The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (45 page)

He laughed heartily then
said, ‘are you ready to go. We have a long walk back, unless you want to get a cab or a bus.’

‘Oh no, I’d like to walk. You don’t have to worry about me, I may be thin but I’m much stronger than I look, believe me, I’ve had to be.’

He frowned but she said nothing further. He said, ‘I want to know more about this strength of yours, but it’ll keep until tonight.’

‘Does this exchange of information work both ways, am I going to discover things about
your
deep dark past?’

Oh lady he thought, you really don’t want to get into my deep dark past,
believe
me
.
He smiled and said, ‘that depends on how interesting I find
your
story.’

‘Then I’m doomed to be left wondering about you.’

He laughed as they exited the diner and began the walk back.

He asked if she felt up to walking back through the woods, they could quite easily go another way. She assured him that she was fine and if she avoided walking in the woods she would miss so much of the beauty of the areas she was visiting.

Nevertheless he could sense her trepidation and at one point where the woods were thickest he took her hand, then he couldn’t tell if her nervousness was from her fear of meeting another panther or the close physical contact. She said nothing and did not try to withdraw her hand from his which he took as a good sign.

They talked as they walked and very soon they arrived back in Eden. She said she would like to go and see Annie Bloom at her shop as she had promised. He told her he would pick her up at her cabin at 7.00clock and she said that would be grand which made him laugh. She was about to walk away when she turned back and said, ‘oh, I’ll give you my mobile phone number in case something comes up and you can’t make it.’

He was surprised but obviously didn’t tell her that he already had it thank you very much.

He said, ‘I’m not sure what could possibly come up that would prevent me from keeping our date, but I’ll take it anyway, for future reference.’

Adela felt a warm glow when he said, “our date.” And “future reference.”

She fumbled in her bag and found her
notebook and pen, swiftly wrote down her number then handed it to him. He thanked her and was about to leave her there when Dean Maxwell came walking down the street towards them. Pretending he had not seen him Hennessey took Adela’s hand and kissed her fingers before saying loudly enough for Maxwell to hear, ‘thank you for your company today, I’ll see you at seven.’

Adela, whose back was to Maxwell said, ‘thank you too, see you later.’

He smiled at her and made his way to the Horse and Hind. Adela looked down at the hand he had kissed and was sure her fingers were tingling. Hearing footsteps behind her she turned and saw Maxwell approaching. Smiling she said, ‘oh hello, Dean.’

He nodded somewhat curtly and said, ‘hello, how are you.’

‘Fine thanks, and you?’

‘Fine.’

‘Did you have a good time last night at the bar?’

‘Yes thanks.’ He looked down the street to where Hennessey was just entering the hotel, ‘no need to ask if
you
did.’

She turned and followed his gaze; her face was a little pink as she looked back at Maxwell, ‘well yes, I did.’ She didn’t know whether to apologise to him for last night, for the raffle ticket thing and Hennessey’s appearance. She decided not to, it might only embarrass him still further; she made up her mind to act as though nothing untoward had happened.

She smiled at him, ‘you’ll never guess what happened to me today,’ she proceeded to tell him about the panther. She thought he might say something like “that was a close shave,” or “that’s really something to take away with you when you leave here,” but instead he seemed more interested in Hennessey having a gun. Up until then she had not really thought about the gun that Hennessey had used to scare away the panther, she supposed she had been too shocked and too relieved to still be alive. But now she thought about it. She knew of course that people carried guns all the time in this country and no one really thought anything of it, but did they carry them whilst taking a stroll through the woods with a woman? She would ask him later at dinner about it. She said now, ‘it’s something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to, people carrying guns all the time.’

‘They do of course,’ Maxwell replied, ‘but it seems odd to be carrying when escorting a lady on a walk.’

He had voiced her thoughts and it made her uncomfortable. Before she could reply he went on, ‘maybe he uses it to shoot the vermin he terminates. If we hear shooting from the hotel we’ll know what it is won’t we?’

His sarcasm was not lost on Adela but she smiled, ‘well as much as I hate weapons, I for one am grateful he had his with him today.’

‘Oh yes, me too, we don’t want the tourists thinking they can’t enjoy the woods for fear of being eaten by big cats.’

‘That is one way of looking at it I suppose. Well, good day then, Dean.’

He could see she was unimpressed with his behaviour and said more gently, ‘I
am
glad that you’re all right though, Adela. Look, come to the store tomorrow morning and tell me more about your walk, okay?’

She smiled at him, ‘I’d love too, I’ll be there bright and early, so get the kettle on?’

He laughed, ‘will do. Bye, Adela.’

‘Bye, Dean.’

They parted, he to go back to his shop and she to pay the promised visit to Annie Bloom.

Annie was delighted to see her and made her sit and drink a glass of pineapple juice, which was very sweet and sickly, but out of politeness Adela drank it all.

Annie told her that everyone was talking about her singing last night and how lovely her voice was. She gave Adela a crafty look and said, ‘and they’re talking about your young man too, what a looker, if I were twen…ten years younger, I’d fight you in the street for him.’

Adela’s laugh contained some embarrassment. ‘I told you last night, Annie; he’s not my young man.’

‘That’s a pity, he’s a
man
.’

‘I did notice,’ Adela said still laughing.

Annie smacked her hand playfully, ‘you know what I mean, I mean a
real
man.’

‘As opposed to a fake man?’

Annie gave her an impatient look then laughed, ‘no, nothing fake about
that
guy, he has something that no woman can resist.’

‘Chocolate?’

‘Oh you’re so funny, Adela. No, he has something, something deep, you can see it in those big, knee trembling, heart a fluttering, get me into bed blue, blue eyes of his.’

Adela was taken aback but also amused at Annie’s forthrightness she said, ‘what, what can you see Annie.’

Annie looked into Adela eyes and her smile held fascination as well as glee, ‘danger Adela, danger.’

Adela stared back at Annie and whispered, ‘danger?’

Annie nodded, ‘I’ve seen men like him before, the kind of man young girls go for, they know they’re bad, they know they’re trouble, but there’s something irresistible about men like that.’

Adele continued to stare into Annie’s eyes, speechless. She recalled the way Hennessey had looked at Dean the previous evening, as though he could easily have punched his lights out and not thought twice about it. The way he had so effectively and determinedly made way for them through the crowds of people, as though he
expected
them to make way for him. And the gun he had had with him in the woods, and how he had appeared so calm as though he encountered dangerous situations every day and was never fazed by them. She shook herself, then laughed, ‘Annie, you’re a very naughty woman, dangerous indeed. The only things Mr. Hennessey is dangerous to are the bugs he kills for a living.’

Annie no longer smiling but looking rather sad said, ‘if you say so, but I know men and I know what I see, it’s a gift I have. Are you seeing him again?’

‘Yes, tonight, he’s taking me to dinner.’

‘Oh you’re
so
lucky, Adela.’

‘I’m not so sure now.’

Annie looked troubled and said hurriedly, ‘oh Adela, I don’t mean
that
kind of dangerous, not dangerous to
you
. I mean in a good way.’

‘Are there good ways of being dangerous?’

Annie laughed uproariously now and patted Adela’s hand, ‘I hope you’ll find out one day, Adela.’

Adela hoped she wouldn’t but laughed too, then said goodbye and left to go to her cabin. It was almost 5.0clock when she reached there; she kicked off her shoes and lay down on the bed, she would rest for an hour before getting ready for her dinner date with Sterling Hennessey.

But her mind was too active to rest; she thought about the day she’d spent with him, it had been very, very pleasant indeed. His handsome looks not withstanding, he was a very entertaining and interesting companion and on top of all that he had saved her life. But she also recalled her conversations with Dean and Annie. Dean had not liked the idea of her spending time with Sterling Hennessey, and he had defiantly not liked the idea of him carrying a weapon. This brought her to her conversation with Annie and her “dangerous” thing.

Was Annie just being Annie and seeing what she wanted to see in Sterling Hennessey, a man she would want for herself, a man she could admire or had done so in her youth? Yes, that was it, Annie was reminiscing about her own life and her own loves.

Adela smiled to herself and gave up the idea of resting instead she read for a while; her favourite hero had just extracted himself from a particularly nasty scrape with the aid of his loyal but slightly psychotic sidekick. Well pleased with the ending she closed the book and looked at her watch, 6.15. She would shower now and start getting ready for Sterling. Sterling, she liked that, he had certainly lived up to his name today, he had shown a sterling character in her hour of need. She laughed and went to take her shower.

CHAPTER 17.

     At 6.57 there came a knock on the door. Adela looked through the peep-hole and saw Sterling Hennessey standing there; she unlocked and opened the door then smiled at Hennessey, ‘hello. I’ll just get my bag and shawl in case it gets cooler later, ‘she turned to grab her bag from the back of the chair, ‘you’re a man after my own heart, Mr. Hennessey, always early.’

He said nothing just stared at her, she turned to him grinning, ‘oh I know I called you Mr. Hennessey but it was just a joke. I promise it’s Sterling from here on in.’

He said, ‘oh no, no it’s not that.’ He looked her up and down. Her smile faded, ‘is there something wrong, am I not dressed appropriately for the restaurant you’ve chosen. Shall I change?’

She was wearing a dress, the first time he had seen in her one; it came to just above the knee and was pale blue with small flowers of a darker blue, it was very pretty and very feminine. Her shoes were blue with little pink bows on top and a two inch heel. She wore a silver necklace with small beads the same colour as the flowers in the dress, earrings to match and a silver watch with little diamonds around the face. The subtlety of her dress and jewellery was offset by a ring on the middle finger of her right hand, it was gold with an enormous turquoise stone, it should have been gaudy but it wasn’t, it was tasteful like the rest of her attire.

But the most noticeable thing about her was her hair, she was wearing it down, it was thick and slightly wavy and the glossy auburn tresses reached past her backside. She had pinned the right side back with a blue flower that also matched the dress. She was certainly into pretty, totally feminine things.

He had acted like an idiot when he’d first seen her by being struck dumb at the sight of her; he had been taken by complete surprise. She turned to her wardrobe but he stopped her by saying, ‘no, I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve not seen you with your hair down before and wearing a dress, you took me by surprise for a minute there.’

‘In a nice way I hope.’ What was she doing almost asking for a compliment?

‘Oh, in absolutely the nicest way I assure you.’ Mr. Charm again. ‘There’s absolutely nothing wrong with what you’re wearing, on the contrary you look…lovely.’

He had been going to say beautiful but knew she would think he was just putting on the charm and exaggerating, although at this moment it was in fact true, she
did
look beautiful.

But he could tell that she didn’t believe that she even looked lovely, but smiled a bright smile and said, ‘well thank you kind sir, you don’t look
too
trashy yourself.’ It was true he did indeed look very handsome. He was wearing a black suit with a dark blue shirt that made his eyes appear bluer than ever, if that was possible, and a pale blue tie with darker blue squiggles on it. He laughed at her remark, ‘thank
you
…I think.’

She laughed too then grabbed her purse and shawl, he opened the door for her and she preceded him out, he took her key from her and locked the door then gave her back the key which she put in a very small blue bag. He wondered what she could fit into it besides her key; she would certainly never fit all that cash she had lying around in that tiny thing.