Under New Management (10 page)

Kevin just wants to leave. The entire fiasco has been hugely embarrassing for him, especially with respected members of the community present to witness it. Dragging a still ranting David, they leave the barn, get into Kevin’s car and head back home. As soon as they get there Kevin intends to catch up with David and get very, very drunk.

Chapter 10 

The room descends into chaos. Evelyn and Florrie are in tears, a blonde lady that Kieran assumes is Mollie’s mother rushes over to try and help to calm them. People are speaking and laughing loudly as they recount their individual take on events. Food is littered around the food table and the waiters stand snorting and laughing by the back door. Kieran takes control.

He puts the shaking Lord John into his mother’s capable hands and asks her to get the poor chap a drink. Marylyn, never one to make a drama out of a crisis, whisks Lord John off to the bar and demands two large brandies.

Kieran looks to his right and grimaces slightly as he watches Jack reuniting himself with Mollie’s father and, he assumes, brother. Clearly they know each other well. There is a lot of back slapping and hugging and Kieran feels another stab of jealousy. Giving himself a mental shake, he marches across to the waiters and offers them double pay if they restore the remaining food and clear the mess within ten minutes. They don’t need to be asked twice, as they swarm at the mess and begin frantically sorting it.

Kieran then jumps up onto the stage and asks the DJ for the microphone, which he uses to deliver a speech to the crowd. By the time he leaves the stage, people are retaking their seats or going to the bar while they wait for the food to be replenished. Order, it appears, is restored.

Now he needs to find Mollie. As he marches to the door he is met by Jim who holds out his hand to Kieran and the men shake hands.

“Thanks for that mate, sorry for the to-do,” Jim tells him sincerely.

“No problem, it wasn’t your fault. Do you mind if I go and find your daughter? I’m worried about her,” Kieran asks tactfully.

“No of course not, not at all, you go. She would probably rather see you than me right now. She gets a bit funny about things when I kick off, not that I do it much you know.” Jim hastily points out.

Kieran smiles, “It’s fine. I don’t blame you, they were asking for it. Sorry that Jack stole your thunder.”

Jim laughs loudly, “Yea, well that’s Jack. Haven’t seen him in years; he hasn’t changed much. Broke our Mollie’s heart he did, but he wanted to go off and see the world. They were young, I never blamed him for it. Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, ain’t they? Nice to see him again, mind you. Him and our Dan were great mates when he was seeing Mollie. You never know, now they’re older and she’s finally rid of that twat of a husband, maybe they’ll start again.” Jim looks over indulgently at Dan and Jack who are clearly reliving memories and obviously overjoyed to have found each other again.

Kieran smiles tightly at Jim and shuffles past him, “Right yes, well, I’ll, umm go and find Mollie then; make sure she’s OK.” He heads for the door and away from the gushing father.
Bloody Jack.

The cold air envelopes him as he leaves the barn and he shudders slightly. Mollie must be positively frozen in that dress. How long since she ran out? It must be ten minutes he thinks.

He hears a woman’s shout and heads in its direction across the gravel and towards the gardens where he’d walked the previous week. His eyes get accustomed to the darkness and he hears another shout. The woman is calling Mollie’s name. Must be her friend Lou.

“Hello, Lou, is that you?” Kieran calls out.

“Yes, I’m over here. Have you seen Mollie, I can’t find her?” Lou shouts back as she starts to totter back across the lawn towards the male voice.

Eventually they meet at the edge of the grass, “Do you know which way she went?” Kieran asks worriedly.

“Last seen running that way,” Lou points behind her. She is stammering slightly from the cold and swaying from the alcohol intake.

“You’re frozen. Why don’t you go and get a coat and warm up? I’ll see if I can find her.” Kieran says kindly as he gently steers her towards the barn.

“Well OK, if you’re sure, but I’ll be back as soon as I’ve found my coat. She was so upset, I can’t believe that pair of vile bastards. God knows what they thought they were playing at! As if they haven’t humiliated her enough.” Lou shakes her head angrily and picks her way carefully back to the barn, shouting random insults at David into the night air.

Kieran heads off in the direction Lou pointed out. He thinks there is some sort of a maze further down, which he hasn’t seen yet, but that wouldn’t be a bad place to hide if you wanted to be alone.

Mollie is indeed in the maze. She had taken off her shoes and ran as fast as she could away from the horror of it all. Huddled on the nearest stone bench within the first row of the maze she is shaking from her tears and the cold. Her body is numb. She cries and cries, using her ample underskirt to wipe her streaming eyes and nose.
Nice, very nice.
Her feet are frozen as she dropped her shoes mid flight. Each time her mind goes back over events she cries harder. She is cringing with embarrassment: how could she ever hold up her head in this town again?
I’ll have to leave, that’s all I can do, pack up and leave.

The huge amount of alcohol in her system combined with no food since midday and the cold air is not helping her brain to think logically. Her perspective is shot to bits. Everything is out of focus and exaggerated out of all proportion. Mollie is not thinking straight. She just wants to snuggle up and go to sleep. Sobbing quietly now she sinks off of the cold bench and huddles up close to it on the damp, cold ground. She slips slowly into a drunken sleep.

This is where Kieran finds her. He found her shoes first in the middle of the lawn. Like something out of Cinderella, he had thought as he retrieved them.

He gently shakes her and after trying in vain to wake her and get some sense, he drags her as carefully as he can to her feet. She moans softly and leans in close to snuggle against his warm chest. The poor thing is frozen. Left with little choice he awkwardly balances her body against him and putting his other arm under her knees, lifts her into his arms. She settles into the warmth and snuggles closer, her hands in her lap. Kieran sets off back to the Hall carrying the sleeping woman, her slingback shoes held in the fingers of his right hand.

Given her alcohol consumption and heels, Lou is marching as purposefully as she can across the gravel towards the lawn. Behind her are Jim, Dan and Jack. The group stop at the edge of the gravel as they see Kieran carrying Mollie towards them across the lawn. They all sigh with relief and then run towards them as worry sets in. What if she’s hurt?

“Mollie, Christ Mollie, is she OK?” Jim calls worriedly as he runs towards them.

“She’s fine. I found her asleep in the maze, but she’s frozen. I’m going to take her to the Hall, we need to get her warm,” Kieran explains as he keeps his own pace and they all have to turn and run after him.

Dan catches up and throws a coat over his sister as they march across the gravel. “Thanks for this mate. Do you want us to come in with you?”

“No I’m fine, I’ll put her in one of the guest rooms. You can pick her up in the morning. Go back and have a drink, I’ll look after her.” Kieran assures them.

They don’t have to be asked twice. There is free drink to be taken advantage of and now that they are reassured Mollie is OK they want to get back to it. Lou fights briefly with her desire to look after Mollie and her raging desire to dance with the beautiful Jack. Jack wins. Mollie will be fine and, after all, Kieran is pretty gorgeous himself. It’s not as if she’s leaving her in an alley surrounded by wolves.

“If you’re sure,” they chorus after him before turning and hightailing it back to the party.

Left alone with his bundle Kieran takes the back way through the courtyard and in through the kitchen door. The lights are on but all is quiet. He heads through the sparkling kitchen and down the corridor to the stairs which he takes two at a time. At the top he stops to deliberate where to put her. He decides the easiest option is his room, mainly because he knows where it is. Striding down the long hallway he reaches his room and struggles to open the round door knob without dropping her.

Mollie hasn’t woken once but she is nestled against him and breathing softly. Once inside he lays her on the bed and starts to manoeuvre her under the duvet and arrange her head comfortably on the pillows. He toys with the thought of taking off her dress to make her more comfortable, and as much as he would like nothing more he decides against it.

He smiles as he watches her, one false eyelash has disappeared, the other is hanging from the far corner of her eye and lying on her cheek. He thinks he had better get rid of it, or she’ll wake up screaming thinking there’s a spider on her face. He tries to softly brush the offending lash away but it is still stuck. He jumps slightly as he realises she is watching him. The eyelash is now sort of tucked under her eyelid, perhaps he had better leave it.

Mollie has been half awake since she heard her dad’s concerned shout, but she felt so warm and safe she didn’t want to let on. Kieran smelled so good and if he knew she was awake he would put her down.

When Dan asked if they should come, she had prayed that Kieran would say no and he had. Now, as he tucks her in she feels him leaning over her, watching her. When his hand softly brushes her hair away from her face, it’s too much. She opens her eyes and gazes at him quietly.

His face is close to hers. She sees him jump as he realises she’s awake. They stare at each other for a few seconds until Mollie whispers, “You smell lovely.”

Kieran smiles a gorgeous smile, “You don’t smell so bad yourself. How are you feeling now? Are you warm enough?”

Lifting her cold hand to his face, she strokes his hot cheek, “I am now.”

Without thinking she slides her hand around the back of his head and draws it down towards her. Lifting her face to his, their lips meet in a beautiful, long, gentle kiss.

Mollie feels her heart jolt at the tenderness of it. She moves her other arm to rest her hand on his chest. Carried away by the moment she decides in that second that he is joining her in the comfy bed. Sod it! She had left the house with the intention of having random sex with a stranger; she hadn’t banked on bagging quite such a dishy stranger, but what the hell. Sometimes you just had to go with it.

As her hand slides across his chest towards the buttons of his expensive soft shirt, Kieran jumps back and moves away from her. Mollie opens her eyes and blinks at him, the errant eyelash dancing about, but she is oblivious to it. He covers it well, but he has obviously had second thoughts.
What’s that all about?

The kiss caught him off guard. He hadn’t been expecting it and was enjoying it a little too much. Kieran got carried away with the moment and was getting stuck in but her hand sliding purposefully across his chest shocked him to his senses. She is gorgeous, there is no doubt, and in another place or time he would have taken full advantage. But there is more to it than that. He feels something more. He isn’t in a position to feel more, and taking this to its natural conclusion is not a good idea. There are complications; complications she is blissfully unaware of. He has to be the strong one, or she will truly hate him in the morning. Kieran needs to leave the room, and fast, before he decides ‘to hell with the consequences’.

Pulling back a little too forcefully to be cool, he forces a smile and says, “As much as I would like to curl up in there with you Mollie, I don’t think that taking advantage of an employee, especially one as beautiful and as drunk as you are is the best idea.”

Mollie squints at him drunkenly as her brain tries to process this information, “But I’m not your employee. You didn’t want me to stay working for you. Looks as though you don’t want me full stop,” she tells him. Her voice is slightly sulky and it portrays her hurt.

Kieran sighs and sits down on the bed next to her. He holds her hand which has warmed up considerably.

“Hey, that’s not true. You know you are gorgeous. As far as the job goes, Lord John convinced me of your worth earlier today. I just didn’t realise that you were the famous Mollie until we met at the bar. I have to say, I am impressed with what you have achieved here. You are a meticulous record keeper and clearly some sort of organisational genius.”

She blushes at his description but still looks confused.

Kieran sighs and continues, “Look Mollie, of course I want you to work for me. The trouble is I have no idea what I can offer you. I’ve been considering employing a PA for some time now. I would need someone intelligent, trustworthy and most of all organisationally brilliant. Honestly, from what I have heard of you and the evidence sitting in the office I think that perhaps you might fit the bill. Perhaps we can talk more tomorrow. It will mean you travelling; we have nine other hotels dotted about in Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean. I would need you to come with me periodically to check them out if you would be up for it.”

Mollie’s eyes widen, the alcohol is making her brain foggy. No doubt she would wake up in the morning to realise this was a dream.

Kieran notices the confusion and thinks it best to leave her to think it over. He hadn’t meant to blurt it out in these circumstances but needed a distraction from the kiss. The PA idea had popped into his head seconds before he opened his mouth, and given that he wasn’t one for making rash decisions he needed time to think himself. There was something about her. He wanted to spend time with her and he would need a legitimate reason. What better excuse for being able to spend as much time as he wanted with her.
Brilliant!

As he moves from the bed he is mentally congratulating himself for his quick thinking. He’ll work out the rest tomorrow. He moves to the door, telling her to get some sleep, he opens it and lets himself out of the room before he changes his mind and dives on top of her.