“But I thought—I assumed...”
“What?”
“I thought you were meeting with just one woman.”
Most people did meet with one match at a time—a person the matchmaker picked based on his skills and intuition for matchmaking. But, of course, Kiernan had pushed Bellamy to do things differently.
“I shouldn’t have been visiting with you at night,” Alannah continued, “not when you’re trying so hard to form a match with someone else.”
“I’ve been there to keep you safe.” At least that’s what he’d been telling himself. But if he was honest, he had to admit that his conscience had been nagging him about their late-night meetings. “Besides, there’s nothing wrong with our talking.”
“It isn’t right for us to sit out there alone.”
“As friends. You said we could be friends.” It was unnerving just how quickly she’d become his friend. In fact, in the short time he’d known her, she was a better friend than Liam had been during a lifetime.
“I know I said we could have a friendship.” Even though her voice dropped, her chagrin was easy to hear. “That was before—well, before I understood everything.”
“There’s nothing complicated about it.”
“’Tis very complicated, so it is.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” He leaned his head against the door, somehow needing to feel connected to her again after the past two days of nothing.
She was silent, as if she was contemplating what he said.
Something deep inside urged him to let her go. It was the same urging he’d felt when he’d been riding home. He’d almostconvinced himself that severing their friendship would be best for both of them.
But the moment he’d seen her standing on the veranda speaking with Shelia, an overwhelming need to talk to her had welled up within him. The need had been so strong that he’d wanted to walk right past Shelia and drag Alannah into his arms.
He supposed part of the need had to do with the encounter with Shaw and the threats the gang leader had made regarding Alannah. The rest of the ride home, Kiernan had been anxious about her, almost desperate to make sure she was at Oakland and doing okay.
A quiet desperation still plagued him. He didn’t know how much longer Alannah would be safe at his family’s country home, and his mind had been rolling through all the possibilities of new places she could go to hide. He’d tossed aside one friend’s home after another, none of them safe enough. He’d even ruled against returning her to Enya’s city home.
Besides, even if he did find a more secure place, how much longer could she hide? She couldn’t do so indefinitely.
He had to come up with a better plan, and the one that kept forcing its way to the front of his mind was Torin’s idea to marry Alannah off. Kiernan still didn’t like it, but it would put an end to the threat to her.
“I’m sorry, Kiernan,” she finally said. “I think it’s best if we don’t meet any longer.”
Why had she agreed before but wouldn’t any longer? “I don’t understand what’s changed.”
“I told you. I learned you were meeting with all those women.” From the tightness of her voice, she was making itsound as if he was mingling with women of ill repute rather than society’s finest.
“So I can only be friends with you if I stop seeingall those women?”
“No, I know you have to be finding a match.”
“If I need to find a match, then why did you tell Shelia I already had one?” He could almost feel her presence through the door and imagined she was leaning against it the same way he was.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice came out a strained whisper. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why did you?”
“I’m embarrassed to say.”
“Tell me.”
She was silent.
