Samuel (Samuel's Pride Series) (13 page)

“And what did you do for me, Mother? Did
you once keep me safe from Father? When he took the strap to my ass, did you
once tell him to stop? Nay, you did nothing.”

“You deserved that. You’d killed off his
best horse. Then you’d gotten that girl in the family way when you’d only been
fourteen years old. What did you expect him to do, let you do whatever you
wanted?”

“Yes,” he screamed at her. “I’m his
eldest, and he should have given me it all when I asked. Instead, he pampered
Kennedy. Gave her what she wanted until she was smarter than me.” He’d not
meant to say that, but she only snorted at him.

“Smarter than you how? She’s married to
a man she hates, living in this cold, dirty country with a cripple as a
mother-in-law, and what does she do? She tells me that I’m better off living
here than with them.” She looked around the room, and he did too. “I’ve no
servants to speak of, no one to drive me about, and the money that I was given
was nothing compared to what I had when your father lived.”

“And I suppose that’s my fault too.” She
lifted her chin, and he wanted to knock her back again. He’d never hit his
mother before, only Kennedy and Kaitlin, but he found that it was an amazing
feeling and wanted to do it again. When he moved toward her, she cringed from
him, and that, too, made him feel better.

“You’ll have to help me get Kennedy for Tailor.
He wants her still, and though she’s married, it’ll not stop me from giving him
to her. He wants his wife, and I need the money to pay a debt.” His mother sat
down and glared at him. “Will ye help me, Mother? I can make it worth your
while.”

“Samuel, Kennedy’s husband, said that he’d
take care of you. You need only to go and tell him to give you back your place
in the manor and he’ll have to give it to you. He isn’t a smart man either.” Shamus
doubted that was true but only nodded. “He is taking care of Kaitlin too,
having her man sent here for her. Michael is going to go to university here
too. There’s an interview soon for it.”

University? Why would anyone think to go
to more schooling? He’d barely made it through what was required of him before
he’d figured out that he could simply pay someone to do his homework for him,
and stealing the tests beforehand was simple enough as well. Shaking his head
at the waste of it all, he flopped down on the chair across from his mother.

“I am hungry. Fix me something while I
think.” She got up to do his bidding, and he thought of something. “Why did you
leave me there alone?”

“The money was gone, and I knew that the
collectors would be by soon enough to get what they needed. You’ve done a piss-poor
job of keeping the manor in our family. And since there be no brat from you,
then I needed to keep what I could. The jewelry was taken from me, of course.
Your grandmother said it was hers, and she wanted it back. She sent a man to
the manor to get it just before we left.”

That explained a great deal, thought
Shamus. If his grandmother knew about the money problems the estate was having,
she was well within her rights to take it from him and give it to the next in
line. And since he knew that Kennedy couldn’t inherit it, it would have to be
her husband.

“
Seanmháthair
did this.” His
mother nodded. “When she figured out what I’d done, she’d done the impossible
and married Kennedy off as I was trying to do.”

“Yes, but she gave her something you’d
never considered. The man loves her and will more than likely put up a fight if
you try and take her from him.” Shamus wasn’t afraid of him. Money talked, and
this mon would need it if he was laird of the manor. He asked his mother how
much money she had, and when she asked him why, he grinned. “We need to pay him
off. He’ll give me what I want, and we’ll all be back to the way things were
before Da died. I’ll be a better mon, and the manor will be ours.”

“I’ve signed a paper.” He looked at her
oddly. “They had a solicitor there, and he had me sign off on a paper that said
I’d never go back on my word. I cannot go back to Ireland so long as Samuel is
Laird.”

“He’s not laird, I am.” She moved back
from his temper and he felt it flair again. There was something about having her
afraid of him that made his dick hard. It was everything Shamus could do not to
stroke himself. “I’ll get this taken care of, and when I do, the contract you
signed will mean nothing.”

At least he hoped so. This husband of
Kennedy’s was proving to be a lot more difficult than he’d thought he’d be.
First of all, for an American, he was proving to be a little craftier than he’d
thought; and secondly, he was a good deal smarter than even Shamus thought
himself to be. It was maddening the way things kept falling apart.

Moving toward his mother’s bag, he was
pulling out her wallet when she touched him from behind. His fist connected
with her jaw almost in mid turn. When she lay on the floor again, he thought
about hitting her again, but she wasn’t moving, and he was sure that if she
wasn’t whimpering, he wouldn’t enjoy it so much. Taking all her cash, Shamus
decided that he’d go to the races again. Today should be his lucky day. Smiling,
he thought it a good omen that the car started without him having to try several
times. Today, he was going to win, and win big.

Just as he stepped out of his car,
having only gotten lost once, he felt something jam hard into his back. The
voice, quiet yet full of hate, told him not to say a word. Shamus started to
turn and again whatever it was jabbed him harder.

“You’ll get into that van and shut your
trap. I’d like nothing better than to kill you right now.” Shamus watched the
big van come to a screeching stop in front of him, and he was shoved forward
even before the door opened. As soon as he was tumbling in, the thing took off
at great speed, and he was tossed to the rear.

“What’s the meaning of this? I demand
that you tell me this minute.” The man in the passenger’s seat laughed, and
Shamus felt his temper rise. “I will report you to the authorities if I doona
get a straight answer.”

The driver took a turn very hard, and
Shamus was tossed about in the back again. He bumped his head twice before he
was able to sit upright again. When he started to make more demands, the man pulled
a gun out and told him to shut up.

“Stockberry sent me.” Shamus felt his
blood run cold in his veins, and he knew that he’d better think of a way out of
this or he was as good as dead. “And before you open your trap again, just know
that while I can bring you to him alive, you don’t necessarily have to be in
one piece.”

Shamus didn’t move, nor did he open his
mouth. It was humiliating how these ruffians kept treating him this way. He was
about to make all kinds of money, and now the opportunity was missed. He
wondered if Kennedy had anything to do with this, and realized she wasn’t that
smart for all her education.

She’d pay. Shamus decided that as soon
as she bred a child by Tailor she was going to meet with an untimely accident. And
when she did, her dead husband would as well. Shamus would step in and raise
her child until such time that he could get to his money as well. The boy
wouldn’t know what hit him. Shamus closed his eyes and let this plan develop. Kennedy
and her offspring were going to pay for this.

Chapter 13

He watched her from the doorway as she
worked in the kitchen. Samuel had reached for her an hour ago and found her
missing from their bed. When he realized she was in the kitchen, he thought to
come down and drag her back to bed with him, but her mind was working on
something, and she’d blocked him enough where he could only find out she was
upset but not about what. When she noticed him standing there, she paused in
the process of pouring flour onto the counter.

“I was making a pie.” He moved into the
room and kissed her on the neck as he moved behind her. He went to the refrigerator
to get something cold, thinking to pour it over his body when she continued. “I
think that we should talk about yesterday.”

“I agree.” He sat down on the stool and
drank deeply from the bottle of water he had to buy him some time. “You are the
most beautiful lion I’ve ever seen. Even more beautiful than my mother, and she
is very lovely.”

“I’m talking about my mother.” He nodded,
figuring that’s what she’d meant. “She means to not go back now, right?”

“I’ve already talked to her and sent her
on her way. My lawyer drew up the papers saying that she’d get her money and
not bother us again. She can’t return to Ireland so long as I’m lord and you’re
the lady of the house.” Kennedy started to say something, and he raised his
hand. “That was her idea, not mine. But he put it in the contract for her all
the same. She signed off on it this morning before being moved to her new
place.”

“Before we arose?” He nodded and watched
her slice apples, seemingly not paying attention to what she was doing. “And
she is now out of this house?”

“She wanted out, and I saw no reason to
keep her here against her wishes. She is being watched by some friend of ours. Jimmy
has two men on her now, and he’ll report back to me if she does anything
stupid.” He was going to tell her that Shamus had gone to visit her, but the
phone rang in the kitchen where they were before he could.

“Mrs. Buehler is being taken to the
hospital,” Jimmy said as soon as he answered. “I’ve got a man on Shamus because,
before he went in, she was up and around now…Christ, who hits their own mother?”

Samuel told Kennedy what had happened,
and she stood there staring at him for several seconds before she sat down. He couldn’t
tell what she was thinking about, but he was suddenly afraid for her. If Shamus
was this unstable, there was no telling what he’d do if he found her.

“Send a few men over here to watch the
house. And put one on David Patrick that’s coming today.” David was coming in
today to see Kaitlin. She had asked him if he could come, and he’d thought it a
good plan. Now he wasn’t so sure. “Also, Dani, she’ll need someone with her
too. Michael is staying here, so he should be fine.”

“On it. I’ve also got a few on a man
that Shamus has been talking to. A man by the name of Alton Stockberry. He’s
the guy that bought the horses from Shamus and was arrested. I doubt if the man
is any happier with Shamus than we are.”

Samuel had his doubts too. After making arrangement
to have Tisha put somewhere safe, Samuel hung up and watched Kennedy. She didn’t
look as if she’d moved since she’d sat down.

“Do you think Shamus meant to kill her?”
Her question startled him, but he answered her truthfully.

“I don’t know. I think your brother is a
bit unstable, and if he’s taking it out on your mother, something else is going
on.” She nodded and looked up at him. “What is it, Kennedy?”

“I think he killed Da. They’d been
fighting before dinner that night, and when I’d asked Da what about, he’d told
me that Shamus was spending his allowance as fast as he got it, and he’d gotten
himself in trouble with his ways.” Samuel went to her and knelt before her,
taking her hand into his. “Da told me to be careful around him, that he no
longer trusted him.”

“Your grandmother said the same thing to
me just a few days ago. She didn’t mention the conversation, but she did say
that she’d thought he’d killed him. And the fact that he’d had him cremated
makes it seem more plausible.” Kennedy nodded at him. “I wish I could tell you
I’ll find out for you, but there is no way now.”

“Da said that he’d made inquiries to
have Shamus put away. I’m not sure what he’d meant by that and hadn’t really
paid any attention. It wasn’t until later, after Shamus had hit me badly enough
to put me in the emergency, that I thought about it again. He isn’t right in
the head, is he?

“No, love, he isn’t.” She stood up then
and went back to her crust. He stood up, then sat in the chair she’d been in. “What
would you like us to do about him? He’s hurt your mother badly, but the medic
said she’d be fine if not for the headache.”

“
Seanmháthair
will have to be
called and told. I know that they only got along for Da’s sake, but she should
know.” He told her about the guard that was on her when she’d left there. “She
ní
bheidh sé an-mhaith
.”

Samuel was beginning to learn more and
more of her first language. She would slip into it without thinking, and he’d
have to try and figure it out or ask her. But when he asked her, she seemed to
work harder at not letting herself say anything else, and he loved hearing her
speak Irish to him. He figured that
ní bheidh sé an-mhaith
meant she
wasn’t going to like it. He had to agree. Neither would he.

As Kennedy called her grandmother,
Samuel called Jimmy back. The man was in a better place to talk to him without
the medics around and told him what he’d found. Jimmy made it very clear that
he wasn’t a big fan of Shamus Buehler.

“He hit her. Not once either, but a few
times. And then he fucking robbed her. She was babbling about him not treating
her well, and then she said that he was going to get Kennedy to Tailor. Then
things would be all right. How the fuck is that going to be all right?” Jimmy
ranted a little more before Samuel asked him where he was. “Let me call you
back. Kaleb is calling me now.”

Ten minutes later, Jimmy showed up at
his house. When he asked him if he wanted to talk to him alone, he told him no,
that Kennedy needed to hear this as well. In the end they and his mother and
Kennedy’s grandma joined them. It seemed that things with Shamus had just taken
a step up.

“He’s been taken by Alton Stockberry.” Kennedy
didn’t know him, but Dani did. She stood up and then sat down twice before
asking for something stronger than the tea she was sipping. Samuel handed her a
bourbon neat, and she swallowed it down like she’d been doing it for years.

“Alton holds a great many of Shamus’s
notes. He’s come to collect before. It’s one of the reasons I asked Tisha for
my jewels back. I had a feeling she’d give them to her son to buy his way out
of this. It won’t work, of course. He’d just get in deeper, but Alton isn’t one
to trifle with.” Samuel asked her how much he was in for. “Nearly seven
million. And he wants Rose Manor.”

“Nay, he’ll not get it.” Kennedy went to
him, and he pulled her into his lap. He’d noticed that she’d been doing that
more and more lately, and he was enjoying it. But now she needed comfort, and
he was going to give her all he could. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him
out of my home. Ye can’t let him have it.”

“He won’t get it. Your father, God rest
his soul, saw to that. He asked me years before his death to go to his solicitor
with him. While there, we had the will changed as well as he sold me the manor
so that it would be in my name and couldn’t be touched by Shamus or his mother.
Tisha would have sold it long before now had she been able to.” This time Dani
got up and poured herself another drink. “I, too, have had my will revised
since then and have cut all, save you, from my money.”

Kennedy sat up and was no doubt going to
tell her that she’d better change it back when Dani took her hand into hers. The
two of them were so much alike, both in looks and temperament, it was a joy for
Samuel to see what Kennedy was going to look like in about fifty years. When
Kennedy came back to where he was sitting, she didn’t sit on his lap this time
but close to him on the couch. He waited for Dani to continue.

“I’ve taken steps, financial ones, that
will ensure that Kaitlin and Michael are cared for, but in a way that would
only benefit them. Ye’ve never been one for asking for anything, so over the
years I made sure ye had what ye needed.” Kennedy mentioned her college. “Aye,
that too. Your da could have paid for it if he wanted, but it was one of the
stipulations to the house that I take care of you. He’d been giving me money to
put aside for you so that when the time came….” She looked at him. “When the
time came, she’d have her dowry for you.”

“And this has to do with Stockberry how?”
Jimmy flushed. “I’m sorry, My Lady, but if he has your grandson he’s not going
to give up until he has what he wants. And from what I’ve been able to piece
together, he wants Kennedy as well as the house.”

“He does. Alton has said as much to me
when he’d seen her once.” She sipped her drink as Dani continued. “He’ll stop
at nothing to get her either. Even going to far as to kill Shamus to bring her
around.”

“I’ll not go to him. I doona know why he
thinks that I’d come for my brother who near killed me once, but I’ll not leave
Samuel.” Samuel took her hand and kissed it. “Ye’ve made me see what it’s like
to be loved, and I’ll not do anything to bring you to harm.”

“He’ll not hurt me.” Samuel looked at
Jimmy. “Do you know where he has him held? And if so, how we can get him out?”

“I do. You’re not going to like this. But
Alton Stockberry is holed up right down the street from here. He and a man that
I’ve never met are there now, and from what Jonas just told me, he’s having a
good time with Shamus.” Jimmy looked at the women in the room and apologized. “I
didn’t mean to sound like I was happy about that.”

They sat for nearly an hour trying to
think how to take Alton out of the picture. When they decided that simply going
in with guns blazing was the only way, he and the other men loaded up in the
SUV and left for the other house. Samuel hated leaving Kennedy behind, but he
needed her to protect her grandmother and his mom.

“If someone comes here, they’re defenseless.
Even Butler isn’t trained to take on men who have no rules to follow and guns
that can cut through a man even in a vest.” She nodded at him, and he kissed
her on the mouth. “I love you. Please never forget that.”

“Aye, and you doona forget that I can kick
your ass if you get hurt.” He nodded and moved out of the house to the car. He
turned and went back to her to kiss her again before hopping into the car. Christ,
who would have thought that he’d be so in love that he’d rather stay at home
than go out and kick some major ass?

“The house is being guarded by three
patrols. Jonas said that two of them are out in the perimeter at all times
while the others are in the house. There is also a motion detector in the house
that he said was set up yesterday. But we don’t have to worry about it.” Jimmy
smiled. “We installed it for him and know all the codes. Really is too bad we
never showed him how to change that.”

Samuel decided that his next project was
going to be setting up an investigation team and working with Kaleb and Jimmy. They
could do some major damage to the bad guys like this, and Samuel wanted to
start something he could be proud of.

As they neared the house, Samuel kept
telling himself that this was the only way to end this. And when he did, he was
going to take his wife on a long vacation to Ireland and have her show him all
there was to see. Then he was going to see if she’d have a baby with him. That
would be the best thing he could have happen to him.

Going into the yard proved to be fairly
simple. The guards were easily taken out, and once they were inside the house,
the five men in there were dead before they ever knew what hit them. Samuel was
moving toward the stairs when he felt something behind him. Before he could
move to see who it was, something hit him in the back of the head and he was
down. Christ, he thought as the pain tore through him, Kennedy was going to be
so pissed off.

~~~

“Did you know how I ended up in a chair?”
Kennedy looked at Summer and shook her head at her question. “Sam, Samuel’s
father, tossed me down the stairs. He’d been out with his girlfriend and I’d
smelled it on him.”

“I thought I was told that once you were
mated that you’d never be able to hurt your mate.” Summer nodded. “Then I don’t
understand. How was it possible for him to hurt you?”

“He’d been taking drugs. Plenty of them
by the time Samuel was in grade school. He would beat him as well. Knock him
around until he started to fight back.” Kennedy got up to make her a cup of tea
as she continued. “We’d been fighting again. Samuel was away at work and I’d
been packing to leave his father. I was going to live with my son until I could
find it in me to get out on my own. I’d never lived alone. Going straight from
my family’s house to Sam’s. I wasn’t sure I could do it.”

“You would have or died trying.” Kennedy
sat the container of sugar in front of the other woman as she heated the water
and the cup. “You were leaving him you said. I guess Samuel was going to help
ye out?”