The Finest Line (33 page)

His hand wandered up the back of
her thighs to her bottom. He turned her around and continued the
exploration with his eyes.

“Not looking so bad this
morning. Bit bruised.”

Mairead rubbed her cheeks.
“Hurts like hell when I sit down.”

James grinned. “Good. It will be
your incentive to behave yourself today.”

She gave him a seductive smile
as she put her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts against
his face, “It’s an incentive alright.”

He paused and took a deep breath
before shaking his head. “Too much to do and I’ve already showered
and dressed.”

He got up quickly before he
could change his mind, picking up the car keys.

Mairead stuck her lip out. “Take
me with you.”

James shook his head. “For a
start you have nothing to wear and while I have no problem with you
walking around with a bare bum beneath one of my shirts, it would
not be productive if we were to be caught by the media.”

He kissed her, grinning at her
miserable face. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

As he went to leave he stopped
in his tracks and walked back to her. “You are not to leave the
house under any circumstances or get into any mischief whatsoever.
Do you understand?”

Mairead sighed. “Oh damn, I was
hoping to go for a walk like this and introduce myself to the
neighbours.”

His frown was back. “I’ll
introduce my hand to your backside if you keep that tone up with me
young lady.”

“Too late,” Mairead turned and
skipped out of reach. “They are already well acquainted.”

She felt too happy to do
anything to upset him. She helped herself to toast and coffee and
sat very carefully down on the couch, shifting her weight to lean
to her side. Being alone with her thoughts was not as tormenting as
it had been.

She was able to think of Joshua
and not want to hurt herself. Instead her anger flared as she
thought of Richard Lewis. She had never thought herself capable of
hating anyone but he dismissed that theory.

At least she would have the
satisfaction of knowing that his days of hurting anyone would soon
be over. He would be locked away for a very long time. The West
Auckland development would come to a crashing halt and her father’s
tireless work to save a community of struggling families would be
fulfilled.

When she thought of Mark, it was
difficult to hate him, even after everything he had done to her.
How much had Mark been involved in Joshua’s death? She wondered if
he even knew what had happened the night at their engagement party.
She doubted if Richard had confessed to kidnapping her for his own
sick intentions.

The faces of her friends filled
her thoughts. She owed so much to Kylie and looked forward to the
time when she would see her again, her best friend, her only friend
that she had ever had. Now she had three more, wonderful people who
didn’t judge her or feel inferior to her. They accepted her for
whom she was and she loved them.

Amiri held a special place in
her heart. Thinking of him, she dared to wonder if anything could
come of the pole dancing competition. How would James react? The
more she thought about it the more it occurred to her that she had
a dream of her own.

She wanted that chance, to be up
on a pole performing at competition level, striving to be the best.
It was a desire that had never really existed in her for
gymnastics, even for Olympic glory.

In the dark dens of nightclubs
where the pole was worshipped nightly, was where she wanted to be.
Wellington was where she wanted to be. For the first time in her
life she could see a future that appealed to her, loving and living
with James, working as a pole dancer and having friends. Training
for the championships would be the icing on the cake.

But what did James want? She had
given him charge of her life and his plans for her were probably a
lot different to her own. He would probably want to return to North
Shore and carry on working for her father.

There was so much she wanted to
discuss with him. Hopefully he would listen to her and not dismiss
her dream as another irresponsible choice. She knew that whatever
he decided she would abide by. James was all she really needed.

With her new found love of life,
Mairead jumped up and headed for the bathroom. She detoured to take
one of James’ clean shirts. After her shower she helped herself to
his toothbrush and shaved the hairs from her legs and underarms
with his razor. As far as she was concerned now, what was his was
hers. On the shelf she spied the Hugo Boss cologne that he wore.
Finally she knew what made him smell so damn sexy. She applied a
tiny amount to her neck just to be reminded of his presence.

Feeling clean and refreshed,
Mairead wandered restlessly about the cottage. Vanessa was another
face that soon sprang to mind. She couldn’t think of her without
blushing. Knowing Vanessa’s sexuality only meant that she had
probably enjoyed helping James to attend her. The poor woman had
come for a holiday and ended up an accessory to kidnapping. Mairead
knew she owed her a lot and hopefully would be able to see her
before she returned to England. She wondered why Vanessa had
decided to take up residency in New Zealand.

The pile of questions was
building up and still James hadn’t returned. The front door was
beckoning to her. Beyond it, as far as she knew, was a beach though
what beach it was she had no idea. Where the hell was Vanessa’s
cottage situated?

Surely a little stroll in the
front garden could not be considered leaving the house. Mairead
weighed up her options. Her bare backside was covered enough by the
shirt but was at the mercy of James’ hand should he not agree with
her assessment on what was considered ‘leaving the house.’ Enough
pain was still radiating to know that a spanking would not be
pleasant and there would definitely be no reward of sex
afterwards.

Still she would surely hear his
car approaching, giving her enough time to duck inside. Ten minutes
of fresh air would do her wonders.

Tentatively she poked her head
out the door and surveyed her surroundings. The garden was
beautiful with roses blooming along a white picket fence. A stone
path led to the central front gate, bordered by flowering bushes.
Two double gates stood open at the driveway that extended to the
side of the house. The air was fragrant with flowers and tinged
with the faint smell of the salty ocean nearby

There were other houses around
set well back from each other. Some of them looked empty and she
guessed that they were also holiday rentals. The house next door
showed no signs of life and several newspapers lay unopened on the
front lawn.

With another survey revealing no
nosy neighbours and a quick listen for a car on the quiet road,
Mairead vaulted the fence. Fast as she could, she went through the
papers until she saw one with today’s date.

Tucking it under her arm she was
over the fence and back inside in two minutes. Mission accomplished
without being seen and now she had some reading material to pass
the time.

Sitting down gently she unfolded
the paper onto the coffee table. Her face stared back at her.
Mairead gasped and looked to the headline: Top Gymnast
Kidnapped.

There was a picture of Mark
looking distraught and another one of James, a little younger and
dressed in army uniform.

The story read: “After the night
of their engagement, Mark Lewis, son of wealthy Australian
developer, Richard Lewis is trying to come to terms with the
abduction of fiancée and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist
gymnast Mairead Kavanagh. Police have now released the name of
their only suspect. James Aaron Vaughn, 28 is an ex British
soldier, and a decorated veteran of the Afghanistan war, described
as 190 centimetres tall and well built with short black hair and
brown eyes. He is considered extremely dangerous and should not be
approached. Vaughn had been employed as a chauffeur and body guard
for Mairead’s father, Development Minister Sean Kavanagh, and is
understood to have made continual unwelcome advances to Mairead. It
is believed that Vaughn had an unknown accessory that is yet to be
identified.”

Mairead paced the room
anxiously, her mind tortured by the absence of James and a complete
bewilderment of how this had happened. Why wasn’t she reading that
Richard had been arrested? How could Mark even consider continuing
the charade of their engagement?

She wanted to run from the
house, hoping to see James’ car approaching but she didn’t know how
long he was supposed to be gone. What if he had been arrested?
Surely they would have to take her word that she was with him
voluntarily.

For the next half hour she was
left alone with her torment. When she suddenly heard a car in the
driveway, she couldn’t bring herself to believe it was James. She
watched the front door, trembling and tears running down her
face.

He walked in and saw her
immediately, and the paper lying on the table. Mairead flew into
his arms and he held her quietly until she had calmed down. He
picked her up and carried her to the couch, sitting her down on his
lap.

He was frowning, “How did you
get that paper?”

Mairead looked at him angrily.
“It doesn’t matter how I got it. What matters is what the hell is
going on. Why do they still think that you’ve kidnapped me and why
hasn’t Richard been arrested?”

James sighed, “Because I don’t
have the evidence anymore to convict him. My laptop was destroyed
in the fire.”

Mairead shook her head
furiously, clenching her teeth against her anger and
frustration.

“That means Richard will go
unpunished for killing Josh. It means Daddy will lose to him as
well. All those people will lose their homes. That’s just not
right.”

“There’s nothing we can do
babe,” James tried to comfort her.

“And you,” she looked at him
fearfully. “What’s going to happen to you?”

“I’m going to be fine,” he
assured her. “Your father will be here sometime today with an army
of lawyers and I’ll be turning myself in.”

“When were you planning to tell
me all this?” she leapt up from his lap, her face contorted with
grief. “When they were dragging you away from me?”

James got up and tried to take
hold of her but she dodged away from him. “Why can’t we just be
together? Why can’t they just leave us alone?” Her voice grew small
and frightened. “They’re going to take you away from me.”

His second attempt to grab her
was successful and he pulled her into a tight embrace until she
stopped struggling against him. He returned her to the couch and
his lap, cradling her so he could see her face.

“I’m not going to lie to you
Mairead,” he caressed her hair as he spoke. “The media attention is
going to be horrific and they are going to imply things about us
that are going to have a serious impact on both our
reputations.”

“They can say what they like,”
she replied angrily. “The people I care about know the truth.”

He nodded, “With your help, the
kidnapping charges will be dropped. As far as I am aware, Richard
has kept quiet about his part in this. The fact that Mark has gone
ahead with this whole kidnapping charge is because he genuinely
believes that I just took you and he still thinks that he has
something over you.”

“Why would he bother? He can’t
still believe I would go back to him now.”

James smiled. “I suspect it’s
because he has fallen in love with you and men in that state
usually don’t think clearly.”

She looked at him as if he had
gone insane.

“That is ridiculous. The bastard
doesn’t even have a heart.”

“I saw him when I confronted you
at the party. He knew he didn’t have a hope in hell of winning a
physical attack against me, but if I had continued to berate you,
he was ready to have a go.”

Mairead winced. “That just makes
me feel sick.”

“You have that effect upon men
Mairead,” He studied her proudly. “You’re beautiful inside and out.
Only those who take the time to get to know you, ever get to see
the real you. Mark obviously had enough time because the way that
he was looking at you...”

“I don’t want to talk about
him,” Mairead insisted, frowning at him. “You’re not going to start
doing some jealous thing where you keep bringing him up?”

James shook his head. “I’m sorry
babe. When it gets down to it, I’m still just a man.”

“But you’re the only man that I
love and want to be with for the rest of my life if these arseholes
ever leave us alone. I’m not going to let them separate us.”

“Mairead,” his tone had become
sombre. “We are going to be separated whether we like it or not,
but it will be for the shortest of times. You are going back with
your father to North Shore and I’m going to stay here and sort this
business out.”

She shook her head firmly, “I am
not going home. I’m staying with you.”

“No you’re not.” He told her
sternly. “I don’t want to have to worry about you. Back home you
will be safe and your father will up security to keep the media
away.”

When she went to protest again
he quickly cut her off, his voice raised considerably, “Mairead,
you are going home and that is final.”

She was immediately quiet,
frowning and looking away.

James sighed. “Mairead please, I
hate yelling at you, but sometimes it’s the only way I get you to
listen.”

“I listen,” she challenged. “But
I don’t have to agree.”

“But you do have to do as I tell
you.” His voice lowered. “Isn’t that what we agreed?”

When she wouldn’t look at him,
he turned her chin towards him. “Answer me.”

“Yes,” Mairead growled her
affirmation. “But I don’t have to like it.”

Pulling her chin closer he
kissed her softly. “A few days away from me will give your bottom a
good rest, because it’s going to need it.”