To Catch A Thief (Saved By Desire 2) by Rebecca King Page B

blazingly angry at the utter gall of the thief.
    “So, what do we do now?” Algernon asked quietly from the study doorway.
    He had never seen his son so coldly furious before. It was a side of Jeb that Algernon never wanted to see. Wary, he decided not to reveal his own anger, mainly for fear of what Jeb might do. His decision proved to be the right one when Jeb looked at him with eyes that were nothing short of merciless.
    “Now, I go to work,” Jeb murmured with lethal intent.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Sophia fought the dark shadows that threatened to drag her under. Her cry was muted by her clamped lips as her head twisted from side to side. Thankfully, the need to suck in a deep breath woke her up. Her heart thundered in her ears with startling ferocity, and she lay and listened to it as she stared blankly at the ceiling. While she couldn’t remember much about what she had just dreamt, there was one clear memory which still lingered; Jebediah Hutchinson.
    While last night had been a most pleasant evening, something about it was disturbing. One of the problems was the way Jeb had studied her. It was as though he sensed she was harbouring a secret and was trying to work out what it was. Those incredible eyes of his had been mesmerising; hypnotic even. While the feminine part of her had been thrilled, she suspected it would be wise to remain wary around him. All was not as it seemed with him. There was something almost too intent about his observations; as though he was harbouring a secret and trying to decide who to tell.
    Still, that was not what had given her bad dreams. Something about the evening left her unsettled. Around the table last night, the atmosphere had been rather jovial, but had a tendency to swiftly turn tense and watchful only she couldn’t quite work out who changed it, or why.
    Sophia sighed and considered her aunt’s behaviour for a moment. While Delilah had been her usual gregarious self, Sophia had been aware of the rather telling looks exchanged between several of the guests whenever her aunt spoke. It left her to wonder what they knew about Delilah that she didn’t. As the only outsider at the table, she knew people would know things she didn’t, but couldn’t help feeling that she was missing something considerably important.
    Did it have something to do with the collection of assorted paraphernalia Delilah had hidden in her bedroom?
    A tendril of suspicion filtered through her mind, but she quickly pushed it aside. It couldn’t possibly be that Delilah had stolen everything. No, surely not. Delilah wasn’t a thief. She had a reasonable stipend each month from Hooky. There was no reason for her to want to thieve anything from anyone. Somehow, though, the thought that Delilah might very well have stolen them just wouldn’t go away.
    How was she to find out for definite though? Asking Delilah outright was most certainly not going to happen. Her relationship with her aunt was already strained as it was because of the financial issues Delilah ignored. Delilah would almost certainly never speak to her again if she even faintly accused her of stealing from her friends.
    “No, it’s a preposterous idea,” Sophia murmured into the darkness.
    Still, the suspicion she was right just wouldn’t go away. Delilah had been a little too defensive about the items, and still hadn’t told Sophia where they had come from. If she had nothing to hide then there was no reason not to confide in her – was there?
    “I need to write to Hooky. He would know what to do,” she whispered.
    Sleep was going to be impossible now that she had started to worry about last night and the items in the drawer. Her frown was deep as she pushed out of bed. It would be best all round if she wrote a missive to Hooky and got her problems off her chest, and then she could at least try to get back to sleep before dawn broke. If not, it was going to be a very long night indeed because the clock had only just chimed two