One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1) (8 page)

At the main gates, the men turned and looked at each other. Barnaby’s eyes dropped to Luke’s gold chain again and a cunning look swept over his dark features. Luke sighed. He knew that look and realised then that it was going to be some time yet before he could get any breakfast.

Poppy visibly shook by the time she returned to the hovel later that morning. Her journey had taken far longer than it should have done because she had stopped several times to make sure nobody had followed her. As a result, her stomach was a bundle of churning worry that threatened to overspill at any moment. She didn’t want to be at the hovel at all, but there really was nowhere else she could go. Not unless she wanted to take a return journey all the way back to Cumbria, which she didn’t have the strength for right now, or her possessions at hand to take with her. She was so worried that she felt as though she was capable of jumping out of her own skin if anything even remotely untoward happened. Although she was fairly confident nobody had trailed her to the hovel, she would feel infinitely more confident about that once she was inside where it was, well, sort of safe.

She hated London, with its smog filled and confusing, litter strewn streets. She longed for the quietude of country life, and the small, somewhat humble abode she had grown up in. Her journey across London to the park had changed her outlook on life completely, and she knew that after today nothing would ever quite be the same again. Mostly because she had been ensnared by the enigma that was Mr Luke Brindley, and she knew she would ponder about him for a long while yet.

She entered the house as quietly as she could because she needed a few moments alone to compose herself and decide what to do next. Fate was working against her though because she barely made it across the hallway before she became aware of the shuffle of footsteps coming from the front room of the house.

“You are back,” Clarence called from the depths of the front room. It wasn’t a question.

Poppy’s lip actually curled, which was quite uncharacteristic of her but bore testament to how derisively she now looked upon her sire. She was angry with him. No, more than that, she was coldly furious at him for his selfishness; his callous disregard for everything she held dear, and his complete cowardice for not having the strength of character to deal with the mess he had gotten himself into.

She didn’t bother to answer him. Instead, she silently made her way through the scullery toward the kitchen. It was only when she reached the doorway that she realised she was still held the bag with the money in. Strangely, she had been so busy scouring the streets for anyone acting suspiciously that she had forgotten all about the huge sum of money in her hand. The last thing she wanted to do was admit to Clarence that she had not delivered it as she was supposed to do. Just knowing that kind of money was in the house would be impossible for him to ignore, and he would be plundering its bountiful depths before the clock struck noon. It was important to her future that the money remain largely untouched for now – at least until she could decide whether to return it to Peter or not.

“It is foolish to hand this over,” she whispered. She continued to ignore Clarence’s repeated calls for her to answer him and hurriedly stuffed the bag into a cupboard beside the hearth. She turned around just as Clarence made his entrance.

“Well?” he demanded without preamble.

“Well what?” she asked coldly, careful to keep her gaze averted from the cupboard, and Clarence’s somewhat searching stare. Rubbing her chilled arms, she turned her attention toward lighting the fire. It was enough to make sure that her cheeks didn’t flush guiltily and she was able to meet Clarence’s gaze with all the cool aplomb of someone who belonged within the upper echelons of the
ton
rather than someone who was half out of her mind with worry. Now that she was back at the hovel she wondered whether it would have been better to have stayed with the corpse and wait for Luke to return as instructed. Right now, she really wanted to be in his company. That cool, calm, almost unflappable demeanour would know how to handle this situation without much in the way of thought. If only she could do the same.

Clarence sighed and looked at her with disgust, which was somewhat daring given the task he had landed her with. It raised her anger another notch, and she lifted a querulous brow as she waited.

“Have you handed it over?” Clarence snapped impatiently.

Don’t bother to ask if I am alright. Don’t worry about whether I was frightened, or ask if he threatened me. Just think about yourself you great oaf,
she mused snidely.

“That’s what you sent me out there to do wasn’t it?” she replied evasively. In spite of her anger she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him outright. She knew well enough that the creditor hadn’t got his money, and he would undoubtedly let Clarence know as soon as he could. At some point in the not too distant future, the fact that she still had considerable wealth in her bag would be discovered by Clarence. What then?

It galled her now to think that she had to give the money away to a veritable stranger. The money was the only money they – she - had left in the world, and after what had happened today she knew it had to be used to secure her future because Clarence would never bother. His total disinterest over her safety today was the final straw. She had now completely had enough of his selfishness and callous disregard for her and her future welfare. It was time to leave Clarence to his down devices. As far as she was concerned, he could sort his own problems out now.

“Well? Did you?” He snapped impatiently.

Poppy clenched her teeth and nodded briskly.

“Good, then that should keep him quiet for now.”

Poppy stared at him suspiciously. “What do you mean ‘for now’?” She knew from the way he studied the floor and began to turn around without bothering to answer that there was something more he wasn’t telling her.

“Wait right there!” she demanded in a querulous voice she had never used before.

Having never heard it himself either, Clarence dutifully froze. Rather than mumble and declare himself in need of a seat as he usually did when she challenged him, this time he turned around to look at her with eyes that were as cold as ice.

“Pardon?” His voice was pure menace.

Poppy stared at the contrast in the man before her to the man whom she thought was too sick to get out of bed that very same morning and knew that she had been used once again. If that wasn’t insult enough, she knew from the scornful look on his face that going to the park for him had earned her no more respect than anything else she had done for him.

“You seem to be feeling better this morning.” Her doubt as to his honesty was confirmed when his eyes turned shifty. “So, remind me, why were you not well enough to go to the park yourself this morning?”

“Well, you have to make yourself useful,” he drawled condescendingly. “After all, what other uses do you have? You are another mouth to feed. You have to earn your keep.”

“You scoundrel,” she whispered.

“Watch your mouth,” he growled. “You are not too old for a thrashing.”

Poppy’s head snapped back as though he had just slapped her anyway, and she glared at him with all the anger that flooded through her. She had never really stopped to consider just how vile a creature Clarence was. Now the reality was there before her she felt tainted just being related to him.

“Don’t you dare threaten me,” she whispered. “I should warn you now that you are in deeper trouble than you realise. The next time you get yourself in the mire,
you
can get yourself out of it. You shall have no further help from me.”

“You don’t know what you are talking about,” Clarence snorted.

“Don’t I? Really? Then who was that dead body who washed up along the river where I was supposed to meet your contact?” she challenged. She watched Clarence look at her in disbelief. All of his previous contempt vanished in an instant. “Oh yes, that’s right. I think you are in deeper than you realise because unless I am very mistaken, the person who killed that man who I found floating in the river at the meeting point must have been mistaken him for
YOU!”
Her voice grew louder the more she spoke until she was shouting and physically trembling by the time she fell silent.

“A body?” Clarence murmured, clearly stunned.

“Strangled. A middle class nabob dressed just like you would have been if you had bothered to go,” she retorted. “It is strange how he happened to wash up in the area you were supposed to deliver the money. I should be careful who you threaten,
father
dearest, because from now on you can go to Hades if you want anything else delivered to anyone. Do it yourself.”

The events of this morning had already changed her life. She realised as she stood in the cold and somewhat derelict kitchen that life had thrown her a curve that altered her future, her destiny, completely and it wasn’t in a nice way. She knew that the only way of getting out of the horrible place was to secrete the money in the bag away, preferably before the creditor appeared wanting his payment because Clarence didn’t care two hoots what happened to her and never would.

“Not to worry though, eh, Clarence,” she continued snidely. “I mean, he thinks he has killed you. Hopefully you can get out of London before the news of the dead man’s real identity winds up in the broadsheets, and killer comes to find you to finish the job.”

She had no idea if she was heading off on a tangent, or whether there was any glimmer of truth in what she had just said, but if it made Clarence wary about what he got himself into in the future then she had no qualms about scaring him. She watched him swallow harshly but could feel no sympathy for him when he slumped somewhat dejectedly into a chair beside the fireplace. Unfortunately for him, Poppy knew that look now and wasn’t prepared to be fooled by his amateur theatrics any more.

“We can’t leave London,” Clarence muttered with a frown. “There isn’t any money left to get us anywhere else.”

With a snort of disgust she placed her hands on her hips in a challenging stance and glared at him. “You had better tell me what mess we left behind in Cumbria. Then I think you need to think about why this killer would want you dead.”

Clarence swallowed and looked at her without bothering to answer her. He had clearly been thrown by her reports of a dead man in the park.

“What did the dead - deceased – look like?”

Poppy shrugged. “He was about your height. He had dark hair and had been strangled.”

She saw him hesitate and waited for him to lambast her for something, but he didn’t. Instead he sat with his gaze on the floor, seemingly lost in thought.

“So, where is the money?” He looked around the kitchen as though he expected to see it.

“I handed it over,” she lied. He didn’t see her fingers crossed behind her back. When he looked at her and lifted his brows she kept her face devoid of all emotion and stared back.

“Who to?”

“Your creditor, I suppose,” she shrugged.

Clarence opened his mouth as though he was about to argue but then clamped it closed again.

“Did you leave the money somewhere where the contact could find it, or did you hand it over to someone? What did he look like?” Clarence was suddenly all urgency.

Poppy mentally cursed. “Thankfully someone was there,” Poppy reported, carefully avoiding answering him with a lie. The fact that the ‘someone’ was a tall, distinguished looking and extremely handsome man wasn’t pertinent right now. “No, before you ask, I don’t know if he was the killer, all right? I didn’t wait around long enough to find out, especially once the body turned up.”

“You handed the money over to a man?” Clarence asked calmly. “How did you know it was the right man?”

Poppy sighed. “How many people do you expect to be in the park at dawn? The corpse was about your height and build, Clarence, so I wouldn’t get too reassured by the fact that your creditor has the money he demanded.”

“Do you think the man you gave the money to was responsible for the dead body?”

There was something in Clarence’s eyes that bothered her only she couldn’t quite decide what it was. With a shrug she decided to continue to fudge the truth.

“How should I know? I have no intention of going back to find out. He has the money now. The dead body is nothing to do with me. I did as you wanted. The money is in his hands.”

Clarence snorted and glared at her. “That’s the end of the matter now, is it?”

“Not entirely,” Poppy replied carefully. “You see, at some point the relatives of the deceased with report him missing and may put a notice of his death in the broadsheets. If they don’t, the magistrate will. You certainly haven’t been reported to anyone as missing. In fact, nobody other than your cousin, Peter, knows you are even in London. He won’t report you missing if you vanish, and neither will I because you are here, alive and well. Before you ask, no I will not pretend that you are dead.”

Having seen the calculation in his eyes she knew what he was thinking. Just the thought of it filled her with complete disgust at just how low he would consider sinking.

“I wasn’t about to suggest such a thing,” Clarence declared flatly.

Poppy shorted and threw him an askance look when his guilty gaze slid back to the floor. “It will become apparent to the killer that he had the wrong person soon enough, won’t it? What do you plan to do then because you are a sitting target here, aren’t you? We are in one of London’s poorest districts where murder and God knows what happen on a regular basis. Anything could happen, and you would not be around to tell anybody.”