The Pleasures of Spring (38 page)

Roz sniffed at his unsympathetic response.

There was no way that he would allow her deadbeat dad to come between them. ‘If you want him to disappear, I’ll get him a job in Ireland. I’m sure the O’Haras would find work for another stable hand.’

‘Are you nuts? My father would never do stable work.’ By her tone of voice, he could have been suggesting he go into outer space without a suit.

‘Fine. Let him get a sex change and join a convent, I don’t care. The point is he has choices. He can disappear if he wants to badly enough.’

Reluctantly, she nodded. ‘I suppose so.’

‘And I’m waiting for eight more reasons.’

She was quiet for a moment, considering her next words. ‘Frankie got hurt when he helped us get away from Tullamore. I owe him.’

‘If you owe him, then so do I, but you don’t owe him the rest of your life. Actually, he looked pretty good in that fake sheik outfit. I think he’ll be okay.’

‘Your parents will hate me when they find out the truth. I’m not rich. I didn’t go to a fancy university and my dad is a –’

‘Have you ever killed anyone?’

‘No,’ she replied, looking offended.

‘Do you have a criminal record?’ Andy already knew the answer to that one. Roz had managed to stay one step ahead of the law all her life.

‘Not exactly, but what’s that got to do with anything?’

‘My parents won’t care that you’re poor or went to the local polytechnic instead of the Sorbonne. They love the real you – the one who helps on the estate and poses for hours for a portrait without complaining.’

Andy caught the faint trace of a smile, but then her mouth firmed. ‘I have a past and it’s not a pretty one.’

‘That makes us even. I wouldn’t like to tell you half the things I’ve done. I’m not a nice guy.’

‘You are impossible. Do you know that?’

She gave him a half-hearted thump that made him wince, then mouthed an apology. But her body had softened slightly. Maybe there was hope for them after all. Andy picked up the velvet bag and waved it at her enticingly. ‘Are you running out of reasons?’

‘No.’ She heaved a sigh. ‘I can’t live off you. I need to work. I’ve never been dependent on any man.’

Of course she hadn’t. Andy was willing to bet that Roz had been forced into independence from a very early age. He wished for ten minutes alone in a dark alley with Peter Spring. ‘Live off me? You’ve got more money than I do.’

Despite herself, she laughed.

‘Next silly reason?’

She sobered. ‘Your world is a million miles from the one I grew up in. I don’t fit in. I can put on a good act, but that’s all it is. It’s not real.’

Andy tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her hair. The ache in his chest had nothing to do with the beating he’d received at Hall’s hands. He couldn’t lose her again. Whatever difficulties they had, they would work through them.

‘I know that you have trust issues, but I’m not your father and you have to learn to lean on people.’

Roz picked at the blanket, pondering his words silently. ‘But what if I can’t? What if I mess this up?’

‘You might, but I’m willing to try if you are.’

She raised her head and stared unflinchingly at him. ‘What about your job? All those other women? I won’t let you run around seducing everyone you meet.’

She was jealous. Andy wanted to punch the air and do a happy dance, but every cell in his body protested at the prospect. The prospect of someone getting a call to say that he was injured or missing had kept him single up to now, but it was time to change.

‘To tell you the truth, being shot and beaten up has lost its attraction. Niall can move me to something different.’

Roz hadn’t given up. ‘I used to be a professional Domme.’

She waited for his reaction, looking as if she had dropped a bomb.

‘Try telling me something I didn’t know.’ Releasing her, he forced himself to his feet, cursing his aching body. He took her hands in his. They were small and delicate, and he could feel the subtle tremble in them.

‘Tell me, did you have sex with any of them?’

‘No!’ She tried to pull her hands back, but he wouldn’t let her. ‘Of course not. I was a Domme, not a whore. Mostly I gave them orders or flogged them. Or let them lick my shoes.’

Andy grinned. He couldn’t help it. She looked so adorable confessing like a naughty child. ‘I’m as big a fan of a
pair of sexy heels as the next man, but don’t expect me to lick them.’

‘Weren’t you listening? I said I was a pro-Domme.’

‘I heard. We’re going to have fun working out who’s on top.’ Andy relished the prospect of it. He couldn’t imagine anyone who was a better match for him.

‘What if we meet someone who knew me? It would cause such a scandal.’ The shadows in her eyes told their own story.

Andy took her hands, and forced her to look at him. ‘Trust me. No one will ever cause a scandal for Mrs Andrew Campbell McTavish. We are not a family to mess with.’

But it was clear she wasn’t finished. ‘You don’t know what I’m really like inside and when you do, you’ll …’

The pain in her voice made his heart ache. Tough, sassy independent Roz was all a front. Beneath the wisecracking façade, she was vulnerable. She had learnt how to hide, how to push people away, but he was damned if he would let her do that to him.

‘I’ll what? Cheat on you? Mess with your head? Leave you?’

‘Yes, all of that, but that’s not the real reason.’ She brushed away a stray tear and Andy sensed that something bad was coming.

‘I can’t marry you, because I’m pregnant.’

The silence in the little cabin was so deep Roz could hear her own heartbeat. She had promised herself she wouldn’t tell him but she’d had no choice. She waited for his reaction. Would he ask whose it was? That would kill her. But
if he jumped in and insisted she marry him because she was pregnant, that would be almost as bad. She couldn’t bear to spend the rest of her life with him, wondering if Andy had been noble and married her because she was pregnant.

She realized she was holding her breath, and exhaled with a gasp.

Andy stared at her, turned to stone by her announcement. His eyes narrowed. ‘How long have you known that you were pregnant?’ he demanded.

He didn’t sound like a man who was about to get down on one knee.

‘Um, about two months now,’ she admitted reluctantly. Where was he going with this?

‘Two months! For two months you’ve know you were carrying my baby, and you didn’t tell me. Not a single hint. Instead, you were out riding horses and no doubt doing all sorts of heavy and unsuitable work.’

‘Well …’ This wasn’t going the way she had expected.

He pounced. ‘You were! Ignoring your own safety is bad enough. But now I learn you were taking chances with our baby.’

Was he serious? She straightened her shoulders. ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about. I researched it, and I didn’t take any stupid risks.’

‘And do your so-called experts know how reckless you are?’ he demanded. ‘It’s not as if we’re talking about an ordinary sensible woman who thinks before she does stupid things.’

She gasped, outraged. ‘Reckless?’

‘Oh, maybe that wasn’t you galloping bareback on a
racehorse towards a motorway? It must have been your idiotic twin.’ Andy sounded thoroughly pissed off.

‘So I should have allowed that psycho to kill me, rather than risk riding a horse?’ She wasn’t going to let Andy get away with this shit.

‘No! You should have told me two months ago, so that I could have been here to protect you.’

Roz had been working herself up into a fine rage, but that stopped her.

He went on. ‘If anything had happened to you, I wouldn’t have been able to bear it. Thinking of you in danger like that …’ He took her in his arms and held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe.

Who cared about breathing? ‘That’s how I feel about you going off doing soldier stuff,’ she murmured.

His arms tightened further. ‘Then maybe it’s time I stepped back, let other men do the dangerous work.’

She wiggled an arm out around his neck. ‘Good idea,’ she whispered, and kissed him.

He tipped up her chin so that he was looking directly into her eyes. ‘There is only one reason that matters. Do you love me?’

She took a breath. Time to tell the truth. ‘So much it hurts. I’ve never loved anyone like this before and I never will again.’

His arms tightened round her. ‘Thank god I’m not the only one. To love you this much and not have you feel the same would really suck.’

Who needed words? She pulled him down and kissed him.

Roz was silent on the return journey to Lough Darra. She drove, leaving Andy to sleep in the back, wrapped up in a tartan blanket. Despite the arnica that Suzanne had applied to his face, the bruises were more livid today. He looked like he had gone ten rounds with a world heavyweight boxer.

Andy had fought the bad guy for her. And won. And he wanted her and the baby. She placed one hand on her belly. ‘It looks like we’ll be taking care of Daddy for a while.’

‘What?’ Andy murmured, barely waking up.

‘Nothing,’ Roz replied, blushing. ‘Just thinking.’ She hadn’t realized that she’d spoken the words aloud.

She had offered to buy Nagsy back from Tim, telling him that he had a tendency to throw a splint.

‘Tell him it was a scam,’ Andy had said.

‘And implicate everyone here in a criminal fraud? No, I’ll tell him he goes lame easily and refund the money.’

But Tim had refused. He had seen her offer of a refund as seller’s remorse and it made him even more determined to hold onto the horse.

Niall had offered to arrange a new life for her father when he got out of prison, but refused to tell her where. Frankie was going to the States with his share of the loot. The Peckham Food Bank had received a large anonymous
donation, and for the first time in her life she felt … Well, she didn’t know how she felt.

Happiness had been so foreign to her for so long that she found it hard to relax and enjoy it. Back at Tullamore, in Cheyenne’s trailer, she had drunk from a coffee cup which proclaimed
Life isn’t about finding yourself, but creating yourself
. Maybe it was right. She was creating a whole new Roz, and today was the start of her life with Andy.

In the back seat, Andy’s wakening stretch was followed by a groan. Yep. He definitely needed some TLC.

She had barely stepped out of the Jeep when Poppy arrived. The older woman seemed a little more frail since she had last been here, but her eyes were bright and her smile was filled with delight. ‘Oh, my dear girl. I’m so glad that he found you. Andy’s been such a misery.’

‘I have not.’

Poppy eyed his bruised face with a considered look. ‘I haven’t seen you in such bad shape since Afghanistan. Are you sure you shouldn’t be in hospital?’

‘Positive.’ Andy dropped a kiss on her cheek. ‘A few days in bed and I’ll be fine. I’ve brought a nurse with me.’

Roz let that one go. He would pay for it when he was well again. ‘Let’s get you into bed.’

Andy tried to wink but his poor battered face couldn’t quite manage it. They made a slow procession up the staircase and into the master bedroom.

‘I’ll leave you to it, my dear,’ Poppy said. ‘You need a rest after the drive. Maggie has promised to make his favourite dinner.’

She closed the door, leaving them alone.

Roz busied herself unpacking Andy’s bag. His shirt was
torn and blood-stained. She didn’t dare let Poppy see that. The dark jeans had been slashed. She rolled them up quickly. She would dispose of them later.

‘Nurse,’ Andy called and she turned around. ‘I think I need some help.’

‘You do?’ Trying not to laugh, she folded her arms and cocked her head. ‘What kind of help?’

He sat on the bed, giving her his best puppy dog impersonation, but the laughter in his dark eyes was tinged with something else.

‘Don’t even think about it, Andy McTavish. You almost died. Do you realize that?’

‘I thought you were going to take care of me? I’m in pain. I need lots of TLC.’

Roz crossed the room and stood before him, brushing a stray hair away from his battered face. ‘Where does it hurt?’

‘Here.’ He pointed to his bruised cheekbone and Roz kissed it gently.

‘And here.’ Andy indicated his neck where finger-sized bruises were clearly visible.

Roz opened the top button of his shirt to give her better access and nuzzled the tender spot. Battered and bruised as he was, he was still sexy as hell and she had missed him. A tingle of anticipation fluttered inside her and it had nothing to do with the baby. What sort of a wanton wretch was she? She couldn’t expect an injured man to …

‘And I have a really hurty spot on my belly,’ he continued.

She raised her head. ‘Hurty? Is that even a word?’

‘Uh huh. I don’t know. I never went to La Sorbonne.’

‘Don’t push your luck,’ she warned him. She would never live that one down.

‘But I missed you every night. Haven’t you missed me? Even a little bit.’

‘I have several little bits that missed you.’ She laughed. ‘But somehow, I think they’re going to have to wait until you’re better.’

‘I’d hate to leave a lady in distress,’ he murmured. ‘If we were really careful, we could take care of each other.’

‘Andy, it’s the middle of the afternoon, you can’t possibly –’

His kiss silenced her. He might be injured but there was nothing wrong with his mouth. His tongue duelled with hers in a sensuous invitation and she moaned softly. Oh, that was so good and it had been so long. She pulled away reluctantly. ‘Are you sure?’

‘The only thing that aches more than the rest of me is my cock. Help me get my clothes off.’

Roz needed no further encouragement. She opened the buttons of his shirt one by one and eased it off. Kneeling on the floor, she pulled off his shoes and tugged off his pants.

In the bright spring daylight, the damage that Hall had inflicted on him was brutally evident. But he was hers, and she loved every battered inch of him. ‘I don’t know where to touch you that won’t hurt.’

‘We’ll figure something out. Now, strip.’

Giggling, she obeyed his gruff command. Her man might be down, but he wasn’t out. There was something liberating about being naked in daylight. Roz struck a pose, waiting for his next order.

‘Turn around.’

She turned and pouted at him over her shoulder. The muffled growl of approval from the bed made her nipples peak.

‘God, I love your ass.’ He patted the bed beside him. ‘Come over here.’

Roz decided to tease him. Andy would have to learn that he couldn’t have things all his own way. ‘There’s something I need to do first.’

Climbing onto the high bed, she sat at his feet. For once, Andy wasn’t in charge, and she was going to enjoy it. His cock was fully erect, a tempting prize. She bent her head, letting her hair trail over his legs, and pressed a tender kiss to the inside of his calf. Taking her own sweet time, she alternated licks and tender kisses along his inner thigh.

Next time, when he was feeling better, she might bite him there. She liked the idea of marking him as hers. Roz paused when she reached his cock. Giving him her best porn-star gaze, she ran her tongue slowly along her bottom lip before she licked the length of his shaft slowly. His strangled groan was all the encouragement she needed. Opening her mouth wide, she closed it over the head of his cock and swirled her tongue around the sensitive tip.

‘Oh yes, like that. Just like that,’ he said hoarsely.

Pleased, she raised her head and plunged again, taking him deeper. She loved the sense of power that it gave her. It was more potent than any aphrodisiac. Andy was helpless, and hers.

‘I want to see your face. I want to watch you take me,’ he said.

‘Kinky devil.’ But she obeyed, brushing her hair over
her shoulder so that he could watch as she licked him from balls to tip before taking him in her mouth again.

‘I need to be inside you.’

Straddling his hips, she grasped his cock, rubbing it back and forth, along her sensitive clit, teasing. Roz lowered her hips, taking only an inch of him inside her before rising again. She repeated the action, knowing that it would drive him crazy.

His eyes flew open. ‘Brat. When I’m fit again …’

‘You’ll what?’

Andy grasped her hips and pulled her down hard onto his shaft. ‘Ride me.’

The brutal invasion almost sent her over the edge. Every nerve ending screamed. Her inner muscles clenched. She was going to come from one stroke.

‘Easy. Not yet. Or you’ll take me over with you.’

She held his gaze as she raised and lowered herself again. The temptation to go fast and hard was overwhelming but this slow, sensuous stroking was an exquisite torture. She clenched her inner muscles with each rising stroke, prolonging the agony.

Andy’s pupils were large and dark and looked almost black. So good. This was so good. She rocked, grinding her clit against him on each downwards stroke. The desire to come was a hot ache between her thighs. She groaned again.

‘I can’t. Please let me come.’

He grasped her hips again and slammed her down hard. She might be the one who was on top, but he was vying for control. Andy arched his hips to meet hers, thrusting hard, until it was almost painful. Her nerve endings caught
fire. It was too much. Too much. His final thrust drove every rational thought from her head.

She was flying. Riding a wave. No, not a wave, a star. She had no more control than a piece of stardust being pulled along by a comet. When she opened her eyes again, her head was resting on his chest. They were still joined together and Andy’s heart was racing alongside hers.

‘Give me your mouth.’

After his slow possession, Andy’s kiss was hard and merciless. Hands fisting in her hair, he invaded her mouth, branding her with his possession until she was breathless. She belonged to him. Looking into his eyes, she had never felt so naked. Andy knew her soul. He knew the best and the worst of her, but his expression was full of tenderness and acceptance. Overwhelmed, she felt a sudden urge to cry but she didn’t know what she was sorry for. For leaving him, for not trusting him, for lying to him? She had dragged them both into danger, but they had come through it. Together.

‘I love you,’ she whispered,

Andy stroked her face, then lowered his warm palm to her breast before letting it come to rest on her belly. ‘Not as much as I love you. I’ll always love you.’

It was sunset before he woke. Andy watched his sleeping lover. He couldn’t believe that Roz was back in his bed. He didn’t want to think of all the terrible things that could have happened to her or his baby. Andy doubted if he would ever be able to erase the memory of Roz flying over that hedge, clinging to a runaway horse.

But she had come through it; they both had.

When he stroked her face, she murmured softly in her sleep. In repose, her face was softer. She couldn’t hide her vulnerability. His prickly, defensive girl had been through so much, but there was one hurdle she couldn’t avoid for much longer.

Telling his parents that she was pregnant would be a piece of cake compared to a reunion with her sister. Andy sighed. It couldn’t be avoided. He had promised Niall and Sinead that he would tell them the moment he found her and he would keep his promise. Roz had stolen from her sister’s museum and Sinead had ended up in prison because of it.

Oh, he understood why she had done it. Peter Spring had poisoned her mind against the O’Sullivan family. The bastard had funnelled his own rage and bitterness through an innocent child and made her a pawn in his quest for revenge. But Roz had to make amends. She needed to face her past before they could move on.

He winced as he eased out of bed and went to find his phone. Pulling on a dressing gown, he slipped into the hall. Niall answered on the second ring.

‘We’re home,’ Andy announced.

‘Good. I’m almost finished tying up the Hall situation and Sinead is anxious to see her.’

‘There’s something you should know before you arrive here with all guns blazing. Roz is pregnant too.’

Silence hung in the air. Eventually Niall laughed. ‘Well at least they’ll have one thing in common.’

‘True. When are we going to do this?’

‘Given the circumstances, as soon as possible. Do you think your parents can cope with two more visitors?’

Andy laughed. Only a fraction of the rooms at Lough Darra were ever used. His mother would be delighted with the company. ‘No problem, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

He glanced at the closed bedroom door with regret. Despite his injuries he would have loved to climb back into bed with Roz, but he had to fix things with his parents first. He located his mother coming from the conservatory, her paint-stained clothes evidence of her recent activity.