The fact that she had been a virgin, and there had been her blood on the fleecy beige carpet in the library, had made him wince a the time; O’Grady had never, ever f*cked a virgin.
And the act of taking her soft, rounded body, of claiming her, head made him feel jealously possessive about her.
He did not want to share her with anyone; okay, St Just was different, but even the thought of his brother and his long, lean hands on Bianca’s soft flesh, made him growl in jealousy.
Throwing back his head, he gulped the whiskey and felt the liquid poison burn its way down his throat.
He turned suddenly, knowing that he needed to take Bianca, need to see if she had really been the way he had been thinking of all night; or had it all been his imagination.
Had her soft c*nt been so tight? Had she really tasted of honey and smelt of roses?
*
St Just was outside in his large airy office since he had to take care of the new Fight Club they had set up, in collaboration with a new partner from Hollowford, a young fighter named Claude Delano.
His half-brother handled the rough work of setting up meetings; O’Grady, who took care of the extortion and other arms of the business, looked in at his brother’s office door.
“I’ll be back in some time,” he said in a terse voice and watched the slow smile of understanding light up St Just’s face.
Finn St Just was unlike him; he had also been besotted by young Bianca’s body last night, thought O’Grady as he climbed into his 4×4 and shot off down the drive.
But it was different from O’Grady’s longing, his desire to take the young girl to keep her to himself, to mate her, again and again. He slammed his hand down on the horn as a driver ahead of him slowed and swerved, he drove, almost like a man possessed, to the house on the hill.
No, Finn St Just used women and never allowed his emotions to come into play. It was probably an offshoot of his mother’s abandoning him as a child, but he was always in control. He preferred to inflict pain and then take a woman. Yet somehow, O’Grady had seen that he was struggling to do it with young Bianca. He had seemed unable to hurt her.
Not so for Liam O’Grady. He was a man on fire when he had a woman n his life; he would f*ck her repeatedly, never seeming to tire, his libido inexhaustible. But till date, he had never felt this emotional need to have a woman, to keep her safe.
No, this …this Thing with Bianca Cruz was different and he was angry with himself for being so weak.
*
Paige Hardy faced her father. The old man was sitting, his head sunk in his hands as he growled, wheezing,
‘Paige, doll…you gotta get hitched to that young stud and soon. He’s our ticket, him and his money.”
He raised his drink and worry-ravaged face as he went on,
‘Your Ma’s drinking problem…we gotta send her to a rehab again and …”
Here, he dropped his voice to a whisper as he went on,
“I…don’t have the resources, baby doll.”
Paige folded her arms across her skinny chest and glared at him.
“If you didn’t have such a gambling habit, Daddy, we would have been better off!” she snapped. Her father raised his rheumy eyes and said nastily,
“What’s that, sweetheart? Who’s got a nasty drug problem she tries to think no one knows about, eh?”
*
Paige’s face went grey. What had started off as a simple party habit, doing drugs when she was with her fancy friends, had slowly spiraled into a full-blown need. She had once been to a drug rehabilitation centre and had also gone through an abortion when she had conceived after sleeping with a dealer. As a result, she had gone through a botched-up abortion that had led to her losing the ability to conceive.
None of it, thankfully, were things that O’Grady knew about.
Because she had been at a fancy finishing school in another city far away at the time.
She swallowed, her jaw tight with tension as she glared at the old man who sat, watching her.
*
Her shoulders slumped.
He was right.
Swinging to the door, she said in a dull voice,” You’re right, daddykins.” And almost to herself, she said,
‘I’ll get that f*cking Irishman to wed me by the end of the year, max.”
*
The said Irishman had just crested the hill and entered the property he owned jointly with his half-brother. The security guards had been alerted about his arrival but they stared after him bemusedly. True, the two brothers had housed plenty of their se* pets here before; but none as young as the pretty girl who had been walking around the lawns just a while ago, her face turned to the sun. She had smiled shyly at the guards when she caught them staring at her and dived back into the house.
Truly, one of those rare, unsophisticated people, said Sid and Heenan, who were on their rounds.
“She don’t look like Boss’ type, not his usual, anyways,” growled Heenan, a former ex-con, who had married his childhood sweetheart and was now trying to live a decent life. Well, as decent as anyone employed with O’Grady could be.
*
When Paige Hardy got into her car, she saw that someone had left a message propped on her windshield, her insides suddenly felt clammy.
Furtively, she looked around as she reached out and took the note that had been tucked clumsily beneath a wiper.
She had been parked on High Street, waiting for her new dealer, a discreet woman who looked like your everyday aunt.
With clammy hands, she opened the note and read the message.
” Robbie wants you back.”
That was all that was written on the grubby note, in an unskilled hand but Paige felt her vision go black for a minute.
*
Robbie Prince.
The man she had gotten involved with when she had snuck out of her boarding school and attended rave parties on the sly with her upper-class friends of yore. The man who had introduced her to hard drugs and sold her body to settle his dues too.
The man who had been the father of her baby, the child she had tried to abort and had ended up killing.
She had run away, back to her home, after the abortion went off the rails and her distraught mother had turned to drink after seeing her in that state.
Yes, the doctors had managed to save her life, but her uterus had been damaged irreparably and there was no other option; it had to be removed…
Her father had used all his considerable political clout to get Robbie behind bars.
Paige had planned to get married to O’Grady before Robbie came out of prison. But he had probably got out…earlier than expected.
She lowered her head to the steering wheel, her eyes burning.
She would have to get rid of Robbie. But how?
*
Bianca
I had finally wound up the courage to go for a swim in the large pool.
Heather had not been available and I had been informed by the good nuns at St Anne’s that I could speak to Rose and Anne at five in the evening.
Heather had been taken for a series of tests and would be available at four.
That left me a lot of time to spend and I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful, cool morning. Besides, the pool with its shimmering waters, had seemed to beckon to me.
And I was, for all practical purposes, the only one in the house.
*
Changing into a two-piece bikini set that I found in the wardrobe, I quickly wound a robe around my body as I caught a glimpse of my body in the mirror. I looked positively voluptuous! My full breasts seemed to be spilling out of the bikini bra and the bottom was an excuse for a garment.
Hurrying out before I lost my nerve, I slipped into the water and sighed. It was warm and the sunlight was gentle on my face as I floated and turned, splashing happily.
It had been ages since I swam; the local pool had been a small one and full of kids when we went while Dad was alive.
This, I told myself, floating on my back happily, this was bliss, sheer bliss!
*
“Where ‘s she?’ barked Liam O’Grady at a very startled-looking Alfred when the old man opened the door.
‘She…she’s swimming…” stuttered the old man, taken aback by the expression on the Irish mob boss’ handsome face.
O’Grady strode to the French windows leading to the pool, throwing it open forcefully as he tugged at his tie and stopped.
Bianca was in the water, her rip, lush body half submerged as she floated, a beatific smile on her lovely face. He felt the tingle of longing shoot straight to his c*ck and he began to unbutton his shirt as he moved closer. She was still unaware, lost in some happy thoughts, he realized, her full plump lips titled upwards, her lovely brown eyes shut.
Suddenly, she seemed to become aware that she was not alone and her eyes flew open as she instinctively ducked into the water, her slender neck and her shocked face visible.
“I’m joining you,” growled O’Grady as he stripped and stood for a minute, palming his massive erection, aware that she was blushing furiously, trying hard not to stare at his magnificent, chiseled body.
And then, in a silky, dangerous voice, he growled, as he slid into the water and moved to her,
“Never been f*cked in the water before, have you Pet?”