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Suddenly, the fight went out of Moss. It vanished instantly because he knew that if their positions had been reversed wild horses wouldn’t have been able to force him to stay at the house while she raced after a killer. Of course, there was significant differences in their gender to consider, but the instinctive need to protect and nurture each other was an elemental force behind everything they did. They cared about each other. It was as simple as that.
“Now what?” she whispered.
“Now we go back to your house and plan. I have seen enough to know that my suspicions were correct. If we are careful, we can get this blackguard behind bars where they belong and can then make a few decisions about our lives, Clementine,” Moss whispered, not least because they were close enough to the trees to be overheard by anybody lurking within. “What you have to know is that our futures have to be together. There can be no question of it. We must consider where our relationship is going to take us, not least because we are standing out in a field for the entire world to see, and in an intimate embrace as well. Now that I have risked your reputation, I have to make sure you are protected.”
Clementine struggled to remember a time when she had been any more disappointed than she felt right then. She stared at him and felt her heart begin to shrivel as hurt took over. Tears stung her eyes and she shoved roughly but determinedly out of his arms.
“I can assure you that I absolutely refuse to shackle myself to anybody because it is the ‘dutiful’ thing to do,” she announced pertly. “I don’t care what anybody says, thinks, or feels about us. If they happened to glance into the field and saw us then so be it, but I don’t see why I have to sacrifice my future because of it.”
“Do you consider marriage as sacrificing your future?”
“It is if we are forced into it.”
“I would never allow myself to be forced into marriage,” Moss growled.
“Well, that is what you have just said. I will never agree to a marriage that is forced by other people’s opinions.”
“How about my opinion?” Moss demanded.
“I am not going to marry because you consider you have a duty to do right by me,” Clementine replied.
“Well, what other reason is there?” Moss growled impatiently.
“Love. Mutual respect. Honesty. Desire, but mostly love. I won’t marry unless it is something that I want to do, for all those reasons and only those reasons. I am sorry that is not what you believe marriage should be all about. Obviously, I misunderstood,” Clementine bit out. She struggled to control the tears that loomed.
Without saying another word, Clementine spun on her heel and marched across the field toward home.
Moss remained beside the trees long enough to study the shadows.
“I will catch you,” he hissed, throwing a dark look at the closest spot where he thought he had seen the shadows shift. When he glanced back at Clementine, Moss realised she had put more distance between them than he was comfortable with. With a curse, he set off after her.
Thankfully, Clementine maintained the distance between her and Moss all the way home. She was confused mostly, about what to expect from him, and fearful of where the feelings she had for him would lead her. But it was too late now to pretend that nothing had happened between them. It was too late to pretend she wasn’t already falling in love with him, and that she didn’t want a future as Moss’s wife. She just didn’t want him to feel compelled to marry her because of what everyone else thought. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel confident enough in their relationship to ask him how he felt about her. In her mind, caring and being in love were too different things. How could she say so to Moss?
By the time they reached the house, a stilted silence had settled between them. Moss was scowling deeply and clearly grumpy, and Clementine was battling tears, that much Cameron knew the instant he set eyes on them. He suspected that it was because Moss had told Clementine off for going after him. He hoped so in any case because it had been a foolish thing to do.
“Who is with Mr Cavanagh?” Moss asked when he stepped into the kitchen and saw Cameron waiting for them.
“Rory is going to sit with the body and make sure that nobody gets into the house. He is with the Captain, who is armed,” Cameron reported.
Moss nodded and heaved a sigh of relief that the men had organised themselves. He knew the Captain well enough to know that he would shoot first and ask questions later and that, as far as Moss was concerned, could only be a good thing. He suspected that the killer was going to try to get into Mr Cavanagh’s house again because they truly were that foolish.
“Do you think the killer will go back?” Cameron asked sceptically, as if she had just read his thoughts.
Moss nodded. “The evidence is still in that house. They will undoubtedly think they just decided to retrieve it at the wrong time. Now that we have come back here, if the Captain and Rory keep the lights out and the door locked, the killer will reappear.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t. We have to wait for the killer to appear. When they do, I will be there to greet them.” Moss’s tone was harsh. He didn’t realise just how sharp he had been until the words were out and he saw her wounded expression. He thought over what and how he had just spoken to her, and immediately turned apologetic, but Clementine was already stalking angrily out of the kitchen.
“Lovers tiff?” Cameron grinned.
Moss rolled his eyes.
“She will come around in time,” Cameron assured his future son-in-law. “Just give her a while. She has been worried sick ever since Sally died and is easy to annoy right now. Once it is all over, she will settle down.”
“She objects to marrying to save her reputation,” Moss growled.
Cameron glared at Moss with a suspicious squint. “Do you have a reason to marry to save her reputation?”
