Free Priceless by Raine Miller Page B

direction of Belfast, with clear instructions on how to find my way.
    I waved goodbye to him, grateful for his sympathetic help and wishing there was some way for me to repay the kindness he’d shown me—a hot mess of a stranger with major emotional problems who’d upset his boss and dragged him from his warm bed at midnight.  He probably wouldn’t forget me for a long time.  I knew I’d remember him and his Cosmo Topper smoking jacket.
    I pondered the disparities in people as I turned onto the highway, relief in the knowledge the airport was less than an hour away, and in a few more hours after that, I’d be back home in my warm bed with fuzzy socks on my feet.
    I felt as if I could sleep for a year ri ght now.  Just so exhausted.
    Visions of chicken noodle soup with buttered toast danced in my head.  Food would be the first thing I tackled when I got home.  I shivered from the chill invading my body and focused my attentions back on the road.  I could do this.  Every mile was bringing me closer to my goal.
    I realized s ome people, like Mr. Finnegan, were just inherently good.
    And others , like Lord Condemnation?  Certifiable asshole fit him like a leather glove.
    Yin and yang.

SIX

     
     
     
     
     

     
    “WHAT do you mean she’s gone?”
    “Some three hours now , I’d say.”  Finnegan turned his back on me and returned to his task of preparing what looked like a roast of some sort.
    “ How in the hell was she able to leave?”
    “ I obliged her request that I return her to her rented car.  Don’t worry, I made sure she arrived safely to the main road and sent her off with directions for Belfast City Airport.”  He checked his watch absently.  “She’s probably back to London by now, or close to it.”
    “ Why did you do that, Finnegan?  I expected to speak with her this morning about the job.”  This was certainly an epic cock-up.  None of it made any sense.  If she came here to find me at home, then why would she leave again so quickly?  I didn’t think my suggestion last night was that far out of bounds, considering her line of work.  The art student part surprised me, true, but maybe scholarly didn’t pay enough to suit her tastes.  She was a woman who wore silk and lace with ease.  Just as she did casual covered in muck.
    Once I ’d gotten over my initial shock, and cooled down a bit, I’d realized I wanted to keep Maria, or Miss Hargreave, or whatever her name was, around for a while.  I wanted to have those green eyes sparking up at me and see her breathing heavily as I crowded her body with mine.  I wanted to feel the moment when she decided to submit.
    We’d been to that point before, you see, and I was determined to get us there again.  I’d realized I’d offended her with my comment about making her come, as soon as I’d said it.  She’d smacked me a good one and let me know her limits.  I respected that and fully intended to repair my error.  Some submissives didn’t like things so bluntly put, and I was willing to work out an arrangement that would be completely agreeable to both of us.  Or so I had thought.  I couldn’t deny the more I entertained the idea of her and me having a little something on the side, the more I liked the prospect of getting my artwork catalogued.  It might just become my new favorite pastime. 
    But now she’d just up and left?
    This was very displeasing .  And Finnegan had helped her to leave.
    “I can’t b elieve you helped her to go before I could even have a conversation with her, Finnegan,” I said disgustedly.  “How in the hell will I get her back here to do the work now?”
    He turned slowly and regarded me, his light blue eyes narrowing. “I believe her words to me were, ‘I just have to get away from here and Mr. Everley won’t ever have to see me again.’”
    “What?”
    “Yes indeed, she was quite desperate to leave the place, and I feared she would have set off on the road by foot if I’d not