Mistaken Identity (Saved By Desire 3) (9 page)

As she turned away and removed her wrap she was painfully aware that her hands shook, but it had nothing to do with the coolness of the room. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had just been woken up in the early hours by strange noises downstairs, or had bumped into someone at the top of the stairs.

Her disquiet was generated purely by the strangeness of the feelings surging through her, brought forth by the new lodger. The unwanted emotions she experienced had nothing to do with fear, uncertainty, suspicion, or curiosity, which were all of the things she knew she should expect to feel for him. Her feelings were instead focused firmly on the wild thrill of excitement, anticipation, and feminine curiosity his kiss had created.

She had never been that close to any man other than her brother before in her life. Even when she had hugged Ben, he stood still long enough for only the briefest of hugs. Her father had passed away when Jess had been a young child. She had been so young that she didn’t even have the faintest recollection of what kind of person he had been. She had never had a suitor either, so had no idea what it felt like to be held, or kissed, or loved, by a man.

It felt strange to be in Marcus’ arms. Warm and reassuring, yet so delightful that she rather reluctantly had to admit that she wanted to try it again. Not just the hug either. She wanted him to kiss her again as he had just now. She touched her lips with wondering fingers and smiled.

Flopping over in bed, she jerked when the clock in the hallway chimed five times. She had spent the better part of an hour thinking about him and what they had shared, and she hadn’t even realised how much time had passed. With a wide yawn, she threw the covers back and got up.

She was in turmoil. She would never manage to get back to sleep in the half hour she had left before she had to light the fires. To try to get her mind off Marcus, she needed to keep busy. It was time to go downstairs and get the bread made and baked for breakfast. Then she had to get the meat cooked, and the table set for breakfast. Hopefully, by the time she had finished all of that her attention would be more focused on the life she led, not the man she would like to be a part of it.

Unfortunately, her day went downhill rapidly as the morning progressed. To her disgust, while she was serving the guests breakfast, Ben took the opportunity to leave. The loud slam of the back door closing behind him stoked her anger. She hurried to the kitchen window and caught sight of him on the edge of the woods. It was too late to call him back.

“Damn you, Ben,” she whispered. “You have to help me at some point.”

She had no idea what had gotten into her brother of late. He used to be a willing and able hand, happy to take his fair share of the burden. Of late, it rather felt as though he had lost all interest in the place, and didn’t care what happened to it, or her.

“At some point, something has to improve,” she whispered. “You had better hope so in any case because if it doesn’t, and something goes catastrophically wrong, we are going to have to leave.”

“Are you alright?” Marcus asked from the doorway.

“Oh!” She spun around, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment at being caught talking to herself. “I didn’t realise you were there.”

She made no attempt to keep the anger out of her voice. If she was honest, it unnerved her how easily Marcus popped up here and there without making a sound.

“The ale jug is empty,” he declared, lifting the jug for her to see.

Marcus made no attempt to approach her. He had witnessed the worry on her face as she had stared after her brother. Although he hadn’t been close enough to hear everything she had muttered beneath her breath, he understood that she was angry at Ben.

Was she afraid he was going to steal again?

Marcus had spent the better part of the last two weeks following people around the village. While Ben proved to be the most elusive, he had followed the lad to the rectory, where he had stayed for quite a while, to Retterton. His visits there were frequent enough to cause concern, but Marcus had yet to find out what he did while he was there. Ben had not met with his contact again, nor had he done anything outwardly suspicious that warranted being followed. Both Lloyd and Carruthers loitered – practically everywhere, without really getting much done, and there had been no sign of Ben’s contact at all.

So far, although they were an odd group of people, they weren’t as suspicious as the other guests living at the lodging house. All four of the other guests were like shadows in the night, whose behaviour was most definitely not matching their characters.

Marcus therefore rather felt the solution to his problems lay within the house.

“I think there is some more in the keg in the scullery,” she replied. “I will bring some through.”

“There is no rush. Most of the guests have gone now,” he informed her.

He wanted to engage her in conversation, but she didn’t give him the opportunity to. She snatched the jug off the table and hurried into the scullery.

“Something smells nice,” he murmured. He eyed the pot on the fireplace responsible for the delicious scent of roast beef that was teasing his nostrils and sighed in dismay.

“It is for dinner,” she replied, her voice growing louder as she re-entered the room.

Rather than hand him the pitcher, she carried it into the dining room, effectively dismissing him. Determined not to be avoided, Marcus followed her. When he got there, he watched her for a moment. She was a hive of activity collecting the plates and stacking them, clearing the table and sweeping the floor.

Shaking his head, he found his disgust for the rather selfish brother growing by leaps and bounds. Would it be best if he pursued the lad? If only to force him off his wayward pathway of illegal activity? After all, the Star Elite’s investigation was the reason Marcus was in the house in the first place. His work for them had to come first, over and above any other situations that arose. Any other problems the Parkinsons had were an entirely private matter and, if Ben were involved with Sayers’ gang, they would be resolved in time.

“Best get to it then,” he murmured reluctantly.

Right now, he needed to get out of the house, if only to clear his head for a while. Focusing on following Ben gave him the perfect excuse. He had no doubt the lad was off to Retterton again. Maybe, this time, he would be succesful in following him anywhere other than the tavern. It was odd. Ben went to Retterton, straight to the Dog and Ferret tavern. Once inside, though, he vanished completely. A search of the entire town failed to give any clues as to where the lad had gone. Neither did he ever appear in the tavern.

“It is odd, but I will find you,” Marcus promised as he stomped into the trees.

He could search the house later, once he had cleared his head of the woman and was able to focus on his job properly.

Jess watched him go and heaved a sigh of relief. He was altogether too watchful and had a tendency to linger. It was as though he was waiting for something, or looking for something, and it was unnerving. Without challenging him about it, there was nothing she could do. The man was far too handsome for his own good. It was distracting to be the focus of his rather avid attention. She had found him watching her for far longer than was polite, but had to wonder what he was studying. She was neat, tidy, presentable, if a little plain. There was nothing about her appearance that was objectionable. Nor could it attract him in any way. So why did he stare so much?

“How can I object to the man simply wanting to talk to me?” She murmured aloud as she dropped the plates into the bucket for a wash.

She couldn’t. It would be foolish if she did.

It wasn’t that she was averse to having to talk with any of the guests. It was just that she hadn’t stopped to engage anyone in conversation for a very long time, especially someone like Marcus. She had no idea what to say. It wasn’t as if they had anything in common because she knew nothing about him.

“I could ask him why he is here,” she murmured as she watched him disappear after Ben. “Just what are you up to?”

It galled Marcus to admit it, but he had just lost his target - again. He glared around the silent woods and swore.

You did give him a good head start because you were panting after his sister, you fool,
he thought in self-disgust.

Without knowing who Ben’s contacts in the area were, Marcus had no idea which way he should go to try to intercept him. If he followed him all the way to Retterton, the lad would just vanish again, just like he had on every other occasion Marcus had tracked him to the town.

Determined to accomplish one positive thing today, he turned around and made his way back to the boarding house.

“You need to get your mind off the woman, and the family problems, and back onto what you are here for,” he muttered in disgust.

His curse was loud when he remembered that he had yet to write to Barnaby and Sir Hugo. With that in mind, he lengthened his stride, determined to get one task done to help the investigation along a little. Once in the house, though, it quickly became evident that things had changed while he had been away.

“I said, get off me!” Jessica demanded in a voice full of desperation. “How dare you touch me?”

She twisted her head around to get the man’s vile hands off her face. The stench of his foul breath made her stomach churn alarmingly. She tried to step away from him, but the solid bulk of the dresser pressing against her bottom preventing her from moving an inch.

“You should be used to having a man’s hands on you. Someone as pretty as you should be fully aware of what a man wants,” Lloyd drawled, his eyes dipping into the dark hollow of her heaving bosom.

“Get out of this house,” she bit out.

“I am sure you will be more – accommodating,” he drawled, “once your brother has departed.

“Ben is going nowhere. If you hurt him, I swear I shall have you in front of the true law in this county,” she spat. Her eyes narrowed with the ferocity of her fury.

“I am the law in this county,” Lloyd challenged arrogantly.

Carruthers sniggered as he watched.

“Shut up, Carruthers,” Lloyd drawled. The look he threw his colleague made the man take a wary step backward. “Go and stand outside. You don’t need to see this. I won’t be long.”

“You are nothing but a scoundrel. You are more corrupt than anyone in this village,” Jess countered. “Get your hands off me.”

When he merely smiled at her and leaned closer, she kicked his shin at the same time that she bit down on his wrist. She looked up in time to watch in horror as his eyes filled with rage. His hand lifted as though he intended to hit her. She braced herself.

“You heard her,” Marcus warned coldly from the doorway. “Get your damned hands off her now, or I will throw you bodily out of the window. How dare you?”

He held a hand out to Jess, who pushed roughly away from Lloyd and stumbled toward her saviour gratefully. Once she reached him, he slid an arm around her waist and held her against his side. He studied the red marks around her wrists with a scowl and turned accusing eyes on the magistrate.

“Don’t ever forget that someone employed you, Lloyd. You are accountable to them for everything you do – including assault, and attempted rape. They can, and will, see that you are held to account by the law your position in this village requires
you
to uphold. After what I have seen today, you are no more in a position to uphold any degree of law around these parts as he is,” Marcus said with a derisory nod toward Carruthers. “If you ever come into this house again and threaten this lady without a good reason for doing so, I shall report you to your employers. I will ensure that the force of the law is enforced upon
you
. From what I have witnessed here, today, your personal interest in this woman is neither welcome nor appropriate. Now get out of this house, and don’t come back.”

He moved a still trembling Jess out of the doorway and into the hall, leaving neither Lloyd nor Carruthers any opportunity to speak. It was clear from the look on the magistrate’s face as soon as he entered the hallway that he abhorred having his authority challenged, and was determined to have the last word.

“It is a foolish person indeed who threatens me,” the man drawled as his gaze raked Marcus with insolent defiance.

“I am not threatening you. I am merely stating a fact. You know nothing about me,” Marcus challenged. “You know nothing about who I am, where I come from, or who my connections are.
You
would be a fool if you challenged
me
, without the wherewithal to gather the facts about how much damage I could do to you. Now, you are breaking the law entering this house without a reason, and trying to force yourself upon a lady, especially when I have already told you she is my fiancée. If you knew she is engaged, Lloyd, why are you pestering her?”

“You are lying. Jessica is not engaged,” Lloyd protested.

“Jessica is my fiancée, I tell you,” Marcus declared. “Until you have proof to say otherwise, keep your damned hands to yourself. If I find you anywhere near this house again; I will take a formal complaint about you to the Lord Chief Justice himself.”

A heavy silence settled over the room. Lloyd still stubbornly refused to move. He turned an accusatory glare on Jess.

Terrified, Jess stepped as close to Marcus as it was possible to get. She was blessedly relieved when his arm instinctively tightened around her. She had never been so grateful for anybody’s protection in her entire life. Now that she was safe, she watched Marcus battle with the stubborn magistrate with keen interest.

Typically, Lloyd turned the situation into something sleazy and sordid.

“I didn’t realise that you had
that
kind of arrangement going,” he drawled.

The gaze he threw at Jessica effectively branded her as nothing more than a common whore.

“If you call marriage to be
that
kind of arrangement then yes we are, and I can only be glad of it,” Marcus retorted flatly.

Jess felt tears pool in her eyes. She knew Marcus was doing his level best to protect her but, as she stood in the hallway nestled against him, she had wonder what it would be like if his statement were real. It would be heavenly to have someone like him beside her, there to protect and love her unconditionally.

If only
, she mused with a heartfelt sigh. 

Marcus shook his head warningly at her when she opened her mouth to say something. She dutifully lapsed into silence. At the moment, she was so darned grateful he was there she would have done anything he asked of her. If Lloyd had to believe she had a closer association with this man than they truly had then, it could only work in her favour. Now, if only Marcus stayed long enough for Lloyd to turn the focus of his attention elsewhere, she knew she would be able to rest comfortably in her bed at night.

Lloyd stormed toward the door but hesitated briefly in front of Jess.

“I warn you now that I will catch your brother red-handed. He is a thief, and should be behind bars.” He threw a dismissive look at Marcus. “I will be back.”

“Make sure you have good reason to come here again, Lloyd,” Marcus challenged as he watched the magistrate stalk out of the door. “Or you will not cross the threshold.”

When Lloyd whirled around to say something, Marcus slammed the door in his face.

“He is livid,” Jess whispered. “He won’t like being thwarted like that.”

“I don’t care,” Marcus snapped. “Just stay inside today, Jessica,” he pleaded softly.

At her ready nod, his hand slid down her arm to capture her fingers in a gentle hold. He studied the marks on her wrists and shook his head.

“How long had he been here?”

“He arrived a couple of minutes after you left. He hasn’t been that lecherous before,” Jess whispered. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“Men like Lloyd are just as criminal as the criminals they catch. If he is in this house threatening you without cause, and does something like that, you are at perfect liberty to do whatever you need to do to protect yourself. Smash him on the head with something, or kick him. Do whatever you need to do, but get out of the house and run for help. It is up to him to account to the locals why he has done what he has. He will then have to explain to them why he has been in your house in the first place.”

“The villagers hate him,” she whispered.

Now that the threat had gone, all of the emotion she had refused to show in front of Lloyd came raging to the surface.

Marcus hauled her into his arms as soon as he saw the tears, and held her tenderly while she wept.

“I know. I have seen him trying to pick on Ben in the tavern. The man is an oaf. Neither him nor Carruthers, have anything to do with the law,” he sighed and made a mental note to mention Lloyd in his missive to Sir Hugo. “Just tell Ben what has happened. Then he will have no excuse if he keeps doing stupid things which put you in danger. If his behaviour is giving Lloyd an excuse to come to this door, then he has to stop. It is as simple as that.”

Jess frowned, in spite of her tears, and leaned back to look up at him.

“Just who are you?” she whispered.

“I am not going to hurt you,” Marcus assured her. “I just see things a bit more than other people do, that’s all.”

“Like what?”

“Like the brace of pheasants hanging in the scullery, that Lloyd is accusing Ben of stealing. Then there is the side of beef on the hearth that you cannot afford to buy.”

Marcus watched her as he spoke and knew she was aware that they were stolen. He was a little annoyed for getting so ensnared by her beauty that he didn’t believe she would be amenable to crime. But the truth was there, on her face. In the lingering guilt that flickered in the shadows of her evasive gaze.

“I have told him to stop several times,” Jess admitted.

She could see no reason to lie to him. Not after he had just protected her. The least she could do was be honest with him.

“I don’t know where he has had the beef from. He won’t tell me and, to be honest, I don’t want to know. I have told him to stop bringing that here too, but he just won’t listen to me. He thinks he is helping.”

“It will be alright,” Marcus whispered. “I could have a word with him, but I am a stranger. He will undoubtedly just tell me that I am poking my nose in.”

Thankfully, she had stopped crying. Marcus tipped her chin up until she looked at him.

“Which is why
you
must tell your brother about what Lloyd has done to you. He needs to understand the severity of what you are likely to be faced with if Lloyd catches him.”

“It is horrible,” Jessica whispered.

She shuddered to think what they would do with her when they realised the engagement was fake, and quickly closed the fear out.

Marcus had very little experience of comforting distressed women and was at a loss to know what to say or do now. Without telling her who he truly was, and who his connections in the War Office were, there was not much he could say to reassure her.

“Well, as far as everybody is concerned now, I am your fiancé. That should hopefully be enough to keep Lloyd away. We can work on Ben. Assuming he doesn’t get caught, and indeed stops his thieving, there is no reason for Lloyd to come anywhere near here.”

He kissed the back of her hand but didn’t release it.

“Why are you doing this?” Jessica asked. “Thank you, by the way, but why are you helping me like this?”

“I am susceptible to a damsel in distress,” he teased. 

Jessica smiled up at him but seeing his eyes so full of shadows made her worry. She suspected there was an entirely unseen side to Marcus she had yet to learn about and an ulterior motive behind his willingness to help that had nothing to do with any attraction to her.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You are welcome,” he murmured.

Slowly, so he didn’t worry her, he lowered his head. This time, when his lips settled over hers, they didn’t immediately leave again. Instead, they settled as though they were meant to be there. His mouth captured her soft sigh of surrender. His kiss increased in pressure and demanded her total compliance in the nicest of ways.

She clung to him and copied his movements. It was raw, it was honest, it made her senses swim. She couldn’t stop it. The more he kissed her, the more she wanted. She just couldn’t deny herself this one moment in time where she felt special. It was wonderful. Far more than she had ever expected to experience, especially when he moaned low in his throat and tugged her closer. She went willingly and stood so close to him that her breasts pressed wantonly against the solid muscles of his chest.

Marcus moaned again when the needs of his flesh became unbearable. He knew he should stop, especially when he began to judge the distance to the chaise. She was untried; vulnerable, and needed protection. Instead, he was positively marauding her senses. Tearing his lips away from hers, he slid random nipping kisses down the long column of her throat. In spite of his best intentions, he couldn’t stop his hands from searching out every dip and hollow of her feminine curves.