Page 16 of A Tortured Temptress
"I know the girls gave you something to wear tonight so I'll go downstairs and grab a brandy. Would you like me to bring you up one?" I turn her back around and trace my finger down the side of her face, loving the feel of her skin.
"No, I had enough champagne." She smiles up to me and I kiss her nose before I walk from the room leaving her there sure if I stay, she won't be wearing whatever the girls gifted her with. I heard enough teasing from them that I can't wait to see what it is.
I head downstairs and into the drawing room where I take a shot of Jameson instead of the brandy, I originally said I would get. I know why she doesn't want Phillip to be her guard but I'm sure that after our marriage is officially announced tomorrow, Britain won't have any reason to come after her. Her and I will be taking some time to ourselves for a honeymoon starting next weekend because she has classes tomorrow.
I shoot another glass of the alcohol and wait for the burn to pass. I decide she's had enough time. When I round the railing that looks down to the first riser of stairs I pause and take a deep breath. I can't wait to make her my wife this way too. I open the door and she rises from the seat at the foot of the bed. She's in a sheer lace robe that ties at her waist. Under it I can make out a sheer lace bra and matching knickers. She moves toward me but I'm on her instantly.
I make love to her again like I did just yesterday morning taking my time with her body. We stare into each other’s eyes, and I focus on making sure that she knows I love her. I tell her over and over I'll keep her safe and that I love her.
Chapter Six
GISELLE
I told Shane I couldn't have Phillip be my guard, he had to find me another that I didn't know the name of. I remember how hard it was on Fiona when Gael was killed. She felt like it was her fault for weeks. The new guard drives me into Belfast to campus where I have a couple classes. Our wedding announcement should have been made this morning and I can't wait to grab the paper to see. I decide to pull it up on the new smart phone that Shane gave me this morning and I smile at the picture of the two of us. We are looking into each other's eyes as we stand in front of the arbor of fall flowers, the twinkle lights and candles the only light around us. I remember Shane telling me he loved me right before the photographer took the picture.
Everything with him and I went fast but after everything I went through before I know he's for me. He's meant to be mine. I'll protect him from Britain too though. Because together we are stronger.
The driver parks and walks at a distance behind me as we move through my classes through the day until we get to the hot shop. I told Shane I was going to have to work here for a couple hours to finish a project I have due in a couple days. The guard is waiting in the room adjacent to the actual shop that we use as a classroom. He tried to wait in the hot shop, but it was as it's called, too hot for him in the full suit he's wearing, and I know he has guns on him too that the jacket covers.
I pull my hair up into a ponytail and then tie the bandana around my head pushing the wisps back from my face. I didn't do this once and caused me to set a few pieces on fire. Burnt hair is a smell I'm quite used to at times. I singed the ends of my ponytail one time when I wasn't paying attention.
I've been working for about an hour and I'm ready to call it and head home to my husband when the hair on the back of my neck raises. I swing my punty rod around and it connects with him.
"Ooff," Britain growls as he fires a gun. The bullet goes wide. I look into the adjoining room and see that the guard is down. I pray he isn't dead but knowing Britain he is.
"Britain you don't want to do this." I try to reason with him.
He's thinner than I remember, but he used to lift weights for his baseball team. His black hair is short on the sides and longer on top. He has a dark shadow of black hair coming in from not shaving. But his black eyes that hold no emotion are what I focus on. I step back so this time when the punty pipe hits him he gets the hot glass, and it shatters this time from the force of me slamming it into his chest. He screams and I drop the pipe and start running. My ponytail is grabbed from behind me, and I'm yanked back so hard when I hit the ground all the breath whooshes from my lungs. I see stars for a moment and it's all the time Britain needs to land on top of me. He slams my head against the ground a couple times, and I feel my eyes roll back.
I come awake to intense pain across my body. I open my eyes and I'm lying on the floor of a room I don't recognize. I scream when I realize I'm naked except for my panties. Britain is above me with a knife, blood dripping from the tip to splash on the ground at his feet. I look down my naked body, I have knife slices all over, some deep enough that the flesh is hanging, and you can see muscle and tendon. When I raise my head blood drips in my eyes and I feel damage to my face, but I don't want to touch it. I don't think I just react.
I roll away from him and he chases after me, I hear the knife hit the ground.
"Get back here bitch. You thought you could get married to someone else. I told you once. No man will have you but me." His voice sounds possessed and wrong. I stumble to my feet and look around for a way to escape. Pain explodes in my hip, and I scream out. I look at him with the baseball bat and raise my arm as he swings again. This time he hits my arm and I feel the bones give. I stumble back and he hits me in the hip again as I fall to the ground. I try to cover my face as I feel pain explode in the side of my head and I try to scream again.
I'm going to die finally. I'll be with my family but who will be with Shane? He gave me his heart and I killed it too.
Shane
Ever since I got the call from Giselle's guard I've been pissed off and threatening people. I had her as my wife for less than twenty-four hours and she was taken. I couldn't protect her like I promised I would.
We are racing to a location near the campus that witnesses said a man carried an unconscious woman into. Lex pulled up camera and found out Britain took her out of the hot shop over his shoulder and to a lorry where he put her in the back. He lost her when he drove off campus but then we started getting calls.
Britain has had her for a couple hours now and I'm worried that she will be dead when I finally get to her. We pull up to the small rundown house and I hear a scream. I'm running and kicking in the door without thinking. The bullet in his gun goes wide and hits the doorframe, but mine is true and I hit him in the chest. Britain drops the gun.
I see the bloody body lying on the floor.
"Hold him down," I order to Grady and Seamus. I hear others coming in the door, but I'm only focused on my girl. There is so much blood that she can't possibly be alive but, in my heart, I know she is. I reach down and just like the last time she was taken before I was supposed to protect her, she screams and cries out. I drape my jacket over her body covering it from the others.
"No," she gurgles, and I notice her jaw is hanging funny. She's also staring at me without seeing me. "Please I don't want to die," she begs me, and her words register with me. She wants to live.
"Mo chroi, it's me."
She stops fighting and settles into my arms.
"Get an ambulance now." I hold her body to me trying to see what I can do while we wait but she is literally cut up everywhere. I see the bloody knife and baseball bat sitting on the floor. "Take him to the warehouse I'll deal with him later," I yell again. Giselle trembles in my arms and I sooth her again.
"We can't do that Shane. With the ambulance coming they are going to want to know what happened to her. He needs to face the courts or die," Aidan says and I realize he's right. Britain starts to laugh, and I know why. He got away with almost killing her once, but he won't this time.
