Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
NATASHA
“Y ou can’t be serious,” Lachlan snapped, his blue eyes flaring with anger.
“As a heart attack. Ronan probably won’t have a full contingent of guards in place.” I held up one finger, then a second. “We won’t have to separate him from a crowd of guests.”
“I know all that,” he interrupted before I could put up a third. “And I agree with your points.”
“Then what’s the problem?” I finished the last of the pizza we’d ordered for a late lunch, then returned the blueprints and security schematics to their file folder. “Ronan did us a massive favor, and I refuse to waste the opportunity.”
“The problem is…” He held up a finger. “Your plan won’t work because I won’t be leaving you alone with him while I rescue his victims.”
“Lachlan, come on. Even without the crowd and his guards, we don’t know how much time we’ll actually have.”
He held up another finger. “Ask yourself if you would blindly obey a strange man after being kidnapped and probably traumatized. Seeing a woman might convince them to follow us out.”
I nodded grudgingly. “Yeah, I see your point, but honestly, it’s pretty likely that a woman helped trap them.”
“Also a very good point, but we’ll have to hope for the best.” A third finger went up, mirroring my gestures. “And lastly, you will not kill him unless I’m there to watch.”
“I…” My cheeks heated and I looked down. The lifetime of abuse I suffered wasn’t Ronan’s fault—at least, I didn’t think so—but he’d taken Lachlan’s brother. “I’m sorry. You have more reason to want him dead than I do. Would you like to take the kill shot?”
“No, love.” He caressed my cheek and tilted my face up, then kissed me. “I want to watch you do it. I want to watch Ronan die knowing one of his potential victims killed him. We conceal his body, then rescue the people he’s holding captive.”
“Damn you.” I sniffed a few tears back. “Of all the things you could have said…”
“What did I say?” He erased the wetness on my cheek with his thumb.
“You’re making me think about catching feels for you.”
Hell, I was more than thinking it, and it wasn’t just because his plan was better than mine.
Dividing our forces might sound more efficient, but we didn’t know exactly where we’d find the women waiting for rescue in Ronan’s enormous basement.
Honestly, it would be easier to get them out if we took care of Ronan first.
It was because instead of lashing out with anger, he treated me like an actual partner—one who occasionally got on her knees for him. It was because he held me tight to his chest when we slept. Or maybe it was the way he fed me from his plate before taking anything for himself.
So what if my feelings were a little prehistoric? The lizard brain wants what it wants, and he’d generously provided food, sex, and comfort. It had nothing to do with how much I was beginning to enjoy his company.
Oh, the lies we tell ourselves.
The laugh lines under his eyes crinkled with humor. “From Natasha O’Donnell, that’s as good as a declaration of undying love.”
“Very strong not-hate,” I muttered.
“I’ll take it.” After giving me a scorching kiss that left me gasping, he strode to the wardrobe and opened it to reveal a garment bag. “We have about thirty minutes before we need to leave. I’ve already texted our driver.”
“I’ll…” I burst out laughing and ran a hand over my head. “I was going to say I’d fix my hair.”
“Makeup like you wore to our first wedding.” Grimacing, he added, “But not to hide bruises.”
“Sweet and innocent, right?” I grabbed my makeup bag from my suitcase. “Twenty-minute face that makes it look like I’m not wearing makeup?”
“Exactly.”
I went into the bathroom and got to work. After deciding my eyes were as good as they were going to get, I applied my favorite dark mauve lipstick. “Remind me. It’s two heel taps for the blades in my shoes, right?”
“You have it.” He straightened my collar, positioning the leash to fall between my breasts. “You know the sequence for your cuffs too.”
“I do.”
He knelt to slip my feet into the gorgeous, deadly pumps Ella sent in my seriously hot care package. “What is the old saying?”
“What old saying?”
“You are…” He slid his hand up my thigh and tugged the holster containing my favorite short-barrel nine. “Loaded for bear?”
“Yeah, no.” I laughed and shook my head. We so didn’t have time for me to take him in a wanton manner, but the feel of his palm sliding ever closer to my core made me wish we did. “Ronan’s guards are going to confiscate the obvious weapons.”
“He won’t check,” he countered. “You are a slave, my love. I’m his old college friend. He won’t see either of us as a threat.”
“From your mouth to God’s ear. I’d rather be facing a grizzly,” I muttered. “We’re going to be counting on the garrotes and the knives in my cuffs and shoes. If he does find my stash, tell him you like having Steve’s daughter as a bodyguard, but let him take whatever he finds.”
Lachlan sighed and straightened my dress. “You’re right, of course. I still hate it.”
“Same.” I checked the clip on my collar and handed him the free end of my pretty leash. “Shall we?”
My dress was a decadent confection of flowing black, revealing the inner curves of my breasts.
The silk was draped and pleated to conceal the important bits, namely, all the toys stashed on my person.
If Ronan’s guards were inattentive, I could enter his party with six daggers, two pistols, and an additional garrote concealed in a diamond encrusted chain around my waist. Lachlan was also armed, but not as well as I was.
That damned tuxedo that fit him like he’d been sewn into it was dangerous all by itself—at least to me and my raging libido. I couldn’t wait to get him out of it.
“One moment, slave.”
The address flipped one of my annoying switches, and he caught me before I dropped to my knees.
“Yes, Master?”
He cupped the back of my head and kissed my forehead, nearly making me melt into a puddle.
“You do not kneel for anyone but me, Natasha. If Ronan asks, you look to me for instruction, understand?”
Christ. He was seriously trying to make me fall in… Well, very strong like.
“I understand, Master.”
“Good girl.” He curled the end of my leash around his hand. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” I wrapped my hand around his elbow and allowed him to escort me down the stairs and through the lobby, my head held high.
I wanted to say the dress and shoes made me feel pretty, but it would have been a lie. Being on Lachlan’s arm, loaded for bear as he’d mentioned…
I was at the top of my game. Deadly, sexy, and confident. I wasn’t just pretty. I was a goddamned goddess.
Lachlan helped me into the same gray Mercedes we’d used for our trip to the hotel, then fastened my seatbelt. I didn’t once consider kneeling on the floorboards.
The Spider didn’t go to her knees—unless she wanted to.
* * *
LACHLAN
The driver pulled into traffic and navigated his way through Cork to the M8 heading north. “The team is waiting for your instructions,” he said, his voice soft. “I assume you have a plan for your task, but let’s talk about your extraction.”
Natasha rested her hand on my knee, silently encouraging me while my brain tossed around everything that could go wrong, not the least of which was getting caught.
I had to trust in her skills though. She was talented, deadly, and absolutely determined to kill the man who had my brother murdered. I should have known someone was pulling Steve Ashland’s strings. The hit was too careful and precise to have been planned by that abusive idiot.
I also had to do my part and resist the urge to tie her up, put her on a plane, and take her somewhere safe.
“We’re looking at the north gate,” I replied, focusing on the conversation. “It’s concealed by forest on two sides. We’ll use the hedge maze for cover.”
“That was to be my suggestion as well.” Reaching between the front seats, he passed a small box to me. “These are for you and Natasha.”
“What are they?” she asked as I opened the box.
“Voice activated transmitters. Stick them on your skin like a bandage, but fair warning. They hurt like a bitch coming off. When you’ve completed your task, say watermelon .”
The devices were tiny and nearly transparent, with a sticky back as the driver described. I passed one to Natasha, and she stuck it on the lower swell of her breast where it would be hidden by her dress.
“Waterproof?” I asked as I affixed my transmitter to my chest under my shirt.
“Of course. Watermelon, said by either of you, will be our cue to move in, retrieve the captives, and…” He chuckled softly. “And then we’re blowing up the house. I’m telling Ella it was Natasha’s idea. We were just following orders.”
“Way to throw me under the bus, but no. As much as I want to torch everything he’s touched, the house is worth several million pounds.” An evil smirk lit up her face and she giggled. “It has a moat, so I might take it and pretend it’s my volcanic island lair.”
“Why do you want a volcanic island?” he asked. “Elba is?—”
“Why does everyone want me to move to Elba? Since I have a cool supervillain name, I need an island to match.” She laughed softly, then added, “Although Ireland is an island.”
“No.” I squeezed her knee and tried to hold back my laughter at my incorrigible young bride’s antics. I’d been wondering about her desire for an island. “You aren’t allowed to take it over.”
“Spoilsport.”
The driver chuckled as he accelerated to pass a slower vehicle. “In any case, we haven’t tested the code Natasha gave us, but we have a specialist if it doesn’t work.”
“What kind of specialist?” I asked. I’d been too focused on ending Ronan to consider what would happen to his assets, but I liked that Natasha was thinking of the future.
“One for security and electronics. If she can’t get the gate open, we have another well-schooled in demolitions. We’ll blow the gate off its hinges if we have to.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Natasha unfastened her seatbelt and slid across the bench seat to cuddle under my arm. “Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?” she asked again.
I felt her shake with silent laughter when the driver cursed under his breath.
“Behave, young lady,” I murmured. “Unless you want Daddy to paddle your bottom until it’s red.”
“No to the behaving. We’ll discuss the Daddy dynamic after we’re out, and most definitely after you fuck me until I speak in tongues.”
“God, Natasha.” I coughed, trying not to laugh at her. “Your mouth sometimes.”
“Baby, you love what I do with my mouth.”
Her riposte sent the driver into paroxysms of laughter, and I rolled my eyes. “Focus, love. We’re ten minutes out.”
“Got it.” She moved to the other side of the bench seat and ran her hands over her body to check her weapons. “We go in. Make nice. You offer Ronan a chance to sample me, I kill him. We say our special word, find his victims, and exit stage left.”