So with no further adieu, here it is:
Beauclerc Island
by J.J. Massa
ONE
"Kier…"
.
Kieran Kray sat up in bed, squinting at the clock on the
nightstand. It was three minutes past one--in the morning. When she didn't
speak again, he urged, "Kaia, what's wrong?"
.
"Come and get me, will you?" Something loud
sounded in the background and she added in a breaking voice, "Now,
please."
.
"At your place?"
.
He took her choked mumble as an affirmative and moved to dress.
She'd already ended the call on her end. Something was going on and he was more
than a little afraid to find out what it was.
.
Their friendship and working relationship were common
knowledge. As the agent for the band, Glass Hearts, as well as backup singer,
backup keyboardist and sometime drummer, Kieran was a familiar face to many.
.
Even better known was Kaia Beauclerc-Kent, the lead singer
of their little musical troupe. Aside from her smashing success as a singer,
songwriter, and pianist, she was the daughter of not one, but two of Britain's
foremost families. Her fame had only grown when she became affianced to Richard
Kensington, another rich and well-connected son of Britain's old guard.
.
Stuart Kent's public denunciation
of his daughter's choice of mate in a way far more deleterious than his
condemnation of her career choice had only brought further negative attention
to her.
.
Kieran suspected that the old man had something to do with
her upset just now, and as her older brother--half-brother, really, it was his
duty and pleasure to go and comfort her. Unlike Kaia, he'd grown up in the
Whitechapel district of London, so he knew just what kind of a rat-bastard
their father was. She knew, too, of course, but he knew better.
.
Stuart Kent had never lifted one finger to help his son when
he found out he'd impregnated Kieran's mother. From what little Kieran could
learn about the liaison, the old man hadn't been kind about any of it--the
dalliance or its aftermath. Kent had been most unhappy several years later,
when he learned that his wife not only knew about his bastard child, but was
paying support and had brought Kaia to meet her sibling.
.
Exiting off of Holland Road, he noticed a police lorry
turning just as he was. The car followed him the short distance to Kaia's home where
there was quite a collection of law enforcement officers in attendance already,
along with a cadre of press. Thankfully, they were being restrained somewhat by
some of the police present.
.
"Sir, you can't…" a man in a suit began, only to
be cut off by a shout nearby.
.
"Kier!"
.
Instantly, Kieran turned, holding his arms out for her. She
bolted into his embrace, shaking like a leaf. "What is it, duchess? Wha's
'appened here?" He was already tensing up, but when she leaned back and
looked up at him, the dark mottling around her eye and cheekbone drove him that
much closer to the edge. "Sweet bollocky fuck," he whispered. His
body was going hot, then cold, then hot again.
.
He hadn't been this angry when he'd found out the circumstances
of his conception, though he had been
angry. He'd been nearly this angry
when he'd learned how Stuart Kent had treated Kaia's mother…but this was his
little duchess.
.
"Mr. Kray, please calm down." While Kieran hadn't
spoken very loud, the plainclothes officer was looking at him as if he were a
bomb set to go off.
.
Opening his mouth to say more, the detective was shoved
aside by an irate and shouting man. Kieran immediately whirled, shoving Kaia behind him
and whipping out a knife.
.
"Put that away, Mr. Kray, before I officially see it, understand?" a deep voice ordered as a new,
much larger detective stepped forward and snatched their would-be attacker,
Richard Kensington, Kaia's fiancé, in mid-leap.
.
"You! Why are you
here? I'll bet she called you, didn't
she? Trollop!" he spat at Kaia, still shouting as he was being hauled
away.
.
"I can just imagine how that will play out in the rags," Kieran groaned as he quickly slipped
his knife into its holster and tucked it away again. Kaia shivered in echo of
his words; doubtless, the press was already firing off reports as they stood at
bay across the street.
.
"My suggestion to you, Mr. Kray, is to get your..."
he looked at Kieran and then at Kaia, studying them intensely. The likeness
between them was there for all to see, if only they truly looked, as this man
did. A second man exited the house, this one also well known and remarkably
favoring both Kaia and Kier. After a n intent study of the them, he suggested, "Get
her out of here, sir. Take the time tonight while you're going from the police
to the hospital to wherever, to make arrangements. It will be up to the crown
to decide what to do with the offender." He sneered the word offender as if it was a filthy thing
indeed. All three turned as another
person was removed from the house, shouting at officers and otherwise making a
spectacle of herself.
.
"That's why he went so mad," Kaia croaked.
"He was shagging her," she
choked out, "in my bed. With…you
know who. They didn't like being caught."
.
"They won't like being interviewed before the courts,
either, my lady." He turned back to Kieran. "Do you have someplace
private that you can go?"
.
"I 'ave," Kieran assured the man, wrapping an arm
around Kaia who leaned her head on his shoulder.
.
Years before on his own mother's deathbed, she had given him
a sheaf of papers. "Her Grace gave me those before she died, so's I could
keep you and little Kaia safe if his nibs went off his nut on any of us.
There's 'ouses belongs to 'er on a place called Beauclerc Island."
~~~
More coming soon. When the time comes for intimate scenes, I'll post those on my Coffee Time Romance Group. Also, I'll be posting sneak peeks at future works there. So be sure and join when you get a minute.
I'll post more info about the contest in a few days.
www.jjmassa.com
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