Just Me - M J Marlow (reading strategies book .txt) 📗

you are not quite the monster I believed you to be, Nathaniel,” I said honestly. I held out an empty teacup. “Would you like some?” He shook his head and took the cup from my hands. “I really need something to settle my stomach…” “You’re still feeling sick?” Layton looked down at me worriedly. He cupped my cheek in his hand and I leaned into the caress with a sigh. “Tomorrow, we call Doctor Stanley.” I started to protest and he shook his head slightly. “No more arguments, Kerrigan. I value you far too highly to take any chances with your health.” He took my lips with his as he picked me up. There was such tenderness in his touch that there was no hesitation in my response. I cared for this Nathaniel; the one who showed me that my needs were important to him. I heard something heavy fall but it didn’t register through the fog settling on my mind. It was the sound of a man’s cold laughter and hands clapping together that ended the spell I was under. “Four months married and still on your honeymoon?” Foster said snidely as he stepped into the room. “She must be something very special to keep you interested, Layton.” “Foster,” Nathaniel hissed as he set me down on my feet. He put his body between the intruder and myself. “What are you doing here?” “I never got a chance to congratulate you and your beautiful wife on your marriage,” Foster said as he ran his eyes over me insolently. “So is there an heir on the way yet?” “Kerrigan,” Nathaniel said softly as his hand moved back and pushed me gently towards the kitchen. His eyes never left Foster’s. “Why don’t you go fix that tea now?” I could practically see the tension between them and I did as I was told. I heard Foster’s snide comment about how ‘well trained’ I was and I wanted to smash my fist into his face. “My wife is not a pet, Foster,” Nathaniel’s comment hit me hard and made my heart soar. “She is an intelligent woman who knows when it is best to do as she’s asked.” I shot him a grateful smile and he winked at me. The door closed behind me and someone stepped in behind me and clamped their hand over my mouth. I struggled wildly as there was ether and then dizziness and darkness. The door opened and Foster pushed Layton into the kitchen where I was lying on the floor. “What have you done?” Layton roared as he pushed Foster’s man aside and pulled me into his arms. “Kerrigan!” He glared at Foster. “If you’ve hurt her, Foster; I’ll kill you!” “All you have to do is back off of that deal, Layton,” Foster said as he nodded to his man, “and you can have her back.” Layton was struck over the head with the knife block and he fell to the floor with a groan. “Don’t hurt the little beauty,” he hissed as his man yanked me up roughly. “She’s our key to billions now.” He ran his fingers along my jaw line. “We are going to treat her like a princess while she is our guest.” He looked down at Layton and laughed as he left through the kitchen exit with his man and his prisoner. Layton struggled to his knees a few moments later and stumbled to the phone. He hated having to do what he was about to do, but my life was truly in peril now. “Agent Kellogg,” he said when the line was answered. “This is Nathaniel Layton. My wife has just been abducted. I need you here in London as soon as possible.” He hung up and then called his people with a track and report order. They would keep their eyes on Foster and let him know where I was being held. Then he made another call. “Darius. It’s Layton,” he was fuming by the time he reached his business manager. “I need you to make it look like we’re backing out on the Metropolitan deal. No,” he shook his head when the man asked why. “You don’t need to know why. Just do as I ask.” He pressed the intercom. “Doctor Chambers. I need you up here immediately. There’s a problem.” He caught himself on the counter and stood there shaking as pain coursed through his head. When the doctor arrived, he had passed out again. He woke up in the hospital and saw James standing at his bedside. With him was his Interpol counterpart, who bore a very strong resemblance to Tad Dalton. Layton should have known that man was too sharp to be run of the mill security. He told them what had happened. “Get her back, James,” he said as he gripped the man’s arm. “I’ll give you what you’ve been asking for in exchange for her safe return.” “You’ll be signing your own death warrant if you do that,” James reminded his old friend. He saw the expression in Layton’s eyes. “She’s gotten to you, hasn’t she?” “If you’re asking me if I love my wife, James,” Layton said as he closed his eyes and leaned back, “the answer is yes. I would slit my own throat to see her safe and happy.” He opened his eyes to see the shock on James’ face. “I know,” he nodded slowly and regretted it. “Shocked the hell out of me, too, when I realized the truth.” He smiled for a moment. “She’s an angel, James. I never should have involved her in my world.” He drifted off then and James was stunned. He had known Layton their entire lives. They had been very close friends before Layton had fallen in with people who thought they owned the world and his entire worldview had shifted. He had become distant and smug and James had hated him. But if Layton was to be believed, and James had never known him to lie, then I had affected a change in him in the four months I had been in his life. Knowing me, James could see how that could happen. If he had not seen how much Joseph loved me, he would have pursued me himself. “Cheryl,” he said as he made the call, “our little Maggie is in trouble again. Her husband has called us in.” He heard her comment and smiled. “He is giving himself up in exchange for her safe return. Put your ladies on Foster.” He turned to Dalton. “You’ve been investigating this Foster. Would he hurt her, Dalton?” “In a heartbeat,” Dalton replied, “once she is no longer of use to him. So I suggest we hurry.” He looked at Layton. “Never thought I’d see that one fall.” “She’s something special, Dalton,” James said softly. “And she needs us.” I was standing at the locked French doors in the richly furnished suite I had woken up in when the doors opened. I saw Foster walk in and two large men closed the doors behind him. So I was under guard as well as locked up. That was useful information. I pulled the afghan I had found lying at the foot of the bed around me and met his insolent gaze with anger. I was still wearing the nightgown I’d been wearing when he had abducted me. “I trust the rooms are to your liking, Kerrigan,” he said as he came towards me slowly. “I have a woman coming in to see to your clothing issue.” He ran his eyes over me and I felt like he could see everything through the afghan and nightgown. “If your husband does as he is told you will only be here a few days.” “You expect me to believe that you are going to let me go?” I snapped at him. “Please don’t lie to me, Mr. Foster. I don’t appreciate it.” “You are a strange young woman,” Foster said as he looked at me pointedly. “I expected something quite different from one of Layton’s women.” “That is insulting,” I frowned at him. “You make far too many assumptions for a man of your alleged intelligence, Mr. Foster.” “Alleged?” Foster choked. He was on me so fast I didn’t even have time to protect myself. He slapped me so hard I knew he had injured my neck. He shoved me down on the couch as I fought as he started to kiss me and fondle me. “Don’t fight me, girl. I can be so much more appreciative than Layton ever was.” “Take your filthy hands off of me!” I screamed and raked my nails across his face. He jerked back and I shoved him off of me and ran to the bathroom. I locked the door and sank down against it, shaking at my near miss. I jumped as he pounded on the door. “Go away!” I sobbed as he continued beating. The pounding stopped and I got up and looked for some way out. The pounding started again, but I knew it was not Foster who was doing it. The door was coming off of its hinges. I ducked into the walk-in closet and waited until the door broke open and then I ran. I locked the doors to the suite and ran. I found the back stairs and made my way to the kitchen. “What is that noise?” a man snarled as I ducked into the pantry. He swept by and I ducked out and found a room full of uniforms. I found one that was close to my size and put it on. Alarms rang as I got outside. I was not letting him get his hands on me again, I told myself firmly as I found a place to hide among the hedges while men ran around the grounds searching. I heard his voice nearby and I got as small as I could. “She can’t have gotten far,” Foster snarled. I heard him slap someone. “So find her! If that girl gets off this estate, we are all in a great deal of trouble.” I moved around the hedge slowly and found myself looking at the front gate and a thick high wall. Two very large men were standing by the gate. There was no chance of my getting out that way. I hurried to the far wall and hid behind some large bushes as more men ran by. They were armed but I knew they would not shoot me. I was too valuable alive at the moment. “There she is!” a man called out nearby and I took off running. I saw two men moving in to cut me off and I veered off at the last moment and ran right into Foster and two of his men. “Take Mrs. Layton to the kitchen and see she is given a meal,” Foster said. “Then put her back in the guest room. Her door is to remain locked and guarded from this point on.” He slapped me and I glared at him coldly. “We won’t have a repeat of this little incident, Mrs. Layton, or I will have you beaten!” “Let me go!” I demanded as the men each took one of my arms and forced me back to the house. I kicked and struggled but they just smiled at me like I was a child and kept forcing me on. I did not know that an Interpol agent was photographing every move. The very motherly woman working in the kitchen saw to it that I had a good meal and then the men took me back up to the room and shoved me inside. I was not going to let them do this to me. I saw the phone and picked up the receiver. There was a dial tone so I called Layton. His voice came over the line and for a moment I couldn’t say a word. I did not hear