Page 66 of Irish Rose
“Burke.” Her eyes were still glazed with shock, but she said his name.
“That’s right, and I’m going to take you out of here.” He shifted her, cursing under his breath each time she whimpered. Her trembles became shudders that none of his soothing words could halt.
He found the ropes, but when he started to loosen them she cried out. “I’m sorry. I have to get them off. I don’t want to hurt you. Can you stay very still?”
She simply turned her face to the wall.
The van shook as men entered, and she pressed back in the corner. “I need a knife.” He looked up and saw Lieutenant Hallinger. “Give me a damn knife, then get out. She’s terrified.”
Hallinger reached in his pocket with one hand and signaled his men back with the other.
“Just hold on, Irish, it’s all over now.” He hurt her. He could feel each jerk and tremble inside his own body as he cut through the bonds. Both his skin and hers were damp before he had freed her feet as well. “I’m going to pick you up and carry you out. Just stay still.”
“My arms.” She bit her lip, as even the gentlest touch sent the pain throbbing.
“I know.” As carefully as he could, he lifted her up. She moaned and pressed her face against his shoulder.
When they stepped outside, the lot was bright with lights. Erin squeezed her burning eyes shut. She couldn’t think beyond the pain and fear, and concentrated on the sound of Burke’s voice.
“You stay the hell away from her,” he said very quietly, his eyes on Hallinger.
“I called an ambulance.” Travis stepped between Burke and the police. “It’s here now. Paddy and I will follow you.”
As if in a dream, Erin felt herself laid down. The light was still too bright, so she kept her eyes closed. There were voices, too many voices, but she focused in on the only one that mattered. She jolted as she felt something cool over the raw skin of her wrist, but Burke stroked her hair and never stopped talking to her.
He didn’t know what he said. Promises, vows, nonsense. But he could see the dried blood on her wrists and ankles and the bruises that ran up her arms. Each time she winced, he thought of Durnam. And how he would kill him.
“In the stables,” she murmured. “I heard them in the stables, talking about drugging the horse.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Burke kept stroking her hair.
“In the stables,” she repeated in a voice that was thin and tended to float. “I couldn’t get away. I tried.”
“You’re safe now. Just lie still.”
They wouldn’t let him go with her. Erin was wheeled away the moment they reached the hospital, and Burke was left helpless and hurting in the hallway.
“She’s going to be all right.” Travis laid a hand on his shoulder.
Burke nodded. The ambulance attendants had already assured him of that. Her wrists were the worst of her physical injuries. They would heal, just as the bruises would fade. But no one knew how badly she’d been scarred emotionally.
“Stay with her. There’s something I have to do.”
“Burke, you’ll do her more good here. And yourself.”
“Just stay with her,” he repeated, then strode out through the wide glass doors.
He kept his mind carefully blank as he drove out to Durnam’s farm. The rage was there, but he held it, knowing it would cloud his thinking. So he thought of nothing, and his mind stayed as cool as the early-morning air.
The thirty-minute drive took him fifteen, but still the police were faster. Burke slammed out of his car in front of Durnam’s palatial stone house and faced Hallinger once again.
“Thought I’d see you here tonight.” Hallinger lit one of the five cigarettes he allowed himself—which was five more than his wife knew about. “Figured a sharp man like you would have already put it together that Durnam was the one who had your horse drugged.”
“Yeah, I put that together. Where is he?”
“He’s my guest tonight.” Hallinger blew out smoke and leaned against the hood of Burke’s car. If the footbath didn’t work, he was going to have to go see the damned podiatrist. “You know, sometimes cops have brains, too. We were here questioning Durnam when the call came in that you were on your way to the track to get your wife.”
“Why?”
