Penmort Castle (47 page)

Her head
lifted.

“Cash –” she
began but his eyes were doing a sweep of her body and landed on her
legs.

He went on.
“And your knees.”

Abby looked
down at her legs and saw her jeans from knees to ankles were
covered in dust likely gathered from scrambling up the stairs.

She tilted her
head to look at him and went back to deciding to tell him the
truth.

Therefore, she
whispered, “I was running away from her. She formed in front of me
and we collided on the stairs. I fell back on my hands. Then she
attacked and I was scrambling on my hands and feet back up the
stairs –”

“Stop,” he
demanded and Abby stopped.

He kept staring
at her legs then his eyes moved to her sweater and he took a step
forward, getting close. His hand came up and he touched the dark
purple-black burn mark on her sweater.

His hand
dropped but his fingers wrapped around her wrists and he lifted her
hands, palms up, between them. He looked down at them and his
thumbs slid gently along the angry red marks and smudges.

“Fucking hell,
it’s true,” he muttered and relief shot through her that he
believed her.

“Yes,” she
replied softly.

His fingers
closed around her hands, pressing them together and he pulled them
against his chest, also pulling Abby closer.

His eyes locked
on hers and he ordered, “Tell me everything.”

Abby drew a
breath in through her nose. Then she bit the side of her lip.

Then she told
him everything.

Vivianna and
the bathroom. Telling Jenny and Mrs. Truman. Fenella, Cassandra and
the séance. Angus, the kilt-wearing, Scottish ghost hunter. Details
about Vivianna’s spell, her abilities and her targeting Abby. Abby
going to Penmort to be bait. Vivianna forming in the gallery, then
attacking. The amulet that
rocked
. The mad dash to town
surrounded by the protective purple mist.

Everything.

Everything
except the true love part that was.

When she was
finished, she realised Cash got stuck on an earlier point when he
said in a dangerous voice with equally dangerous eyes, “You went to
Penmort to be bait?”

“I had to draw
her out,” Abby explained.

“You had to
draw her out,” Cash repeated but he was looking like he was only
just stopping himself from shaking some sense into her.

“Yes,” Abby
said.

“Why?” he
asked.

“Pardon?” Abby
asked in return.

“Why did you
have to draw her out?” Cash enquired.

Abby looked at
him, confused. “So Angus could take her down, of course.”

“What does this
have to do with you?” he pressed.

Abby was even
more confused.

“It doesn’t
have to do with me. It has to do with you.” She watched Cash’s face
change but she misinterpreted it as puzzlement and carried on. “At
first, Jenny and Mrs. Truman and I started this whole thing because
I knew I’d have to go to the castle during the anniversary
celebration. I couldn’t
not
go. I mean, obviously, for
whatever reason, you wanted me there so I had to go. Since I didn’t
want to, you know,
die
while I was there, I had to do
something.” Cash kept staring at her with that strange look on his
face so Abby persevered. “Then I got to know Fenella and she’s
really nice. She’s a bit strange but she’s nice. And she’s lived
with Vivianna her whole life and Vivianna scares her, so then I was
kind of doing it for Fenella as well. Then I got to know Honor so
I’m doing it for her too. And now I know Penmort’s yours so, well,
as you can see,
something
has to be done. And I’m kind of
the only person who can do it. With Angus and Cassandra, of
course.”

Cash kept
staring at her with his hands holding hers against his chest, the
heat of his body close.

Abby thought
maybe he wasn’t taking it all in. It was, she knew, a lot to wrap
your head around.

She continued.
“Anyway, it’s all good. Angus got a good look at her tonight so he
knows what he’s up against and Cassandra says she’s got more stuff
she can throw at her. So next time, it’ll go better.”

Cash’s hands
tightened on hers before he asked, “Next time?”

“Yes,” Abby
said, “probably tomorrow night.”

Cash moved
forward very slightly but enough to bring him closer to Abby.

“Abby, there
isn’t going to be a next time. You aren’t going back there.”

Abby blinked
then reminded him, “Yes I am. We’re spending the weekend
there.”

“No.
We’re
not. Our weekend plans have changed. I’m going to the
party Saturday night only. You’re staying home.”

Abby felt her
eyes grow wide and she said, “But we have to go. Nicola is
expecting us and something has to be done about Vivianna.”

“We’re not
going,” Cash replied firmly.

“We
have
to go,” Abby returned.

One of Cash’s
hands released hers, the other curled around her palm and he
turned, pulling her from the room saying, “We’re not discussing
this.”

He flicked off
the light switch and kept walking to the stairs and down to the
garden level while Abby babbled, “You can’t be serious. We have to
discuss it. You don’t understand. Angus and Cassandra know what
they’re doing. I’m not kidding. They
seriously
know what
they’re doing. You should have seen them. Things didn’t go great
tonight but no one got hurt.”

Cash let her go
at the bottom of the stairs and walked to the light switch,
flipping off the dimmer lights that illuminated the kitchen
area.

Then his eyes
came to Abby. “We’re not discussing it. You aren’t going.”

Abby watched as
he walked back across the room to the light by the couch that was
lit. She saw his laptop open and some papers spread on the coffee
table, a tumbler with a finger of whisky still in it sat next to
his work.

Abby’s voice
gentled when she went on. “Cash, I’ll be safe, honestly. They won’t
let anything happen to me.”

He’d bent to
the lamp but straightened and his eyes pinned her to the spot.

“You aren’t
going,” he stated.

“Do you intend
to live there?” Abby asked softly and watched Cash’s entire body
freeze.

Then he
started, “Abby –”

“Do you?” she
pushed.

He didn’t
answer but she watched his jaw get tight.

“Do you want me
with you?” she whispered, heart in her throat, stomach clenched and
she stopped breathing.

Their eyes held
for a moment and Abby began to feel lightheaded with lack of
oxygen.

Finally, he bit
off tersely, “Yes.”

Abby went on
softly. “Honey, I’m not safe there unless something is done. And,
for whatever reason, I’m the only one who can force her out. It has
to be me who does it and we both know it has to be done.”

His eyes were
so hot on her she could actually feel them scorching into her. His
jaw was tight and they stared at each other for long moments.

Then he bent at
the waist and she thought he was going to turn off the lamp but his
fingers curled around the phone, yanking it out of the charger.

He walked to
her and held out the phone.

“Call them, all
of them,” he demanded, “every person who’s involved in this fiasco.
I want them at my office tomorrow at noon.”

“What?” Abby
asked. “Why?”

“Do it,” Cash
returned.

Abby’s eyes
slid to the digital clock on the microwave then back to Cash. “It’s
nearly midnight.”

His hand came
out, fingers wrapping around her wrist, he lifted it and put the
phone in her palm. “Call them. Now.”

“I don’t know
their numbers,” Abby said, watched his brows draw together and
hurried on. “I mean, I haven’t memorised them. They’re in my
mobile, in my purse, upstairs.”

He lifted his
hand and curled it around her neck. “I’ll get your purse.”

He gave her a
squeeze, walked up the stairs and got her purse. He came back,
scrawled his office address, phone number and directions on a piece
of paper and gave it to her.

Then he stood
next to Abby while she called everyone, including a seriously
cranky, woken-up Mrs. Truman.

When she was
done, he took the phone from her, put it back in its charger,
turned off the lamp, grabbed her hand and guided her upstairs.

When they were
in his bedroom Cash turned on the lamp at her side of the bed. Zee,
curled sleeping at the foot of the bed, lifted his head and blinked
in annoyance. Then Cash’s hands went to the buttons of his
shirt.

Abby stood
there watching him and asked, “Can we talk about Suzanne now?”

Cash pulled the
shirt off his shoulders and tossed it on the armchair while saying,
“No, she’s already had more of my time tonight than she
deserves.”

“I’d kind of
like an explanation,” Abby requested quietly.

His eyes went
to Abby’s as he sat on the armchair and yanked off his shoes and,
to her surprise, without any further coaxing Cash explained, “She
showed up about fifteen minutes before you. She said she was in
Bath having dinner with friends. They’d taken off but her car
wasn’t starting. Her mobile had lost its charge and she needed to
call AA. I didn’t believe her but I couldn’t leave her out in the
cold either. I let her come in, she made her call and she spent ten
minutes being supremely annoying. Then she came on strong, as she
always does. We heard you come in, she knew it had to be you, I was
distracted by your arrival, she moved in for the kill and she
kissed me. That’s it.”

Abby couldn’t
believe her ears.

Who behaved
like that?

“What’s the
matter with her?” Abby whispered.

“She’s a
bitch,” Cash replied dismissively, standing again, his hands going
to the waistband of his trousers.

“I don’t know
anyone who acts like that,” Abby muttered, her head tilted down to
watch her feet as she flipped off her shoes.

“Darling, come
here,” she heard Cash call.

Her head came
up, she saw his face had grown warm and immediately she walked to
him.

His arms
circled her when she got close.

“Are you okay?”
he asked.

“About
Suzanne?” she queried in return.

“I don’t give a
fuck about Suzanne. What I don’t like is you scrambling around on a
staircase pursued by a ghost,” he told her.

Abby wrinkled
her nose and admitted, “It wasn’t fun.”

His eyes had
moved to her nose then his lips went there and he kissed her.

Abby held her
breath at this tender action, but before she could process its
sweetness, his head came up and he murmured, “Let’s get you to
bed.”

Then his hands
were on the hem of her sweater, he pulled it up, her arms lifted,
he yanked it off and threw it to the side.

Shortly after,
they went to bed.

Strategic
Planning

Abby woke when
Cash’s body moved into hers. She drowsily noted she was in a
strange position, curled into a ball against Cash, the top of her
head pressed into his side. His arm was extended and curved around
her spine.

He moved her,
sliding her up the bed. Her body uncurled to accommodate his and he
rolled mostly on top of her.

His face went
into her neck and he murmured in a sleepy burr, “Are you
awake?”

“Yes,” she
whispered.

His mouth moved
from behind her ear to her jaw and he asked, “Are you still on your
period?”

Abby answered,
“Probably,” and she heard the disappointment in her voice.

His lips hit
hers and brushed there softly before he said, “Go back to
sleep.”

He started to
move away but her arms went around him, stopping his retreat.

Her mind was
groggily registering that they didn’t have all the time in the
world, so there was no time to waste.

She pressed up
and pushed off on a foot, rolling him to his back, positioning
herself on top of him, her mouth going to his neck and she tasted
him there.

She felt his
hands at her bottom and then he said, “Abby.”

“Quiet,” she
whispered.

His hands
trailed up her back as her lips moved on his neck.

“You don’t have
to do this, darling,” he told her, his voice low and rough.

Her head came
up and she looked at him in the dark.

On a soft
smile, she replied, “I know.”

Then she bent
her head and used her hands and mouth on him,
everywhere
on
him, wherever she wanted, however she liked and she took her
time.

And he let
her.

And he enjoyed
it.

A lot.

After she was
finished with him, he kissed her with residual passion mixed with
sweet gratitude and left the bed.

Abby curled
around his pillow and her last thought before falling back to sleep
was,
That was brilliant
.

* * * * *

“Do you want to
tell me what’s bothering you?” Kieran Kane was standing in his
kitchen with his wife who was wiping down the counters like she was
preparing to perform surgery on them.

Jenny glanced
at him. “Nothing’s the matter.”

He grinned.
“Right.”

She stopped
wiping, straightened to look at him and repeated, “Nothing’s the
matter.”

Kieran ignored
this out-and-out lie and asked, “Is it Abby?”

She put a hand
to her hip. “And why would you think it was Abby?”

“Partly because
you got a phone call at midnight from her communicating Lord
Fraser’s demands that you appear in his offices today. And partly
because it’s always Abby.”

Jenny threw the
sponge in the sink and snapped, “It’s not always Abby.”

At her answer,
Kieran felt the usual gut clench when the topic came up and he
asked gently, “Is it our appointment at the fertility clinic on
Monday?”