Luck of the Irish: Complete Edition (14 page)

Her father went silent and Keira heard her mother’s soft sobs. She had been listening to their conversation, too.

“I’m proud of you, honey. You sound very calm and self-assured. Much more than me or your mother,” her father chuckled and she knew she had convinced him she was fine. “And you are right, as well. We cannot afford the trip now.”

They talked for some more minutes and she hung up.

“I’ll call my sister tomorrow,” she whimpered, hiding her face in the curve of Declan’s neck.

“No way, lassie, it’s going to be worse tomorrow,” he pulled her away from him. “It’s like ripping off a bandage. You should yank it off, not pull it off slowly.”

“Oh, I know you’re right but it’s so hard,” she complaint while she pressed her sister’s number on her cell phone. “Hi, sis. Can you talk?”

Declan heard Megan’s voice on the other side of the line growing louder and angrier as Keira told her what had happened. He couldn’t make out her exact words but he knew too well how she felt. He only kept soothing Keira while the sisters talked.

All of a sudden, Keira shouted into the mouthpiece, “No, I’m fine, Megan! I’m not alone! Declan’s here with me. I’ve just told you he came in before anything happened.”

She looked at him and rolled her eyes. He smiled and could only imagined what Keira’s sister was raving about. However, he didn’t need to guess for too long.

“Megan wants to talk to you,” Keira handed him the phone.

“Why?” he mouthed as he grabbed the thing.

“I don’t know,” she mouthed back, shrugging and resting her chin on his chest to watch him talk to her older sister. That was going to be fun.

“Hello?”

“You tell me the truth now, mister, or I swear to God I’ll hop on the next plane to Ireland and I’ll rip your heart out with my bare hands while you watch it,” Megan shouted without stopping to breathe. “Is my sister unharmed? What did that motherfucker do to her?”

Declan noticed Megan was crying. She had probably held the tears back while she talked to Keira. He tried to calm her, “She’s fine, Megan. She’s shaken, obviously, but that bastard didn’t have a chance to go through with his attack. I came in and knocked him unconscious. I would have killed the son of a bitch without qualms but your little sister didn’t let me,” he smiled at Keira, kissing her nose. “She was afraid I’d go to jail for that.”

“That’s so Keira,” Megan took a deep breath and stopped crying. She whispered, “Thank you, Declan. We, my family and I, could never thank you enough.”

“There’s no need for that, Megan,” it was his turn to choke up. “Do you want to talk to Keira again?”

“Yes.”

While Keira talked some more with her sister, Declan caressed Keira’s arms and played with her hair but he got distracted. His thoughts traveled far away into his past. Dark memories clouded his face. Keira called his name a couple of times without getting a reply.

She had finished talking to Megan but when she turned to Declan and saw his expression, she got worried. Placing a cool hand on his cheek, she finally got his attention. He looked down at her and smiled, “Hey, you! I didn’t notice you had stopped talking.”

“Yeah, I know. Where were you? Your mind was a thousand miles away, wasn’t it?”

“More like a thousand years away, love,” he pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheeks.

“You had a heavy expression,” Keira closed her eyes and felt her bones melting under his soft touch. “Sad memory?”

“A quite disturbing one,” noticing she was about to ask him for details, he added quickly, “I’ll tell you all about it, soon; but not tonight. We both need to rest.”

Keira snuggled up to him and Declan sighed. They were both so exhausted that he hoped they would fall asleep fast. He closed his eyes, feeling his muscles relax for the first time since he had left his home in Dublin. Seconds later, he tensed up when Keira kissed a trail along his chest until his throat, as she ran her hands on his skin. She played with his chest hair and smiled against a more sensitive spot on his neck.

“Don’t pretend to be asleep, silly. I know you’re not.”

He froze up and didn’t know how to respond to her attempts at seducing him. It was wrong in so many levels. She wasn’t ready for that and he knew it. On the other hand, she was emotionally fragile and if he weren’t tactful enough she might feel rejected. It could get very ugly, very fast. He caught her hands in his, kissed their palms, staring into her stormy blue eyes. Before he could say anything, she kissed his mouth.

“Kiss me, Declan, please,” she whispered, softly, against the corner of his mouth.

He was only human and couldn’t deny her a little harmless kiss. He couldn’t deny himself that, either. Keira took his receptiveness as encouragement and got bolder. She pressed her body fully against his, wrapped her hands behind his back, pulling him down as she arched her back. He hesitated again, knowing too well things would get out of control soon, if he let her go on kissing him like that. He pulled away and raised his head.

“Sorry, love, but I don’t think you’re ready for this. It’s too soon. Let me just hold you. We both need a good night’s sleep.”

She grabbed his shoulders and looked into his dark green eyes, ignoring his concerned expression, “I need you tonight, Declan Slane. I need this to feel alive. I went numb after the attack. I’m afraid I’ll freeze up inside,” she held him closer, wrapping her arms behind his neck and plastering her soft body against his hard one.

She stretched her body to reach his face, and sprinkled light kisses over his stern features, as she whispered, “You make me feel alive like no other man has ever done, sweetie. Please. Kiss me. I need your warmth, your fire to melt the ice in my heart. Help me forget what happened tonight.”

Declan resisted her seduction bravely up to the moment when her lush lips grazed the corner of his mouth. Her tongue tempted his lips, smashing down his already weakened defenses. He kissed Keira hard and urgently, taking control of the situation and moving over her to pin her gently to the mattress.

He also needed reassurance. He was terrified when he saw Paul attacking her. He was still shaken, afraid he would lose her forever. He wanted their passionate kiss to show her he was vulnerable, too. He had never wanted a woman more. He had never felt so afraid of his feelings, either.

Keira enjoyed his hungry caresses. She reveled under his thoughtful attentions and felt her body responding eagerly to Declan’s touch, opening up to a whole new and wonderful world of sensations. Their bodies fit together in perfect symmetry. She was out of breath from the intensity of the emotions he arose in her body. She felt like floating on air until flashes of Paul’s contrastingly brutal attack came up to life inside her head. She closed her eyes to better concentrate on Declan’s sweet hands traveling up her legs but it was worse. She froze up in Declan’s arms. He stopped kissing her neck and lifted his head to look at Keira. A deep crease settled between his eyebrows. He had a pretty good idea why she had gone stone cold but had to ask her.

“What’s wrong, love?” he whispered.

“I thought I could, but I just can’t do this. I know you’re not him, but I keep feeling his hands on me. I’m sorry, Declan,” she babbled, on the brink of hysteria.

Feeling defeated and weak, Keira rested her forehead on his chest to hide her tears. It was useless because Declan heard them in her voice. He lifted her chin gently, until their eyes met, rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks to dry them.

“Keira, love, don’t say you’re sorry. There’s nothing for you to feel ashamed of or to apologize for, silly. I understand,” he kissed the tip of her nose.

“It’s just that, in the short while we’ve known each other, I’ve cried in front of you more times than I’ve ever cried before in my life. You must think I’m a stupid little brat.”

“That’s nonsense, baby. You’ve been through hell tonight. Crying is a natural, human reaction,” he rolled on his back pulling her into his arms again. He rested his chin on the top of her head, and soothed her, whispering in her ears, “It’s okay, Keira. Everything will be fine.”

When her arms closed tightly around his waist and the sobs raked her body, he closed his eyes to stop his own tears from falling. He needed to be strong for her, despite his own fears. She needed him to support her, even though the ground seemed to have disappeared from under his feet and he felt like falling from the top of a high building. His stomach sank with each sob that came out of her and he mentally beat himself up one more time.

“I should have thrashed the sod to kingdom come.”

Gradually, her crying subsided and she got quiet. He kissed her hair and rubbed her back and shoulders all the while. Her breathing got even and deep. She had fallen asleep, at last, although it would take him a long time to find sleep. He was too agitated so he propped himself up on one elbow and watched Keira sleep. He brushed a lock of her hair from her face, running his finger over her soft cheeks, which were still a little damp.

His heart shrank inside his chest and skipped a couple of beats. He had seen that kind of suffering before. All the pain, all the ghosts from his past returned to haunt him. He had witnessed the woman he loved most in the world be brutalized. At that time, he had been paralyzed; unable to help her. He was terrified to think he might be useless now, as well.

What if I can’t help Keira, either? I’d never forgive myself for that.

Watching her sleep so deeply, so calmly, after all that she had been through soothed his wounded soul and he fell into sleep. But it was a restless, filled with nightmares that mixed images from his childhood and flashes of Keira’s attack.

He woke up gasping and, startled, sat up on the bed. It took him a few seconds to understand where he was and remember what had happened the day before.

Moaning, he wiped his hands over his face before checking the time on the nightstand alarm clock - only seven in the morning. Keira wasn’t in bed. There was light coming from under the bathroom door and he went there to check up on her. He raised his hand to knock on the door and stopped halfway, fist in the air, when he heard Keira heaving. He clenched his jaw, indecisive between giving her privacy and making sure she was fine. He went for the middle ground.

“Keira, do you need help in there?”

“No, I’m fine,” was her muffled reply, after a brief hesitation.

She sounded too weak for his peace of mind. He leaned against the door and strained his ears to hear what she was doing inside the bathroom. When he heard the shower, he went back to sit on the bed, facing the bathroom door. It didn’t take long for Keira to get out. She wore her pajamas and was towel drying her hair. She flashed him a shy smile, as she sat beside Declan, “Good morning.”

“I sure hope it is,” he laughed, dryly. “I don’t mean to be rude, love, but you look awful.”

“Thank you!” she playfully punched his shoulder. “Just what a girl hopes to hear from a man in the morning.”

“How are you, Keira?”

He kissed her cheek, she sighed, and stopped pretending to be light-hearted.

“You’re beginning to know me too well, Declan,” she stared down at her fingers laced together on her lap. “I feel awful. Every inch of my body aches. It’s like I’ve been run over by a semi-truck.”

“Emotionally, you went through something worse than that, little one. And physically, it wasn’t easy, either. I guess you don’t want to go down for breakfast.”

“Urgh, I can’t eat anything right now.”

“That’s not an option, young lady. Yesterday, I promised a very angry Megan I’d take good care of you. She threatened to rip my heart out of my chest if I lied to her. Somehow, I kind of believe she’s capable of doing that.”

Keira laughed wholeheartedly at his feigned terrified expression.

“You know what? You’d better watch out, because I think she just might do something like that, if she thinks you’ve hurt me. She’s always been overprotective of me. She’d chase off any kid who tried to bully me at school or in our neighborhood.”

“I’ll order breakfast, then.”

“Just some fruit for me, please.”

“No way. You’ll eat a proper, healthy Irish breakfast.”

She sighed and looked up at the ceiling when he turned away from her to talk to the person on the other side of the line.

“And don’t roll your eyes, Miss Ashe,” he told her, without turning around to face her, but covering the mouthpiece. “I know I can be an overbearing bastard when I want to be. This time, it’s for your own good.”

Keira thought it was comforting to have a person know her so well. She needed to feel safe, to recover from the ordeal she had been through, and having Declan take care of her that way was going to ease the process. Hanging up, he turned and held her face, staring into her blue eyes as if he wanted to probe the darkest corners of her mind.

“Sweetheart, you know you can trust me, right? You’ll tell me if you need anything, in case I’m too dense to notice it, please,” he begged.

“Declan, I’ll be fine. I am fine. You are taking excellent care of me. I’ll make sure to tell Megan that,” she teased and offered him a wide smile. “If nothing else, you’re making me laugh. That
is
great.”