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.That Callahan, though, he was ready to take the risk.He tried to put a bullet in Tim when the lad jerked him off her.Tim was unarmed and Rafferty had to shoot Callahan.Somebody picked up the nightdress and tried to stop the bleedin', but he died in minutes.""You liked her, didn't you?"The Irishwoman's mouth tightened."I didn't do it for her.I knew the state ye'd be in when ye came to yer senses."Sean sagged into a chair and stared at the carpet."I cannot kill her and cannot stand the thought of anyone else doing it.She's a barb in my guts that won't be cut out.""Then stop tryin'.Ye'll not heal yer hurt in whores and liquor.'Twill take time." Gently she drew the pistol from his unresisting fingers."Much of the blame in this is mine.I thought that girl could ease the festerin' hurt inside ye, but instead she's brought ye low.I'd like to take this pistol and put a ball through her schemin' skull, but it wouldn't help." She touched his shoulder."Have ye thought of what to do with her?" He rubbed his head, trying to clear it."The English will come to search the house for rebels and guns.Transfer the wench to the cellar cell.She can rot there," he added bitterly."Revenge might have been sweet, but I'll be damned if she'll relish the aftertaste." He dragged his long frame out of the chair."Have the portable art shifted to the wine cellar.The English will steal the wine, but I doubt if they'll break through the racks." He crossed to the painting behind the desk and opened the secret wall compartment it concealed.He withdrew pouches of gold and jewelry, then dropped them on the desk."Bury these tonight with the Celtic artifacts in the ruins.Have Tim take the best stock into the mountains." He closed the compartment and turned."How many servants are left to help you?""A handful.The rest stole some fishing boats and put out to sea before ye returned from Wexford.Most of the men who came back with ye followed them last night.Tim's gone, too.Said he'd had enough.'Tis sorry I am, lad, but there it is.""It was bound to happen." With apparent idleness, he toyed with a brooch from a loosened pouch."Liam said Mother took lovers in Brendan's absence.He mentioned a particular English lieutenant."He looked up and Peg's heart went out to him."I don't know, lad, and that's God's truth.I was Megan's personal maid.If I didn't know, then Liam couldn't.She was wild.I disliked and mistrusted her.But to my knowledge, she was a faithful wife."He slipped the brooch into the bag and drew the strings."Then let's get on with it."Catherine dully surveyed stone walls, now as familiar as her own hands.The boredom of confinement was incredible, the lack of a window to tell the difference between night and day disquieting after.how long? She estimated two weeks by counting the barren meals.Her appetite was far from titillated by the inevitable fish, watercress, and potato diet.She sat on a pallet; the cot frame and webbing had been removed along with anything that might permit suicide, which left a stool, a slop bucket, and a candle.Asphyxiation by firing the pallet was possible, but her religion forbade that release even though God seemed to have turned a deaf ear to prayer and no human appeal was possible.She had not seen Sean since the terrible night he had thrown her to the human wolves.She still awoke in cold sweats, remembering their holding her down to endure the man's obscene groping before he suddenly collapsed atop her, blood spurting.There was another fact even more terrible to contemplate.She was pregnant.The cell door creaked and a servant with a shawl about her head brought in the ration, set it on the floor, and straightened in the gloom."Fiona!"The Irish girl smiled coldly."I'll be lookin' after yer needs from now on, but mostly Sean's." Her smile grew triumphant."He's fair sick with hate of ye, but I'm making him forget.Every time he makes love to me he forgets.We spent yesterday in bed.Soon he's goin' to forget ye're alive.He'll not even notice when ye ain't.I'm thinkin' maybe I'll let ye die a bit at a time, maybe for years."When Catherine finally picked up her food, she found only half the usual ration and the fish, while not actually spoiled, had such an unsavory odor that she left it.The next day was the same, but the rations were halved and the candle not replaced.The dark closed in like a blanket.Squinting against late-afternoon sunlight that glanced in a blinding glare off the water, Sean finished lashing the Megan's mainsail and reeled in the dinghy.Fiona slipped her arms around his chest and leaned against his bare back." 'Twas glorious today, just like the old days when we'd sail and make love on the deck for hours." She giggled and ran her hands down his belly."Rememberin' makes me hot all over again."He eased away her hand."We've all the night, girl, and naught else to do."She bit his ear before releasing him to retrieve their luncheon basket."Aye.Long, sweet hours.Just us.It's as good for you as it is for me.I knew for certain this afternoon.Ye can forget.'Twas my name ye cried." Silently, he held out a hand to help her into the dinghy.She caught his fingers and kissed them, amber eyes aglow."I want yer child.'Tis right, Sean; I know it is.My love is more than I can hold within." He drew her close and tenderly kissed her, then handed her into the boat.As he rowed ashore, the Irishman glanced down into sunlit blue water that deepened to beckoning shadows.Forget? How could he, when each moment recalled her, the ghost at his shoulder? Forcing him to cry out another woman's name to keep from groaning hers with a longing that tore him apart.He had not seen Kit in three months, yet she haunted him, a gentle harpy [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]