To Catch A Thief (Saved By Desire 2) (14 page)

When she turned to look at him askance, he captured her lips with his and drew her toward him. He put all of the yearning, fears, and unspoken emotions into that tender kiss and groaned at the willing way she melted against him. Her soft hands slid up his chest and across his shoulders, and came to rest on the back of his neck. In doing so, her breasts pressed against his, and drew forth a shudder of awareness that made him groan and instinctively hold her tighter. He cupped the back of her head to keep her steady and deepened the caress. His tongue invaded the moist recess of her mouth to mate with hers in a parody of physical need.

While she responded, he sensed a hesitance in her that warned him to be careful. With that in mind, he eased away until he finally lifted his head.

“I am sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so carried away,” he murmured, easing back from her.

“It’s alright, I am just not used -” She broke off and felt incredibly awkward.

She wished she hadn’t gotten so carried away, and had been unable to restrain herself. While it felt heavenly to share such affections while locked in an intimate embrace, it was also incredibly wanton of her.

“I am sorry,” she said, unsure what else she could say. She was still trembling from the force of the passion that swept aside all logic.

“It’s not your fault. I make no bones about the fact that I find you utterly desirable,” Jeb replied.

To reiterate his point he leaned forward and kissed her again. It was some time before they broke apart, and a struggle for them both to do so when Jeb finally did manage to lift his head.

Unfortunately, the fine drizzle that had started to fall about them began to permeate their clothing. Sophia hadn’t even realised the sun had gone in and stolen all trace of warmth from the otherwise sunny afternoon.

In spite of the white hot flames of passion that carried them along on a tide of desire, she knew they had to stop. It was considerably harder than either of them expected to pack the contents of the basket away and slowly make their way back to Delilah’s house.

Jeb eyed her walking shoes doubtfully. “Are you going to be alright if we take a short cut through the woods?”

He pressed a loving kiss to her temple when she nodded, and could not deny either of them when she captured the back of his head and tugged him toward her for a loving kiss.

Sophia nodded. “I am fine,” she replied once she had released him.

She couldn’t quite believe she had been brazen enough to do that, but made no apology for it. Thankfully, Jeb didn’t seem to expect one. She snuggled against him with a smile of contentment curving her lips when he slid an arm around her and drew her flush against him. They walked side by side deeper into the woods, but didn’t go far before the silence was broken by an argument somewhere near to the house.

“Listen,” Jeb whispered, and drew them to a stop several feet away. He released her and peered through the branches, and saw Delilah glaring angrily at a stranger.

“I am not going to do it,” she protested loudly.

“I am telling you that you are,” the man snarled.

His voice held a slight hint of brogue but for the life of him, Jeb couldn’t quite place whether it was from London, or not. The tone was just too low to decipher. For a moment, the stranger sounded almost Irish, but then there was a hint of a Scottish accent in there too. It made Jeb wonder if the man was putting on a false voice to try to deceive Delilah in some way, but then that didn’t make sense. Why would he want to hide where he came from?

Keeping Sophia’s hand in his, he stepped as close as he could while remaining under the protection of the branches, and put his finger to his lips to warn her to stay quiet.

“Who is it?” she breathed directly into his ear.

“Take a look.” He moved her until she stood before him and wrapped both arms around her waist to keep her still. “Do you recognise him?”

Sophia rested her arms on his and her shoulders against his chest while she watched her aunt do battle with the stranger.

“Is he the man you saw watching you in the village the other day?”

Sophia nodded.

Jeb suspected the stranger was the person Delilah sold her stolen goods to. Therefore, the man who had accosted him in the street the other night was most probably the murderer responsible for the deaths of Mrs Banks and Tabitha.

Had he followed Jeb from London though, or was he someone just passing through the area? Jeb doubted it was the latter given the warning the man had given him. However, Jeb knew that Terrence Sayers didn’t usually give warnings. Anyone Sayers wanted to silence usually wound up dead. So why warn him to stop investigating?

“I can’t,” Delilah cried. “I have told you several times that I cannot take that kind of risk. It is foolish. I will get caught.”

“I don’t care what you think. I don’t care how you do it. Just get me what I want and I will leave you alone. Don’t get it, and I shall come back, and believe me when I tell you that you don’t want me as your enemy.” The man looked Delilah up and down derisively. “I think you had better understand who is in charge here. I don’t work alone. You won’t want to mess with us. It’s a lovely house you have got there. It would be a shame for anything to happen to it; especially with you inside.”

Delilah looked scared for a moment before she squared her shoulders and glared back at him. “Let me remind you that I am a respected member of the community here. If I smacked you on the head with this branch here and ran to the magistrate to tell him you had tried to break into my house, who do you think he is going to believe? You are a stranger to the area, lurking in woods beside my house. Trust me when I tell you that your threats will get you nowhere with me. I have stopped stealing altogether now because I have a damned family member poking her nose into everything. If you want it taken, then take it yourself. I certainly won’t do it. Whatever you choose to do, consider our acquaintance now at an end.”

The man was still blustering when she sniffed disinterestedly and walked away without a backward look. The curse he threw after her was not physically possible, and blistered Sophia’s ears with its ferocity. Anger positively vibrated off the man and she wondered for a moment whether he would go after her aunt in a fit of temper. However, after several minutes of cursing, he abruptly turned around and stomped away in the opposite direction.

“Stay still for a while,” Jeb murmured into her ear.

When he dipped his head, his lips touched the delicate shell of her ear. A shiver swept down her spine. He withdrew his arms from around her waist so she had the freedom to be able to turn to face him. He debated what to do for a moment then eyed the skirts of her dress.

“I need to follow him to see which way he goes. You go home and stay there until I get back.” He pushed her toward the garden when she hesitated. “It will be alright. Just go. I will come and see you soon.”

He nodded toward the house, anxious to get going before he lost his quarry. As soon as she started walking, he turned around and set off. He didn’t intend to accost the man. He just wanted to know where he was staying so he could pay him a visit later. With that in mind, he refocused his energies off the delightful woman who was now, hopefully, making her way back to her aunt’s house, and onto what he did best: catching the enemy.

Sophia watched him melt into the trees and vanish as silently as a ghost. She moved to one side to try to get a better look at him but couldn’t see anything at all; not even a glimpse of Jeb’s white shirt or the man he was chasing.

“How in the world did you manage that then?” Sophia whispered.

The sudden change in him from being warm and relaxed to a menacing stranger warned her there was a lot to Jeb she had yet to learn.

Would there be time to get to know all of his inner secrets, though, before she was due to leave for home? More importantly, did she really want to know what those secrets were that brought about such a sinister change in him?

Deciding she had better do as she was told before he returned and scolded her, Sophia lifted her skirts and stepped cautiously over the debris on the forest floor. Twigs and branches cracked loudly beneath her weight. As soon as she heard them, she paused and looked down at her feet in consternation.

She had just witnessed Jeb walk through the same wood not but a moment ago but without making a sound. How?

She was still deep in thought when she arrived at the kitchen door. She sauntered inside and dropped the basket onto the table without even bothering to look at her aunt.

“I didn’t realise you were outside,” Delilah stared at the woods Sophia had just come out of, and turned to look at her niece suspiciously. “How long have you been in there?”

“Pardon?” Sophia replied. “Oh, I just used it as a shortcut. I decided to take some lunch down to the stream seeing as it was such a pleasant afternoon.”

Determined to keep her face as blank as possible, and her thoughts off the altercation she had just witnessed, Sophia threw a dark look outside. “It is a shame the weather has turned so bad.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Delilah replied, but still looked doubtful. “Did you see anyone?”

“By the stream? Like who? No, but then I cannot rightly say that I was looking for anyone. Why? Were you expecting someone?”

Sophia looked at her aunt innocently. Their eyes met and held.

At that moment, Delilah seemed to realise her niece had indeed seen her and was less than happy about it. Sophia silently challenged her to confess everything, which was something Delilah was never going to do.

“Sophia,” Delilah sighed. “I do think Hooky must be worried about you by now.”

Sophia nodded in acknowledgement of her aunt’s request for her to leave. “I have written to Hooky but have yet to receive a reply. As soon as he informs me the carriage is on its way, I can pack.”

“Well, I think that if he doesn’t reply in the next day or so, you should return to Buckley to see for yourself what the problem is.”

Delilah’s voice was cold and held a hint of steel in it that didn’t sit too well with Sophia. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she shivered as, for the first time since she arrived at Framley Meadow, she began to feel vulnerable. She thought over the conversation she had overheard in the woods.

Did Delilah want Sophia out of the way so she could steal whatever the man wanted her to get? Or did Delilah just want to start to steal anything again, but knew that Sophia would only return anything she stole? Either way, the message was received loud and clear. Sophia was no longer welcome in Delilah’s house.

“I -” Before she got the chance to say anything else, someone knocked on the front door.

“If that is your man again, I shall send him away with a flea in his ear. This is not a house of ill repute. He shouldn’t keep calling like this,” Delilah grumbled.

“He is a reputable gentleman,” Sophia snapped. “You would do well not to antagonise him seeing as he works for the authorities in London, and is the Lord’s son.”

She lifted her brows when Delilah shot her a panicked look but could feel no sympathy for her older relation.

“What authorities does he work far?” she demanded from the doorway. She glared at the front door as though an evil snake was lurking behind it ready to strike.

“The law,” Sophia declared coldly. “So I suggest you answer it and don’t offend him.”

She mentally sent a silent apology to Jeb for telling a little fib about him, but if it secured Delilah’s compliance in allowing her to stay a while, and prevented her from stealing again, and even forced her to be nice to Jeb, Sophia didn’t feel too bad about it.

“Why? What a surprise,” Delilah cried in over enthusiastic welcome as she opened the door.

It was clear from the lack of a smile on her face that she was less than happy about the new arrival but, unless she was prepared to slam the door in his face, she had to step back and allow Jeb into the house.

“Miss Carney, Sophia,” Jeb drawled as he walked into the hallway.

He began to relax now he knew she had made it home safely. “I should like a word with you, Miss Carney. Sophia?”

“Oh, but it isn’t quite convenient at the moment,” Delilah replied, not budging from her position beside the door.

Jeb’s eyes turned cold. He levelled her with a look that would have made even the most hardened criminal hesitate, and watched the effect it had on Sophia’s aunt. Her eyes widened; she paused briefly while she tried to decide whether to attempt to throw him out or ask him to leave. She realised that it would be foolhardy to offend him until she had heard what he had to say, especially after what Sophia had just told her.

Reluctantly, she waved toward the sitting room.

“Tea?” she asked.

“No, thank you. This is not a social call,” Jeb growled coldly.

He followed Delilah and Sophia into the sitting room.

Sophia studied him searchingly as she passed him but detected nothing of his intentions. When she smiled at him, he winked and then adopted a stern look for the woman waiting impatiently for them to join her.

“What is it? Has there been another theft?” Delilah demanded impatiently.

Although she tried to look innocent, Jeb eyed her tell-tale hand-wringing she failed to hide and knew she was unnerved. Aware that she hadn’t offered him a seat, he moved to stand beside her and used his towering height to his advantage. She had no choice but to look up at him.

“Not yet,” Jeb replied. “It would be a foolish person indeed who stole another item from anyone around these parts. I should have no hesitation in reporting them to the magistrate, I can assure you.”

He allowed a moment’s silence to settle over the room. He saw a flicker of threat in Delilah’s gaze, and knew then that the woman before him was not just a thief, she was dangerous. If only he could understand how much danger she posed to Sophia, he could decide whether or not to insist Sophia stayed at his father’s estate for the time being. 

“I do hope you haven’t been tattle-tailing, Sophia,” Delilah declared coldly. “Or I will throw you out on your ear.”

“Not to worry,” Jeb replied. “She can come and stay at father’s house if you are that self-centred.”

“I have just told the truth,” Sophia answered. “You should try it sometime.”

Jeb almost smiled at Sophia’s spirit, but didn’t want an argument to break out.

“I know what has been going on,” he announced, keeping his gaze locked on Delilah.

“Oh? Do you now?”

“Oh, yes, Delilah, and I warn you that should anything else be reported missing in this village, I shall use the full weight of my authority to march you to the magistrate myself. You will then have to prove your innocence before you are released. Unfortunately for you, I have had the dubious honour of returning several of your stolen goods on your behalf already, because you have refused on several occasions to do so yourself. Goods that were, I warn you, found by me in this house. Be very careful what you say next because I work for the War Office. However, my authority stretches into my job wherever in the country that takes me. At the moment that is here, in this village, where we not only have a thief taking advantage of villagers, but a serial killer who has already claimed the lives of two innocent people.”

“That isn’t me,” Delilah protested, panicked at the thought that she might be blamed for the deaths. “It isn’t. Really it isn’t.”

Sophia opened her mouth to argue on her aunt’s behalf but then found that she couldn’t. Not least because she couldn’t be entirely sure who her aunt was connected to, and whether they would.

“Who was that man you were arguing in the woods with just now?” He lifted a hand when she opened her mouth to speak. “I warn you now that if I suspect for one moment that you have told me any lies, I shall have you in front of the magistrate for obstructing my investigation.”

“Who are you?” Delilah demanded with a frown. “I don’t see why I should have you invading my home telling me what to do. On whose authority do you work?” She levelled a scowl on Sophia that would have cut her to shreds. “Just what lies have you been telling the man?”

“It isn’t Sophia. It is you, Delilah. I saw you help yourself to the trinket boxes in my father’s house,” he drawled menacingly.

“What?” Doubt and fear flooded her face.

“I was asked to come here by my father to look into the thefts. I placed those trinket boxes beside the door on purpose. Throughout the evening, they were watched carefully by a trusted member of staff who never took his eyes off them, especially while people took their leave. You were observed swiping them off the table because they fitted into your bag. You took advantage of the volume of people all leaving at the same time to try to hide your crimes, but you were seen. Now, you may call Sophia a liar, she isn’t by the way, but you shall not call me one. I know what I saw. When I realised what you were up to, I called by here the other day and pressured Sophia into telling me the truth. As she has been staying here, and is likely to be blamed for crimes she didn’t commit, I pushed her into showing me your stolen hoard. Needless to say, I recognised the trinket boxes that belong to
my
father in
your
house, and please, before you even attempt to try to blame it all on Sophia, I warn you to remember that the thieving began a long time before she arrived in the village.”

Delilah remained silent and stared into space for several long moments.

Jeb threw Sophia a cautionary look when she opened her mouth to speak. He wanted Delilah to have the time to consider the consequences of her actions before she tried to bluster her way out of the situation, or turned on her niece. It worked because Delilah shook her head sadly, and settled back in her chair with an air of defeat that was dignified, to say the least.

“You have the goods,” she said dully, as though she had just lost her best friend.

“Yes, they are going to be handed back to their rightful owners. Now, I need to know who the man is you have just been arguing with in the woods. Is he buying your stolen goods off you?”

Delilah opened her mouth as if to tell him to mind his own business but then closed it again. “Roland buys the items, yes.”

“Who is he, Delilah? How did you come to know him?”

Delilah sighed. “His name is Roland Myers. He is a connection of the man who owns the pawn shop in Standmere. I don’t know how they met so don’t even ask me.”

“He doesn’t own the shop himself?”

Delilah shook her head. “I went into the shop one day to see if I could get the owner to buy some items from me.” She looked uncomfortable for a moment. “The owner said he didn’t want anything I took to him because he had just bought a load of things off someone else. I suspected it was all from this Roland person. He was in the shop at the time and followed me outside. He asked to take a look at what I had for sale, and told me they were good quality. I knew that,” she snorted. “It is why I took them in the first place. Anyway, he offered to take them off my hands. After a bit of bargaining, he offered me marginally more than I would have earned off the shop owner so we did a deal. He took the goods off me and asked me to get another box ready for a month’s time.”

“So that’s the arrangement? You meet with him once a month and hand over the stolen items for a sum decided upon delivery depending on what you have managed to take?”

Delilah nodded. “It is a simple business arrangement that has worked well for the last few months. No, before you ask, I do not know what he does with the items I have stolen. I haven’t asked, and I don’t want to know.”

“Do you meet him at the shop every month?”

“No, he comes to the woods, and we meet there. Nobody ever really uses the woods here so we are less likely to be seen.”

“Why?” Sophia erupted. She was horrified at her aunt’s complete dismissal for other people’s property. “Why begin stealing in the first place? You have a more than reasonable stipend. You really don’t need the money.”

“I do. When Hooky started to pester me to send him details of my spending, I absolutely refused to comply. He even had the audacity to get his solicitor to try to tell me what to do, and even threaten me. I am an adult, a woman who has lived in this house alone for a long time now. I find it offensive that they should consider themselves at liberty to demand to know my personal details as if I was some recalcitrant child, so I ignored them. I received your letter informing me of your arrival a couple of days before you appeared, Sophia. I did write to tell Hooky that it wasn’t convenient, but he couldn’t have received my letter in time. Then you turned up. I knew why you were here as soon as you appeared on the doorstep. I am not going to take instruction on what to do with my finances from you either.”

Sophia sighed and wondered why her aunt felt the need to be so defensive. Didn’t she realise they were telling her to protect her future? Clearly she didn’t because the derisory look on her face as she glared at her was insulting.

“So, because you were short of funds you decided to steal from others, and sell the goods to make some extra money. Sophia’s arrival messed up your plans, didn’t it?”

Delilah didn’t speak, but Jeb knew he was right.

“So what does he want you to do that you are objecting to so vehemently?”

“I need to get the rest of this month’s shipment together for Roland, so took the trinket boxes to complete the order. I didn’t expect her to give it all away again. He was telling me I need to get the box ready.”

“I would remind you now that it is not Sophia’s fault you that have taken to a life of crime. You should have done as Hooky told you and curbed your spending when you were advised to.”