The Red Cross of Gold I:. The Knight of Death by Brendan Carroll

yourself here.”
    “I don’t understand. That’s not how I
remember it.” He let go of her and shook his head. “I didn’t tie
myself up and then drive myself here at gun point. Your ugly friend
did that.”
    “Valentino wants you here,” she told him.
“Valentino wants to ask you some questions, that’s all.”
    “What kind of questions? Who is Valentino?”
he asked and went in search of his clothes. She hurried after
him.
    “About the key and about your brothers,” she
told him. “Remember? Your eleven brothers?”
    “I dunna ’ave a key and I dunna ’ave eleven
brothers, Madame,” he grumbled as he pulled on his pants and
grabbed his shirt. “I need t’ be goin’.” His suddenly pronounced
brogue shocked his ears as much as his eye color had shocked his
senses earlier. None of this was right.
    “Where are you going?” She asked him. “Maxie
won’t let you leave.”
    “Let ’im do ’is warst, lady,” he told her and
went to the door bare-footed. “I canna stay ’ere. Ye’re wastin’ my
toime and toime is precious.”
    “You don’t have a choice.”
    She began to cry and he stopped to look at
her in surprise.
    “You can’t leave! You have to stay. Maxie
might shoot you and Valentino will be mad at me for it. She’ll
blame it all on me.”
    “I don’t know any Valentino other than Rudy
and he’s dead,” he told her, trying to resume a more civilized
tone. “For that matter, I don’t know you either.”
    “But…” she sobbed in her hands and fell
sitting on the bed. He went back and pulled her hands from her
face.
    “Please don’t cry, lassie.” He bent to look
in her eyes and felt the electric charge of attraction when she met
his gaze. Her eyes were beautiful even full of tears. He would have
to pray mightily for forgiveness if he ever got back to… back to…
“For God’s sake, tell me your name, lass. I can never ask God to
forgive us if I can’t even tell Him your name.”
    “Merry. Meredith,” she said tearfully.
    “All right then, Meredith. I’m going to pray
for you when I get home and I’ll never forget you, I promise, but
you must understand the concept of kidnapping? You and your big,
ugly friend have kidnapped me and brought me here against my will.
That is a crime in every country in the world. If you will let me
go now, I promise not to say a word about it to anyone other than
my priest. Thank you for the beef and the wine and the… bath. Now
let me go peacefully.”
    “And what about you? Kidnapping is a crime,
sure, but what about intent to commit murder? You came here to kill
Anthony. What about that little detail?” she asked. Her tone had
gone from bewilderment to indignation.
    “I don’t know what you are talking about. You
have me confused with someone else. I don’t know this Valentino and
I have no idea who Anthony is.”
    “And where are you going to go without
shoes?” She asked and looked down at his feet. “You don’t even have
shoes. You’ll cut your feet.”
    He looked down at his feet, remembering the
pecan shells and rocks in the drive. Now she sounded like a
concerned nursemaid. He sighed in defeat and headed for the door
only to have her drag him back, covering his face with desperate
kisses and more tears.
    ((((((((((((()))))))))))))
    Maxie had watched the entire scene play out
on the monitors in the security office under the stairs. Merry was
a fool. A lovely fool, but a fool, none-the-less, but he was not
complaining. It had almost been as good for him as it had been for
the dipshit. Better than renting a video and just one of many perks
he enjoyed as part of his job, though he doubted that Miss
Valentino would approve of the monitor he had installed in Merry’s
bedroom and the fact that he’d had to borrow it from the verandah.
Now, the dipshit thought he was just going to waltz out the door
and leave Miss Priss crying, not to mention, leave him in deep
trouble with Valentino, if she came home and found the