Penmort Castle (49 page)

She had to do
this because Emma knew that Cash would not be pleased if she chit
chatted with his glamorous new girlfriend in his office instead of
doing the work he paid her to do. She also did this because she
could not
wait
to call motor mouth Jade in the finance
department and tell her that this one was actually
nice
.

Abby had taken
a few sips of coffee and had come to no conclusions why Cash would
want her there early when Cash walked in.

His eyes never
leaving her, he went straight to his desk, tossed a file and his
pen on it and both skidded several inches across the mess before
coming to a stop.

Abby watched
this and her gaze went back to Cash. “You’re fond of throwing
things, aren’t you?”

He didn’t
answer but she watched him grin as he came to the side of the desk
and rested a thigh against it, crossing his arms on his chest.

She walked to
him, putting her coffee cup on a coaster she could just see from
under some papers.

She motioned to
his desk and remarked, “I’m surprised. You aren’t very
organised.”

“Moira has a
dislocated shoulder and a broken wrist,” he replied and, as she was
now within reaching distance, his hands came to her waist and he
pulled her closer, his arms circling her. “I made her stay home
until Monday.”

Abby’s head
tilted to the side. “Made her?”

“She wanted to
come back to work yesterday.”

Abby was
surprised at this news. Moira had only just had her accident.

She lifted her
hands and rested them on his chest, leaning into his strong body
and tilting her head back further to look up at him.

“She’s a
workaholic, like you,” Abby guessed.

“She gets off
on the hunt, like me,” Cash returned.

A weird thrill
shot through her at his words.

“The hunt?”
Abby asked, not quite able to hide her curiosity and his head
dipped down so he could touch his mouth to hers.

Then he
offered, “I’ll tell you about my work sometime.”

She was
surprised at this offer. She had asked him once about his work and
he’d told her it was confidential.

She wasn’t
certain but she had the feeling that his offer signified something
huge.

Instead of
making a big deal of it, Abby teased, “If you tell me, will you
have to kill me?”

“God, I hope
not,” he replied on a grin, then his arms tightened, bringing her
even closer and he kissed her, hard, wet and open-mouthed.

When he was
done, Abby’s fingers had curled into his lapels to hold herself
upright and Cash did something new. He slid his nose along the side
of hers and the tenderness she felt from this was playing havoc
with her heart.

She swallowed
and asked, “Why did you want me to come early?”

His head moved
away and she saw he was still grinning but this one was wicked.

He answered
without delay, “I wanted to make out with you before they
arrived.”

His intent, and
the honesty with which he shared it, made her laugh. Throwing her
head back, her hands slid up his chest to rest around his neck, the
tips of the fingers of one hand going into his thick hair.

When she
stopped laughing, her eyes caught movement, she looked around his
arm and saw the door was open and someone was walking passed.

She looked back
at Cash, pulled slightly away and suggested, “If you want to make
out with me, maybe we should close the door.”

“No.”

At his answer,
Abby’s lips parted in surprise.

“No?” she
repeated.

His arms got
even tighter and his face dipped close to hers again.

“No,” he said
again. “I employ thirty-five staff and they’re all curious about
you. Too curious. I make this statement, they’ll have something to
talk about for a couple of days and they’ll get back to work.”

“Oh,” Abby
said, somehow both weirded out and disappointed by his answer.

He gave her a
little squeeze and went on and even though she knew it was stupid,
stupid,
stupid
what he said next made that budding hope she
experienced in her heart the night before start to take root and
bloom.

“Twenty-five
years ago, if you told me I’d be standing in an office like this
and it would be mine, I wouldn’t have believed you.” She held her
breath at his sharing of this secret and his face got closer, his
voice got deeper, rougher and far, far sexier when he continued.
“And if you told me I’d be holding a woman like you in my arms, I’d
have told you you were mad. So, darling, I’m going to show you off
any chance I get. If you don’t like that, tough. You’re going to
have to get over it.”

Yes, even
though it was stupid, that hope was definitely beginning to
bloom.

“Cash –” she
whispered, then didn’t know what to say.

So she decided
to
show
him how his words made her feel. She got up on
tiptoe, pressing his head down with her fingers in his hair and
she
kissed
him
, hard, wet and open-mouthed.

His hand slid
up her back, his fingers sifted into her hair at her nape and his
head slanted, deepening an already deep kiss. This made Abby’s
knees give out and his arm crushed her to him as she felt her body
electrify from his kiss.

Some time later
from far away (but she wished it was farther,
much
farther)
she heard a tap at the door then, when Cash didn’t stop kissing
Abby, a polite cough.

Cash’s head
came up and he looked over his shoulder, his voice a mild growl
when he said, “Yes?”

“The others are
here,” Emma told him, standing uncomfortably at the door.

“We’ll be right
there,” Cash replied and Abby, peering around Cash’s body, saw Emma
disappear instantly.

Cash’s arms
went from around her but both his hands came up to curl on her
neck.

“After this
weekend, as soon as I can arrange it, we’re going on holiday,” he
informed her, his brogue still a soft, effective rumble that slid
across her skin.

“We are?” Abby
asked, sounding dazed because she was, it was a
great
kiss.

“We are,” he
returned. “No phones, no receptionists, no nosy neighbours, no
aggravating cousins, no ghosts, just us.”

“Okay,” Abby
agreed and she felt Cash’s fingers flex at her neck before he
smiled.

He let her go
but caught her hand and gently pulled her to the door, asking
blandly, “How annoyed is this meeting going to make me?”

Abby thought
about Mrs. Truman.

Then she
thought there was a very good possibility (in fact, it was a
certainty) that Angus would be attired in full Scottish
regalia.

“Um, on a scale
of one to ten?” Abby enquired and Cash stopped at the door and
looked down at her. She bit the side of her lip then mumbled,
“Fifteen.”

At that, he
threw his head back and laughed. She felt his rich laughter go
straight from her stomach, this time up, to rest close to her heart
before he tugged at her hand, leading her out the door and down the
hall.

And she didn’t
know Cash’s laughter in his office was not unheard of, but it was
also not commonplace. So that, as well as their passionate embrace,
as well as what was to come, was going to be the talk of the office
for the rest of the month.

They walked,
hand-in-hand, down the hall and Cash stopped them when they hit
reception.

Abby took one
look at her motley crew and mentally groaned.

Jenny, luckily,
looked like Jenny, wearing the black trousers that did great things
for her behind, high-heeled black boots and a black turtleneck.

Honor was also
dressed like a normal person.

Fenella,
however, was wearing a pink monstrosity that was fifty years too
old for her and looked like it was created to be worn to attend a
tea party at a retirement home.

Mrs. Truman was
wearing English Old Lady, from the tip of her felt hat with a sharp
feather sticking out of it, through her boxy tweed suit, to the
toes of her rubber-soled shoes.

Angus was, as
Abby feared, in full kilt.

But it was
Cassandra that had gone OTT looking like the rock ‘n’ roll gypsy
from hell. She had a scarf wrapped tightly around her head, its
fringed ends mingling with her long dark hair. She had three, thin
rock ‘n’ roll scarves around her neck and yet
another
fringed scarf wrapped around her hips over her jeans. As an
unnecessary finishing touch, she was wearing enough jewellery in
her ears, around her neck, at her wrists and on her fingers to set
off the metal detectors in the Pentagon thousands of miles
away.

“Fucking hell,”
Cash muttered under his breath and Abby looked up to see he was not
amused.

“I need tea,”
Mrs. Truman announced loudly.

Abby suppressed
a hysterical giggle but just barely.

Cash walked
forward, taking Abby with him, and his eyes went to Emma. “Is lunch
set up?”

“Yes, Cash.
Everything’s ready in the conference room,” Emma answered, her
surprised eyes on the assemblage.

Cash led the
way to the door of the conference room. As Abby walked beside him
she noticed there were an awful lot of people standing around
pretending to be in conversations, but surreptitiously watching
what was happening in the reception area.

That’s when she
started to freak out that all Cash’s employees were going to think
she was a bad influence on him.

She stood
beside Cash as her posse trooped into the conference room, greeting
Cash and Abby as they passed. All except Angus who shook Cash’s
hand so hard, Abby’s body also shook as Cash was still holding her
hand.

“Angus
McPherson,” he declared when he was done shaking Cash’s hand, then
he puffed out his chest and boomed, “Proud to be working for ye,
Cash Fraser!”

Cash stared at
Angus a moment then tilted his head down to look at Abby, brows
raised, and she scrunched her nose at him.

Luckily, Angus
didn’t take offense to Cash’s non-greeting and headed into the
conference room.

Abby started to
follow but Cash halted her with a tug on her hand. She looked up at
him in time to see his face disappear by her ear.

“Somehow, I
think you owe me for this,” he murmured there.

Somehow, she
thought he was right.

His head came
back and when she caught his eyes, she winced and shrugged which,
fortunately, made him grin.

When Cash and
Abby entered and Cash closed the door, Abby noted they were all
partaking of the buffet like they’d just come off a month-long
forced fast.

When they had
their plates piled high, they sat around the conference table. Cash
was at the head with no food, Abby to his right and she’d decided
to take her cues from him and also not load up a plate (even though
the buffet looked really good, Cash didn’t do things in
half-measures that was certain).

Cash didn’t
waste any time and once everyone was settled he immediately asked,
“Who’s in charge?”

“I am,” both
Angus and Cassandra said at the same time.

“That would be
me,
” Mrs. Truman said over both of them.

Cash’s body
stayed facing forward, just his head turned to Abby and his brows
went up.

“Um,” Abby
started, looked amongst the faces, trying to decide who would take
the least offense then she tried to be diplomatic, “let’s say Angus
as he’s had more experience with this type of thing.”

Mrs. Truman let
out an affronted “humph”, Cassandra sat back smiling and Angus
leaned forward happily.

Cash put both
elbows on the table, linked his fingers, rested his chin on them
and looked at Angus.

“Tell me your
plan,” he ordered.

Angus glanced
at Cassandra then said, “We’re thinking the showdown will be
Saturday night.”

There was
silence as Cash waited for Angus to say more.

Angus said no
more.

Cash closed his
eyes, pulled breath in through his nose and, when he opened his
eyes again, they were aimed at Abby.

Abby pressed
her lips together.

Cash’s eyes
went back to Angus and he suggested with barely restrained
patience, “Perhaps you’d like to fill in the blanks.”

Angus shoved an
entire chicken goujon in his mouth and shifted in his seat
excitedly while he chewed.

Not done
chewing, he stated, “See, we’re thinking tonight, we’ll give her a
chance to get settled in, not Abby, Vivianna. Make her think we’re
not going to try anything. We’ll wait for Saturday night to draw
her out.”

“And how is
Abby going to stay safe from this evening through to tomorrow?”
Cash asked.

Cassandra
leaned forward. “That’s where you come in.”

Cash looked at
Cassandra but didn’t speak.

It was Honor
who spoke next and she informed them, “I didn’t just find Lorna’s
diaries,” Cash’s eyes shifted to her and she continued. “Two of the
other victims had journals in the library too. I’ve had those for
years as well.”

Cassandra
picked up there. “Angus, Honor and I have been studying the
journals and researching the past murders. What we found is that
Vivianna doesn’t appear, nor is she active, when the master of the
house is with the victim. Therefore, if you stay close to her side,
Abby should be safe.”

“And what if we
get separated?” Cash enquired.

“You make sure
she’s with Mummy,” Fenella put in.

“Nicola?” Cash
asked.

“Vivianna
doesn’t do anything when Mummy’s around,” Fenella told Cash.

“Do you know
that for certain?” Cash queried and when Fenella looked blank, Cash
turned to Cassandra. “And are you certain she won’t be active when
I’m with Abby?”

“Not one
hundred percent certain, no,” Angus cut in, picked up a salmon and
cream cheese sandwich quarter, shoved the whole thing in his mouth
and went on while chewing, “pretty certain, though.”