by Liz Gavin
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 s
tubborn 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.
Inspector Heller stood by her bed as they waited for the young doctor in charge of her case to return with his findings.
“Could you call the hospital in Cork again, Inspector Heller? I’d love to talk to them.”
“I’ve called Dwyer’s mobile twice but it went straight to voicemail. Let’s wait for the doctor to gives us his feedback. Then, we’ll have more information to relay to them.”
“This might take forever.”
Keira knew she sounded whiny but she really didn’t care at that point. She would do anything to talk to Declan and her family.
Heller and Keira turned to the door when they heard it open, expecting to see the doctor. She shrieked, got of the bed and ran to hug Declan, who entered the room in a wheelchair pushed by Dwyer. Aided by the investigator, he stood up to take her in his arms, holding her close to him, burying his face in her hair.
“Thank God you’re alive, Keira. I thought I had lost you.”
“So did I.”
He framed her lovely face in his big hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, staring into her blue eyes as if probing her very soul. When he spoke, his words came out slowly and clearly, “I love you, Keira. I love you more than my own life. I couldn’t live without you.”
“I love you, too, Declan. I can’t tell you how much I love you. I guess I’ll spend the rest of my life repeating it to you.”
“Promise me you will and I’ll be the happiest man on earth.”
Instead of using words, Keira laced her arms around his neck, and offered her mouth to him. Declan feasted on her sweetness until they were both breathless. As their hungry mouths sought each other, their eager hands grasped, clenched and caressed each other’s flesh. Both of them needed to make sure the other one was real; that they were together once more, against all odds. Shutting the rest of world out of their bubble of happiness, they whispered sweet words into each other’s ears, their hearts swelled as they gazed into each other’s eyes, resting their foreheads together and catching their breath before resuming kissing again.
While the couple celebrated their reunion, Dwyer offered Hell
er an apologetic smile as the other man shook his head, “Don’t ask,” the young officer answered his senior colleague’s unspoken question. “It was either bringing him along or throwing him in jail for public disorder and assaulting a couple of police officers. Present company included.”
“Did her family come too?”
“They’ll get here soon. They stayed behind waiting for confirmation from me that you had found Keira. Gardai Dean is driving them.”
“I take it Slane didn’t want to wait, huh?”
“That’s the understatement of the year, Heller. An army wouldn’t have held him down. He demanded to come with me. The hospital staff refused to let him go saying he was too weak to travel. He threatened to get out of there without their permission. They finally agreed to release Slane into my care, only after he signed the waivers, only if we came here in an ambulance. He’s still in recovery, you know. He’s a nutcase, if you ask me.”
“That bad?”
“Heller, you know me. In all these years with the police force, I never came so close to punching a victim in the nose as I did with Slane earlier today. The man drove everyone crazy until he got the hospital staff to do his bidding. He was relentless.”
“You didn’t tell them we had found out O’Hallon had rented a house here, did you?”
“I most certainly didn’t! That was sensitive information, which I wouldn’t divulge prematurely and risk giving them false hope. I just said the gardai had found the car. Slane insisted that he knew we would find Keira and that he wanted to be here for her. I don’t know how Slane knew it, but he was right, after all.”
“Watching them together now, can you blame him?”
“I can’t,” he grudgingly smiled at the couple, who still ignored the two officers.
Young doctor Green’s return to the room put an end to Declan and Keira’s passionate kiss, but not to their embrace. They didn’t want to let go of each other for fear of waking up from a pleasant dream. Declan kept his arm around her shoulders and she hugged his waist as they sat on the bed to listen to Doctor Green’s explanations. All the while, they exchanged little tender gestures, quick kisses and feathery caresses.