Cruel Fortunes Omnibus: Volumes One to Four

by RAE STAPLETON

  “We mustn’t,” she managed. “I’ve come to tell ye something.”

  Conal chuckled slightly. “Tell me after I’ve had my fill of ye. Now turn around and allow me to undress you.”

  Sive obeyed knowing this could be the last time, and his hands instantly moved against the laces, loosening them with only a few quick strokes. As he stripped her down to her chemise, she turned and faced him, only to be pulled against him once more.

  She moaned loudly as he bent his head to kiss her neck and chest.

  “Ach, Sive! Are ye ready for me, lass? ‘Cause I need ye.”

  “Yes.” She moved away from him to climb atop the bed.

  He grinned and quickly removed his own clothing. Then he spread himself on top of her, his mouth meeting hers with a desperate hunger that she returned.

  FIFTEEN

  Southern India, Present Day

  W hen Cullen walked in on me exiting the hotel room, his expression registered surprise at first, then quickly shifted to suspicion. I backed up and he glared at me.

  “There you are,” I said, quickly recovering. “I thought I heard you out there.”

  “Promised me what, Sophia?”

  “That we would figure out who haunts Dunlace and why.” I fibbed, “By the way, that was fast. Rejected again?”

  “Hardly. Give yer brilliant man a kiss.”

  “You got us into the Airavatesvara Temple tour?” I said, clapping my hands together.

  “I didn’t.”

  “Harrumph,” I said.

  “Not my fault, Aeval. The South Indian Tours muppet didn’t bother to show. I even had the lass at the desk ring him up, no answer.”

  “So we’re not going, then?” I asked, confused.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Get on with it already, you bloody peacock.”

  “I met a tour guide named Mani.” He said, and held up a brochure with three small red tickets stapled in the corner. You would have thought it was a trophy the way he grinned.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Tickets. Mani set us up with Tuk-tuks. We go to the temple Saturday morning and the best part is, he knows where the statue is hidden.”

  I yanked the paper out of his hand. The jewels could wait a moment. Truth be told, the farther they were from me, the better. “Where did you find this guy?”

  “I didn’t exactly find him. I was introduced to him by another Dubliner.”

  The words drew my nose from the brochure. “Really?”

  “And now we’ve plans to visit the temple in two days’ time. Aren’t I brilliant?”

  I reached up on my toes and gave him a big kiss. “Yes, you are, and I’ll thank you properly when you find us a new hotel with two rooms.”

  He grinned. “I’m two for two then ‘cause ye’ll never guess who the Dubliner was.”

  Leslie cut in looking very impatient. “Umm… Sophia…shouldn’t we be going downstairs?”

  “Who?” I asked, ignoring Leslie. The jewels weren’t going anywhere; after all, the point of this trip was to get rid of them.

  Leslie narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at me. Luckily Cullen wasn’t paying attention.

  “Coincidentally, it was our client.”

  “Sam,” I said.

  Leslie perked up at the name and I grinned. That shut her up. He was just her type—dark hair and dark eyes. Too much like Cullen’s brother, Liam, if you asked me. I could have sworn I’d seen him at the Sati Chaura Ghat earlier in the trip, but I’d dismissed it as my overactive imagination.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “He got called on a last-minute assignment. And he earwigged my chat with the lass at the desk and introduced me to this Mani. He was after bookin’ the tour as well. Isn’t that a knee slap? Anyway, he invited us to join him for Thali.”

  I didn’t like coincidences, not after all I’d been through, but as I thought of the plate of rice surrounded by small bowls of delicious spicy vegetables, curries and curd, my stomach let out an enormous growl. What could it hurt; it was only dinner after all.

  “He’s staying at the Paradise Hotel—much nicer than this one and it’s outside of town, so I called and booked us a couple of rooms. We’ll go there and have dinner so pack your stuff.”

  That was music to my ears or rather silence, which is what I’d prefer after all the honking of late.

  “Oh and Saraswati left a message at the desk. She’ll be along in twenty minutes. You’re to meet her outside the café. “

  I suddenly remembered the jewels and realized I was only delaying the inevitable by not telling Cullen. Not to mention I was pushing my luck by leaving them there.

  Cullen looked up as I zipped up my suitcase and headed for the door. “Didn’t ye hear me, there’s no need to rush, we’ve twenty minutes still.”

  “No, we have to go now.” I paused. “I knocked the jewels off the balcony so I need to retrieve them.”

  Hearing that, he turned as white as my dress.

  “Jaysus, Sophia, and ye let me yammer on like a bloody idiot. Have ye lost yer mind.”

  “They’re fine. No one saw them fall and they landed in a pile of garbage. No one is going to root through that disgusting mess. Trust me, I can smell it from here.”

  Cullen stormed across the room, out onto the balcony.

  “Clearly, ye’ve forgotten that two thirds of this country are dirt poor. Can ye imagine what they could buy with an engagement ring and a bejeweled dagger?”

  Broad shouldered and tall, Cullen propped his elbows on the balcony and gazed out to the noisy street below. I had the irrational thought that he might simply bust through the beat-up railing to get there as fast as possible. He turned to face me.

  “Our luck whoever found them would try and kill ye.”

  He had a point. That was how the curse worked, not that I’d admit it.

  “Well, hurry up then and let’s get down there. There’s no point standing around here yelling.” I motioned for Leslie to come and twisted the doorknob.

  “I’ll just go and wait for Sam in the lobby,” Leslie said, “While you guys dig through that lovely pile of feces and maggots.”

  “Gee, thanks.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Don’t give me that look, Sophia. One whiff of that stuff and you know that I’ll make a worse mess.”

  “Yeah, Yeah,” I said, supposing she was right. The problem was, I knew my best friend and she had god awful taste in men. Escaping garbage duty may have been alluring, but so was the castle owning-journalist waiting in the lobby. I just hoped she wasn’t running from one pile of trash to meet another.

  SIXTEEN

  Northern Ireland, November 1551

  T he witch returned to her desk once again after wandering the caves below, her favorite ritual before gazing into the future. The full moon was only two weeks away now. She was happy that her plan had worked and the talks between the Ó Catháins and the McQuillans had soured.

  The girl would go away and she would live her life with Uilliam here at Dunlace. She breathed a sigh of happiness and ran her hands over the crystal ball. As always, her black raven circled her while she chanted and steadied the question in her mind.

  Would Elena be born? An image of Sive happily resting in Conal’s bed appeared before her.

  She pounded her fist against the table.

  How was this possible? Everything she had done was for nothing. Her nemesis was already in the girl’s womb. The only difference was that she would now be raised as Sorely MacDonnell’s daughter. That left no room for a convenient childhood accident. The witch would be killed if any harm came to that man’s babe. Sorely MacDonnell was not the type to mess with. Which meant the babe would grow up and steal Uilliam’s heart. No, Saundra could not let that happen again. Sive would just have to die before the babe was found out. Unfortunately, Uilliam would deteriorate if he lost his daughter, and Saundra would lose him all over again. He’d go over the edge. She’d seen it happen fift
y-seven years ago, but what other choice did she have. They would just have to start over. She’d waited for him before—she could do it again.

  SEVENTEEN

  Southern India, Present Day

  I t took a good couple of minutes to navigate the streets around the hotel. Kumbakonam was a busy place to begin with, made worse by the recent accident. Men with handcarts wound their way through the traffic to deliver jackfruit and sacks of rice. There were beggars, musicians, and snake charmers. The street was filthy, although not as bad as some of the cities in the north, where the trash had literally fallen from the sky—or rather tumbled from the windows above. Finally, we reached the four-foot-high trash pile that we’d seen from our balcony. Well, actually, it was four mini trash piles that were combined to look as one.

  “Jaysus, Aeval, Look at those heaps, plenty of them and each one infested with maggots, cockroaches and stray dogs.” He picked up a rock and chucked it. One of the dogs scrambled away. “Couldn’t ye have found a better place to lose the jewels?”

  “Tell me about it.” I shuffled forward, and halted.

  “You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind,” Cullen teased.

  “There’s a dead rat on this pile of crap.”

  “Better it’s dead than alive,” Cullen said. He had no love for rodents. I imagined his skin was actually crawling worse than mine.

  I thought back to the slums we’d seen only weeks earlier, where rag pickers turned over dumpsters to get at the garbage. The thought of their suffering brought a hot shame to my face. Time to stop whining and dig in.

  I gazed around the pile and felt my resolve teeter. “Where do we start—and more important—will the smell ever wash off?”

  “You got me. Didn’t you see where it fell?” Cullen said and started rummaging.

  “Yeah, into the giant garbage pile—you want me to use google maps to locate?”

  We were looking for the wooden box, but I kept my eye out for anything that sparkled just in case the ring and dagger had fallen out—but it all appeared to be trash littered with rat droppings, and spoiled food that apparently the street dogs hadn’t got to yet, and on everything was a thick layer of dust. I stuck my hand in something wet, and shuddered at the thought of what it could be. I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel to jump in the shower, and turn the water as hot as it would go, which in our current accommodations might not be all that hot.

  Cullen had stopped moving and sat with his hand in another bag, grimacing. “Oooh, I thought I’d found it. Damn! This is nastier than a petrol station toilet.”

  I picked up a bowl that was caked with . . . I didn’t want to speculate so I set it back down and moved on. “No wonder Leslie didn’t want to join us.” I gagged and swallowed down a mouthful of vomit.

  Cullen sighed but continued picking his way through the trash. “I hate to say it, but do ye think someone already found it, Aeval?”

  “I don’t think so, but you never know.” I craned my neck in the direction of another dead rat. I swallowed hard, disgusted. “We should have brought gloves.”

  The task took a good twenty minutes, and as each minute passed my anxiety level rose.

  “Two piles of rubbish to go. Bloody hell, how can we not have found it yet?”

  “I know.” I agreed. “We’re directly under the balcony, and it would have landed on top. It couldn’t have gotten buried already.”

  A loud bang reverberated from behind us, and we paused.

  “What was that?” Cullen whispered.

  “There’s someone coming!” I practically squealed. Was it against the law to search through trash in this country?

  “Holy hell, Cullen, are ye off yer nut? Jaysus man, I’ll pay for the Thali.”

  Cullen and I remained on our knees, but straightened to see our new client, Sam MacDonnell, looming over us. Cullen started laughing like he really had lost his marbles. The dried noodle in his hair didn’t help the situation, and I quickly followed suit. It wasn’t long until tears streamed down my face.

  I took a deep breath and then another. “I lost something,” I said, finally getting myself together.

  Sam offered me a hand, and helped me to my feet.

  “That’s our balcony up there, the one with the pink sarong hanging from it. I accidently dropped a small carved box from it. It’s about the size of a book. Needless to say, we haven’t had much luck finding it.”

  “Aye, well if I were you I’d be after a new one. No box—unless it’s made of gold—is worth that pile. Ye know there’s rats and shite in there, right?”

  I grimaced with a nod. “So we’ve seen. The box contains some items that were passed down through my family.”

  “I see. Well, why don’t I help ye, then? What does the wee box look like?”

  I held my hands out to show him the approximate size just as I noticed something sparkling against the wall behind him.

  “Hallelujah!” Cullen crowed, obviously spying it at the same time. “The wee tricky bugger must have bounced off the garbage and landed over there.”

  Sam bent down and picked up the ring and the box, then placed the ring back inside.

  I took the case and plucked a piece of moldy cabbage from it. The latch had come loose when it hit the ground but it still worked. The dagger was tucked safely inside.

  “What are you doin’ out here, anyway?” Cullen asked.

  Sam jostled his camera, which hung around his neck. “Taking snaps. It’s the lowest of scenes that make the most brilliant photos—like the two of ye chancers, scrimmaging through the bloody rubbish.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh once again at the image.

  “I’m just actin’ the maggot. Where’s that gorgeous friend of yers, anyway?” Sam asked. “She didn’t want to dumpster dive?”

  I tucked the box away in my messenger bag, and pulled my hand sanitizer from the pocket. I would bathe in it right now if it was possible. “Actually, she went to meet you in the lobby. She’s probably wondering where you are.”

  Sam smiled. “I’d best be off then—mustn’t keep a fine bit of stuff like her waitin’.” He paused and looked back. “Are the two of ye comin’ or will ye be rummagin’ for more buried treasures?”

  I humored him with a smile and checked the time on my cell phone. “We’ll see you there. We’re meeting someone at the Café first—apparently we’ll be smelling of garbage.”

  Sam nodded and left, and I was glad he hadn’t asked any questions. I didn’t feel like talking. Apparently, Cullen didn’t either, so we walked down the alley in silence. The sooner we met Saraswati, the sooner we could scrub away the grime.

  EIGHTEEN

  Northern Ireland, November 1551

  S ive wished to fall asleep wrapped in Conal’s arms but that wasn’t possible. It would never be possible, that is unless they did something about her upcoming wedding. She felt his lips kissing the side of her cheek and trailing down her neck.

  She winced and faced him. “We need to talk about a certain matter.”

  He kissed her forehead before pulling back to prop himself up on his elbow. “So ye said. And a very serious matter ‘tis, too,”

  “‘Tis so it is.”

  He frowned at her answer. “I see, well get on with it, then.”

  “Da’s arranged for me to be married.”

  Conal bolted upright in the bed. “Jaysus, Sive! That’s brilliant news. That must be why I’ve been summoned—.”

  It was Sive’s turn to frown. “No!”

  He pulled her from the bed back into his arms. “What are ye blatherin’ on about? Ye dinna want to marry me now?”

  “Don’t be daft. Of course, I do. It’s just…” She paused. “He’s promised me to another.”

  He lay back down and draped an arm over her as he snuggled in closely. “Will ye be far, then?”

  Sive shook her head, unable to get the words out.

  “Gah! Thinking of another man holdin’ ye drives me mad with rage.
I’m likely to bludgeon him to death.”

  “That’s the problem, Conal, ye can’t.”

  “Aye, lass. And why is that?”

  “Cause it’s yer cousin.”

  NINETEEN

  Southern India, Present Day,

  W e made our way back to the main street, where the crowd was still gathered not far from the café. The aromas of spices, incense and diesel smoke were a nice change from the alley of garbage.

  As we approached the café, we passed a middle-aged woman in a red-and-yellow sari. She was glaring at the policeman in front of her.

  “It was no accident,” she yelled.

  “So, you’ve been saying. Did you see him get pushed, Mrs. Kumar?”

  “Of course not. I told you, I was across the road!” she exploded. “My niece was with him and she saw those boys. They pushed my husband in front of that bus.”

  I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but they were talking about the accident from earlier. We’d come to the front of the café and stopped. Cullen gave me a look and we turned, pretending to take in a gigantic colorful poster on the building, advertising an Indian film.

  I could see out of my peripheral vision that the man’s thin face flushed, and he straightened to loom over her. “Oh, yes, Mrs. Kumar, I’m sure the children killed Ram Kumar. Last I checked your niece was but six years old, hardly a credible source. Not to mention your husband weighed around one-hundred-and-sixty pounds. Now, please tell me how a child could push him.”

  “They were hardly the innocent children you make them out to be, sir. Two boys, most likely twelve, and they pushed him from behind and caught him off guard,” the woman said stubbornly.

  I turned back to Cullen. “Wasn’t Ram Kumar the name of the man you were supposed to meet?”

  Cullen grimaced. “Aye. I feel bad for talking shite now.”

  “We watched him get hit.”

  “I know. C’mon, lass, there’s nothin’ we can do now. Let’s go inside and grab a tea, shall we?”

  “Coffee for me, please, and I think I’ll wait out here in case Saraswati shows up early.” I didn’t mention that I also wanted to eavesdrop some more, but Cullen gave me a knowing wink.