The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (62 page)

He whispered, ‘hush, hush, it’s okay.’

He continued to whisper comforting, reassuring words until the sobs began to subside. They were both silent for a few minutes her head still resting on his chest and his hand stroking her hair, which thanks to the drunken man had come loose and lay in long damp folds down her back, in his mind Hennessey likened it to a waterfall. He reached a hand across her and closed the car door as quietly as he could but still she jumped. He picked up his jacket from the floor where it had fallen in her haste to get out of the car and put it around her shoulders. He was about to say they had better get back before she caught pneumonia, before they both did, when she suddenly said, ‘you’re very wet.’

He was surprised by her comment but smiled, ‘not surprising since I’ve been rained
and
cried on.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I was kidding.’

‘No, not for that, well, yes, for that, for crying on you
and
because you got wet so I wouldn’t.’

He realised that she was talking about mundane things so as not to think about what had just happened. He said, ‘in retrospect, that was a bad idea, I should have let
you
get wet too.’

She gave a muffled chuckle against his chest but then he felt her mouth turn down as she said, ‘but mostly I’m sorry for what I said to you, but it was just so awful and I was so scared. I thought you weren’t coming back for me.’

She felt his Adams apple move up and down before he answered, ‘why the fu…why did you think I wouldn’t come back for you?’

‘Because…because you were so angry when you left, I’d upset you in some way.’

He took her shoulders and moved her away from him so that he could see her face. ‘I said I would be back didn’t I? That’s something you should know about me, I
never
renege on a promise.’

She didn’t look at him but kept her eyes on the place her head had just rested, his chest. She of course had no idea just how important to her and her future his last sentence was.

He said, ‘but I’m sorry I said that about that guy kissing you, I was out of line. And I’m sorry I snapped at you when you offered to pay.’

She looked up at him now and he could see the tears still swimming in her eyes which were red and swollen. Her voice was low and ragged as she asked, ‘why were you angry?’

Hennessey looked into her eyes then gently cupped her face with his hands, wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks with his thumbs as he had on the beach at Gulfport. His voice was low and husky as he said, ‘if you were any other woman I would ask, don’t you know why? But you’re not any other woman, you’re innocent and guileless and uninitiated in the games that members of the opposite sex play with each other, unnecessary games sometimes. I forgot that for a while back there, or I let myself forget. I got carried away in the moment.’

She stared back at him, indeed she could do little else, his eyes kept hers fixed on his like two violet magnets.

She stammered, ‘I…I don’t understand.’

He smiled gently and his voice was just as gentle as he said, ‘I know you don’t.’

She frowned nonplussed and he sighed, ‘look, I
was
angry, but not at you,’ he stroked her cheek again sending shivers down her body all the way to her toes, ‘
never
at you, I was angry with myself for letting myself lose control, for wanting you, for…desiring you.’

‘D…desiring me.’

‘Yes. Look, I’m a man, a normal red blooded male with normal male appetites. I’m not going to lie to you, I was turned on. I’ve wanted you since the first moment we met when you took on that big guy all by yourself. The way you stood up to him and for that waitress, boy that was quite a turn on and I’ve wanted you every moment of every hour we’ve spent together since. Being that close to you tonight, I just wanted to take your hand and drag you out of that place, throw you into my car and burn rubber all the way to my hotel and into my bed. But I knew I couldn’t do that to you, it wouldn’t be fair, I’d just be doing what I accused Maxwell of, that being getting you into bed then saying adiós. You deserve more than that, Adela Faraday, much more.’

Adela was so astonished, so utterly astounded by his confession that she couldn’t speak. His voice became slightly harder now as he said, ‘that’s why I was angry, not with you, but with myself for letting my fantasies get the better of me, for acting like a high school kid on his first date, hardly able to control my ardour. I should know better.’

He removed his hands from her face and took her cold, shaky ones in his then kissed her fingers one by one, Adela thought she would die from pleasure. She waited in case he had not yet finished speaking. But what else was there to say, what more could he add that was as amazing and beautiful as what he had already said. But he said nothing further only turned to switch on the engine again.

She didn’t try to stop him nor did she speak but sat looking at him in complete bewilderment. Without looking at her again he said, 'best put on your seatbelt.' Then he pulled back onto the road. She didn’t know how she managed to fasten the seatbelt her hands were shaking so badly.

Never had she felt this way, never had she felt so inadequate, so out of her depth, so frightened and yet so exhilarated. But then never had a man said such things to her as this man sitting next to her had tonight, and probably never would again. He had wanted her at their first meeting in the diner and all those other times they had been together, in the woods, in the bar and the restaurant. On Ship Island and tonight whilst they’d danced.

Oh it was not real, it could not be true, he was lying or trying to comfort her after what that drunk had done, he was just trying to make her feel better, yes, that was it, it must be. And yet, he had not had to say it, he could have just said he was turned on and frustrated and left it at that, he hadn’t had to say those things, that he
wanted
her, that he
desired
her.

As for Hennessey his mind was a whirl, he had scored heavily tonight, he had reached the pinnacle, well, almost. That she had not responded verbally to his confession of ardour or to his flattery did not concern him; on the contrary he was encouraged by it. If she’d been repulsed or outraged, (not that he thought for one moment that she would be), she would have expressed it in no uncertain terms. Shy she might be, shy she might be, but she was a fighter and did not let people get away with being obnoxious. But her silence was more eloquent that any amount of words, as was the expression in her eyes. He would have to be a child or blind to have missed the fascination and desire in those expressive eyes of hers.

She wanted him, was hungry for him, but he was not stupid, she had just been through a frightening ordeal and he had added to that ordeal by being angry when he had left her, causing her to believe that she had been left alone to deal with those guys.

The truth was he had intended to act angry with her, it was all part of his plan, he had intended to apologise either on the drive home or when they arrived back at her cabin, and then explain just as he had. But instead what he had felt had been genuine, he had been angry yes
, at himself for getting carried away in the moment, and that’s all it was, a moment, when he had forgotten who she was and why they were both there. 

And the rage he had felt towards those men was very real. He had taken one look at her struggling in that man’s arm’s and that bastard with his hands all over her, kissing her, assaulting her and saw red. It had been a long time since he had lost control like that. And there was no doubt whatsoever in his mind that he would have shot the guy wielding the knife without a second thought if Jaws had not intervened. But she had certainly been shocked when he had reached for his gun and that had worried him and more so when she had accused him of overacting, his anger had been genuine then too.

Still, it had all turned out okay, more than okay; he had come to her rescue…again. That guy might have inadvertently done him a favour, he might have been the one who had kissed her for the first time but he, Hennessey, would show her what kissing was really all about, he would initiate her in the art of gentle yet passionate kissing, he would erase all memory of that drunken asshole’s assault. But if in anyway those bastards had spoilt his plans for her, if they had made her wary or scared of him, he would track them down and put a bullet in all three of them, and this time there would be no giant bruiser to stop him.

Hennessey, as honest as he was, with himself at least, did not let himself dwell on the reason why he had acted as he had at the club. Why that uncontrollable rage which was so alien to him had suddenly and inexplicably taken hold of him. Why he could have killed a man in defence of a woman. And why he had felt that rush of emotion that had overcome him when she had cried in his arms, the sudden overwhelming urge to comfort and protect her. He let his eyes stray towards the corsage he had given her and which she had bent to retrieve from the floor, now all tattered and broken, but which she gripped tightly in her hand as if to a lifeline.

If he
had
let himself dwell on all those things he would have shrugged his broad shoulders and told himself that he was a man after all, a man whose woman was being attacked by a lowlife punk who was doing what he had planned to do that very night, kiss her until she was breathless. Any man would have acted exactly as he had, well, all right, maybe not
exactly
as he had. And as for the comforting thing, well, his date had just been attacked and needed to feel safe and reassured by her man. If he
had
dwelt on it that’s what Hennessey would have told himself, and he would have made himself believe it.

The drive back was made in contemplative and, at least on Adela’s part, uncomfortable silence. But in next to no time they were back in Eden and Hennessey pulled up outside what he knew to be the doctor’s house.

He really didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want to have to answer questions about what had happened, and he most certainly did not want that jerk Maxwell and that patronising sheriff giving him a hard time for not protecting her properly. He could just see Maxwell’s smug expression and feel the sheriff’s condescension.

But most of all he didn’t want her to tell anyone how he had dealt with the situation, which she probably would if they criticised him, she would believe she was defending him. They would think it odd that a man who killed bugs for a living had dealt with three men, albeit drunken men, not to mention the injuries he had inflicted on them. The sheriff would certainly make enquiries into what had happened and that would involve Carson and the club and
Carson would not welcome that and neither would he. But not to take her to the doctor would look odd, as if he wasn’t concerned about her or her injuries.

She shifted in her seat and looked through the passenger window as he stopped the car, and asked, ‘why are we stopping here?’

‘This is where the doctor lives.’

To his intense relief she said, ‘oh no, no,
Sterling I don’t need a doctor. I’m quite all right now.’

He hid his relief and made his tone firm, ‘but you need to see someone, that bump on your head might give you problems, and you need to get those scratches seen too.’

‘I have everything I need for that at the cabin. I have a headache but I don’t think I have a concussion or anything serious.’

He shook his head and feigned uncertainty, ‘I really think...

She cut him off, ‘please, Sterling, I’m all right, honestly. I just don’t want everyone in town knowing, and they will you know.’

He did know and inwardly thanked her dislike of being the subject of gossip.

‘I just want to go home,’ she said pleadingly.

He sighed as though contemplating then said, ‘all right, we’ll do it your way.’

‘Thank you.’

Oh no, Miss. Faraday he thought, thank
you
. He drove to the end of town and parked the car as near to her cabin as he could without actually driving into the woods. He opened the passenger door and helped her out then pulled the jacket tighter around her. He put his arm around her waist as they made the short walk to her cabin. He hoped and prayed they wouldn’t meet anyone, but it was late and most folks should be in bed fast asleep by now, but you never knew.

Luckily they met no one and no lights were on in any of the other cabins. Once at her cabin she fumbled in her bag for her key but the bag slipped from her fingers, he picked it up, found the key and opened the door. She turned to him as she always did at the end of their dates as if to say goodnight and he saw the surprise in her face when he pushed her gently over the threshold and followed her in.

Without preamble he said, ‘where’s your first aid kit?’

‘There’s no need for you to stay I can take care of…of everything.’

He walked towards the kitchen as if she hadn’t spoken, ‘go and change and put on a bathrobe or something.'

She knew there was no use arguing and quite honestly she didn’t want to. Her brain was working overtime. She wanted him to leave so that she could think about everything that had happened tonight, she wanted to go over it all and analyse it. Although she was excited and stimulated as she had never been she was also embarrassed and perplexed about what he had said. She was also ashamed by her own behaviour towards him and the things she’d said after he had injured those men. But at the same time she wanted him to stay, wanted him to continue taking care of her.