Luck of the Irish: Complete Edition (28 page)

“I’ve got you, love. Nobody’s going to hurt you anymore. I’m here.”

Declan kissed her hair, her moist face, and her mouth with all the love he felt bursting inside his chest. Their tears mingled as they kissed, as they whispered the sweetest words to each other, and the world around them seized to exist.

* * * *

In the evening, as the effect of the sedative wore off, Keira didn’t want to wake up from that amazing dream. She was afraid she wouldn’t remember it. To her surprise, her memory was intact, when she opened her eyes and stared at living room ceiling. However, with those memories came the fear that Paul would discover she knew her real story. She needed to tread carefully. She sat up and looked around. He wasn’t there and the house was dead silent.

Maybe he ran away
.

She laughed at her own joke. She hadn’t been that lucky so far. Why should she start counting on luck now? She had an idea and went to the kitchen to put her plan into motion. She found the cooking utensils and the food she needed to prepare dinner. When Paul returned, she was setting the table for them. She had found candles and a candlestick, which she was placing in the middle of the table when he entered the dining room. He was dumbfounded at the sight.

“Would you do the honors, honey?”

“What?”

“Can you light the candles while I bring the food?”

She didn’t wait for his answer which never came. Paul couldn’t believe his ears and his eyes as he sat down at the table. For the first time since he had rescued her, Keira showed him how much she appreciated him. He was so ecstatic he almost suggested they’d skip dinner and went straight to bed. He could barely wait to have her all to himself. Then, he remembered she hadn’t eaten much. She needed her strength. He salivated watching Keira set a sizzling bowl of stew in the middle of the table; although, his reaction had nothing to do with the meal. Vivid images of a naked, trussed up Keira danced before his eyes and he had to control himself to avoid actually drooling over her as she served him.

“I hope you like stew. I can’t remember my own name but I knew how to cook this. Don’t ask me how.”

She sat down and took a little sip from her plate while Paul attacked his.

“Hmm, there’s too much salt in it.”

“I think it’s perfect, Keira.”

“Really? I don’t like salty food,” she got her plate and stood up to go to the kitchen. “Are you sure you’ll eat that?”

Paul just nodded, swallowing another spoonful of her stew.

Once in the kitchen, away from his eyes, Keira poured the contents of her plate in the sink. Then, she filled it up again with the stew she had left on the stove. The one in the bowl was laced with the tranquilizer Paul kept in the painkiller bottle. She had figured it out when she woke up that evening. All the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. She understood why she had felt dizzy that day in the restaurant. Paul must have put it in her food or wine when she had gone to the bathroom. She had also slept most of the previous day after she had taken it, thinking she was taking something for her headache.

She returned, sat down again at the table and resumed eating her meal. It didn’t take long for the drug to knock him out because she had poured the whole bottle in the bowl. She barely had time to move his plate to the side before Paul collapsed on the table. Her first impulse was to accommodate him on the couch but she reminded herself that she needed to move fast.

Grabbing her coat, she ran out of the house. There was no visible moonlight in the dark overcast sky and the streetlights were too dim for her to see ahead. She slowed down her pace waiting for her eyes to adjust. She had no idea which way to go. She only knew she had to put as much distance between Paul and herself as possible. She walked up the road to the top of the hill without finding a soul. Desperation threatened her resolve when she looked around - there were no houses for miles. The only light she was able to see was too far for her to make out what it was. It could be a house. It could easily be a store, in which case, it would be closed at that time of night. Her heart sank inside her chest and she sat on a nearby rock, contemplating her options. They were limited at best. In truth, they were quite slim.

She could walk aimlessly around the dark and cold countryside, looking for help, hoping a good Samaritan would show up out of the blue. The odds of that happening were against her, and she would end up freezing to death. Her coat was too thin.

She could go back to the house, pretend nothing had happened, and wait for another chance to escape. Paul was crazy but he wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t be able to deceive him for too long. She needed to use her head. A crazy idea came to mind. It would be risky and dangerous to pull it off but she was running out of options.

I’m sorry, Declan. I can’t see another way out
.

She sent him a silent prayer as she stood up and dragged her feet back to the cottage. She had no doubt she loved Declan deeply and she knew he loved her with the same intensity. She could only hope he would forgive her for what she was about to do.

When she got to the kitchen, she found everything exactly as she had left. She had a hard time getting Paul up and carrying him to the bedroom but she managed it. Stripping him off proved to be another ordeal for her. She was sweaty and out of breath when he finally lay on the bed in his underwear. Fortunately, the sedative was potent and he didn’t stir a muscle. She also figured out he would be out of commission at least until noon. That would give her some time to rest and prepare herself for the next phase of her plan. She took a blanket and a pillow from the closet and went to sleep on the couch.

Waking up a little while later, Keira took the chance to clean the kitchen up, getting rid of all possible incriminating evidence from the night before, in case Paul suspected something and went snooping around the place. Once she was done with it, Keira sat on the living room floor and forced herself to remember the time she had spent in yoga classes as a teenager. She used that knowledge to calm herself down and pass the time.

Around noon, she tiptoed to the bedroom. Paul’s clothes were scattered around the floor. She added hers to the mess. It suited her plan. Leaving only her bra and panties on, Keira slipped under Paul’s arm and lay on her back. His proximity threatened to undo the positive effects of the yoga exercises, but she conquered the urge to hurl.

Looking at the ceiling, she realized it had been only three days since Paul had taken her from Declan but it felt like three thousand. She braced herself for what was to come before she could be with him again. She knew her love for Declan was strong enough to get her through one more ordeal and lead her back to him. She prayed his love would be strong enough to take her back.

CHAPTER 10

As Paul stirred in his sleep, slowly regaining consciousness, Keira took a deep breath and said a silent prayer. She had to act fast if she wanted to take advantage of his momentary confusion before the last effects of the drug wore off. She lay on her side and started kissing Paul’s chin, neck and chest while her nails scratched the skin on his thighs. When he opened his heavy eyelids halfway to look at her, Keira smiled up at him in the best imitation of a seductive smile she could muster under those circumstances. Her survival depended on her ability to deceive Paul. That much was clear to her and the thought kept her going. In fact, her will to survive combined with her wish to go back to Declan drove Keira on.

“Good morning, stud. I hope you didn’t wear yourself out last night.”

A confused expression clouded his face as he creased his eyebrows and his unfocused stare fell on her. Ignoring the unspoken questions, Keira started weaving her tale.

“We had a pretty wild time last night. The best I’ve ever had. You taught me a trick or two.”

Leaning her head down to hide her disgust, Keira scattered open-mouthed kisses on his stomach, moving slowly downwards, until she reached the connection between his abdomen and his hips. She grazed the skin over the hard bone there and heard his sharp intake of air as he dug his hips in the soft mattress. She raised her head to look at him, when her warm palm found his hardening body. Staring into his eyes, she licked her lips.

“I have a couple of tricks of my own to teach you, too, you know? Can I show them to you, Paul?”

“Yes, yes,” his eyes glazed over and Keira knew that was her best shot.

“Good,” she straddled him without removing her hand or slowing down its rhythm. “I don’t want anyone interrupting us, though. I want to have you all to myself today. I have big plans for us,” she squeezed his hips between her thighs for emphasis. “Are we isolated enough from any nosy neighbors, hot stuff?”

Paul closed his eyes and buried his head in the pillows when she increased the speed of her hand caressing him.

“Yes, Keira, we are,” was his breathless reply. She felt his heart beating like crazy beneath her other hand. “I took care of that. The closest house is a thirty- minute walk down the road towards town. Nobody will come up this steep hill out of curiosity,” she increased her pace and he went silent.

She closed her eyes and thanked God for her blessings. Paul had given the information she needed much sooner than she had anticipated. Sighing in relief, Keira let go of his member and sat down on his stomach. His body shook from head to toe and his frustrated gaze flew to her face.

“Don’t stop, woman. Are you out of your mind?”

Instead of answering him, she bent down until her mouth touched his ear, where she whispered, “I want you, Paul. I want you so badly it hurts. I want to make you feel the way you made me feel last night.”

Smiling smugly up at her, he put his hands on her waist, “You sound impressed, my darling.”

“I am. You amazed me. I never thought you’d be like that,” Keira grabbed his hands, raised them above his head and pinned them to the mattress, “You like it kinky, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he wiggled under her, his gaze dropped to her chest, half-clad in her lacy bra, and an urgent desire to taste her made Paul lick his lips.

“Me too, Paul. I loved it when you blindfolded me,” she produced a scarf from under the pillows. “It was so hot. I want you to feel that, too.”

She squeezed him between her thighs again and Paul closed his eyes to savor the sensation. Finding a spot on his neck, Keira sucked at it as she tied the scarf firmly around his head.

“You tied me down and I couldn’t get enough of it,” she splayed her hands on his chest, scratching his skin lightly.

Paul’s delusional fantasies were fast becoming steamy hot reality in his mind. That was why he didn’t object to Keira’s behavior. He saw images of her naked body tied down under his; he heard her begging him for mercy. Last night was indeed wild and his mouth went dry at the thought of having her again under his control.

“Let me do the same to you, stud,” she whispered in his ear and recoiled from his touch when he turned his head searching for her mouth.

Paul smiled at what he considered her teasing mood. He felt generous that morning. He would indulge her, allow her little foreplay, and let Keira have her way with him for a while. Payback would be epic. He licked his lips in anticipation of what he would do to her once he regained control.

Keira got the scarves she had stashed in the nightstand drawer earlier and tied his hands to the bed with them. She took a second to admire her handiwork. They wouldn’t hold him for long, so she gathered her courage to take the next step.

Blindfolded and lost in his make-believe world, Paul felt each delicious sensation more acutely as his body reacted to Keira’s proximity when she bent over him. His blood pressure skyrocketed, when her soft breasts brushed against his cheek. He turned towards them, open-mouthed, trying to kiss the tempting globes but the naughty vixen took them away from his reach. He laughed at her creativity.

“You want to play hard to catch, do you? I can…”

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Keira hit him with the heavy metal lamp from the nightstand. She used all the hatred that had been boiling inside her to swing the object up in the air above her head before directing its base to Paul’s temple. She smiled and allowed herself to revel in a brief moment of triumph, when she heard his guttural grunt, and saw a thick stream of blood pouring out of the gush she had opened on the side of his head. His body went limp under hers and Keira knelt on the bed beside him, heaving, still holding the lamp in one hand, and looking like a vengeful Celtic goddess.

“Good! Now you know how I felt, you sick son of bitch.”

Adrenaline pumping through her veins, Keira jumped out of the bed and used the wires she had gathered around the house that morning to tie his feet and hands to the bed. Although she wasn’t planning on sticking around for when he woke up, she also didn’t want to risk Paul escaping before she called the police. Since the walk to the nearest neighbor was long, she couldn’t take any chances.

When Keira was satisfied with the results, she stood by the foot of the bed for a brief moment and looked at the man lying there. At that moment, the enormity of what had happened to her in the last month came rushing at her, threatening to crush her spirit. Keira shook her head to fight those gloomy feelings. That wasn’t the time to doubt herself. Despite her best efforts, she wasn’t able to conquer the sudden fit of nausea that gripped her. She barely had enough time to run to the bathroom before hurling the contents of her stomach.

Having emptied it completely, she washed her face and mouth, then hurried back to the bedroom to put her clothes on. She needed to get to that neighbor’s house down the road to ask for help before Paul came to, and she was running out of time. As Keira left the cottage through the front door, she collided with a solid, warm male body. Looking up, she found detective Heller’s eyes. She squealed in a mix of delight and relief, throwing her arms around the older man’s neck and burying her head in his ample, fatherly chest.

“Oh, thank God, you’re here! I can’t believe you’ve found me!”

Heller held her tightly against in his arms, kissing Keira’s hair and swallowing hard to avoid spilling some tears of his own when he heard her loud sobs. A huge lump had formed in the detective’s throat but he wouldn’t allow himself to break down in front of the other officers. Pretending to comfort her, he hid his face in her hair as she clung to his bulky frame.

When he had dried the stubborn tears from his face, he straightened his back up and patted her, repeating countless times, “It’s all right, child. Everything is going to be all right. I’ve got you,” he motioned for the gardai to enter the house and search for O’Hallon as he rocked the young American woman back and forth until she calmed down.

Wiping the tears from her face, Keira pushed away from the detective, mortified, when she realized how improper her behavior was.

“I’m so sorry, sir. I shouldn’t have thrown myself at you like that,” she looked up at him, embarrassment written all over her bright red face.

“There’s no need to apologize, my dear. It’s a natural reaction,” he winked at her to lessen her discomfort. “Besides, beautiful young women don’t cry of joy when they see me nowadays.”

She laughed and her face felt less hot.

“Oh, gosh, detective, there’s so much I’ve got to ask you. How is Declan? How are Murphy, Kerry and Morris? How did you find me? Where are we?”

“Calm down, Keira. I’ll answer all your questions,” he cupped her shoulders. “But, first, you’ve got to go with this nice lady, here. Her name’s Shannon and she’s a paramedic. She’ll check you up.”

Keira noticed a short, sturdy woman beside Heller. A warm smile curved her lips up, changing her expression completely, when she noticed Keira’s apprehension.

“It’ll only take a moment, my dear. I know you want this to be over soon. Who could blame you?”

“Can you at least tell me how Declan is, detective?”

“He’s swearing at me, Dwyer and the whole Garda for letting O’Hallon take you. So, I guess you can say he’s fine.”

“Thank God he isn’t hurt.”

“He went through a couple of surgeries but he’s doing okay now. He’ll tell you all about it once we get you to Cork.”

“I’m sorry he had to go through that alone.”

Before he clarified the situation, Heller smiled at her for worrying about Declan’s comfort, “He wasn’t alone, Keira. Your parents and your sister came over and his brothers also showed up at the hospital.”

Lacking words to express her relief, she squeezed the inspector’s hand as she sat on the ambulance rear step.

“I have so many questions to ask you right now, detective,” her bright smile warmed the older man’s chest. “But I’ll be a good girl and behave until Shannon finishes her job.”

“You do that, Keira. Do you mind it if I stay? I can get your statement while Shannon does her job.”

“Absolutely.”

Heller stood in front of Keira, by the ambulance open door, while the paramedic checked her blood pressure and temperature, and looked for injuries. He wanted to block Keira’s view of the house so that she wouldn’t have to see O’Hallon again as the police officers rolled the gurney out of the house and into another ambulance. Two officers climbed on the other vehicle and rode to the hospital with the prisoner. There would be two more guarding the entrances to the hospital. This time, O’Hallon would stay in custody for a very long time.

Even though Heller didn’t know what had happened between O’Hallon and Keira in the last three days, he was certain it had been unpleasant for her and he felt an urge to spare her from further pain in any way he could. He owed her that much.

While Keira told Heller everything that had taken place since O’Hallon had attacked them at the safe house, Shannon examined her cuts and bruises. The older woman held Keira’s head gently between her hands and looked closely at the injury in her temple.

“This looks ugly but it’s clean. There isn’t any risk of infection.”

Keira winced when Shannon pressed her fingers on the bump.

“How did you get this?”

“Paul hit me in the head.”

“Did you faint? Did you feel dizzy or nauseous?”

“All of the above.”

“Did you have any other symptoms?”

“Well, I blacked out when he hit me. When I woke up the next day, I didn’t remember anything.”

“When did your memory come back to you?”

“Yesterday.”

“We’ll need to take you to the hospital to run some scans and check for internal injuries,” Shannon stated as she removed her gloves.

“Is it necessary, madam? I feel fine now. Can I go to a hospital when I get to Cork?”

“I can’t release you without a thorough exam, Miss Ashe. I’m sorry.”

“I guess you’re right,” Keira sighed.

Shannon took Keira’s disappointment for concern.

“Don’t worry, Miss Ashe,” she quickly added. “Head traumas may cause temporary amnesia, which doesn’t mean you had any serious internal injuries. The doctors will be able to know it for sure after they examine the scan results.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that. I mean, I feel okay. I just wanted to go see my boyfriend, and my family.”

“I understand you’re anxious to go to them but there’s nothing I can do about it, Miss Ashe. Now, I’ve got to ask you, my dear, did O’Hallon hurt you in any other way? Did he try to rape you again?”

“No, he didn’t.”

Keira looked at Inspector Heller when he let out a deep sigh.

“You’ve got no idea how relieved I am to hear that, Keira. I wouldn’t forgive myself if he had hurt you. Neither would Declan or your family.”

* * * *

Ignoring Keira’s pleas to let her ride with Inspector Heller to the hospital, Shannon made her climb on the ambulance and went after the young woman. Keira had hoped the detective would call Cork, while they drove to the hospital, and let her talk to Declan and her family. Although she knew the paramedic was doing her job, Keira felt like a time-bomb, ready to explode if she didn’t hear Declan’s voice soon. She wanted to scream in frustration but, in spite of that, she went through the endless scans showing remarkable resignation.