Bébhinn threw her hands up in surrender. “I know. I know. Dad wanted me to get more involved in the Three Wolves Distillery. I have ideas for some of the unused property that I plan to discuss at the next board meeting. It will require all my roommates’ input and help.”
“Consider us intrigued, though I’m awfully tied up at the moment with the Prime Minister’s wife’s birthday present.”
“How is the piece coming, Mags? You haven’t shown me your progress for weeks.” She was trying to pay attention to Mags, but Ciar’s phone kept vibrating the hand that she had resting on his thigh, where his phone sat.
Gray waited for him to pick it up and at least look at who was trying to get hold of him, but he stoically ignored it until she leaned over and said, “Are you not going to check your phone?”
“No.” He was curt to the point of rudeness.
Gray forced her attention from Ciar and back to Mags. “I know she’ll love it, and I’ll become modestly famous from that alone, but I’m Scottish and want to get back to my roots. I’ve been toying with setting up a shop in Inverness once I graduate.”
“I know from Mom and my aunts and Gray’s mom that your work would smash the décor world, Mags,” Bébhinn assured.
Gray tried not to stare as Ciar flipped his phone over on his lap, which was still under the table, and she certainly didn’t miss how his muscled body touching her from shoulder to thigh stiffened.
When he didn’t move or say anything, Gray couldn’t take it. She leaned over and whispered, “What is going on?”
He looked at her then and swallowed thickly, causing Gray’s stomach to turn over, the crab cake bites she’d eaten threatening to make a second appearance.
He shifted in his seat, sliding closer to the edge of the booth as if he meant to stand. “I’m sorry, Gray. There’s an emergency at work.”
He stood suddenly, and Gray stood right after. “Let’s go to my house. Maybe it’s something you can deal with over the phone.”
“I’m sorry, Gray. I’ll make it up to you, but I'd better just go home and pack a bag. Get to the airport,” his voice tapered off when he noticed how badly he was crushing her.
“You can pack a bag and leave, but I’m coming. Before you walk out my door, you will tell me what’s going on, or—” Gray stopped mid-threat, not wanting to say something that she couldn’t take back.
He looked like he was in pain when he nodded in agreement. He took her hand and said to the table, “Sorry, guys, work emergency. Gray and I have to head out.”
eighteen
CIAR
Ciar hadto swallow bile that threatened to spew from his throat during the taxi ride home to Gray’s townhouse. He held her hand, but she was stiff and refused to look at him.
He could feel her body shaking. He had hurt her. Actually, he’d been hurting her since the day he’d found out about Marie and the baby.
All these weeks, and he’d never discovered a way to explain that would allow him to keep Gray and the child. A girl.
A daughter. His daughter.
Day after day, he’d prayed for a miracle. He feared nothing so much as losing Gray, and he would lose her.
Time was almost up, the constriction of loss closing his throat, worsening his nausea. The cabbie called out that they’d arrived. He paid and exited the car, helping Gray pull free after him.
He let them into the darkened house, his feet leading them to Gray’s bedroom, where an open duffel awaited him on the floor. He’d stopped unpacking weeks ago as Marie’s doctor’s appointments had become more frequent.
Once he’d agreed to allow his name to be put on the child’s birth certificate, an instinct to protect the unborn bundle kicked in, and leaving his daughter for longer than forty-eight hours was intolerable.
Leaving Gray was equally as debilitating. Yet here he was.
A liar living two lives.
A coward.
He only told his dad two weeks ago when he’d ambushed Ciar outside Gray’s house and threatened his health and manhood if he didn’t come clean. Gray hadn’t been the only one to notice his odd behavior.
Ciar told him everything while his dad drove him to the airport. His dad was furious that he hadn’t explained what was happening to Gray, but finally agreed to let him handle it in his own time.
