The Finest Line (30 page)

Mairead stared at him in
disbelief. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could possibly
love him more but at that moment she knew that she had barely
discovered how much he meant to her. As emotion threatened to
overwhelm her, she drew on her humour to calm her heart.

“Wow James, you bring a whole
new level to stalking. In case you didn’t know, it’s usually a
solitary pursuit.”

His frown made its first
appearance. “Keeping an eye on you is more trouble than one man can
handle alone. I’d already lost you once and I had no intention of
losing you again.”

She knew he was referring to the
day at the Buckets. “I’m sorry for what I put you through that
day.”

Still frowning he shook his
head. “I don’t want your apology. What I want is the reason
why.”

There was no conceivable reason
to keep the truth from him any longer. If there was even the
slightest chance that he could forgive her for all the evil she had
done, then she was going to take it.

She told him everything about
her binge on the Gold Coast. She faltered a little through her
revelation of the auction and the price she had nearly paid. James
remained silent and revealed nothing of how he was feeling. It was
only as she started to talk about Josh that she couldn’t look at
him, for fear of what she might see.

“Josh punched Mark and knocked
him out and then took me out on the balcony.” At that point her
courage failed. She couldn’t tell him. It was hard enough believing
it herself.

James waited and when she said
nothing he prompted her. “And what happened on the balcony?”

Mairead shrugged. “It’s like I
told Ray Sanders, I don’t remember anything after that.”

James shook his head. “No. There
is more to it than that Mairead, You don’t go off and get engaged
to Mark Lewis because you’re embarrassed over some party antics, as
bad as they are.”

“He would have told you that day
at the Buckets,” Mairead tried to persuade him, “I didn’t want you
to have to hear that, especially after I told you that I had waited
for you to be my first. I was ashamed.”

She could see he wasn’t buying
it and she went on. “Daddy had already been through enough with the
media. He would never have forgiven me.”

He got up and began to pace
about and Mairead shifted nervously as she saw the agitation and
his battle to calm himself. When he loomed over her, his eyes were
furious and for the first time since knowing him, she felt quite
afraid.

The voice that had always
brought her peace now terrified her.

“You don’t get to tell me that
you put me through hell that day when I couldn’t find you, because
of that. Or the next day after seeing you on the news and hearing
from your father that you were engaged to some fucking prick after
all that we had done together only two days before.” His eyes were
becoming shiny with his rage. “I want the fucking truth Mairead.
Tell me.”

She broke into tears and through
her sobs she confessed, “I killed Joshua Mason.”

Her words had immediate effect.
James backed off and walked a few steps away as Mairead succumbed
to her grief. For a while he seemed indifferent to her misery, but
on returning to her, he crouched down and caressed her arm.

“It’s alright Mairead, I am so
sorry that I yelled at you but I had to know.”

Trembling, she managed to look
at him through her tears. “Well now you know. I’m a piece of shit
that ruins people lives to the point of death and having to marry
Mark Lewis seemed like a pretty fair price to pay.”

James was quite calm as he said,
“I need you to explain a little more to me Mairead. How did you
kill him?”

“I did another grandiose stupid
walk on the balcony rail of that apartment building. Joshua must
have tried to do the same and fell.”

“And you remember doing
that?”

Mairead shook her head.

James was breathing deeply, “So
Mark Lewis told you that was how it happened. Did he have any
evidence of that?”

“He said that other people had
seen what happened but he paid them off to stay quiet. That’s why
the police couldn’t get any information.”

She panicked a little as he
scooped her up from the bed and sat back down, sitting her on his
lap and holding her tightly against him. She tried and failed to
extract herself from his embrace, unsure of what he was doing.

“James, I’m naked here and I’m a
little bit fucking scared.”

He slapped her bottom lightly.
“Stop swearing.”

In her misery she managed to
smile. “You started it.”

“And I apologise for my
outbursts that only you seem able to extract from me,” He looked at
her, his eyes searching her face. “And I am very aware that you are
naked and I wish so very much that I could give you the full
attention that your nakedness deserves.”

He frowned sadly. “But what I
have to tell you is going to upset you and I need you right here
where I can look after you.”

Mairead felt the cracks begin to
appear in her heart, knowing that despite his gentle way of doing
it, he was going to end it with her as she had expected. She was
about to receive the full retribution for all the terrible choices
she had ever made. It was without question a much higher price to
pay than marrying Mark.

Before he spoke she needed to
tell him, “I love you and I’m sorry for what I did and I hope
you’ll be able to forgive me some day.”

“I love you too and there’s
nothing to forgive.” James told her quietly. “You didn’t kill
Joshua Mason. Richard Lewis threw him over the balcony.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The hour passed silently with
her lying in his arms. James sat rested against the headboard
caressing her hair, kissing her head intermittently. The tears were
gone and only angry regret remained.

Mark had lied to her and she had
believed him without question. Everything she had gone through had
been for nothing.

“I want to see the video for
myself,” she demanded quietly.

James shook his head. “I’m not
showing it to you.”

“I already saw it once.” She sat
up to look at him. “It didn’t show anything with Richard in
it.”

“Because I edited the version on
Joshua’s android,” he explained. “I copied the original file to my
laptop, but I couldn’t take a chance that you would see it and go
ballistic. If you had confronted Richard, I have no doubt he would
have killed you. Your ignorance kept you safe.”

“And Daddy knew all this?”

“Yes,” James kissed the top of
her head and kept caressing her. “I told him everything and I had
quite some trouble convincing him not to go in with guns blazing.
The fact that you had gone off with Mark meant you had done
something wrong. For all I knew, it could have been something that
would land you in jail and by rescuing you could have proved worse
than the situation you were in.”

“How did you know it was Richard
Lewis?”

“I read the papers and I’ve had
many conversations with your father about him and the West Auckland
development. We knew immediately the motive for your
engagement.”

“Kylie knew about everything
too, didn’t she?”

James sighed loud and long.
“She’s been a great support to me. She calmed me down that day you
disappeared and reminded me to think logically. She never doubted
your love for me for one second, unlike me. We went through your
luggage trying to find something to give us a clue to what was
happening. That’s when I found Josh’s phone, the same one as yours.
When I saw what was on it, I knew enough to know you were in
serious trouble and things began to add up when your engagement was
announced on the news.”

Mairead wept quietly, “I saw you
that night at Kylie’s place. It was awful”

James nodded. “It wasn’t easy
for me either babe. I wanted to drag you away and I wanted to punch
that prick in the face, but you were pretty useless at hiding how
you felt about me. Mark obviously picked up on that.”

The memory made her feel sick.
“He wasn’t happy. They burnt your house down the next day. I was so
scared you were dead.”

“Yeah,” James seemed even
sadder, “I saw all your unanswered calls. I’m sorry Mairead. I
think I’ve handled this badly. Very hard to be strategic when
you’re thinking with your heart more than your head.”

She looked into his face and
smiled. “I’m here aren’t I?”

He smiled back. “Yes you are and
you don’t get to leave my sight for a bloody moment.”

She brought her face closer to
his and he allowed her to kiss him until she became more passionate
and he gently drew back.

“No you don’t” He growled
softly. “You haven’t eaten for at least a day and what energy you
have is going into having some food.”

Her stomach growled in support,
though she was fast becoming aware of another hunger her body was
craving.

James got her one of his
t-shirts and pulled it over her head. It covered her enough but she
hesitated at the door.

“We are on our own here, aren’t
we?”

James smiled, picked her up and
tossed her over his shoulder, exposing her again. He pulled the
shirt up a bit to plant a kiss on her backside, “Alone and totally
at my mercy.”

Mairead couldn’t think of a
better state to be in.

While James cooked, she admired
the pretty world beyond the door. It was a cottage made of timber
and lace and flowers.

She wandered about the lounge
room which formed part of the open plan with the dining room and
kitchen. There was definitely a feminine influence to the decor but
there was little other information to tell whose house they were
in.

A large timber buffet displayed
some china tea cups and porcelain ornaments on its shelves with
more ornaments on the flat top, including a large hairbrush as its
centrepiece. Mairead stared at it and approached for a closer look.
It was the one James had purchased for Vanessa.

She turned just as James
approached with their dinner. “This is Vanessa’s house, isn’t
it?”

James nodded. “She bought it the
last time she was over and will take up residency next year when
she moves here permanently.”

Mairead had mixed feelings about
that, “Who looks after it for her?”

“An agency manages it as holiday
accommodation and it returns a decent income.” He placed two bowls
of stir-fry on a coffee table and sat down upon a couch. “Come and
eat.”

Mairead obeyed eagerly. The
fading light outside told her that it was indeed a day since she
had eaten and she devoured every delicious morsel. When she was
finished, she sat back feeling well again, at least physically. Her
mind was swinging between the joy of being with James and the gloom
of everything else.

“Why do I keep getting flashes
of these weird black faces?”

James set two mugs of tea down
and sat down again next to her, “Probably Vanessa and I with our
ski masks on.”

Mairead laughed, “That’s very
dramatic James.”

He shrugged. “I have no doubt
Lewis knew who I was but I wasn’t going to make it obvious. After
all I’m probably facing a kidnapping charge.”

Mairead shook her head. “I’d
never let that happen. I’ll tell them I wanted to go.”

James nodded. “Maybe but the
fact I ran his car off the road and held a gun to his head makes it
a little more complicated but nothing I’m worried about. Vanessa
won’t be brought into this and that’s my only concern.”

Mairead looked at him wide-eyed.
“You have a gun?”

“I have a gun,” He frowned at
her. “And you never get to see it or go anywhere near it.”

Mairead sulked. “I’m not a
complete psycho you know.”

James didn’t answer and drank
his tea to hide a grin. Mairead punched his arm.

“And where are my clothes?” She
added quietly, guilty that she should even ask. “And the jewellery
I was wearing?’

“I’ve put your necklace and
earrings away. Vanessa has taken your dress to be cleaned and you
had no shoes or underwear on when we got you out of the car.”

James grinned broadly and took
another drink.

Mairead narrowed her eyes at
him, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” he was still
grinning.

She knew that his mirth was
something at her expense, “Tell me.”

James sighed, “You were sound
asleep when we got you here. If you weren’t snoring so loudly I
would have worried that you were unconscious. We lay you on the bed
while we got water and ran you a bath and when we came back into
the bedroom there you were... curled up on your knees, your dress
rucked up and bare bum in the air. It looked quite adorable.” James
laughed. “Certainly made giving you medication easy,” He laughed
even harder.

Mairead was incensed and tried
to make him feel ashamed for his amusement. “You didn’t stop to
think why I didn’t have any underwear on, did you? He may have
already done something to me.”

James shook his head. “If he had
I’m sure he would have removed the toilet paper that was kind of...
there was paper stuck to you.”

Mairead curled up and buried her
face in her knees so he wouldn’t see her embarrassment and was
startled when she felt herself hauled on to his lap. She didn’t
want to stay there but he wasn’t letting go.

“I was very happy to see that
paper Mairead,” He spoke to her face buried in his chest. “I have
heard what Richard is capable of and it took a lot of will power
not to pull the trigger.”

When she didn’t answer he
continued more soberly, “You know what else I was happy about? You
did several things last night that you might feel a little
mortified over but brought me a great deal of peace.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,”
Mairead groaned.

“You were quite aroused,
probably a little from the drugs that were in your system, but
every time I touched you, you responded quite animatedly... and you
must have called my name a hundred times at least.”