Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill (6 page)

He pressed her
down
to the floor twisting her arms painfully to move her to the corner.

Jolene screamed but she was certain they were too far down a hallway for anyone to hear. 
But s
urely as often as women went to the bathroom one should
have shown up by now
!

He smacked her hard on the side of her face rendering her helpless for a few seconds.
 
"
You stupid hick.
"

There was a loud crash and the door flung open hitting Chad and
incapacitating him
just long enough for Jolene to
roll away from him
.
  Chad was pulled from the floor and slammed to the wall. 

It was the Irishman,
Patrick
. 
"
What do yer
think yur doing Chad?
"

Chad recovered from his contact with the wall and glared at
Patrick
. 
"
She is a whore or didn
'
t
you
know thes
e girls were hired to come here?
"

Patrick
clocked Chad on the side of the jaw
sending him to the floor
. 
"
How she got here is a matter of question, but it woud
'
na matter anyhow, she
obviously
didn
'
t want yur attention.
"

Jolene had been tucking herself back into her dress and stood on shaking legs. 
S
everal of the people from the box
had
filtered
in
to
the hallway
vying for a better view of the scene
. 
"
I say
Patrick
, no need to get so worked up ove
r a small tryst in the bathroom,
"
s
omeone said.

Patrick
adjusted his coat and gave Chad a last
warning
glare. 
"
Except I think the tryst yu
r
speaking of
was all on one side.
"

"
Y
ou got them Irish cuffs, maybe you spent some time in the ring?
"

Patrick
turned to
Jolene extending his hand.
"
Maybe I did at that.
"

She took his hand with shaking numb fingers. 

He took her to the corner and leaned down low to her.
"
Come home w
ith
me
miss
, I promise I
'
ll not hurt yur. 
Yer
never have to
do anything like this
again or come over
h
ere
or anywhere
else
and play nice with the grown up men at the races.  Do y
er
understand me?
"

Jolene chewed her lip, scanning the men
peering through the bathroom door
at her like she was
a
full
fried chicken box
from
at the Super Fried Kentucky Chicken.  And she didn
'
t think it was because they wanted to eat something for real…unless eating another person was possible.
 

Or unless she was fried up. 
And right now she felt like mashed potatoes and gravy on heels.

If she stayed her
e
,
a
t best
,
she would most likely get pawed
again
like she did
by
Chad
.  At worst
, something like what happened with Chad would ha
ppen again and
eventually there would be nobody there to stop him.  She could easily be trapped where nobody could hear her screams.  Some man might force her to do that stuff that Aunt Paula did with the men
.
For certain
Jolene didn
'
t want
to do
that with
anyone.  She read her mamma
'
s romances and knew there was a knight in shining armor for her
out there
somewhere
. 
She wanted s
omeone really nice like her daddy
. 

Unfortunately, at this moment
she had to rely on help from the horrible Irishman who stole her family property. 
"
How do I know you won
'
t do the same thing once I come away with you?
"

Patrick
McCabe laughed softly. 
"
Now that is a smart girl to be thinking o
'
such things.  But I
'
ve not a taste for little girls with red hair
and
fairy
-
dust
-
freckles, at least not baby girls at any rate.  I
only
like very grown up women.  Not to mention you
'
re a v
e
ry scrawny girl at that.
"
He paused and smiled kindly. 
"
I swear on
the
Rosary
you dropped on the floor
that I'll not do anything to yer
.
"

Jolene looked in horror in the direction of the stall.  Yes, she had taken
her Rosary
out
when she walked into the bathroom
. 
It had been her mother's Rosary.

It gave her comfort.  It helped her cope with the loss of her parents
and the demons of her dreams that brought back the night her parents were killed.  It also gave her comfort
at night
and
made her less afraid of Travis.

The crystal beads winked under the florescent light. 
Patrick
walked over, reached down and picked the Rosary up
along with her small handbag
and
gave
it to her.  She opened her shaking palm and closed her fingers tight around the beads. 

His eyes were smiling into hers. 
"
And yer deny being Irish.
"

"
I am a Scotch-Irish…my daddy said so
,
"
s
he s
aid it proudly then tucked the R
osary
ba
ck into her purse. 
"
And
I
'
m not so scrawny, if I was, then why do those men look at me like that?
"

Several people laughed from the doorway. 
Patrick
glared past her at the gawking crowd. 
"
Get on with you.
"

The
crowd
reluctantly
disassemble
d
and move
d
away with murmurs and
more
laughter.

"
Because t
h
e
r
e
is something ve
ry wrong with those men.
"
 
He turned his warm gaze back upon her and smiled gently. 
"
Now come away with me
.
I promise you, I won
'
t let anything bad happen to y
er
.
"

Patrick
took her arm with a paternal pat and
pulled her through the doorway
of the bathroom
. 
A few of the men leaned on the wall outside. 
"
She came here to be fair game.  She probably needs the bucks
Patrick
…let me give her some talk and a
special
drink…Chad just mishandled her.
"

Another man laughed. 
"
Chad likes a fight.
"

Patrick
turned to them with
deadly
intent
. 
"
She didn
'
t belong here in the first place.  Now
I
'
ll be
taking
this young lady home
with me
then.
"
  He
pulled out and
handed her a wad of bills. 
"
Put that in your purse young lady.
"

One tall man with an athletic build and thick brown hair pushed away from the wall giving Jolene a longing look. 
"
What about the girls
you left behind
back in the box
Patrick
?
"

"
The
y
are friends of mine, and all grown up.  If you want to try to chat them up, you go on then.  I am taking this young lady home.
"

Patrick
turned dark blue eyes back to Jolene. 
"
Put the money in your purse.
"
 
He
commanded again softly.  

Jole
ne didn
'
t ask questions.  S
he
tucked the big wad into her purse with shaking fingers. 

Several curses lit the
hallway and the
last of the
group head
ed
back to the box.  N
o one tried to stop
Patrick
McCabe.  They wouldn
'
t dare.  He could buy out just about anyone in Lexington. 
H
e
also
had the damned Irish luck with breeding, training and racing the best horses in Kentucky.

Besides all that he was the Earl of
Meath
.

A few sni
ckers
followed them
down the hallway
. 
"
So the Irishman has his weakness too.
"

Low laughter followed them through the
elevator
door.

The attendant in the elevator, a pretty middle aged woman in a red suit
,
smiled at them. 
"
You are leaving before the
big
race Mr. McCab
e
?
"

Patrick
smiled politely. 
"
I have something that has come up.
"

Jolene was terrified. 
Her heart galloped at race pace. 
What would he expect
her to do
for so much money? 
Those men hadn
'
t given her anything at all and Aunt Paula said they would only be touching her back
and arm
.  They did a lot more than that and gave her nothing.

She didn
'
t want to do anything like that with Angel Gabrielle
neither
.  Even as beautiful as
Patrick
McCabe was…he was not her knight in shining armor. 
He just couldn't be.

Jolene
could not sort out her scrambled-egg thoughts other than to register her utter panic
.

When the elevator hit the ground floor and opened
Jolene tripped off her he
e
ls and broke into a run.  She heard shouts from
Patrick
.  She ducked and zigzagged her way through the throng
of
people carrying their mint juleps
and programs
.  She bumped her way through the women wearing big hats and fancy bright dresses and men dressed in summer suits, many with bowler hats.

She pushed her way out of the glass door through the teams of laughing throngs
of people
still streaming into
Churchill Downs to see the big
race.
  She ran until she was through the massive parking lot and on the busy street
.  Then
she replaced her
red pumps
on battered feet
.
  Good thing she went around without shoes a lot and toughe
ne
d her soles for just such a necessity.