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“God, where is this taking us?” He asked but they know. They both knew exactly where this was going to take them.
Clementine didn’t know what to say. She knew where she hoped it would take them, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. A part of her wanted some sort of declaration from him that what he felt for her was really love. She wasn’t at all sure it was possible to fall in love with someone so quickly, especially the forever kind of love that people staked a marriage on. She wasn’t at all sure she was capable of such emotion but couldn’t deny the overwhelming love she felt whenever she looked at him, or he looked at her like he was doing.
“We have to catch a killer.”
Moss heaved a sigh but still couldn’t bring himself to release her. “Am I forgiven for losing my temper with you earlier?”
Clementine nodded. When he looked at her that way, so lost and miserable, she couldn’t feel an ounce of annoyance toward him. It vanished instantly and was replaced with a deeper affection that she knew was love.
“I doubt any argument we ever have is going to last for long. I hate falling out with you,” she admitted.
“Me too,” he grinned. “But at least it clears the air.”
To prove it, he kissed her once more.
“What are you doing?” she whispered when he began to lean her back on the window seat. She threw a somewhat panicked look at the door. “Father could walk in on us.”
Despite the risk of it, Clementine wanted to laugh. She smiled at him and threw him a teasing look.
“We are officially kissing and making up,” Moss teased with a grin, aware that the movement of his lips against hers made her shiver.
“Oh.” But when Clementine tried to nod found her lips captured persuasively by his in a way that left her unable to do anything more than return his loving caress.
Eventually, Moss stood but only to sweep her into his arms. To her surprise, he stalked across the sitting room and headed for the door.
“Where are we going?”
“To catch a killer,” he told her.
Moss knew that if he spent any more time alone with her then he was apt to do something rash like allow matters to go too far between them, and not just physically either. The urge to ask her to marry him was so strong that the words hovered on his lips, but her father’s warning hovered in the back of his mind. Now was not the time or the place.
They did indeed have a killer to catch.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Right, well, we are going to have to lay a trap. I am going to need everyone to understand that there is a certain element of danger involved. If you don’t want to get involved you must say so now. Everyone will undoubtedly understand given the severity of what we are dealing with here,” Moss said, studying each person in the room with him.
“I am in,” Clementine announced.
“Me too,” Cameron nodded.
Billsdon and his men nodded.
“I am going nowhere. We have to catch this blackguard,” the Captain declared firmly.
Rory nodded. “My cousin has been one of his victims. I demand I help catch him.”
Moss nodded his thanks.
“What do we do?” Clementine asked.
“Are you listening carefully?” Moss asked them all with a grin.
Everyone nodded. Quietly, Moss explained what he wanted everyone to do.
Half an hour later, Clementine clutched a basket in her hand with trembling fingers. She struggled not to glance around wildly in abject panic. She was cold, tired, and wanted to be back at home, preferably back on the window seat, wrapped securely in Moss’s arms once more. Instead, she was on her way to the grocery shop to ostensibly purchase a few provisions she really didn’t need.
“Good morning,” she called to Mr Artwell, the grocer. The tinkling of the shop bell above her head muffled his response but did little to diminish the man’s ready smile.
