Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite Book 4) Read online

  “But you do like her,” Niall repeated knowingly.

  Jasper grinned at him. “She is nice.”

  “Just – nice.” Niall lifted his brows and waited.

  “All right so she is bloody beautiful, and I am already deeply in love with her and we shall name our first son after you. Happy now?”

  “That’ll do,” Niall smiled. “As long as you are certain, and don’t call him after Harry, that’s fine by me.”

  Jasper rolled his eyes but wasn’t offended by his friend’s teasing. He knew that the matrimonial bug would bite him at some point, not least because he wasn’t anywhere near as averse to marriage as some of his colleagues. However, could he consider being married to someone like Molly? He wasn’t sure. She was young, but he had no idea how young. She was beautiful, but looks fade over time. It was her personality that he had to live with. If she had any annoying habits that he simply couldn’t stand she could be as pretty as she liked but wouldn’t get anywhere near him. Jasper doubted Molly could ever have any annoying habits that would grate on him. He was engaged by her, it was as simple as that.

  “Where do you think she might have stashed it?” Jasper murmured.

  Even though he had already checked it, Jasper watched Niall stick his head up the chimney to look again. As Niall returned to the room, he shifted to one side and dislodged a tile on the tiny hearth. Brows lifted, he carefully lifted it out of its slot and revealed a square hole no bigger than his fist.

  “Do you think she put this here?” Niall whispered as he lifted a small coin pouch out of its hiding place and tossed it at Jasper who deftly caught it.

  Jasper eyed its pitifully small contents and knew immediately that it was Molly’s.

  “Unless the landlady is ripping her off, there is no way in Hell she would be able to remain here for the winter,” Niall grumbled when he saw just how much Molly had to live off.

  Before either man could say anything else, the door to the room was abruptly shoved open and a decidedly disgruntled woman appeared in the doorway, a thin grey shawl wrapped around her ample shoulders.

  “What are you doing in ‘ere? I didn’t let you in. I’ll call the magistrate. I ain’t running one of them places. This ‘ere ain’t a bawdy house for the likes of you. Get outta ‘ere,” she snapped.

  “Do you own this place?” Niall demanded.

  “What’s it to you?”

  “Do you own this place?” Niall repeated, his face thunderous.

  “No. My son does.”

  “Who is he?” Jasper asked, his voice hard and unrelenting.

  “Who is it to you? Now get outta here.”

  “Who is your son?” Jasper prompted. “You may as well tell us because we shall find out anyway. We want a word with him about the state of his house. You do know that you are ripping people off charging them anything to live here, don’t you? I shall have you arrested for this.”

  “What?” The woman’s rotund face turned belligerent.

  “Theft.”

  “I ain’t stolen nothin’,” the woman growled.

  “You are stealing from the people you charge to live here in conditions like this,” Niall warned. “I am going to arrest you for it.”

  “Who are you?” The woman began to look wary.

  “The magistrate’s men, and I am now placing you under arrest for stealing from the people who rent these rooms from you,” Niall repeated.

  “It ain’t mine,” the woman protested.

  “But you take the money,” Jasper replied. “That makes you the thief.”

  “I ain’t no thief,” the woman spat.

  “So, you don’t take money from these people?” Jasper retorted.

  “Of course I do, but it ain’t my house is it?” the woman replied.

  “So, you can be arrested for robbing people,” Niall reported. “Charging anybody to live here is robbery.”

  “Here here.”

  One by one, as Jasper and Niall stood talking to the landlady, the residents came out of their rooms and had all gathered to listen. It was stunning to Jasper that they all looked dirty, unkempt and were clearly in dire straits. One or two of them even looked quite ill, he suspected because of the conditions they were living in.

  “I ain’t stolen nothin’. You had better have a word with the man who owns it. It ain’t me. This ain’t my business.” The woman backed toward the door to get away from the probing questions.

  “But it is your business. You tell the occupants what to do, and take money off them. It is very much your business,” Niall protested.

  Jasper sighed and threw Niall a warning look.

  “I suppose we could take a more lenient approach, as long as you tell me what you know about the young woman who rented this room off you,” Jasper mused.

  “What do you want to know?” The woman frowned at them both.

  “How much have you charged her for living here?”

  The old woman named a figure that Jasper knew was a lie. He lifted a brow and fixed her with a steady stare.

  “I think you can do better than that, unless you want to be arrested for lying to one of the magistrate’s men.”

  “What has she done? I don’t want no criminals staying ‘ere,” the woman reported.

  “No, because one criminal in this establishment is enough,” Jasper snapped. “Now, tell me the real amount you have been charging her. I warn you now that she is going to confirm it. If I find out you have been lying to me, I shall arrest you for it.”

  The woman grumbled a sum that was pure daylight robbery, and made Jasper so mad that for a moment, all he could do was stare steadily at her and pray that he had misheard her.

  “You charged her what?” He asked coldly.

  The woman remained silent but began to look decidedly shifty.

  “This is London,” she mumbled, tugging in effectually at her shawl.

  “I am well aware of that, madam, seeing as I have lived here all of my life,” Jasper retorted coldly. “I am also well aware that you are a thief and a liar and are ripping off the people who live here. I shall arrest you if you do not refund the money to all of them - immediately.”

  “It ain’t for me to do that,” the woman grumbled.

  “Yes, it is. You take the money. You refund it,” Jasper protested. “Or face arrest.”

  Jasper was aware that Niall was studying him closely but didn’t stop to explain that he wanted Molly to be turned away if she ever appeared at the door to this dump looking for accommodation again. As far as he was concerned, he would move Heaven and earth to make sure she never even thought about the place again, much less ventured near it.

  When a small voice prompted him to find the reason why he felt so protective toward her, Jasper swiftly blanked it out, but would contemplate it later. Much, much later when he was alone, and had nothing to do with his time than think about a future with Miss Molly Egerton.

  “I’ll refund her if I must, but I ain’t refunding them seein’ as they are still ‘ere.” The old woman threw the remaining residents a dour look before she shuffled off to fetch the requisite money. They parted silently to let her through, but Jasper doubted they would be fobbed off now either.

  While she was gone, Jasper gathered up the last of Molly’s belongings and hastily shoved them into the bag. He left the bedraggled blankets, not least because he wasn’t sure they were sturdy enough to withstand the journey to the safe house. Minutes later, with the replenished coin purse in his pocket, Jasper followed Niall out of the lodgings. Together they sucked in a huge breath of fresh air, then Niall sneezed.

  “God, I think I came close to death in there,” he grunted.

  Jasper snorted and shook his head. He glanced up and down the street. Immediately, his gaze fell on a solitary man half-way down the street, his shoulders propped negligently against the wall of one of the terraced houses. Their gazes met. There was something in the man’s steady stare that made the small hairs on the back of Jasper’s neck stand
on end. Jasper didn’t recognise the man but had a strong suspicion that he knew exactly who Jasper and Niall were.

  Quietly, Jasper nudged his colleague. When Niall looked at him, Jasper nodded at the man.

  “Want to pay a visit?” Niall asked as he studied the stranger.

  Jasper nodded. Together, they started to walk toward him. They got no more than half way before the man suddenly began to walk away. He looked over his shoulder at them once but didn’t stop to talk.

  “He seems uncommunicative,” Niall mused. “Do you think he is someone we should worry about?”

  “I think he has been following us,” Jasper replied. “We have to be careful going back. I don’t want to lead the bastard to the safe house door.”

  “Split.”

  “All right but watch your back. If you aren’t back in half an hour, I’ll send someone out to find you,” Jasper murmured before he spun on his heel and headed in the opposite direction.

  Once he was alone and back on the main street, Jasper ducked into a bakery and purchased a pie to munch to ease the aching in his stomach. His hunger didn’t bother him nearly as much as the emptiness of Molly’s coin purse, though. Before he left the shop, Jasper wedged himself into the corner of the bakery, turned his back to the room and swiftly removed the pouch. Digging into his own pocket, he added several more coins to Molly’s pouch before he turned to face the shop door. It was then that his gaze landed on the same man he had just followed with Niall. Their gazes met once more.

  Jasper wanted nothing more than to be able to go out there and demand to know what the man wanted with him, but knew instinctively that he had something to do with either Molly, Oscar or Rigley Row. Lifting a hand, Jasper grinned cockily at the oaf and waggled his fingers. Winking at the shop owner, who laughed at his antics, Jasper then turned to the back of the shop.

  “See you, Leo,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll be back tomorrow for some more.”

  “Mind how you go,” Leo called after him, but Jasper had already disappeared and had vaulted over the back wall of the bakery.

  Within seconds he had disappeared.

  An hour later, Niall let him into the kitchen.

  “I was about to send someone out to fetch you,” he grumbled.

  Jasper rolled his eyes and dropped the items he carried onto the table. “Where is she?”

  “Molly? In the parlour with Harry,” Niall replied.

  He opened his mouth to say something else only to find himself all alone in the room. Rather than be annoyed at how swiftly his colleague had abandoned him, Niall grinned and ambled over to the table to see what Jasper had brought.

  Jasper threw open the door to the parlour and lifted his brows at the sight of Molly and Harry standing close together beside the fireplace, their merry laugher ringing out around the empty room.

  “Am I interrupting?” Jasper asked with a pointed glare. It took effort to quell the jealousy that surged through him, but he still couldn’t prevent the abrupt way he shoved the door closed behind him with more force than necessary.

  “I was just telling Miss Egerton about a few of your less dignified exploits,” Harry teased.

  Molly smiled when Harry threw her a wry look. Her cheeks blushed, but more with pleasure from learning that Jasper was back than because of anything to do with Harry’s storytelling.

  “Ignore him. He likes to tell on everybody. Let me tell you all about his embarrassing moments over dinner,” Jasper replied, forcing himself to relax a little.

  “I shall look forward to it,” Molly murmured.

  Jasper stared at her. When she smiled, Molly’s entire face changed. Her eyes sparkled with an impish air of mischief that immediately drew forth the dimples that bracketed her mouth. Despite his discontent at finding her huddled together with one of his friends, Jasper couldn’t help a returning smile from breaking out on his face. His gaze slid over her. Now that she was dry, her hair had brightened by several shades. Several stray strands teased her delicate face. While still thin, she looked considerably happier than she had before, even though the borrowed dress she wore was several sizes too big, and so long she had to lift it whenever she wanted to walk anywhere. It gave her a childlike air of innocence that made Jasper feel guilty about the persistent need to kiss her.

  “I have your things,” he murmured gently, his gaze lingering on her lips.

  “You do?” Molly’s cheeks flooded with colour at the thought that he had seen the state of her lodgings. The safe house was pure luxury in comparison.

  “Do you have a moment?” Jasper asked. He opened the door and waited for her to pass through it.

  Out in the hallway, Molly paused and turned to look at Jasper.

  “In the kitchen,” he murmured quietly.

  Molly heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her carpet bag.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Your pouch is inside.” Jasper handed her the bag, but then stacked the boxes he had brought before he held them out to her. “These are for you.”

  “What are they?” she whispered.

  “I shall take them up to your room for you, but you might want to have a look at them before dinner. If there is anything wrong, let me know and I can get them altered,” Jasper replied.

  Molly paused and lifted her brows at him. It was easier to talk to him when they were alone. He seemed to come alive as a person and was far less officious than he was when he was with his colleagues.

  “You really don’t like answering questions, do you?”

  Jasper grinned. “It is a habit, I am afraid. Nothing personal.”

  Dutifully, Molly led the way up to the bed chamber she now called home and stood back to allow him to carry the mysterious boxes into the room.

  “Thank you, for whatever it is they are,” she murmured politely when he had dropped them onto the bed.

  “You are welcome. When you have had a look at them, come back downstairs for dinner. Then we have to talk about something that happened while I was gone,” Jasper replied.

  Molly froze. “Oscar?”

  Jasper looked at her contritely. “I am sorry, but no, not about Oscar. I will tell you what we plan to do about him later. This is about something that happened when Niall and I left your lodgings.”

  “What?”

  “Later,” Jasper promised.

  With that, he let himself out of the room before he did something rash, like kiss her again. Until he could think about the strength of the emotions that she made him feel, he knew it would be wise to keep his distance from her.

  Its damned difficult, though, because I enjoy being with her.

  With a sigh, Jasper ambled back downstairs. It was a surprise to find Harry, Niall, Oliver and Al already around the table.

  “We are having a briefing. It won’t take long,” Oliver warned. “Callum and Kieran will be here in a moment.”

  As if they had been lingering outside waiting to hear those words, Callum and Kieran burst into the kitchen. They were so deep in conversation they didn’t realise they were no longer alone, until Oliver coughed discretely. Contritely, they removed their cloaks and joined their colleagues around the large table.

  “Look, we have to be careful about going into Rigley Row. Nobody new can move around in that street without being watched by at least half a dozen people,” Oliver warned.

  “Did Horvat have any connections in Rigley Row, do we know?” Niall asked.

  “Nobody knows,” Jasper replied. “He isn’t around anymore to ask.”

  “His associates are, though,” Niall warned.

  “And they are in Rigley Row,” Harry murmured thoughtfully. “Well, we have to get in there somehow, don’t we?”

  “Do you think we might do better to use Molly to lure her brother out? As soon as we get our hands on him then he can tell us what he knows,” Callum replied. “Hopefully about where we can find the rest of the kidnap victims.”

  “We need to go deep undercover,” Oliver
suggested.

  Everyone groaned to the point that Oliver lifted his brows.

  “Might I remind you all that going undercover is part of our job?” he mused, but with little enthusiasm to take the task on himself.

  Working undercover was one of the most difficult aspects of their job, not least because it was awkward to do what they needed to do while pretending to be someone else. It was often tempting to let the disguise slip, and that defeated their purpose for going undercover in the first place as well as put their lives in danger.

  “You need to stay here, Jasper. Miss Egerton seems willing to talk to you, so you can be her protection,” Oliver reported.

  “I will go undercover, but I need help,” Callum interrupted before Jasper could protest.

  “I don’t think any of us should go undercover,” Jasper replied. “I think we go in there with all guns blazing as it were, root this Oscar out of the woodwork, and get him back here so we can talk to him. He isn’t going to go back to Leicestershire, I know that much, because he hasn’t got anything to go back to, not now that he knows Molly is here. From what I understand, he hated living with his aunt.”

  Jasper had no qualms breaking Molly’s confidence and telling his colleagues everything he knew about Molly and Oscar’s problems with their aunt.

  “At least that alleviates the pressure because we don’t have to rush her home to her desperate relations,” Oliver mused. “I shall drop this aunt a note to tell her Molly is safe.”

  “No,” Molly snapped from the doorway. “Do that and I leave.”

  Everyone froze. A stilted silence fell over the room. Oliver lifted his brows at the young woman who had clearly been listening to their conversation. Jasper turned to look at her. He fought to keep his gaze impassive as he nudged the chair beside him out from under the table. It was difficult to tear his gaze away from the vision of pure beauty she made now that she was wearing one of the new dresses that he had bought her.

  “Thank you for this,” Molly whispered, tugging on the fine material of the most beautiful gown she had ever owned. The silken material glided through her fingers with such teasing gentleness, Molly couldn’t help but smile. “You will have to let me pay for these.”