Under New Management

by June Hopkins

  “Well OK, if you’re sure, but I’ll be back as soon as I’ve found my coat. She was so upset, I can’t believe that pair of vile bastards. God knows what they thought they were playing at! As if they haven’t humiliated her enough.” Lou shakes her head angrily and picks her way carefully back to the barn, shouting random insults at David into the night air.

  Kieran heads off in the direction Lou pointed out. He thinks there is some sort of a maze further down, which he hasn’t seen yet, but that wouldn’t be a bad place to hide if you wanted to be alone.

  Mollie is indeed in the maze. She had taken off her shoes and ran as fast as she could away from the horror of it all. Huddled on the nearest stone bench within the first row of the maze she is shaking from her tears and the cold. Her body is numb. She cries and cries, using her ample underskirt to wipe her streaming eyes and nose. Nice, very nice. Her feet are frozen as she dropped her shoes mid flight. Each time her mind goes back over events she cries harder. She is cringing with embarrassment: how could she ever hold up her head in this town again? I’ll have to leave, that’s all I can do, pack up and leave.

  The huge amount of alcohol in her system combined with no food since midday and the cold air is not helping her brain to think logically. Her perspective is shot to bits. Everything is out of focus and exaggerated out of all proportion. Mollie is not thinking straight. She just wants to snuggle up and go to sleep. Sobbing quietly now she sinks off of the cold bench and huddles up close to it on the damp, cold ground. She slips slowly into a drunken sleep.

  This is where Kieran finds her. He found her shoes first in the middle of the lawn. Like something out of Cinderella, he had thought as he retrieved them.

  He gently shakes her and after trying in vain to wake her and get some sense, he drags her as carefully as he can to her feet. She moans softly and leans in close to snuggle against his warm chest. The poor thing is frozen. Left with little choice he awkwardly balances her body against him and putting his other arm under her knees, lifts her into his arms. She settles into the warmth and snuggles closer, her hands in her lap. Kieran sets off back to the Hall carrying the sleeping woman, her slingback shoes held in the fingers of his right hand.

  Given her alcohol consumption and heels, Lou is marching as purposefully as she can across the gravel towards the lawn. Behind her are Jim, Dan and Jack. The group stop at the edge of the gravel as they see Kieran carrying Mollie towards them across the lawn. They all sigh with relief and then run towards them as worry sets in. What if she’s hurt?

  “Mollie, Christ Mollie, is she OK?” Jim calls worriedly as he runs towards them.

  “She’s fine. I found her asleep in the maze, but she’s frozen. I’m going to take her to the Hall, we need to get her warm,” Kieran explains as he keeps his own pace and they all have to turn and run after him.

  Dan catches up and throws a coat over his sister as they march across the gravel. “Thanks for this mate. Do you want us to come in with you?”

  “No I’m fine, I’ll put her in one of the guest rooms. You can pick her up in the morning. Go back and have a drink, I’ll look after her.” Kieran assures them.

  They don’t have to be asked twice. There is free drink to be taken advantage of and now that they are reassured Mollie is OK they want to get back to it. Lou fights briefly with her desire to look after Mollie and her raging desire to dance with the beautiful Jack. Jack wins. Mollie will be fine and, after all, Kieran is pretty gorgeous himself. It’s not as if she’s leaving her in an alley surrounded by wolves.

  “If you’re sure,” they chorus after him before turning and hightailing it back to the party.

  Left alone with his bundle Kieran takes the back way through the courtyard and in through the kitchen door. The lights are on but all is quiet. He heads through the sparkling kitchen and down the corridor to the stairs which he takes two at a time. At the top he stops to deliberate where to put her. He decides the easiest option is his room, mainly because he knows where it is. Striding down the long hallway he reaches his room and struggles to open the round door knob without dropping her.

  Mollie hasn’t woken once but she is nestled against him and breathing softly. Once inside he lays her on the bed and starts to manoeuvre her under the duvet and arrange her head comfortably on the pillows. He toys with the thought of taking off her dress to make her more comfortable, and as much as he would like nothing more he decides against it.

  He smiles as he watches her, one false eyelash has disappeared, the other is hanging from the far corner of her eye and lying on her cheek. He thinks he had better get rid of it, or she’ll wake up screaming thinking there’s a spider on her face. He tries to softly brush the offending lash away but it is still stuck. He jumps slightly as he realises she is watching him. The eyelash is now sort of tucked under her eyelid, perhaps he had better leave it.

  Mollie has been half awake since she heard her dad’s concerned shout, but she felt so warm and safe she didn’t want to let on. Kieran smelled so good and if he knew she was awake he would put her down.

  When Dan asked if they should come, she had prayed that Kieran would say no and he had. Now, as he tucks her in she feels him leaning over her, watching her. When his hand softly brushes her hair away from her face, it’s too much. She opens her eyes and gazes at him quietly.

  His face is close to hers. She sees him jump as he realises she’s awake. They stare at each other for a few seconds until Mollie whispers, “You smell lovely.”

  Kieran smiles a gorgeous smile, “You don’t smell so bad yourself. How are you feeling now? Are you warm enough?”

  Lifting her cold hand to his face, she strokes his hot cheek, “I am now.”

  Without thinking she slides her hand around the back of his head and draws it down towards her. Lifting her face to his, their lips meet in a beautiful, long, gentle kiss.

  Mollie feels her heart jolt at the tenderness of it. She moves her other arm to rest her hand on his chest. Carried away by the moment she decides in that second that he is joining her in the comfy bed. Sod it! She had left the house with the intention of having random sex with a stranger; she hadn’t banked on bagging quite such a dishy stranger, but what the hell. Sometimes you just had to go with it.

  As her hand slides across his chest towards the buttons of his expensive soft shirt, Kieran jumps back and moves away from her. Mollie opens her eyes and blinks at him, the errant eyelash dancing about, but she is oblivious to it. He covers it well, but he has obviously had second thoughts. What’s that all about?

  The kiss caught him off guard. He hadn’t been expecting it and was enjoying it a little too much. Kieran got carried away with the moment and was getting stuck in but her hand sliding purposefully across his chest shocked him to his senses. She is gorgeous, there is no doubt, and in another place or time he would have taken full advantage. But there is more to it than that. He feels something more. He isn’t in a position to feel more, and taking this to its natural conclusion is not a good idea. There are complications; complications she is blissfully unaware of. He has to be the strong one, or she will truly hate him in the morning. Kieran needs to leave the room, and fast, before he decides ‘to hell with the consequences’.

  Pulling back a little too forcefully to be cool, he forces a smile and says, “As much as I would like to curl up in there with you Mollie, I don’t think that taking advantage of an employee, especially one as beautiful and as drunk as you are is the best idea.”

  Mollie squints at him drunkenly as her brain tries to process this information, “But I’m not your employee. You didn’t want me to stay working for you. Looks as though you don’t want me full stop,” she tells him. Her voice is slightly sulky and it portrays her hurt.

  Kieran sighs and sits down on the bed next to her. He holds her hand which has warmed up considerably.

  “Hey, that’s not true. You know you are gorgeous. As far as the job goes, Lord John convinced me of your worth earlier today. I just didn’t realise
that you were the famous Mollie until we met at the bar. I have to say, I am impressed with what you have achieved here. You are a meticulous record keeper and clearly some sort of organisational genius.”

  She blushes at his description but still looks confused.

  Kieran sighs and continues, “Look Mollie, of course I want you to work for me. The trouble is I have no idea what I can offer you. I’ve been considering employing a PA for some time now. I would need someone intelligent, trustworthy and most of all organisationally brilliant. Honestly, from what I have heard of you and the evidence sitting in the office I think that perhaps you might fit the bill. Perhaps we can talk more tomorrow. It will mean you travelling; we have nine other hotels dotted about in Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean. I would need you to come with me periodically to check them out if you would be up for it.”

  Mollie’s eyes widen, the alcohol is making her brain foggy. No doubt she would wake up in the morning to realise this was a dream.

  Kieran notices the confusion and thinks it best to leave her to think it over. He hadn’t meant to blurt it out in these circumstances but needed a distraction from the kiss. The PA idea had popped into his head seconds before he opened his mouth, and given that he wasn’t one for making rash decisions he needed time to think himself. There was something about her. He wanted to spend time with her and he would need a legitimate reason. What better excuse for being able to spend as much time as he wanted with her. Brilliant!

  As he moves from the bed he is mentally congratulating himself for his quick thinking. He’ll work out the rest tomorrow. He moves to the door, telling her to get some sleep, he opens it and lets himself out of the room before he changes his mind and dives on top of her.

  As Kieran leaves, Mollie’s disappointment is trumped by his offer of, from what she can tell, an awesome job. Well she wanted to travel didn’t she? Get away from Sedgwick, from David and Kevin. What better way, not to mention being able to spend time with Kieran? Although it sounded as if he wasn’t keen on getting up close and personal with his staff, she could tell he was attracted to her. It shouldn’t be that hard to find the chink in his armour. Perhaps on a Caribbean beach . . . As she snuggles down under the duvet, she hears the sound of music drifting from the barn. The external lights bathe the room in a delicate peach colour. She drifts off to sleep on a beach at sunset with Kieran in a pair of tight fitting boxer style swimming shorts.

  Chapter 11

  Waking up the following morning, Mollie takes a while to figure out where she is. As she remembers she cringes at the memory of the evening: David and Kevin, Jack’s appearance and Kieran having to carry her to bed. This swiftly leads to the memory of the kiss and of him pulling away from her. Her cheeks flame. God how mortifying. The thought of her throwing herself at him makes her toes curl with embarrassment. Then the PA job slowly penetrates and she sits up a little too quickly than is good for her delicate head and stomach. She breathes slowly and fully as sickness overwhelms her. It’s not going away. Her head is throbbing and her mouth starts to water ominously. Moving slowly she pushes back the duvet and sits on the side of the bed preparing to run if necessary. Thank God she knows these rooms and for the fact that this one has an en suite. Yep here it comes. She flies to the bathroom and collapses onto the floor in front of the toilet. Holding her hair out of the way she throws up until there is nothing left.

  After staggering up from the floor and flushing the toilet she rinses out her mouth under the tap. Then, holding onto the basin for support, she stares at herself in the mirror. God what a mess and what the hell is that? One of her false eyelashes is hanging from the far corner of her eye. It flaps up and down as she blinks at it. Carefully she pulls it off and throws it into the waste paper bin. The other is gone. She must have looked ridiculous last night with one off and one on.

  She sighs and rubs at her eyes. Don’t know about bags; bloody suitcases more like.

  Speaking of bags, she needs her handbag to repair the damage, but now she comes to think of it she had left it on the table while she was dancing and her phone is inside. Bugger.

  Wandering back into the bedroom she straightens the bed and looks at the large ornate clock on the wall, seven o’clock. Now what?

  She can’t stay here; she can’t see him looking like this, not after the embarrassment of the night before. However, the thought of a two mile walk in her high heels is not tempting. Who can she phone to pick her up? Anyone reasonable is still going to be sleeping, not to mention over the limit, and taxis are like gold dust in Sedgwick. Walking to the window she opens the curtains and looks out at the dark morning.

  As she stares hopelessly out of her prison window she sees the lights of a car heading down the drive. She watches as the post van comes into view and pulls up in front of the Hall. A rush of hope shoots through her as she waits for the occupant to emerge from the vehicle, it is difficult to see clearly from this distance. Opening the window just in case, she says out loud to herself, “Come on. Please, please.”

  The van door opens and someone climbs out. The shadowy figure messes about with his bag and then starts to limp towards the door giving away his identity.

  “Yes, oh yes, brilliant!” Shoving her head under the open window she waits for him to get close enough and then hisses loudly at him, “Jeff, Jeff. Up here.”

  Jeff jumps, could have sworn he heard his name. He hates this bloody place, spooky he reckons. He hobbles faster to the door.

  “Jeff, Jeff. Up here!” Mollie shouts in as low a decibel as possible; she doesn’t want anyone else to hear her.

  Jeff’s head shoots up and his momentary shock at seeing a ghost with long blonde hair is replaced as he realises it’s Mollie. Putting a hand up to his heart to demonstrate the shock, he calls up, “Mollie girl. Blimey, you gave me a fright. What are you doing? Were you in early?”

  “No Jeff, haven’t been home yet. The party, you know. Any chance you could give me a lift back to mine?”

  “No problem Molls. I’ll wait. You coming down to this door?”

  “Can you meet me in the courtyard, Jeff? Don’t want to be seen, I look a mess,” she asks him with a winning smile.

  “No probs. I’ll drive round there. See you in a minute.” Jeff heads on up the steps to deposit the post through the huge letter box.

  Mollie pulls down the window, grabs her shoes and coat and rushes out of the room barefoot. Thank God she knows the place like the back of her hand and thank God for the back stairs which lead down to the kitchen and side door.

  She manages to get out of the house without seeing anyone and into Jeff’s post van.

  She sighs with relief and turns to look at him. She went to school with Jeff. He had a motorbike accident years ago, hence the pronounced limp. “Looks like you had a good night then Molls. Hope you didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done,” he grins as they head up the drive and to safety.

  “Well that doesn’t leave much Jeff. Unfortunately no, I was actually well behaved, considering.” She ponders her statement for a moment before continuing, “Well that’s if you discount the part where I had to be put to bed because I was too drunk by half past nine.” Jeff throws her a questioning glance and Mollie laughs before going on to explain.

  By the time they reach her mum and dad’s Mollie has filled Jeff in on the gory details, leaving out the bedroom bit and the identity of the person that took her there; nobody likes to admit they were turned down.

  Finding the spare key imaginatively hidden under a plant pot by the back door, Mollie lets herself in. She puts the kettle on in the kitchen and heads through the lounge to go upstairs, shower and put her trackies on. A movement on the sofa makes her jump as the room is still dark. Flying to the light switch she turns it on and there on the sofa splayed out in all his glory is Jack, naked apart from his boxers, and partially covered with a duvet. Bloody, sodding hell, not in a million years.

  Before she can make a run for it, Jack jolts awake and sees her. “Molls? Hey
there you are, been waiting for you.” He moves jerkily up to lean on one elbow and rubs his other hand over his eyes and through his hair. The movement causes the small amount of duvet still covering him to slip off of the sofa completely. Mollie swallows as she tries hard not to stare. He has definitely grown up and clearly works out, she couldn’t help but notice his body. Jack had always been slim and well toned. That tone has been taken to a whole new level, he’s filled out. Sporting a six pack, he is now muscular, sturdy and tanned all over.

  Shaking her head to remove the rogue thoughts she demands brusquely “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Jack frowns slightly at her tone “Came back with your parents and Dan and his Mrs, had a few drinks and they said I could crash here.” He gazes at her sleepily as it dawns on him that she is still wearing last night’s clothes. “Where have you been, what time is it?” He asks in a slow drawl.

  “I slept at the Hall. Remember? The postman just gave me a lift back.”

  “Cool.... Awesome.” He says as if that statement is entirely normal. He frowns again, Jack is trying to recall the previous evening and isn’t doing very well. It’s nice to see Mollie though; it’s been a long time since he saw her first thing in the morning. It reminds him of old times. “Come and sit with me, let’s chill, like we used to. We can have a drink; have you got any drink?” He sits up slowly, moving his head from side to side as he tries to focus on her.

  Mollie sighs, “The only drink you and I are having is a hot one. I’m going for a quick shower; I’ll be back in a bit. Tea no sugar, if you’re offering. Kettle’s on, and get dressed.” She tells him as she leaves the room and heads upstairs.

  Twenty minutes later Jack and Mollie are sitting in the lounge. Mollie is curled up in the armchair her hair still damp from her shower. Jack is sprawled on the sofa, he’s lying on his side, dressed in his shirt and trousers facing her, looking just as hot as he had the evening before. Stubble has grown on his face overnight making him look more rugged. His crumpled shirt and trousers add an extra air of sexy to him. Mollie shivers slightly. She must stay alert, she knows only too well how he operates and she knows deep down inside that he still makes her slightly horny. Feelings as strong as she once had for Jack don’t just disappear. Now that he’s here, right in front of her, she is not that confident that she will be able to resist his charms. Thank goodness for Kieran. Maybe he would be able to divert her. Although it has to be said, now that she is sober, she thinks that he will have to try a damn sight harder than he did last night.