The O'Malley Brides (9 page)

Maeve gasped.  Sean released her, mostly so he could see the lovely blush on her face.
 
“Where would y
a
be hearin’ such a thing, Sean O’Malley?” she asked as she began to back away from him.

“I think it
was on 20/20 or some such show,” he told her as he slowly advanced
on her
,
his eyes sparkling with deviltry.

“I think you’re ful
l o’ malarkey,” she informed him
, just before she turned to run.

Sean almost had her too, but she was to fast for him.  I didn’t matter
,
he thought
,
as he locked the doors and started up the stairs grinning.  She would be in their bed, just where she belonged.

Chapter 5

It was dark by the time
Rory
let himself in the front door.  The house wasn’t much, but it was in a good neighborhood.  The corner lot was large, it had a big garage a
nd there
was room to grow.  Instead of throw
ing his money away on rent, he
bought the house intending to fix it up as he went along.  So far not much of that had happened.  If he wasn’t at w
ork, he was at his parents or another
family
member’s home
helping them with their projects
.  It didn’t b
other him.  He didn’t need much; a
recliner in front of his big screen TV, a fridge, a microwave and a coffeepot.  Now that he looked around, this wasn’t such a great place to bring Tess
, he realized as he hung up his leather jacket in his closet. 
The bedroom
dresser and nightstand were hand-me-downs from his mother, but the king-sized bed was relatively new. 
He had a tiny kitchen table and a stove that he’d never used that he could recall.  He didn’t know where Tess was, but he would definitely have to do some renovating if he planned on her living with him.  Of course
,
Tess wasn’t your typical woman. 
She didn’t seem to need all the frou-frous that other women set such store by, or maybe she did, but had never been able to afford them.  He would have to give it more thought.  But first he had to find her.
 
Picking up the phone, he dialed
Patrick
.

“Hello
?
”

“Yeah, Pat, is Molly around?”

“She is b
ut she’s in the shower
.  Anything I can help you with?”

“Not unless you know where Tess is.  Any clue?”

“Not really B
ro, I haven’t been able to really talk to her.  Let me see wh
at I can find out after the boys
go to bed.  I’ll get back to you,”
Patrick
promised.  This wasn’t something he wanted to
get in
the middle o
f, but if his Molly was missing
he would go
berserk
.  If he could help his brother, he had to do it.

“Okay, I’ll be up late so call me if you find out anything.  Thanks Pat,” he
sighed.

“No problem Rory.  Later.”

Patrick st
raightened up
downstairs, picking up
and packing
lunches
f
or morning, before heading upstairs to tell the boys goodnight
.  Going down to the kitchen he made Molly a cup of her favorite tea and carried it into the living room. He fluffed the pillows on the couch, and sat down to wait.  The bells around her ankle told him she was out of the shower and moving to the bedroom. 
When ten minutes went by and she didn’t come down, he called softly up the stairway.

“Molly
, what
are you doing?”

Molly appeared at the top of the stairs, stretched and yawned.
 
“I’m tired Honey, I thought we’d go to bed early tonight,” she told him hopefully.

One look at her nightgown and Patrick had to turn his head to hide his grin.  Oh yeah, virginal white.  The one that made her look about sixteen.  Her long white cotton gow
n swept the floor.  Long sleeved
with ruffled lace around the wrist.  Tiny white flowers decorated the bodice.
Yup, that’s the one he thought,
the
one that’s supposed to make me feel like an ogre.  Patrick turned, it was almost impossible not to laugh out loud. 

“I’ve made you tea
,
Molly,” he called over his shoulder.  He headed to the couch, sat down and crossed one ankle over his knee.  Quickly he turned the lamp on the end table down
hoping she wouldn’t notice his smile in the dim light.

Molly came slowly down the stairs, her little bare toes peeking from beneath the nightgown.  Her bells jingled softly.  Her glorious white blonde hair flowed down her back and her big blue eyes took on an innocence he’d seen before.  All in all
,
she was heartbreakingly lovely.

Gliding to the coffee table, Molly picked up her teacup and took a sip.

“Come here
,
sprite,” Patrick commanded softly, reaching out one hand to her and patting his lap with the other.

Shit, shit, shit
, Molly thought as she slowly obeyed.  Seating herself on his lap she prepared for the worst
but he only gathered her close
and kissed the top of her head.

Patrick inhaled her
fragrance
and sigh
ed in pleasure
.  As he cuddled her delicate body
,
it was hard to believe
that inside her beautiful head,
she had a mind like a steel trap.

“So,” Patrick began, torn between questioning her and kissing her behind her tiny ear.  “Where did you go with Tess?  The second time
you left the house
.
  The time
she was carrying the duffle bag?
”
he added meaningfully.

“
We went back to the store.
Tess forgot something,” Molly replied
, trying to be as honest as she could.

“What did she forget?” Patrick asked, his hot breath sending shivers through her as he nibbled on her ear.

“Um…
a cell phone,
she
wanted to go back
and pick up one of those prepaid phones,” she whispered.  “Please Patrick, aren’t you re
ady to go to bed?

“Soon, my
love,
soon,” he replied his lip sliding down the side of her neck.

You are so not playing fair
, Molly thought, as she struggled not to melt into a puddle on his lap.

“
Why would she need that
, S
weetness?
” he continued,
as his hand began to undo the tiny pearl buttons at the top of her gown.

“For an emergency,” Molly panted.

“Is Tess at
Maggie’s
?”
Patrick
asked.  “It won’t do her much good, Nick and Maggie will be home in a couple of days.”

No,” moaned Molly as he slid his hand inside the top of the gown and gently cupped her full breast.  There was no way she would be able to string two thoughts together if he kept this up.

“You want me to stop?” he asked, his lips barely touching hers, his breath scorching her.

“Yes,” she sighed
in
relief.

“Stop touching you?”
Patrick
asked with a grin just he bent his head and circled her pink nipple with his
tongue
.

“No,” Molly
cried out frantically.  “God no, stop
questioning me.  Isn’
t it time for bed?
”

“Okay Baby Doll, one more,” he promised before he pulled her taunt nipple
into his mouth and sucked hard.  Swirling his tongue around it until she trembled so hard her bells were ringing.

Patrick realized he
had to stop soon
.  He
was so hard he’d probably have teeth marks from his zipper.

“Did you by any chance t
ell Tess she could stay
in the
apartment over the pub
for free,
Darlin’?
  I know she’s pretty broke
and you’re so soft hearted baby.
”

Molly slid her tapered fingers into his hair and brought him tighter to her breast.  Hot and wet
,
with need so strong she could feel it racing through her veins
,
it was hard to think.  Did she?  Is that what she did?

“No.  Oh God, H
on
ey. Please say it’s time to go upstairs
,”
she begged as his hand moved down her stomach and began to inch her nightgown higher.  Finally Patrick gently pushed her thighs apart and cupped her heat.

“Oh yeah it is,” he
growled after he released her nipple and slammed his lips over hers until he could barely breathe.
 
Standing with her in his arms he carried her upstairs and tossed her lightly on the bed.  Emptying his pockets
,
he tossed his wallet, keys and cell
phone
on the dresser
,
and stripped his jeans off
like a man possessed.  The phone
reminded him of his brother waiting for his call and he snagged it up and headed to the bathroom hitting speed
dial
.

“Rory,
s
orry bud, I couldn’t get a thing out of her,” he whisp
ered.  “I’ll try again tomorrow, gotta
go.”  Gr
inning like a
fool he
quickly brushed his teeth and ran back to the bedroom, flinging the cell
phone
in the
general
direction of the dresser.

Rory slammed the phone down with a bang.  Damn.  Where the hell was she?  He hoped wherever it was, she was safe.  Tess didn’t have the greatest self-preservation skills.
  For a moment he thought about checking the park, but even she couldn’t be that foolish.  In the morning
,
he would have a lot more tools at his disposal including the eyes of every guy on patrol.  He couldn’t even call i
n a missing person report because she’d
only actually been gone for a few hours.  Well
,
he could if he wanted to be laughed righ
t out of the department.  In fac
t she wasn’t missing, she was hiding. 

Thin
king back over the weekend, he realized he
had
had
better
ones
, that was for sure.  H
e grabbed a beer from the fridge and sought out his chair.  De
spite what his mother thought, Rory
didn’t think it was the spanking that scared her away.  She’d clearly been shocked this morning when he’d made her climax twice in his a
rms and it would have been more if she hadn’t surrendered.  Maybe that was the problem.  Tess kept herself in a tight little ball, like a puppy that’d been slapped down to many times. 
She a
lways
seemed to be
afraid of offending someone,
or hurting another’s feelings.  W
ell
, maybe
not his, but everyone
else’s
.  Most of the time she
had no problem telling him what she thought
,
so why
did she
run today
?
  He’d made it clear to her that they had things to talk about.  Apparently
,
she didn’t feel like talking.  The spanking had been relatively mild.  He didn’t beat her for Christ’s sake, just given her a hot little bottom to remind her of who was in charge.  Now he was in charge of exactly no one.
 
Tomorrow he would find her and set her straight. 

Molly lay
quietly in
Patrick’s
arms
and listened
to his soft snoring.  She’d 
managed to get
through another skirmish
without
lying, thank goodness
.  It wasn’t her intention to deceive her
husband;
she just wanted to give Tess a little breathing space.  Letting her stay in
the apartment over
The R
ose and Thistle
, the pub she and
Patrick
had inherited from her grandparents
,
wasn’t a hardship.  With her brother
Connor serving in the Middle East
, no one ever went up there.  A Navy Seal,
Connor
only stayed there when he was in town, which wasn’t
often.  It would be months before she saw him again and she thanked her lucky stars that although she couldn’t see him and didn’t know what he was actually doing, she could sense he was safe.  Her gift was both a blessing and a curse. It seemed that the times she needed it the most, it wasn’t there.  Tonight when she realized it was going to turn into a Q&A with Patrick, she’
d
had no idea if she would be able to pull it off without outright
lying;
a big no-no
as far as Patrick was concerned.  She had no desire to find herself across his knees
and she almost never got a warning.  But let someone else she cared about have a problem and there it was in full color in her mind.  Emb
arrassing! Ugh! Many times she’d
seen things not meant for public viewing.  Thank heavens she was able to block it if she concentrated hard enough.