Page 61 of Carnal Urges

I stare at it in my hand, surprised to see it shaking.

“In ye go now, lass,” says Kieran gently. “Rest, aye?”

“Okay. Aye.”

He winks at me. For some bizarre reason, it makes me emotional.

Looking at my bodyguards, I say in a strangled voice, “I just want you all to know that I think Irish gangsters aremuchcooler than Russian ones. Except for Declan. But you guys are just the best.”

I go inside, close the door, chug the water, then lie face-down on the bed, breathing deeply into the pillow until Nancy arrives again.

“If it’s all right with you, I’ll draw more blood now so we can get those tests going, then we can head over to Radiology to get an ultrasound to look inside your uterus and ovaries.”

“Brilliant. Let’s do this.”

I sit quietly while she draws six small vials of blood. It seemslike an awful lot, but I don’t mention it. “How long until we get the blood test results back?”

“For you, about an hour.”

I’m getting pushed to the head of the line. No doubt thanks to her terror of Declan annihilating her entire family tree. “I appreciate it. Thank you, Nancy.”

She pauses what she’s doing to glance up at me. Sending a furtive look toward the door, she murmurs, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Of course. Being kidnapped isn’t the worst thing I’ve been through. And they’re only men. It’s not like they’re hard to handle. I’ve known Chihuahuas who were way scarier.”

“I haven’t. Those guys are terrifying. And their boss…” She shudders.

Curiosity rears its ugly head. “Have you lived in Boston your whole life?”

She nods.

“So the Irish mafia here is pretty powerful, huh?”

“They run the city. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. Even the cops are on their payroll.”

I can tell she’s warming up to me, so I make a small, encouraging noise to indicate I’m listening.

“I mean, we’ve got the Italians, too. And the Russians. And lots of others, but the Irish have a stronger presence in Boston than in any other city in America. Things used to be more stable, but over the past few years, turf wars have broken out. The top Mob bosses keep getting killed. There was a murder just this week, as a matter of fact.”

“I heard about that. Diego, was it?”

“Yes.”

“Strange name for an Irishman.”

“Oh, he wasn’t Irish. He was Mexican-American. It was all over the streets when his boss got shot and he took over. They said it wasa sign of the times, a Latino guy taking the helm. The Mob going more international or whatever.”

The Russians had an ethnic Ukrainian as their last leader, so I guess it’s not so odd that the Irish would have a Mexican-American. “So what happened to this Diego?”

“The papers said his body was found at the dump. They still haven’t found his head.”

How gruesome. I wonder how close he and Declan were?“Do they have any idea who did it?”

She gives me a look. “It wasn’t one of his friends, that’s for sure.”

Of course. It was one of his enemies. Like maybe the Italians.

Or the Russians.