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“I would love to,” she whispered, touched at his thoughtfulness.
“That’s settled then. I shall arrange for the letter to your father to be sent off first thing in the morning. That should deal with him for now. Meantime, don’t enter into any conversations with Brampton, and please don’t believe a word he says about me, or anyone else for that matter. The man has a reputation for being a scoundrel for a very good reason.” He gave her a pointed look. “That also stands for Barbarella. They are both trouble.”
She wrinkled her nose up. “I don’t like either of them to be honest with you. There is something going on between those two that I just don’t want to get involved in.”
She knew exactly what Barbarella and Brampton were up to. It was undoubtedly exactly what she had Trenton had been doing for the most part of the day. But, as far as Ursula was concerned, as long as they kept it between the two of them then they could do whatever they wanted.
“Wait,” Trenton murmured.
She looked at him questioningly for a moment when he stopped and turned toward her. Before she could speak, he tugged her into the shadows and drew her into his arms for a very thorough kiss. She felt branded, possessed by the masterful kisses he gave her, and returned his embrace with a ferocity that matched his. His low groan was soft yet shivered through her and wrapped around her heart in a vice-like grip. In that moment she knew that this was meant to be. She was his and undoubtedly had been from the first moment she had seen him across the village fayre one autumn when she had been ten years old. He had laid claim to her tender young heart all those years ago and, in spite of the years that had passed, still held it. She could not deny him anything, not when he was so much a part of her that parting from him, even for a few hours, left her feeling bereft, and turned her world as dark and gloomy as the fog they stood in.
It took a few moments before the sound of another set of footsteps registered on her senses. She was wrapped in a haze of desire, snuggled comfortably in Trenton’s loving arms. At first, she didn’t pay the sound much attention, even less so when Trenton nudged them deeper into the shadows so he could kiss her some more.
He lifted his head and watched a figure dressed entirely in black stalk past. The rhythmic tap-tap-tap of the man’s cane as he walked echoed hollowly around the empty streets. As soon as he had vanished and, assured that they weren’t noticed, Trenton stole several more shockingly intimate kisses before he slowly released her.
“Let’s get you home before I forget I am a gentleman,” Trenton growled. He wished they were indeed back at home, in front of a nice warm fire so they could remove the various layers of clothing, and indulge in this delicious new side of their relationship.
Ursula sighed and leaned against him as they resumed their walk. To begin with she didn’t notice anything was amiss. It was only when they left the yellowish glow of one of the gas lamps behind and stepped into thicker darkness that she was aware that they were no longer alone. The atmosphere suddenly shifted around them and rapidly turned into something sinister. She glanced up when Trenton suddenly stiffened.
Before either of them could move, a dark figure suddenly launched out of the fog and threw himself at Trenton. Her cry of alarm was loud as he knocked her to the floor as he flew past her. She landed with a heavy thump and only just managed to sit upright in time to watch the figure sitting astride Trenton, raining blows down onto his face, head and shoulders. Outraged, she struggled to get to her feet and cried in dismay when a pair of arms appeared out of the gloom and grabbed at her cloak.
“Get off me,” she screamed as she twisted and writhed in an attempt to get away.
“Come here,” a low voice growled into her ear.
“Get away from me,” she snapped, determined they wouldn’t succeed in dragging her into the darkness as they clearly wanted to do.
She lifted her foot and kicked out hard in the direction of her assailants shins. The resounding groan was reassuring enough for give her courage to repeat the action, which she did with even greater force. To her relief, her assailant was unbalanced enough so that she could push hard at his body. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see much in the way of facial features, but felt an instinctive recognition sweep over her as she caught a glimpse of the shadowy outline. She knew, in that moment, she had met this person before, but where?
Swirling around, she turned to look at Trenton, who was now on his feet and trading blows with his attacker. Unsure how to help him, she hesitated for a moment, then yanked off her cloak and threw it over the assailant’s head. Rendered temporarily blind, the attacker’s vicious curses became muffled, but his temporary disorientation was enough to help Trenton fight him off.
“Come on,” Trenton snapped, grabbing her wrist in a fierce grip. He yanked her after him so hard that it was difficult to maintain her balance, and she stumbled along beside him on shaking legs for a moment before she slammed to a halt.
“Wait!” She cried, yanking back on her wrist. “Don’t you want to see who it is?” she gasped.
When Trenton didn’t appear to have heard her, she retraced her st
eps. To her horror, all she found sitting in the middle of the path was her cloak.
“They have gone,” she whispered, listening to the sound of rapid clip of footsteps fading into the distance.
Trenton opened his mouth to speak only for Ursula to put her finger to her lips. She picked up her cloak and draped it over her arm. Once she had tugged him into the relative safety of the shadows, she stood on tip-toe so she could whisper in his ear.
“There are two of them,” she said quietly and nodded toward the shadows.
Trenton took the cloak off her and swept an arm around her waist. “Stay close to me. We are going to turn right at the top of this road. Adelaide’s house is half-way down that street.”
Ursula nodded, still amazed by how well he knew the area. She stuck close to his side as they made their way toward the safety of home, and neither of them spoke. The wonderful intimate atmosphere that had shimmered between had now turned into something watchful and wary.
By the time they reached the house, the tension between them was palpable. There was so much she wanted to say to him; so much she wanted to ask him, that she just didn’t know where to start. Not now; not after yet another attack.
“How are you? Let me see your face,” she whispered as soon as they stepped through the front door of Adelaide’s house. She tugged him over to the candle that had been left alight on the small table at the bottom of the stairs. “You have been cut. You need to get that cleaned.”
“I am all right,” he soothed. “Did they hurt you?”
“No. Did you get a good look at the man?”
To her surprise, Trenton nodded. “He tried to hide his face but I managed to get a good enough look at him to know for definite who your assailant has been.”
