Penmort Castle (51 page)

She should have
told him before but she figured him coming to terms with his
ancestral legacy being haunted by an evil spirit who wanted to
murder his new girlfriend was enough to handle.

In the meantime
they’d been kind of busy.

But, Abby
decided, it was time.

Even though she
didn’t like it, she had to do it.

For Cash.

She heard the
door to the bathroom open. She had her back turned to it and saw
the light hit the room before Cash pulled the cord and it was
extinguished.

She didn’t turn
but she felt him come close then his hands went to her waist, slid
around to her belly and put pressure there, pulling her back into
his warm, hard, strong body.

His mouth came
to her ear where he asked in his rough burr, “You doing okay?”

At the concern
in his voice, Abby felt her heart leap, her belly melt and she
turned her head. His came up and she caught his eyes as her hands
went to his at her belly.

She didn’t
answer him, instead she enquired, “Can we talk?”

Something she
couldn’t catch flashed across his face before he murmured, “Of
course.”

She took one of
his hands in hers, curled it away from her body and then tugged on
it, leading him to a chair in the turret. He was wearing navy blue
pyjama bottoms and a dark grey, flannel robe opened at the front so
she could see most of his chest and the tight muscle across his
abdomen.

She ignored the
view (and the fact that Cash looked good in a robe), pressed him
into the chair and, unresisting, he sat. She then lifted one of his
arms and settled in his lap, curling close.

For a brief
moment, she felt his body tense under hers as she settled, almost
as if he was surprised.

Then he
relaxed, one of his arms curved around her waist, the other one
came to rest across her lap, his fingers flexing into her hip.

His eyes caught
hers. “What is it?”

Abby pulled in
breath.

Then quickly
and as gently as she could, she told him what Fenella, Angus and
Honor said.
Everything
they said. About his father, about
his father’s intentions toward his mother and him and lastly about
Alistair (maybe) killing his father.

When she was
close to finished, she lifted a hand to rest on the side of his
face and leaned into him, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I’m so
sorry, honey. I know this is a lot to process and I should have
told you before. But I didn’t know how and–”

He cut her off
with words as well as his fingers tightening their grip on her hip
and his arm giving a squeeze. “Stop saying you’re sorry.”

She blinked at
him. “But, I just told you there’s a possibility that your uncle
murdered your father.
Anyone
would be sorry about that.”

“I know
Alistair murdered my father,” Cash shared bluntly and Abby gasped
at this news but he talked over her gasp. “I know my father
intended to move my mother and me to Penmort.” Abby stared at him
and Cash gave her another squeeze, his voice dipping low. “I know
everything, Abby.”

“You do?” she
breathed.

“Yes,” he said
shortly, “I do.”

“How… when…”
she stammered, “how?”

Cash shifted,
twisting her so her back was against the arm of the chair, he
pulled her body further across his lap, her legs were hanging over
the other arm and his torso was partially resting on hers. It was a
far more comfortable and intimate position and Abby’s brain
registered just how much she liked it when he continued.

“When my father
died, the police suspected Alistair but couldn’t pin anything on
him. Even though the trail was cold, there was enough to explore so
I took up the threads of their investigations. I found out the man
who tampered with the brakes of my father’s car got nicked for
another job. He told his cellmate what he’d done. With a little
persuasion, his cellmate told me.”

Abby felt her
heart start to beat faster.

“You should go
to the police,” she encouraged.

Cash shook his
head. “The person who Alistair paid to do it is now dead. Died in
prison, diabetes. His cellmate is still alive but it’s hearsay.
There’s no point.”

Abby put her
hands to his neck and asked, “If you know, then how can you be
here? How can you sit at his table? How can you –”

Cash
interrupted her. “It’s
my
table, Abby.”

“You know that
now,
” she returned, “but you just found out Alistair isn’t a
Beaumaris.”

“It’s been my
table for two months,” Cash replied and Abby’s breath stuck in her
throat. “Alistair is in debt up to his teeth. I bought the notes.
If he paid the loans he’s taken against the castle, which he
doesn’t, he’d be paying
me
.”

Abby felt her
eyes grow round and Cash got closer.

“That’s why
you’re here, darling. I’ve been playing with him for a year, making
him think I might be interested in one of his stepdaughters in
order to keep his attention off the fact I was stealing his house
from under his nose. This weekend you’re here to rub his face in
one failure, his not securing a Beaumaris to marry one of his
stepdaughters, while I rub his nose in the ultimate failure for any
Beaumaris, true or not, by informing him he needs to pack his bags
and get… the fuck… out.”

Abby stared at
him then whispered, “You’ve owned it all along?”

Cash nodded
then went on. “I took it and then
you
gave me proof that it
was mine in the first place. Either way, he’s out.”

Abby was
stunned. Abby was also worried.

“But, what
about Nicola?” Abby asked.

Cash muttered
dryly, “She can stay.”

“Fenella?
Honor?” Abby pressed.

His head
descended and his mouth touched her collarbone. “I’m beginning to
like them. You bring out the best in people. They can stay too,” he
replied generously, Abby opened her mouth again but Cash beat her
to it when his head came up and he stated flatly, “Suzanne
goes.”

Abby stared at
him a moment then her voice went soft. “So all this time, you knew
your Dad wanted to marry your Mom?”

He shook his
head, his jaw went hard as did his eyes and he muttered,
“
That
was news.”

“Did you know
he wanted you to inherit?” Abby asked.

“I knew he was
scrutinising the covenant. I guessed why,” Cash replied.

“You need to
talk to Angus,” Abby told him.

“I’ll talk to
Angus, after you’re safe,” Cash agreed. “All of this will happen
after we know you’re safe.”

“Cash –” Abby
started to argue, thinking it was Priority One that Alistair get
his due.

“Abby,” he
broke in, “after you’re safe.”

Abby didn’t let
it go. “You can’t wait! He killed your father, Cash. You’ve been
working on this for –”

He cut her off.
“After you’re safe.”

“Cash!” she
snapped and his face came close to hers.

“After… you’re…
fucking
… safe,” he enunciated clearly, slowly and more than
a little inflexibly.

All right then,
after she was safe it was.

All of a
sudden, all he said, what he’d done, dawned on her.

And she felt
something odd steal over her, odd and thrilling.

She was, she
realised, proud of him. It wasn’t her place to be proud but she
couldn’t help it, she was.

And, she
thought, the man who held her in his lap, in a turret, in his
ancestral home, a home he’d been born to but denied and then
cheated but he’d won it all the same, that man, Abby concluded,
should celebrate.

And she knew
exactly how he should do it.

Even though it
scared the daylights out of her (for a variety of reasons), since
she was living on limited time, she didn’t waste any of it.

Abruptly she
asked, “Will you do something for me?”

His eyes moved
over her face and she knew he was trying to read her mind.

Clearly
failing, cautiously he replied, “That depends.”

She smiled.

When she did,
his eyes dropped to her mouth but she pushed him back, slid off his
lap, grabbed his hand and pulled him up from the chair. Then she
tugged him to the door which she threw open and stepped out of the
room.

With a sharp
yank at her hand he hauled her back and she looked up at him.

“You’re not
leaving this room,” he told her.

She smiled up
at him. “I’ll be safe. I’m with you.”

Then she
started to move forward again but Cash stayed planted.

She pulled at
his arm. He still didn’t move.

She stopped,
turned and softly uttered two words, “Cash, please.”

He looked to
the side, pressing his lips together then his body came unstuck and
he walked down the dark hall with her, down the stairs, his hand in
hers, his body close.

She led him to
the study and closed the door behind them.

She took his
hand again, moved with him through the shadows to the huge desk
which had been there for maybe hundreds of years. A desk his father
used, his grandfather used, and so on.

A desk that
Alistair used.

Abby walked
Cash around the desk and pushed back the chair then stopped Cash in
front of her, dropped his hand and leaned back against the
desk.

“Abby, what in
fucking hell –” Cash, she could tell, was losing patience.

Abby
interrupted. “Alistair uses this desk.”

“And?” Cash
asked irritably.

Her hands went
to his waist inside his robe and she pulled him closer. She got up
on tiptoe and leaned into him as his hands came to her hips.

“Abby –” he
started.

She put her
lips to his jaw and muttered, “I’m done with my period.”

She felt him
grow still.

Her hands slid
up his sides, around then up his back as she pressed against
him.

His head tipped
down as hers tilted back and she put her mouth to his.

Using every
smidgeon of courage she had, her heart beating madly, she
whispered, “Cash, I want you to fuck me on
your
desk.”

Cash’s body
went solid.

For a
moment.

But Abby didn’t
have to ask twice.

His mouth
captured hers in a bruising kiss and her robe was off her shoulders
in a flash, pooling on the floor at her feet.

All the while
kissing her, Cash leaned forward and Abby arched back. He did
something and she heard objects hit the floor but she didn’t pay
much attention. She was busy trying to pull his robe down his
occupied arms at the same time kissing him back.

When he was
done clearing the desk, she tugged his robe off, he yanked her
nightgown up then her underwear down and before she’d finished her
gasp and stepped out of them, his hands were at her bottom, lifting
her and planting her on the desk.

From that point
on it went wild. It was rough, hard, wet, completely out of either
of their control and every second was absolutely
glorious
.

Not long later,
her back was on the desk and her behind at its edge. Her knees were
cocked, her legs pressed high against his sides. One of her arms
was wrapped around Cash’s back like she was never going to let go,
the other hand in his hair, holding his mouth to hers.

She felt the
delicious tightening, she knew what it was, she knew it was coming
and, best of all, she knew it was going to be
good
.

Cash was
driving deep. His mouth disengaged from hers and his hand fisted in
her hair, yanking her head back with a tender savagery that made
her neck arch.

Cash’s lips
went to her ear and he growled, “The best thing I’ve done in my
whole fucking life is walk into that pub.”

Abby felt her
heart squeeze and her breath catch but it was too late, she was too
far gone. She couldn’t respond. All she could do was breathe his
name.

He drove in
deeper and demanded, “I want it.”

She did
everything she could to hold back and wait for him.

“Cash,” she
whispered.

He ground his
hips into hers, way deep, beyond delicious, and his fist in her
hair pulled her head back further as he ordered, “Give it to me,
Abby. I want it.”

Seeing as it
was one of the only things she could give to Cash Fraser,
Fabulously Rich and Famous International Hot Guy and seeing as she
wanted him to have everything he wanted she gave it to him.

* * * * *

After Cash
finished and pulled away, he slid her underwear up her legs
himself. After he’d done that, he gently slipped her off the desk
to her feet. Holding her close to his body, he replaced her robe
then let her go for a moment so he could replace his.

He sat in the
desk chair taking her with him, settling her in his lap with her
body curled into his, bent legs against his chest, cheek on his
shoulder, head tucked under his jaw. Once he had her cocooned
against him, he circled her entire body with his arms.

Neither of them
spoke. Both of them were still catching their breath. Even after
their breathing evened, they stayed silent.

Abby was
thinking about what he said before she came. She had no clue what
he was thinking.

Then he told
her.

“I’m going to
fuck you in every room in this house.”

Her head tilted
back to look at him.

“Tonight?” she
whispered in disbelief.

His chin dipped
down, she could see the flash of white where his mouth was
indicating he was smiling.

His lips
touched hers before he replied, “Darling, as much as I love it that
you’d think I’d be up to such a staggering feat, I’ll take my
time.”

She immediately
felt like an idiot. Of course he wasn’t going to do it in one
night. In fact, at that moment, there were five other people in the
house (not to mention a latent ghost). They couldn’t even
get
to every room of the house.