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“Go in there yourself. Get this over with,” she muttered under her breath.
Sucking in a deep, fortifying breath, she squared her shoulders and stomped back into the house. To her dismay, when she got back into the kitchen, the scullery was wide open.
Her heart lurched. Everything within her screamed to get out of the house; and go and find Marcus, Ben, or even Joe. Decision made, she snatched up her shawl, and practically flew across the garden back toward the village. As she ran, she glanced back at the house. She couldn’t see anybody following her, but was sure there had been movement in the window of one of the upstairs bedrooms. Without bothering to try to see who it was, she lifted her skirts and ran.
“Isn’t that your landlady?” Joe murmured suddenly when a flurry of frantic movement to his right drew his attention.
Marcus spun around and watched Jess race down the main street. The look on her face was nothing short of frantic. What worried him the most was the panicked way she kept looking behind her as she half-ran, half-trotted along the road.
“I will go and see what’s wrong,” he muttered and lurched to his feet.
“See you later,” Joe called but suspected that Marcus wasn’t listening.
His attention was on his rather beautiful landlady.
“There is more going on there than landlady and lodger, I suspect,” he muttered ruefully, then turned his attention back to his duties.
“What is it?” Marcus demanded when he reached her.
“There is someone in the house.” Jess gasped for breath and told him about the key and the scullery door.
“Are they still there now?” He frowned at the rooftop of Jess’ house visible above the treetops.
“I don’t know. As soon as I realised I wasn’t alone; I left,” Jess stammered.
In spite of the fact that they were in the middle of the busy main street, Marcus hauled her into his arms. It was brief, but it did the trick. When he looked down at her again, she didn’t look so fearful.
“Now tell me what happened,” he demanded calmly.
Jess shivered as soon as he released her but dutifully recounted what had just happened.
“Come on then, let us go and see who is there,” he murmured gently.
Jess nodded. It was a relief when he caught hold of her hand and held it firmly all the way back to the house. She wasn’t sure she would go back otherwise.
“I need you to follow what I tell you to do. Don’t venture off on your own, and don’t speak unless I tell you to,” he warned quietly once they were outside the house.
“What do you plan to do?”
“I am going to go in there and search the house,” he said. “You need to stop out here until I know it is safe.”
“Please be careful,” she whispered when he withdrew his gun from his pocket.
“I will, I promise.”
When she still looked doubtful, he placed a hard kiss on her lips.
“Stay here. Don’t move until I reappear in the doorway.” He left before she could protest.
Marcus left her on the edge of the trees and crept into the house. Immediately, he knew that somebody had been inside because there were damp footprints on the stairs. From the look of the size of the feet, it was a man too.
Could one of the guests have returned, but not told Jess?
He peered cautiously into his room, but the bed still lay in abandoned disarray. He had no personal possessions in the house for anybody to search so closed the door again with a sigh.
It didn’t take long for him to confirm that the house was completely devoid of life. Re-pocketing his gun, he went to fetch Jess.
“Can you show me where the spare key is kept?” he asked.
