Animal Instinct Read Online Free Page B

had qualified him admirably for the position of mine host at the Barleycorn.
    He was now over forty years of age, but still carried the looks, the thick black hair, the dark flashing eyes and twinkling smile that had set him apart during his teenage years. Above all, he possessed that charm, that unmistakeable Irish charm, irresistible to every woman whom he encountered.
    At the age of fifteen dramatic events shaped his life when he was aroused from the carefree lifestyle that he enjoyed on his parents farm. On a misty November morning, he pulled back the doors of the barn to summon his father for breakfast. The pale streaks of a grey dawn filtered into the cavernous interior, revealing the barely discernable figure of Patrick O'malley by the steps to the hayloft.
    Unable to move forwards, Sean cried out and sank to his knees. His father's feet were almost three feet above the floor of the barn. A stout rope suspended from an oak beam held the weight of his father's body by the neck. The ensuing Garda investigation arrived at a suicide verdict.
    Within six months, Sean had left home to follow in his father's footsteps as a member of the I.R.A. The local commander had made it extremely clear to the impressionable youngster that the British were responsible for his father's death. It had been a reprisal for some minor fracas with the Ulster constabulary near the border at Enniskillen.
    A year later, a British army unit arrested Sean near Newry where he was interviewed by the intelligence service. There he learned a third version, a verifiable version of his father's death, when he was informed that Patrick O'malley had been a collaborator with the British. His hanging had in fact been retribution by the I.R.A. for his treachery. The confused teenager escaped (believing subsequently that his freedom was pre-arranged by his captors) but, instead of returning south, he made his way to Belfast and took the ferry across to Heysham and the start of a new life in England.
    At that time during the early nineteen seventies, Irish bar work was considered as a professional job compared to the perception of the role in the United Kingdom. Pressure from a government quango, the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board was only just taking effect and forcing the major brewers to invest in training both management and staff in their outlets. The arrival of a young Irishman seeking bar-work was, therefore, at that time a guarantee of instant employment for the qualified applicant.
    Melting un-noticed into the North West pub scene, Sean re-invented himself, spending the next two years between Manchester and Liverpool, building his reputation as a professional barman. During this period, he met and married Julie, a receptionist at the prestigious Midland Hotel in Manchester city centre. As brewers began to develop their managed estates by bringing in talented young couples to replace ageing tenants, it was no surprise that Sean and his young wife were soon headhunted to manage a prestigious new outlet in the suburbs south of the city.
    The granting of a justices on-licence to an ex-republican terrorist would have been impossible without the intervention of MI5 who saw the potential mileage in ‘keeping your enemy close’. The Cheshire police were given the all clear to allow his appointment, on the strict understanding that he would be closely monitored.
    The demise of Sean's career was as rapid as his rise to fame within the industry. That innate recipe of talent, good looks and natural charm opened not only doors to business offers but also to numerous philandering opportunities. Julie, his wife, tolerated the harmless flirting and occasional dalliance, but when, one day, she actually caught him in bed with an attractive blonde barmaid, she walked out accompanied by her two young sons and vowed never to return.
    His problems were compounded when several weeks later his ‘bit-on-the-side’ announced that she was pregnant. Refusing to abort