else give you orders to leave? To come here by yourself?”

“No,” she whispered.“What made you come back here? What are you looking for? Evidence that may convict your

friends?” Harvey tried to remain focused on facts, and not allow his emotions to build his fury, buther behaviour and dexterity looked suspicious even to him.

“Now that we have found out how the kidnappers got into the house, I want you to show mehow they got back out again with a struggling young boy.”

Freya glared at Dev. “I didn’t help them. I came back here because it was the safest place Icould be. Those men – those woods – I am not sitting there for one of those men to creep up on me

and kill me. I didn’t have anything to defend myself with. You had the guns and you all disappeared.”“Tell me what you are doing here!” Harvey bellowed.“I have told you,” Freya snapped. She stepped out of the way when Dev crossed the room to

study the window.“It’s impressive. There is nothing to hint that anybody has entered the house that way. No torn

clothing, no footprints, not even dislodged dust. Nothing.” Even Dev’s eyes were accusing as hestudied her.

“Arrest me then. If you all think that I had something to do with the kidnapping, then arrest me.Stop glaring at me as if I have done something wrong. I haven’t. Let me ask you this, why in the Hellwould I want to break into a house I was already in? I lived there for God’s sake. Rupert was carriedout of the house. But let me tell you this, if I can get through a window like that, without help from anyof you, and in a dress no less, shouldn’t that tell you how easy it is for anybody to get into or out of ahouse, not just here, or Cliffthorpe Manor, but any home? Look at what I just did. I am not thecleverest of people, but even I was able to figure out what to do. It doesn’t need much intelligence tounderstand that to prise the arm up you have to have a bit of a gap. I used a twig. That’s all.Something that was lying on the ground, and something like that is lying on the ground all aroundCliffthorpe Manor. That doesn’t mean that I kidnapped anybody. It doesn’t mean that anybody in thehouse has either. It means that anybody with any modicum of common sense could have broken inwithout anybody’s help inside.” She folded her arms and glared at each man. “Do you really think thatI could managed to drag a wriggling and protesting young boy silently out of a house in the dead ofnight?” She pointed at the window. “And through something not much bigger than that no less.Besides, why in the Hell would I help Bakewell to kidnap someone when I am prepared to leave mysituation, my security, my only source of income, just to avoid him?”

Freya knew she was losing her temper. She felt her self-control sliding through her fingers likefine sand but there was nothing she could do. If she was honest, she was annoyed that she hadfoolishly believed that the Star Elite had started to trust her, to believe in her. Now, even Harveydoubted her.

But then I have just climbed through a window in a terribly similar manner to thekidnappers.

“If you think that I did it then you are going to have to come up with evidence. If you cannot thenyou are going to have to doubt me. As for me, I refuse to stay anywhere, with anybody, who thinks Icould be so heinous. I am leaving. If you don’t want me to then you are going to have to arrest me.Meantime, rather than pointing fingers wildly at innocent people, why don’t you consider the facts ofthe case yourselves? It seems to me that I have proven this morning, by myself, without any help fromyou, just how easy it is to get into houses. If you have finished running around darkened woods in thedead of night, figure out who is agile enough, nimble enough, and familiar enough with Rupert, to gethim to do it too without objection. Someone did, and it wasn’t me.”

With that, Freya barged out of the room and stomped angrily up the stairs to her bed chamber.Once there, she began to pack the few belongings she had. Beneath her feet, the kittens tumbled about,meowing for attention like they usually did, but all Freya did was step over them. She was shaking sobadly that she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to walk down the driveway but hurt compelledher to keep going. She had no idea where she was going once she left, but she couldn’t stay. Not now.It had been foolish to believe that she could stay and get them to believe her innocence in the firstplace.

I was foolish to think that Harvey might be starting to trust me.

Now, it appeared that the only reason he had wanted her with him was because he didn’t trusther. Freya began to wonder if that were why he and his men had decided to take her with them lastnight; to see if she would try to join the kidnappers, or they would recognise her and try to rescue her.

Hurt blossomed within her chest but rather than leave burning rage in its wake, Freya feltnothing but an icy chill that permeated her bones and left her unable to think clearly. She felt numb.Isolated from the world around her. Bereft. Incredibly hurt but also unable to contemplate too much ofanything. She was exhausted, confused, stunned, appalled, and enraged as well as terrified that shewas so bloody helpless to protect herself.

It didn’t take long to pack. It was then time to face the kittens. Leaving them was heartwrenching but she knew that she couldn’t take them with her. Tears hovered on her lashes as she kneltto kiss them all goodbye. One by one she then returned them to their box beneath her bed and hopedthat the men would remember to feed them. Without daring to look back, Freya quietly left the roomand descended the stairs with all the regal condescension of royalty. Thankfully, nobody appeared inthe hallway to ask her what she was doing. Surprisingly, the front door was unlocked, and she wasable to walk out of the house and down the driveway unchallenged. Freya suspected it was becausethey wanted her to go and that was more devastating than anything.

As she walked toward the village, Freya remained tense and waited for the call, that achinglyfamiliar voice that would call her back. She prayed for it. But, of course, it never came.

Because Harvey doesn’t trust me. He thinks that I am a child snatcher.Because those types of thoughts brought her tears, Freya forced herself to focus on what she

was going to do next. She had no idea if there was a carriage out of the village, or when. It was a fewhours before dawn. For now, all she could do was find somewhere to sit where the kidnapperswouldn’t see her and wait for first light.

“That is what I shall do first,” she announced beneath her breath mostly because talking helpedher to stop feeling so alone.

She was cold and shivering by the time she found a dark corner in the coaching yard in thetavern in Hambley Bridge. Shivering, she sat on the floor, tucked her knees up, and wrapped her armsaround them while she stared blankly across the empty courtyard. For the first time in her life she wastruly alone. She had nothing. Nobody. Hardly any money. No roof over her head. No prospects. Nocontacts. She was essentially destitute, homeless.

“And useless,” she bit out.Closing her eyes, she rested her head against her arms and willed herself not to cry, but it was

difficult when she wanted to wail her heart out. It was galling to realise that after everything she hadlost, the one thing she regretted losing was Harvey.

“The next carriage leaves in an hour, miss. The ticket is going to cost you a bit, though,” the

ticketing agent told her when he finally opened his small booth at the back of the tavern several hourslater.

Dawn was just creeping over the horizon. The ticket agent had looked astonished to find her onthe floor of the courtyard, waiting for him, and had taken pity on her by opening his booth early.

Freya heaved a mental sigh of disgust. “How much is it?” She dreaded the answer andunderstood the reason why when the ticketing agent named a sum that would severely diminish thefunds that she had in her cloak. “Are there any cheaper tickets anywhere else?”

“No, miss. There is a carriage to Coplow but that isn’t until tomorrow. I am sure the inn keeperwill have a room available for you if you want to wait for that one. Course, it might be better if you

walked there. It is not all that far away.”By ‘better’ Freya knew that the ticketing agent meant ‘cheaper’. While he was polite, he had

slid a look down her that was questioning, as if judging her financial situation and deeming it best ifshe walked.

“I think that a good long walk will do me good,” she announced reluctantly.The ticketing agent nodded and disappeared into a back room leaving Freya to stare blankly at

the door for a moment.“Sir,” she called. “Have you seen two strangers around these parts of late? Men?” Freya

described the men she had bumped into the other day.“Aye. Everyone is talking about them. They are trouble, I don’t mind telling you.”“You know them then,” Freya edged.“All I know is that a few of the locals have said that they come from Coplow, but what they are

doing here I don’t know. We don’t want any trouble around these parts. I hear that gunfire was heardin the woods last night. I don’t doubt that it was because of those two. Did you hear what happened atCliffthorpe Manor? I don’t know what the world is coming to when a young lad can’t even sleepsoundly in his bed at night.”

“Nothing like this has ever happened in the village’s past, has it?” she pressed.“God, no. Nothing ever happens in Hamley Bridge.”“It is a very beautiful place.”“Aye, but nobody wants to live here,” the ticketing agent snorted. “It was once a booming

place. Now, people move away to find work. The big houses are already staffed, and there is nowork here on the farms. Well, not as much as there once was.”

“Are many of the houses vacant? Do you know if anybody rents any?”“Are you looking to settle here?” The ticketing agent suddenly looked at her with renewed

interest.“I don’t know. I am not after anywhere large. Just a small cottage, I suppose,” Freya sighed, but

then wondered how she was going to earn a living while living in such a tranquil little hamlet if therewas no work.

I am going to have to walk to Coplow to find work. If I can find something, I could walkthere every day.

“Well, the person you would need to speak to is Mr Winterbourne. He lives in the large cottagenext to the church. He works for the owner of some of the houses in the village that aren’t owned byLord Longbourne. I reckon that Mr Winterbourne should have at least two places that might suit you.Go and speak to him.”

“I will.” Freya watched the ticket agent shuffle back to his desk before turning to face thevillage.

When she had travelled into the small hamlet several days ago, she hadn’t ventured any furtherthan the first few shops. Whenever she had a day off, to get as far away from Cliffthorpe as she could,Freya had always journeyed to Coplow. Now, she wished she had come into the village. It wassurprising just how large it was. It had a bakery, a grocery, a large Norman church, several moreshops, a blacksmith, a coal merchant, and a village tavern. Several houses lined the babbling brookrunning through the village while others lined the sides of the steep hills that created the valley thetown sat in.

“Aye, I have two at the minute,” Mr Winterbourne announced when Freya finally found hislarge cottage later that morning. “Where have you come from then?” he asked with the suspicion of a

villager who was wary of strangers.“I am from Leicestershire,” Freya replied. “I have been working in the area but want to start

afresh. It is beautiful here.”“Can you provide a reference?” he asked suspiciously.“Well, yes. I suppose so,” Freya edged, although had absolutely no idea who could provide

one.Mr Winterbourne sighed. “I warn you now that one of the cottages is up for sale, but it isn’t

really a cottage. It is a large house.”“Oh.” Freya felt her shoulders droop.“I am warning you about it because it has been uninhabited for a while. It needs airing, and a

good clean. Not many people want to rent in this area anymore, you see, on account of there being nowork around these parts anymore.” He shook his head and scowled at her. “Are you sure you want tolive here? You are young yet. Would it not be easier for you to live in Coplow instead?”

Freya’s brows shot up. “I cannot see why my age should stop me living in this village.”“You have your whole life ahead of you.”“Maybe it is my life in the past that has brought me here,” Freya muttered. “I am not too old to

have a fresh start. I can walk to Coplow to find work.”“Aye, I suppose,” he announced doubtfully. He scowled but remained quiet as he led her

through the village, to a house that was far bigger than Freya had expected.Hillcroft Cottage sat on the very edge of the village. It was made of the same golden stone as

the rest of the village and sat several feet higher than the babbling brook which ran along the edge ofits rear garden. The large property was situated high enough to afford a good view of the village, thebrook, and most of the woodland surrounding both, but was secluded enough to afford her completeprivacy.

“It’s beautiful,” Freya breathed, doing her hardest not to look in the direction of the Star Elite’sbase, the rooftop of which was visible through the trees.

The second she saw it her heart began to ache fiercely, and tears sprang into her eyes. When herchin wobbled, Freya forced her gaze away from it, and turned to study the man beside her.

“Aye, well, I may be able to persuade the owner to rent it to you if you are willing to take it on.It comes furnished because the old tenant took ill and had to go to live with relatives and couldn’ttake the furniture with him. That’s what tends to happen around these parts, you know.” MrWinterbourne unlocked the door and stepped into the icy house. “Damn, it’s cold in here.” Hemuttered something about the house being a disreputable mess.

Freya stepped cautiously into the property and was immediately assaulted by a quaintness thatwas charming despite the property’s size. Large, beamed ceilings hung above huge rooms brilliantlylit thanks to bay windows lining one wall. The house’s massive stone fireplaces were far more ornatethan one would expect in such thatched cottages, but the rooms would certainly be cosy in the winteronce they were lit. A rectangular room at the rear of the property had large French windowsoverlooking the side garden and a cottage garden tucked beside of a patchwork of fields andmeadows stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Freya fell in love with the place immediately. However, her smile fell when she realised thatMr Winterbourne was frowning at her.

“How much is it?” she asked warily. Freya remained tense while she waited for the inevitableaxe to fall on her dreams.

Mr Winterbourne sighed. “It would fetch a good price if it was put up for sale.” He named the

good price that was far beyond anything Freya could afford. “If it were located anywhere else,” headded.

Freya suddenly felt ridiculous asking the man if he knew if anybody had a room that they couldrent her instead.

“I think you should know that this house has been available to rent and for sale for the last twoyears and nobody has shown any interest in the place. The price has been lowered on severaloccasions but there have been no buyers willing to purchase it on account of its location and for thereasons I have already mentioned. So, I suppose the fair market price is a little too much to expect.”Mr Winterbourne folded his arms. “What do you expect to do to earn a living while you are here?”

“Well, I was hoping that someone might need some work doing. A housekeeper maybe. I don’treally know.”

Mr Winterbourne squinted at her. “You have experience being a housekeeper?”“I have experience of working in large houses,” Freya edged.“Ah. I understand,” he murmured.“What?” She tried not to blush but failed miserably.“You are one of the maids who worked at the big house.”“I used to work there.” Freya realised then how her recent departure looked. “But I didn’t have

anything to do with Master Rupert’s kidnap.”“Oh, I know that,” Mr Winterbourne sniffed.“How?” Freya cried.Mr Winterbourne peered at her. “Because you wouldn’t be looking for a house on the Lord’s

doorstep if you were guilty, would you? Those kidnappers are probably miles away by now. Besides,the Star Elite are based here as well you know.” He puffed his chest out proudly leaving her in nodoubt about how delighted the villagers were about it.

Freya nodded. “I am sorry, I should have told you at the beginning. I don’t know whatcompelled me to be foolish enough to come and see you about staying here. Hamley Bridge isbeautiful. I don’t want to have to leave it, but I cannot stay and work at Cliffthorpe Manor. Not now.Nobody feels safe there anymore.”

“Aye, well it hasn’t been all that safe with that Bakewell there, has it? I mean, there arerumours that reach the villagers and while we aren’t there to say if they are right or not, there isn’t anysmoke without a fire.”

“Bakewell was arrested last night,” Freya informed him. “I don’t suppose it will hurt anythingto tell you that. Bakewell and Mrs Lawrence. I don’t wish to speak ill of them, but the gossip isn’t justspeculative, I agree.”

Mr Winterbourne nodded sagely. “Well, seeing as you need somewhere to stay, and I need atenant, let’s see if we can come to some sort of agreement over the rent, eh?”

Freya remained doubtful but was now backed into a corner because she had effectively wastedthe man’s time if she refused. She braced herself for problems ahead but, when he named a rentalprice, her mouth fell open. All she could do was stare at him for a moment while she absorbed whathe said.

“Are you sure?” she asked rather weakly. It took a lot of effort to contain her shock.“Like I have said, this house has not earnt anything in the last two years. Anything from anybody

would be better than what we have had off it thus far. I am sure that the owner will agree seeing aswe cannot sell the damned place either. So, if that is suitable to you. Furnished, of course. You canmove in right away,” Mr Winterbourne offered encouragingly, clearly urging her to take it.

Freya remained stunned, even while she nodded and slumped into a chair at the large kitchentable and listened while he went through the conditions of the tenancy. Her hands shook when shehanded him the right amount of money and accepted the signed paper off him that gave her soleoccupancy of the property.

“I hope you enjoy it here,” he announced happily before making his way to the door.Freya launched out of her chair to escort him to the door only for him to wave her away.“I know where the door is and can see myself out. You make yourself at home, eh?” he offered

kindly. But in the doorway, he hesitated and glanced back at her. “If you need anything, you knowwhere to find me. There is a wood pile out back, and plenty of applies and plums on the trees. Theyare yours now, so help yourself.”

Freya watched the man sweep out of the door before she turned to stare at the house she had justrented. It was a little disconcerting that her coin pouch was now nearly almost empty, but she wouldface the problem of how to replenish it once she had absorbed what had just happened. As if to provethat Mr Winterbourne had been a real person, and not some strange figment of her imagination, Freyawatched him cross the garden and disappear back down the lane toward his house in the village.When he had gone, Freya turned to look at the property and tried to absorb just how quickly her hopesand dreams had come to fruition.

“Some of them. Some of my dreams and hopes,” she amended.It was difficult to remember that just a couple of hours ago, she had expected to stay with the

Star Elite for several weeks. Now, she was living by herself in the cottage of her dreams, in a villagethat she had only recently considered far beyond her means. And she had managed it without the StarElite’s help.

Warily, she began to creep around the house. It wasn’t until she caught herself peering into oneof the rooms as if she was trespassing that she tutted and sighed at herself.

“This house is now my own. It is mine. I get to stay.” She smiled suddenly, as if finallybelieving it. “So, I don’t have to creep. I can do whatever I like. For now at least.” Freya turned tolook at the huge sitting room. “Well, I have to start somewhere, I suppose. Seeing as being a maid isall I know then I should do that.” She shivered. After her night on the floor, the cold had permeatedher bones and left her chilled. With a sniff, she rubbed her arms and stared at the fire. “First, I think Iam going to try to find some wood. Then I will see what I can do about turning this house into ahome.”

Several hours later, dirty, and weary from her day’s work, Freya finished the last of herevening meal and stretched out her long legs before the roaring fire. She stared absently into theflames and tried to decide what she was going to do next. After today, she had started to feel as ifanything was possible.

“I have to find some way of earning a living that can pay the rent,” she announced, feelingsomewhat foolish for talking to herself. “To do that, I am going to have to go to Coplow, preferablywithout stumbling across the Star Elite.”

Harvey.Freya didn’t even want to think about him. When she did, a huge pool of hurt gathered in her

chest and made it ache.“I don’t want to see him,” she announced.That was a little confusing because only last night she had believed he was essential to her

future existence. Now, she wasn’t sure what she should feel. She was disappointed that he didn’t trusther. A little ashamed that she had been fooled into believing he had wanted her with him because he

cared about her. A little stunned at the intimacies she had allowed without really knowing him. And alittle defeated because she had no way of proving her innocence to him. If she was truly honest, shewas also a little scared at what the future had in store for her. While she had her own home, herability to stay there depended on her ability to earn an income, enough to pay the rent, and shecouldn’t be sure that she could.

“Thankfully, Mr Winterbourne has done me an incredible favour by naming a price that I canafford – just. If I don’t eat, breathe, or need to stay warm.” Puffing out her cheeks, Freya upended hercoin pouch and began to count the small mound of coins she had earnt over the last year or so.

Setting aside the rent for the next month, she studied the pitiful amount she had left. “It isn’tmuch, but I can get by. Now, I will go into the village to find something more to eat in the morning. If Iuse the vegetables and fruit already in the garden, I could eek out what I have to make it last as longas possible. Hopefully, the last tenant was a keen gardener.”

She eyed the vegetable beds directly beneath the kitchen window and prayed that there wouldbe something salvageable still buried there. If not, she was going to have to learn to be a gardener soshe could grow what she needed rather than pay for it.

With all sorts of plans running through her mind, Freya settled down to sleep. She almostdreaded doing so because she suspected that her thoughts and dreams were going to be full of Harvey.Instead, she was sound asleep the second that her head touched the pillow.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN “What?” Harvey launched out of his seat and scowled deeply at the magistrate, Rivers, who

watched him worriedly as he took a wary step back.“I told them to keep an eye on him. They did. The watch checked on him. I made sure that the

Head Gaoler put his best men on guard. Nobody got anywhere near him. The watch is adamant thatwhen he last peered into the cell at one o’clock this morning, the man was sitting on the side of hisbed staring at the wall as he has since practically his first day. But when the watch returned half anhour later, Bakewell wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The gaoler called for his colleague. The menopened the cell door or tried to. It appears that while the watch had done his rounds, Bakewellremoved his breeches and tied them around the bars in his cell door so that when he sat down, heslowly hung himself. It is a pitiful way to die, sir. He must have died slowly. Anyhow, when thegaoler did manage to get the door open, the man had already gone. He was purple, sir. Far beyondsaving.”

“Damn it all to Hell,” Harvey hissed. “Did he leave any note, confession, anything?” Harveycursed again when he saw the magistrate shake his head. “All they had to do was keep him alive untilhis execution. That’s all. In gaol, it should have been possible. Now, we have no leads. Nothing. Notone witness. We have the sketches of two men who have both vanished and not one clue as to thewhereabouts of Rupert Kane.”

“We have men in Cokehampton searching the mills. We will find him,” the magistrate offered.“Mavis, the maid from the house, has moved to her relative’s house in Scotland. I have notified themagistrate there of the situation and he has said that he is going to keep an eye on her. There isn’tmuch more we can do. Unless the kidnappers send another ransom note we must consider if LordLongbourne had something to do with his son’s disappearance. We don’t know who the dead men youfound in the woods are, sir. It doesn’t appear that any of them are locals, so we are going to have tomake a few enquiries in Cokehampton.”

“Why would Longbourne murder or kidnap his own son?” Harvey snapped.Lander stepped forward and pursed his lips at the magistrate as he threw him an apologetic

look. “I am sorry for my colleague. He has been rather - strained - lately.” He threw Harvey a darklook of warning. “We are looking into Lord Longbourne’s business activities, but the man is outlooking for his son and refuses to leave the investigating to us. It is like trying to catch a ghost, so weare finding it difficult to talk to him about his connections.”

The magistrate nodded. “I find that suspicious, sir. If you don’t mind me saying so, the man hadthe lad get taken out of his house, didn’t hear a word, and then has been marching all over theproperty, refusing to do as he is told by you, me, and anybody else. His staff have trampled over anyevidence. One of the maids has been conveniently murdered. We never had any trouble in this villageprior to Master Rupert being kidnapped. Suddenly, we have gangs of men in woods, murdered maids,a missing young boy, and a dead man in gaol.”

“Bakewell had to have killed himself if he was tied to the cell bars with the door shut,” Landerreplied.

Rivers nodded. “He was sitting on the floor, sir. That’s why the gaolers couldn’t get the dooropen very easily so I agree, he killed himself because the coward couldn’t face the gallows. Death athis own hand in a cell was a far better price to pay than having to sit and wait to be marched to hisexecution. We will discount Bakewell as being the leader of the kidnappers, sir, given what happenedin the woods. We now know that he murdered Kate because she was with child. The coroner’s report

has confirmed it. Susan has left her position now, sir, and has gone back to London. Mavis is now outof the area too, so she can now be declared safe. I have no idea where the other one has gone,though.”

“She isn’t under suspicion anymore. She was merely another one of Bakewell’s intendedvictims. We spoke to her friend, Molly, who confirmed that they had a conversation the night Freyawas attacked by Bakewell. Freya feared being Bakewell’s next victim, and rightly so and had alreadymade plans to leave before Rupert disappeared. We have no reason, clues, or hints to suggest that shewas anything more than an innocent victim.” As he spoke, Lander studied Harvey, whose eyesremained glued to the floor beneath his boots.

“We think that Longbourne has links to someone who knows the kidnappers. The leader of thekidnappers must either be Longbourne, or one of his friends, enemies, contacts, or associates. Untilwe can get him to stop moving around long enough to question him, we won’t be able to get manyfacts off him.”

“That’s just it. His moving around is damned odd, if you don’t mind me saying, sir,” Riversadded. “He has been told to stay at home in case his son is returned to the house. Now that thekidnappers know that they won’t get any ransom because the Star Elite are involved, they might justreturn the boy.”

“I doubt it,” Harvey argued. “They won’t venture anywhere near the place for fear of beingcaught by us. They now know, if they didn’t before, that our base is here.”

“The men who have been searching the mills haven’t found any young boys like Rupert,” Riversconfirmed.

“Keep searching,” Harvey muttered. “Search the mills again, but randomly so if anyone hid himwhen they saw you, they might think that you won’t call upon them again and have him out in the openwhen you return. Speak to each of the children yourself. Find out if any of them answer to the name ofRupert.”

Rivers nodded and began to shuffle from one foot to the other. A heavy air of tension hovered inthe room that left him decidedly on edge, and eager to be on his way.

“Thank you, Rivers,” Harvey murmured when he realised that the magistrate was waiting fororders. “Go and tell your men to keep searching.”

Harvey ran a weary hand through his hair and sighed heavily in frustration once the magistratehad gone. He was tired. Exhausted. His head ached, but no more so than his heart. It was difficult tofind any interest in the investigation, his life, his friends, or anything else that had, until now, been soespecially important to him.

He looked up when Albion planted himself in front of him. Rather than speak, Albion folded hisarms and waited while other members of the Star Elite appeared in the kitchen. Chandler, Rory,Lander, Ellis, Dev, and Heath all stood in silence for a moment and waited.

“Go on,” Harvey growled, wondering if the men weren’t happy with the way he was conductingthe investigation.

“Don’t you want to know where she is?” Heath began.“I take it that by ‘she’ you mean Freya,” Harvey murmured.“No, we mean the kittens’ mother,” Albion snorted. “You have been as grumpy as a feral dog of

late. We-” he ran a finger around in a small circle of men “-have all decided to come and talk to youabout it because we aren’t stupid enough to mention it to you individually. You have been grumpy,impossible to talk to, awkward. You can’t concentrate. You really don’t care about any of thekidnappers. More importantly, right now, you – we – should be helping River’s men search the cotton

mills. We can’t even get you to go to the village for supplies. Freya isn’t going to suddenly return,Harvey. She has gone because we didn’t trust her. If you want her, you are going to have to find her.”

“Are you hiding in here to avoid her or are you waiting for her to come back? I hope you arenot trying to make a puerile point that you aren’t going to follow her by staying here and sulking,” Devadded.

Harvey cursed. “I am mulling over the complexities of the investigation.”“The complexities of the investigation are that Bakewell killed Kate because she was carrying

his child and told him. The man hung himself rather than face execution. All of Bakewell’s survivingvictims have now moved out of the area. Mrs Lawrence has admitted to keeping the crimes a secret.Longbourne is scouring the countryside for his son, despite being told not to. We have a large groupof kidnappers whom we can’t identify. We have Longbourne’s son still missing, presumed dead. Andthen there is you. Here. Alone. Miserable. Missing her,” Dev muttered.

Lander pursed his lips. “Thanks to Freya, we know how easily someone can get into a house. Itmeans that anybody who is agile could have carried out the kidnap. It wouldn’t have taken anybodywith any skill. While Bakewell left the window open, it was the smallest in the house. He made thekidnapper’s job difficult. He could have left a door unlocked.”

“That is about the only sort-of decent thing the bastard did,” Ellis snorted.“You and Freya were right together,” Chandler murmured, quickly changing the subject back

onto the reason why all the men were in the room. “It is rare for anyone to meet someone they caninstantly make a connection with. You were a handsome couple. Don’t try to deny that you wereattracted to her. A blind man wouldn’t be able to miss the adoration in your eyes whenever youlooked at her, and vice versa. She is stunning.”

“Pretty,” Dev added with a nod.Rory pursed his lips. “Kind.”“Gentle,” Lander added.“Alright, I take your point,” Harvey grumbled.Ellis smiled. “She is intelligent. She could figure out how to get into the house using nothing but

what Nature offered.”“She understands our work now,” Albion added.“She is all alone. She has nobody, Harvey,” Heath added.“You are not helping,” Rory snapped. “He has to go after her because he loves her not because

she needs him.”“I am not going after her,” Harvey growled.“It can’t be love. He isn’t that appealing,” Rory snorted, ignoring him.“No, he is grumpy, surly, difficult, stubborn, and works long hours with the Star Elite,” Heath

countered.“It is rare for any woman to be prepared to ignore all of that and fall for an investigator with the

Star Elite anyway,” Chandler mused.“But other women have, or have you forgotten that most of the men in the Leicestershire team

are now married, and some in the Nottinghamshire team are too now. We are men. People. We havelives outside of the Star Elite too,” Lander argued.

“So, you aren’t a snob then,” Rory asked Harvey.“A snob? What in the Hell gave you that idea?” Harvey snapped. “I have never behaved like a

snob.”“Well, she is a maid.” Rory shrugged and pursed his lips. “You are one of the legendary Star

Elite. She is well beneath your station.”“Shut up,” Harvey snarled.“See? You are protective of her,” Dev mused.“I just don’t like being called a snob,” Harvey cried.“You don’t want to know where she is staying then,” Lander asked again.“No,” Harvey snapped. “Now, can we get on with this investigation?”The men allowed a heavy silence to fall again. Eventually, Ellis broke the silence. “There is

nothing we can do until the magistrate’s men have completed their search of the mills and reportedback to us. Unless we receive another ransom note we aren’t likely to be able to find the lad. Thetrails have gone cold on us.”

“Damn.” Harvey tipped his head back and sighed heavily. “We cannot be given a case thislarge and fail. We have to find that young boy.”

“We are going to have to relocate to Cokehampton,” Heath suggested.“But we have no idea if Rupert has even been taken out of the area. We could be moving away

from him,” Lander protested. “I suggest that we stay here and make ourselves visible so that thekidnappers can leave us another ransom note. I doubt that we managed to kill them all last night.Someone will have been left looking after the young boy.”

“There were some still alive. They ran into the darkness,” Ellis confirmed.“There you go then. We have the local magistrate working on identifying the dead. Until we

know where they come from, moving closer to the mills is foolish, especially given that Rivers’ menare already there.”

Harvey shoved a hand through his hair and cursed fluidly again.Dev clapped him on the shoulder companionably. “Do you feel that you need to move to

Cokehampton to get away from her?”“I don’t know where she is,” Harvey sighed miserably.“We do,” Heath said with a grin.Harvey rounded on him. He was stunned by the surge of delight that slammed into him. It was

humbling enough to warn him that trying to avoid the way he already felt about her was a ridiculousthing to do.

“I have only known her a few days. How is it possible for her to have had this much of an effecton me? I can’t think about anything but her. I can’t concentrate on anything but her. I want to see heragain, even though I don’t because she has already made me start to want to change my life, what I do,who I am, just to be with her. It’s bloody stupid. I have never been this wayward with my affections,but I can’t control them. I can’t control the way that I feel, and I can’t gather the energy to ignore theneed to see her again. It’s driving me out of my mind.”

“So go and see her,” Dev urged.“Where is she?” Harvey asked. “If she has gone back to that house so she can be a maid again, I

will damned well drag her out of there myself. It isn’t safe for any maid to work there.”“She is in the village,” Rory offered. “She has rented a house. A rather nice cottage as a matter

of fact. It is pretty, although a little too big for her to take on by herself. Lander had a word with MrWinterbourne, the man who oversees the tenants for the owners. He says the place has been difficultto rent because not many people want to stay in Hamley Bridge now. He was glad that Freya turnedup when she did.”

“One has to question how she hopes to be able to afford such a place in the future,” Devreplied.

Rory grinned. “Well, to someone like Freya, the full rent is far beyond her means. However, MrWinterbourne took pity on her and lowered the rent.” He coughed and grinned mischievously. “Andshe may have had a little help from a mysterious benefactor who has decided to give her a helpinghand.”

“Pardon?” Harvey glared at him. “You helped pay her rent?”“It was a small price to pay to keep her here until you came to your senses. I understand that the

cottage she has chosen is up for sale too - or has been.” Rory smiled when Dev cursed.“You could have told him and stopped him worrying about her so much,” Dev chided.“I thought it would do him good to worry seeing as he was daft enough to let her go in the first

place,” Rory replied casually.The men froze when Harvey stalked toward the door and yanked his cloak off the peg.“Where are you going?” Dev demanded.“To the mills after Master Rupert probably,” Albion snorted.Harvey didn’t answer. He slammed out of the safe house and marched down the driveway.

Once on the road, he stalked straight into the village, and didn’t stop until he reached MrWinterbourne’s cottage.

Minutes later, with the directions to Freya’s new home rolling round in his cluttered thoughts,Harvey went in search of the woman who had remained a part of him throughout every second ofevery day since the moment he had first seen her at Cliffthorpe Manor. She had taken root in his heartand now claimed it; owned it; and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.

But I don’t want to do anything about it. I want to be with her.It was galling that he was compelled to go and see her, and that he didn’t have the strength to

stay away. He knew it was wise. For them both. She needed to find herself a future and decide whatshe did want in life, and he needed to get on with finding a missing boy and a child kidnapping gang.

“Now is not the time for romantic courtship,” he grumbled, as he closed the gate to her smallcottage garden.

He then glanced up and took his first good look at the cottage she had chosen. His brows shotup as he studied the thick thatch sitting atop a stone structure built of the same gorgeous golden-brownstone the rest of the village had been built with. The house wasn’t something that he would haveexpected her to choose, but then he hadn’t really spent all that much time with her to get to know herall that well and find out about her tastes in things.

“It’s damned confusing that there is still so much that I have yet to learn about her, but I alreadyfeel as if I have known her all my life,” he muttered.

He rapped on the front door. While he waited for her to answer, he turned and studied thescenery. It truly was a beautiful home with huge gardens which included a large rolling lawn at theend of which was a babbling brook. There was also a cottage garden, a kitchen garden, a laundryyard, and an orchard.

“How stunning,” he breathed.He was so busy studying the area that he jerked in alarm when he heard the door unlatch. His

heart thundered when the door swung open, and he saw her.“Hello,” he murmured simply, tugging on his ear with boyish awkwardness. “How are you?”“Harvey? Is everything alright?” Freya’s heart leapt at the sight of him.She had expected to cross paths with him at some point in the future, just not yet. It had only

been a couple of days since she had last seen him but already it felt as if it had been weeks. She hadmissed him terribly.

“You have found yourself a home then,” he murmured.Freya beamed so beautifully at him that Harvey blinked and felt himself fall a little more in

love with her.“Do you like it?” she asked rather shyly.“It’s beautiful.” Harvey planted his hands on his hips and threw her a rueful look. He should be

angry with her for having walked out so readily without telling him where she was going, but now thatshe was before him, he couldn’t find it within him. But now, her actions had proven that she hadalways been telling him the truth.

“It is there, isn’t it?” he murmured, unsure if she would understand him.“What is?” Freya wasn’t sure what she should think about his sudden appearance on her

doorstep.The second that she had seen him, she had instantly felt defensive and had braced herself for his

anger. To find him shy, endearingly so, was surprising but also liberating. She left all her doubts inthe past where they belonged and focused on the fact that he was right there before her, without any ofthe trials and tribulations that had forced them to keep doubting each other.

“This connection between us.” Harvey turned his attention to her, and immediately felt the fewfeet of distance between them narrow considerably. The urge to reach out and touch her was strong.

Freya sighed and felt something within her heart shift. It might have been her concernsdisappearing and giving way to the adoration that grew stronger. It might have been her heart beinggiven to him completely. Whatever changed, Freya was not fearful of the challenges it would bring toher life. She was excited to see what happened next. More importantly, she was delighted that thisman, Harvey, was going to be a part of it; someone she could share it with.

“I know it is there.”“Be honest with me. Is that why you have chosen to live in this village?”“I love the village,” Freya replied.Her eyes really made it clear to him that she meant to say that she ‘loved him’ but it was too

early in their acquaintance to be so bold. She would. In time. He knew it.He, however, wasn’t that shy. Harvey stepped closer. “I know we have a lot to sort out

between us, a lot that we need to resolve, and a lot that we need to learn about each other. I apologisefor doubting you and behaving the way I did. If I am honest, I was being a coward. It grieves me tohave to admit it because cowardice is something that I never once believed I could entertain, but Iwas shying away from the way you made me feel. You make me contemplate things that I shouldn’tthink about right now.”

“Because I am a maid,” Freya finished for him.“No,” he whispered vehemently. When she studied his shirt, he tipped her chin up so she was

forced to look him in the eye. “Because we have only just met, and in the middle of one of myinvestigations no less.”

“Fate could have chosen better circumstances to throw us together I agree but, if you hadn’tbeen brought into the house to investigate the disappearance of Master Rupert, we would never havemet. I know that sounds incredibly selfish of me, because a young boy is out there somewhere withouthis family. But my life prior to his disappearance was hidden in Cliffthorpe Manor. I rarely left theestate because I was always working, and I don’t mean to be rude, but you aren’t the kind of man whowould associate with the likes of Lord Longbourne.”

“You say that as if people who do associate with him are questionable,” Harvey murmured.Freya sighed. “Seeing as we are being honest with each other, some of his friends are arrogant

and scornful of maids. Some of his associates treated the maids and footmen who served them likedirt. People like that always do.”

“Were any of them like Bakewell?”“No, thank God.” Freya sighed. She noticed that while she was talking, he stepped a little

closer, but she didn’t move away to keep the distance between them. She wanted him closer. “I amjust saying that you aren’t that bad mannered or unfair. You treat people as they should be treated,with respect until they earn otherwise. You don’t suffer fools gladly and are almost brutally honest. Iwould much rather you criticise me or question me than go behind my back and question my morals orbehaviour with your friends. I need to be treated like a person rather than something that people scornor look down upon.”

“I am sorry for what you had to face. No person, no matter what they do for a living, should betreated that way,” Harvey murmured. “I confess that I can be a little uncouth sometimes. But I am aborn and bred Yorkshireman. I am brutally honest, but I hope that I will always be considered fair.That is what galls me. With you, I wasn’t fair. Just because you didn’t want to get stuck outside in thepouring rain doesn’t mean you were involved in the kidnapping. I was wrong to jump to conclusions,and wrong to be so scornful of you.”

“I think that is why I left so swiftly. The way you spoke reminded me so much of the Lord’sfriends that I just had to get away.” She sighed. “But I have to earn a living too, so I suppose I amgoing to have to get used to being spoken to like I am beneath people like that.”

“No, you do not,” Harvey growled. He cupped her face in both his hands and whispered.“Nobody is ever going to talk to you like that, not even me. You have my permission to kick me in thenether regions if I ever speak to you that way again. Do what you will. I will deserve it, but I promiseyou here and now that I shall do my best to treat you with the reverence and respect that someone likeyou deserves.”

“Someone like me?” Freya’s voice trembled with the force of her emotion.“I adore you,” he breathed. “It’s bloody true. I do. I have no idea why these feelings are so

strong so swiftly. Because they appeared out of nowhere, I have tried to dismiss them as instantattraction, but they are too consuming to be a mere passing fancy. I have missed you, Freya. Thathouse, the safe house, has people coming and going at all hours, and all my friends in it at one time oranother, but it is bloody empty because it doesn’t have you in it. The kittens haven’t stopped meowingat me. My friends are all threatening to throw me out if I don’t stop growling at them. Life hasdeteriorated so badly, all because you aren’t in it.”

Freya swiped at the tears that hovered on her lashes and offered him a smile to soften his frownof concern. “I have missed everyone too. This house is wonderful, but it is large. I was hoping tokeep my mind off you by staying busy here and turning this place into a home.”

“You are going to stay.” It wasn’t a question. He was so relieved that he struggled to evencomprehend the force of his relief.

Freya nodded. “I don’t care if I have to work morning, noon, and night to stay here, but yes, Iwant to stay. It felt like home, a proper home, from the second I walked through the front door. InCliffthorpe, one of my main jobs was to get up before dawn and light the fires upstairs because thehouse was so large and cold. I hated it. I hated the ash that seemed to ruin my clothing and clog mylungs. I hated getting up to a cold house. I hated having to mess about lighting spills and waiting forwood to burn. But here, I have thoroughly enjoyed lighting the fires because it is in my home. I realisenow that it isn’t the work I have resented, it is having to work in someone else’s house. I think that Iam going to see if I can find work in a shop somewhere. Failing that, I might try something else

completely different. I have no skills, but I don’t mind hard work and I don’t mind learning newthings.”

“Stop.” Harvey urged tenderly. “You don’t need to work anymore. I am going to bring you whatyou need. It is my job to make sure you are happy. You have helped the Star Elite with ourinvestigation, and although you are safe here, we still need to keep an eye on you. I still need to knowthat you are safe. We can’t do that if you are trudging across miles of open countryside to work in allweathers.”

“You can’t move in here,” she breathed. “The villagers will have a fit.”“You are going to have to marry me then. Just so I don’t ruin your reputation.”The seriousness on his face made her hesitate. She lifted her brows at him, a little shocked but

uncertain about whether he was teasing her or not. She wanted to laugh but at the same time wasshaking so much that she couldn’t force the words past her lips. He was handing her the world butdidn’t know it.

I just hope he isn’t joking.“It would serve you right if I accepted,” she murmured searchingly, her earlier tears forgotten.“Accept then,” Harvey urged. “We have the rest of our lives to find out what we need to about

each other. I can come back here when I am not working because I am close enough to the safe houseto be on hand if they need me. We can work on turning this house into a home together. We can makeit ours.” He hesitated and lowered his voice even more. This time, he felt just as wary as Freyalooked, but only briefly. “I understand from Mr Winterbourne that it has been sold this morninganyway.”

Freya squinted suspiciously at him. “Oh? I understood that nobody wanted to buy this housebecause not many people want to live in the village because there is no work here anymore.”

“Well, that was before the Star Elite arrived,” Harvey grinned.Freya sighed. “The Star Elite own the house now?” she shook her head but was secretly

thrilled. “Are you going to put the rent up?”Harvey laughed. “Ah, no. I cannot charge my own wife rent, although you may want to charge

me rent when I leave my dirty boots beside the back door, and wet cloaks everywhere. Oh, and guns.Don’t forget guns. I need those.”

“I know. I won’t mind. I promise I won’t mind,” she breathed. “I adore you. I have no idea whatin the heck I am doing because I have never been in this situation before, but I am not sorry about it.One thing I learnt while working at Cliffthorpe Manor is that a life of routine is boring, predictable,and makes life terribly mundane. Here, there is life, seasons, constant change.”

“Like with the Star Elite,” Harvey added.“Exactly. So, if you do come home soaking wet, with muddy boots, and leave your cloaks and

guns everywhere, I really won’t mind. I promise. It’s life. At least it means that you will be here, safe,alive, ready to face the future with me.”

“You will marry me? We can live here together. Well, I own the house anyway, but I don’tmind you as a tenant for a while,” he teased with a delighted grin.

“A tenant,” she muttered, leaning back to scowl teasingly at him.“Until we marry. But I won’t charge you rent. This house is yours too,” Harvey promised. “It’s

ours. Our home. Our future. Our life together.”“Forever?” Freya asked, her brows lifting as her smile widened.Harvey lowered his lips to hers.“Forever,” he promised before he set about persuading her to name a date for their wedding so

that he could move in.

EPILOGUE Water lapped against the side of the broad barge which sat like a huge beast curled against the

bank of the canal. Golden yellow light shone feebly from one of the tiny windows at the aft of thevessel, most of which was covered in filthy tarp that was torn in some places and completely missingin others. The craft bobbed gently in the smelly water stained dark by the dyes and toxic poisonsbelched out daily from the factories lining the bank of the winding, newly built canal.

Inside the craft, an aged man peered warily through a narrow gap in the tarp when he heard thetinkling of his bell.

“Shut that thing up,” he snarled at the men on the bank. “Do you want to tell everyone you’rehere?”

The man grabbed the bell and silenced it. He cursed when he clambered through the boat andjumped ashore only to slide down the bank and get his boots soaking wet.

“That ‘im?” The old man growled when he eventually stepped onto the bank. He peered at theyoung boy standing timidly between the two thugs. “You are a scrawny thing, ain’t ya?”

Mutely, the young boy cowered away from him.“Here.” Ernie held out a small package for the boatman. “Keep him out of sight. Put him to

work.”“I have just the disguise,” the boatman promised.He snatched the package and shoved it out of sight so quickly that Ernie and Frank exchanged a

rueful look.“The boss said he will send word when it is time to hand him back. Right now, he is no good to

you and them damned Star Elite are nosing through the mills. As soon as they have gone, we willmove ‘im,” Ernie announced.

“Come on, you.” The old man grabbed the young boy by the shoulder and dragged his reluctantbody onto the boat.

“I want to go home,” Rupert whined. “Who are you? I demand to go home.”“Shut yer mouth,” the boatman snarled. “Get in there.” He shoved the young lad into the

darkness of the main cargo area of the boat. “And shut yer trap. I ain’t listening to you whining. Getused to life on ‘ere lad. It’s to be your home for a while.”

He nodded at the thugs on the bank and quickly cast off. Pushing the front of the boat out into themiddle of the canal, the old man defied his age, and gravity, and nimbly shuffled down the outside ofthe boat to the aft and untied the boat before shoving it out into the middle of the canal too. He thenpicked up a long pole and began to poke it into the canal, forcing the empty narrow boat to silentlyglide through the water.

After rapping smartly three times on the door of the cabin area, the old man was soon joined bya young boy of teenage years who picked up another pole and helped his boss. Together, the menworked to force the boat out into the darkness of the silent water, leaving the thugs on the canal bankto watch.

“How does he know where to meet up? How are we going to find him when it comes to gettingthe lad back?” Ernie murmured, squinting a little to see the boat through the darkness. He shiveredbecause all he could see were shifting shadows and shapes in the heavy silence. “I hate water.”

“Yes, I can tell,” Frank growled. “You stink.” He eyed the water but resisted the temptation topush his friend in. He needed Ernie right now because he didn’t want to be alone in this mess. “Thishasn’t gone to plan, has it?”

“We were supposed to have the money by now, and some of the Star Elite dead. We shouldhave delivered the boy to the mill like we were supposed to and instead he is sailing off to work hispompous backside off on a canal barge that is going God only knows where,” Ernie snorted. “So no,this ain’t gone too well. It was fine, until the Star Elite started to poke their noses in.”

“I suppose his disappearance is likely to be all over the newspapers soon,” Frank sighed as hefollowed Ernie back down the riverbank and back into Coplow.

“Do you think that anyone saw us?”“It’s two o’clock in the morning. Nobody is about. Even I can’t see the boat. Can you? There

ain’t no crime in taking a walk in the dead of night, is there?” Frank growled. “Come on, let’s go. Ineed to get some sleep. Tomorrow, we are going to have to find somewhere to hide until the StarElite have done with the mills. As soon as they have left the area, we can deliver the lad, get ourmoney, and get the Hell out of here. I hate Yorkshire. It’s full of bloody empty fields, hills and lakes.”

“I think it’s rather pretty,” Ernie argued.“You think factories belching smoke, ramshackle houses, and sewage filled streets is attractive,

do you? Given how bad you smell, I shouldn’t be surprised. You fit right in.”“Will you stop moaning about how I smell? You don’t smell that pretty yourself.”“Oh, shut up.”The men continued to bicker throughout their journey into Coplow. They were so busy

criticising each other that they didn’t bother to pay attention to how much noise they made, or whichshadows shifted and drew ever closer behind them.

But the Star Elite did. Ellis, Lander, and Rory recognised the men the second they appeared onthe street from the canal towpath. That set their investigation into the missing boy in a completelydifferent direction – to the mills like they had already suspected.

The End.

THE LOCAL HEROES SERIES (STAR ELITE)

LEICESTERSHIRE

RELEASED 2020/2021 The regional branches of the Star Elite have never been busier. But when their adventures bring

trouble to their homes, they face a whole new set of problems. Join Joshua, Hamish, Luke, Daniel, Ronan, Peregrine, Dean and Grant as they battle fraud,

murder, theft, and several rather inquisitive ladies whose penchant for trouble mean more headachesfor the local heroes in this brand-new series.

The Honest and the Brave (Joshua – Annalisa) Available now

Damsel in Distress (Roger – Leonora) Available now

Once Before (Daniel – Tabitha) Available now

Righteous Rumours (Ronan – Geranium) Available now

A Very Dishonest Scandal (Luke – Rosemary) Available now

Midnight Capers (Dean – Peony) Available Now

Shameful Desire (Hamish – Leonora) Available Now

Consequences (Peregrine – Matilda) Available Now

Loving The Stranger (Darius – Emma) Coming Soon

Caught Red-Handed (Gilbert – Phyllis)

Deception (Austin – Catherine)

TEMPTING EVIE – CAPTURE AND SURRENDER SERIES

BOOK TWO

Coming Soon!

Welcome to the Star Elite’s new team!

Led by Chief Investigator Harvey Reynolds, this team face the challenge of their lives when they are

tasked with a brand-new investigation. A series of child abductions create a trail of events whichtakes this team from Yorkshire through the cotton mills of industrial Lancashire and the surrounding

communities. What they uncover is a sinister trail of criminal activities which takes them straight intothe very depths of human cruelty.

Meet Harvey, Chandler, Rory, Lander, Ellis, Erasmus, Deveraux, Albion, and Heath, investigators

from the Star Elite who are faced with murder, mysteries, child abductions, and help from some veryquestionable characters as they investigate one of their toughest cases.

Meet the ladies who help them in their endeavours, Freya, Marcia, Venetia, Alice, Stephana, Isla,

Lilly, Scarlett, and Lora.

NEVER THE TWAIN

THE STAR ELITE’S HIGHWAYMEN SERIES

BOOK SIX

With just three of the murderous highwaymen still on the loose, the Star Elite redouble their

efforts to track them down no matter what the cost. When their hunt takes them to the rurality ofWelton Broadstone, things take a sinister turn but in a surprising way. Not only does Greg findhimself in a surreal little hamlet that doesn’t even feature on any maps, but he also stumbles across astunning young woman who is as mysterious as her surroundings.

At first, Greg suspects he has been led into a trap by the highwaymen, but it quickly transpiresthat the young woman is in terrible danger. While he must keep searching for the highwaymen, hishonour demands that he does everything possible to help her, whether she wants him to or not.

Can Greg persuade Selena to trust him when it appears that the entire world has turned its backon her? Can he protect her when he cannot be with her all the time? Can he manage to persuade herthat the Star Elite’s safe house is the best place for her, despite knowing that she may not have a houseto return to when her enemy has been vanquished?

At first, Selena’s answer to all these questions is a very firm ‘no’, but when matters take asinister turn, she is left with no choice but to trust someone who may bring about her ultimatedownfall.

LOVING THE STRANGER

Coming Soon!

THE STAR ELITE’S HERO NEXT DOOR SERIES

BOOK NINE

When Darius Audeley is consigned to join the Leicestershire group of the Star Elite, he faces adifferent future than the one he had always expected to have. He has spent his life on the streets ofLondon. Empty fields and miles of countryside belong in a world that is completely alien to him, butDarius knows that remaining in London will bring about his downfall. He has come too close to deathon too many occasions to not realise that if he doesn’t want to die in the street like some pauper, hemust make changes in his life and start again somewhere new. So, when Sir Hugo offers him thechance to relocate to Leicestershire, Darius is more than happy to accept.

What he doesn’t expect is to find himself embroiled in a Star Elite investigation before he haseven unpacked his bag. But Darius isn’t a man to refuse to help a lady in distress and that the persontroubling her has followed him all the way from London. A good deed quickly turns sour whenDarius’s worst enemies start to target the woman he tried to help.

Darius is soon faced with a battle for survival while he learns to adapt to a completely alienenvironment called life in the country. But one thing is for definite, he is not a man to back away fromhis battles. Darius soon realises that his new future will be far happier than he ever imagined it couldbe – so long as he can persuade Rachel to take a chance on him.

OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA KING

Further details of all of Rebecca’s books can be found on her website:Rebeccaking-historicalauthor.com

CAPTURE AND SURRENDER SERIES

Abduction (Book One)Tempting Evie (Book Two) – Coming Soon

THE STAR ELITE’S HIGHWAYMEN INVESTIGATION

Cloak and Dagger (Book One)Sins of the Past (Book Two)

Loving the Enemy (Book Three)The Lover Switch (Book Four)

Hopeless Romantic (Book Five)Never the Twain (Book Six) Coming Soon

A Petty Problem (Book Seven) Coming SoonHeartless (Book Eight) Coming Soon

THE HERO NEXT DOOR SERIESThe Honest and the Brave (Book One)

Damsel in Distress (Book Two)Once Before (Book Three)

Righteous Rumours (Book Four)A Very Dishonest Scandal (Book Five)

Midnight Capers (Book Six)Shameful Desire (Book Seven)

Consequences (Book Eight)Loving the Stranger (Book Nine)

STAR ELITE – A NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS

Betrayal of Innocence (Book One)A Spinster’s Awakening (Book Two)

Fallen Hero (Book Three)The Runaway (Book Four)Cold Comfort (Book Five)

A Terrible Misunderstanding (Book Six)To Have A Heart (Book Seven)For Love Alone (Book Eight)

STAR ELITE’S CAPTURE AND SURRENDER SERIES

The Abduction (Book One) – Available NowTempting Evie (Book Two) – Coming Soon

SAVED BY DESIRE SERIESOne Penny Surprise (Book One)To Catch A Thief (Book Two)Mistaken Identity (Book Three)

A Scandal Most Daring (Book Four)Hiding Rose (Book Five)

Reckless Desire (Book Six)The Arrangement (Book Seven)

Hope’s Secret (Book Eight)Runaway Groom (Book Nine)

OTHER BOOKSShattered Dreams

Lies and MisdemeanoursEloisa’s Adventure

Wishing for RainbowsRedemption

Devoted to YouHopeless Heart

Catch A Falling StarThe Christmas Ball AffairMarley’s Second Chance

Ghostly EndeavoursTo Love and Love Again

Ghost of a ChanceHeart of an AngelShadows and Lies

Heart’s DesireAdoration

Miss Florentine’s School for InvestigatorsThe Education of Henry Moore

TIPTON HOLLOW SERIES

Harriett (Book One)Beatrice (Book Two)

Tuppence (Book Three)

STAR ELITE SERIESCapturing Sir Dunnicliffe (Book One)

Smuggler’s Glory (Book Two)His Lady Spy (Book Three)

Lord Melvedere’s Ghost (Book Four)The Lady Is Innocent (Book Five)

My Lord Deceived (Book Six)Captive Surrender (Book Seven)

Ghost of Christmas Past (Book Eight)

THE CAVENDISH MYSTERIESIf You Were Mine (Book One)Cinders and Ashes (Book Two)

Chasing Eliza (Book Three)The Gallows Bride (Book Four)

Lord Cavendish Returns (Book Five)

CHILDREN’S BOOKSArchie and the Battleflat Adventures: The Harriman Mystery