Malky looked first at Shug, who smirked. “Aye, Malky, you do that. Addie, you run along and collect Liberace up there.”
Swallowing down a refusal, Addie left the room and ran upstairs toward the piano room. The music grew louder with every step. Outside the door, she paused, partly through inexplicable reluctance to interrupt him, partly because it had struck her she might be able to fit in a quick check on young Jack.
Or she could just skulk here for a moment, hear music as it was meant to be played…
How could the man touch the keys so lightly, yet wring such emotion from each note? She had never heard this piece before—she’d never heard anything remotely like it. Like a storm, or someone hiding from it… Closing her eyes, she imagined his fingers gliding furiously up and down the keys, creating startling, invincible beauty…
Tears rose, closing her throat. She sank into a crouch on the floor, resting her wet face against the wall. The music was too powerful, engaging memories she didn’t want and longings she couldn’t reach. Regrets and strivings and huge, all-embracing love, all poured into her and out with the tears—and then, abruptly, the music stopped.
Chapter Eight
Addie held her breath. She had no time to do more, for the study door flung open and he stood there, looking understandably stunned. With a gasp, she wrenched her head round to hide the stupid tears and tried to stumble to her feet, to find the words she’d come to say. But without warning, he dropped beside her, reaching for her face, turning it in both hands so he could gaze on the tear-stained mess.
She gasped again at the touch of his fingers, closed her eyes tightly as if that would hide her from his scrutiny.
“What is it?” he asked, bewildered, and he didn’t sound angry or contemptuous at all. She wished he did. “Addie, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Nothing…”
“Then why are you crying?”
She snapped her eyes open, glaring at him. “Because the music churns me up, okay?”
A second longer, he stared back at her, then his lip twitched upward. “You don’t like it?”
“Like it? It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard in my life, and I hate you for it!”
Laughter seemed to catch in his throat, low and breathless. “It’s you, that’s why. I made it for you.” She stared up at him, uncomprehending. “That’s why it’s beautiful.”
She closed her eyes again, tightly, and shook her head. “Stop it. I know what I am, what I’ve done, there’s no need to get at me like this…”
She thought he swore under his breath. Unexpectedly, she was yanked to her feet, pulled into the study and the door kicked shut. Bewildered, she watched him stride across to the piano, press the button on a tape machine. The same music filled the room as he came back to her.
“Now,” he said grimly, “let’s talk.”
Her hackles rising at his manner, she stared back at him until something changed in his dark eyes.
“Oh, stuff it,” he said, and seized her, crushing her mouth under his. Her stunned lips opened obediently, let his tongue, his whole mouth invade her. Instant heat drove through her body with the force of a hurricane, arching her into him as he bent her against him.
“Stop it,” she whispered into his mouth. “You’re killing me… I know what you think of me and I won’t…”
“The music is what I think of you,” he said fiercely. “The words mean nothing.” His hands roamed down her back to her buttocks, pressing her into his hard crotch until she could feel the very veins of his rigid cock standing out like ribs against her abdomen. “I don’t know how you got into all this stuff, but I know it’s not you. My first instinct is always right. I wanted you as soon as I saw you, and now…”
“Now what?” Enchanted and bewildered by the turn of events, she let her feelings overwhelm her.
He smiled against her lips, “Now I’m going to have you.”
Her drumming heart lurched downwards, spreading impossible fire. “Says who?” she demanded.
“Says me. And you…”
“What, a quickie up against the door? Is that what I’m worth?”
“Up against the door, on the rug, under the piano, on the bloody piano, anywhere I can get you, for as long as I’ll last. And after that, I’ll be back, I can promise you that…”
His fingers on her jeans tore down the zip, pushed them down over her hips. Wrenching his kilt up, he ground his naked cock against her thigh, pushing in between her legs to find the hot wetness of her pussy. “Say yes…”
Oh, Christ, am I going to regret this…
“Yes,” she whispered. He touched his forehead to hers, smiling. At the same time, she felt him rummaging in the folds of his kilt, in his sporran, and saw with relief the silver foil packet. Had she really been going to do this without any protection at all? Even after Kate?
Well, Kate was all that made life worth living. And this incredible sex—it was going to be, she just knew…
“Ah—h!” Half sigh, half groan, she gasped out as he pushed straight inside her.
“Jesus, you feel good,” he whispered.
A laugh tried to get out, making her whole body tremble around his cock, shooting wild pangs of pleasure through her. “So do you… So fuck me, Music Man…”
He drew back almost to the point where she was afraid he would leave her, then drove back in with such force that the door rattled. Still inside her, he drew her downward to the floor, kneeling with her, kneading her naked buttocks as he explored inside her. She moved with him, in slow, circular rhythm that made him groan. Totally aflame, she pushed into him urgently, wordlessly demanding. She knew it couldn’t be long for her… The very idea of doing this with him was enough to give her an orgasm.
As if he understood, he laid her gently down on her back, raising her hips to rest on his knees as he knelt between her legs. Reaching down, he pushed up her sweater with both hands, dragging his fingers over the hard, taut nipples as he went. She heard his breath catch. Then he straightened, gazing at her.
“Christ, you’re beautiful,” he whispered, and taking hold of her hips once more, he fucked her as if their lives depended on it, hard, fast and furious, driving into her pussy repeatedly, even more forcefully as he saw how much she liked it. She fell over the edge very quickly, released into a flood of excruciating pleasure that barely gave him pause. While the music reached a crescendo of passion, he continued to hammer her, holding her at that pitch of orgasm for an impossibly long moment until he came himself and the vibrations of his body as he groaned his release set her off again.
He collapsed on to her in his joy, burying his mouth in hers to muffle the strength of his climax that clearly merited a huge shout instead of this silence. Throughout, she held on to him as their world rocked and began slowly to right.
Lifting his head, he stared down into her eyes, his own wonderfully dark and misted with passion. Slowly, he withdrew his cock, reached between their bodies and stripped off the condom. Her smile was answered in his eyes. But it seemed he hadn’t finished. He began to slide down her body, kissing and caressing her breasts, lingering over her rosy, happy nipples, and gliding down her stomach to her navel. His tongue dipped in there, teasingly, then traced a line of kisses downward with unmistakable intent.
Oh, my God, not that, too?
Oh, yes, thank you, God!
His tongue found her clitoris unerringly, and seemed to know exactly what to do, teasing and stimulating with just the right lightness for an organ so sensitized that it twinged at his very breath. A little of that, and she was ready when his whole mouth claimed it, closing on it and sucking in a long stream that brought her to climax once more, arching and bucking against his mouth until he released her.
Still coming, she reached for him, but he made her wait, extracting another foil packet from his sporran and rolling the condom over his huge, purple-headed cock before he fell on her, driving into her pussy once more and thrusting in slow, hard strokes
.
“Addie!”
It was Jim’s voice, shouting upstairs. Addie’s eyes opened in horror. But John Maxwell didn’t even pause. Smiling, he said, “Sh-sh,” stroked her hair with one hand, and continued to fuck her as if they had all the time in the world. And somehow, the fact that they hadn’t made it all the more exciting, and Addie came again. Seeing it, Johnny quickened his pace, driving into her until his own climax claimed him. Reaching up, Addie latched her mouth to his, so they could muffle the sounds of each other’s pleasure.
Jim, just outside the door now, yelled, “Addie, are you in there?”
Addie drew her mouth free. She pretended to cough, to give herself more time, and Johnny’s breath hissed as she contracted round his cock. Laughter caught in her throat now. This was almost like her teenage years—there was that time she’d hidden from Jim at Anne-Marie’s party, only that time her lover had been…
But she wouldn’t think about that.
“Yes,” she called, clearing her shaky throat once more. “I’m just waiting for His Nibs to finish…”
His Nibs bit her ear, smiling. How could you hear someone smiling?
“Well, for God’s sake, hurry him up,” Jim commanded. “Someone’s coming and Shug’s like a loose cannon.”
Addie paused. So did Johnny. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes.
Addie licked her lips. “Aye, all right, Jim, I’m coming. If you can get that gun off him, you’d be doing the world a favour.”
There was another short silence, as if Jim was about to say something else, then he sighed and his footsteps hurried away back down the hall.
Johnny whispered, “What is he to you? Jimmy the Lamb…”
She snorted. “Some lamb. He’s my wee brother.”
Johnny dropped his head till their foreheads touched. “Addie, Addie, how the…” He broke off. “What sort of a name is Addie, anyway?”
“A crap one. But loads better than Ariadne.”
“Ariadne?”
“My father had a brief flirtation with Greek mythology before he rediscovered the pub.”
“It’s a beautiful name.”
“Do you think so? Try growing up with it in Glasgow, especially when you stick it with…”
She broke off, stricken.
What she had just done with John Maxwell changed nothing. She had still robbed him, was still complicit in the hostage-taking of his family. Still guilty. And still having to hide her identity, for Kate’s sake and for Jim’s.
The pianist’s dark eyes searched hers. For some reason, he didn’t look angry any more. He looked…rueful. And his words, when he eventually spoke, were even more surprising.
“Will you come and hear me play at the Royal Concert Hall?”
She felt her mouth drop open and quickly regained control of it. “When?” she asked stupidly.
“March. Liz wants it to be the start of my ‘come-back’ tour,” he said wryly.
“Are you and Liz…?” She hadn’t meant to ask but the words blurted out without permission. Please say no…
“No. I think she quite fancies being lady of the manor—only I don’t have a manor and I’d drive her to drink in a week. So you’ll come?”
He was still inside her, still erect and, despite the imminent disaster below, he showed no signs of leaving her. He seemed solely intent on getting an answer.
She swallowed. “I’ll come.”
Slowly, he withdrew and began to help her to her feet. “Carpet burn?” he enquired.
With a choke of laughter, Addie shook her head.
“Almost no carpet, I suppose. OK, take me back to Psycho-Weasel. Addie…will he kill anyone?”
Addie opened her mouth, then closed it again. She said honestly, “I don’t know. You know what a bam is, Music Man?”
“I know.”
“Well Shug’s a bam. Always was. If I’d known he had a gun I wouldn’t have come within twenty miles of him. Johnny, I’m…”
She broke off, turning away.
“You’re what?”
“It doesn’t matter.” You said sorry for bumping into someone, standing on a toe, breaking a cup. What the hell did you say to someone you’d robbed? Into whose house you’d brought a psychotic bam like Shug, and taken his entire family hostage with firearms?
There were no words for that.
ef
Before he opened the study door, Johnny took her in his arms and kissed her. He wasn’t sure why, except that she looked suddenly so sad and lost it broke his heart. And he wanted to touch her again. His body still on fire from their recent wild encounter, it was already more than ready for a repeat. A long one this time, in peace and tranquility.
He felt an instant’s resistance as he drew her against him, then she melted and returned his embrace with passion. She kissed with an intensity that drove him even further toward insanity.
“Oh, God, Johnny, what am I going to do?” she whispered against his lips. Then, before he could even open his mouth to answer, she slid out of his arms and opened the door.
Lost in thought, he followed her along the passage, watching her bum wiggle in her blue jeans. It was all he could do not to drag her back into the study and throw her across the piano. He bet she’d like that, too…
Pull yourself together, Maxwell. You are not a teenager and she is definitely not a fairy princess.
No, but he could never remember a woman having this powerful an effect on him, not even Julia in the early days. He knew he was given to obsessions, and he had to remind himself quite forcefully that this was one he could not indulge. Not yet…
She paused at the top of the stairs to let him catch up. She was frowning again, rebuilding her shell, though whether for his or her associates’ benefit, he had no way of knowing. Either way, he felt unreasonably irritated by it.
As they descended the stairs in silence, he said, “You never asked me if I murdered my wife.”
There was a pause, then, “No I didn’t.”
“Don’t you care?”
Her tongue appeared, briefly wetting her lips. “I don’t know,” she said. “Who am I to judge anyone?”
She was judging herself, though, and harshly. And yet Johnny was pretty sure this was the first time she’d ever done anything like this. And even if it wasn’t, even if she was a hardened, habitual criminal, he realized, almost with awe, that it made no difference. The music was still hers, still her. And he still wanted her.
The slamming of the front door brought him out of his reverie with a jerk. Someone had come in and was walking across the hall, past the grandfather clock and into the sitting room.
Not just anyone.
Inspector Plod.
Johnny felt excited laughter rise up like a tide and had to squash it. Increasing his speed, he leapt to the foot of the stairs and followed the newcomer into the sitting room in time to hear his jovial greeting to the room at large.
“Hello! Where is everyone? Happy New Year, Maxwells, reprobates and otherwise! Where’s my New Year drink?”
He stood in the middle of the floor, tall and youthful looking, wearing his inevitable blue padded anorak, grinning hopefully. Johnny strove hard to keep his satisfaction well hidden, but here at last was some back-up, someone who could be trusted to act in concert with him to bring down the bad guys—providing they never suspected he was more than an amiable reveler…
“Jesus Fuck!” said Shug. “Malky, Jim, go and look out the windows, see how many more of them, there are…”
“More what?” Addie said, bewildered, pushing in behind Johnny.
“Filth,” said Shug. “Pigs, polis, officers of the law, just bleeding look!”
Johnny sighed. So much for discretion.
The newcomer had gone very still. His eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze flickered from Shug, to his associates, and the rest of the room’s occupants before they came back to rest finally on Tammy.
He smiled. “Hello, darling. I’m home.”
Chapter Nine
Addie cast her eyes upward for help. Was it her imagination or had this criminal caper degenerated into total farce?
Tammy uttered, “Arsehole! What are you doing here?” Yet her eyes had suddenly lit up, like an inanimate dummy coming back to life. That would have been interesting, in normal circumstances, but Addie found her attention distracted by the way the newcomer smiled at Shug.
“Mister Campbell. What a surprise.”
There went the last faint hope that he wouldn’t know Shug as well as the eejit clearly knew him.
“Aye, aye, likewise,” Shug muttered.
“Malky.” Inspector Plod nodded to the big man, who responded politely enough.
“Mr. Newton.”
“You going to introduce me to your other friends?” the policeman asked Tammy.
With alacrity, the girl said, “Jim from Castlemilk.” Her eyes flickered to Addie, then away. Her mouth closed.
“Ah,” said the policeman. “Mr. McSween? How’s your Uncle Eddie?”
Jim coughed. “Aye, fine,” he muttered. “He’s fine.”
Already Inspector Plod’s gaze had run round the room, passing over his hosts to Addie.
“How’re you doing?” she said amiably.
She knew they were banged to rights. Shug’s pistol might have been in his pocket, but Jim still held his host’s shotgun in his hand, and this policeman clearly knew all about Shug and Malky, and even Jim, though the stupid bugger swore he was totally unknown to the police. None of Eddie McSween’s extended family were likely to escape the knowledge of the law—if only because their homes were the likeliest places to pick the old lag up again.
Inspector Plod looked back at Tammy. The girl stared at him for a long moment, then snapped, “I don’t know who she is. Her name’s Addie. Also from Castlemilk.”
Beside her, Johnny jerked slightly, almost as if he was annoyed at Tammy for giving her away. The thought warmed her, but there was nothing she could do now. Minimal checking would reveal her identity if the policeman didn’t know it already.
“Aye, that’s me,” she said brashly, wandering farther into the room toward Jim as she added, “Happy New Year. Here, Jim, give me that before you shoot your own toe off.”
Ariadne's Thread Page 9