“Yes,” she said. “It’s all I can think about. Maybe being around the twins will change my mind.”
I laughed softly. “They won’t. They’re two gorgeous girls who are bubbly and curious and full of life. Nick’s on his own with them after their mother died,” I said.
“He doesn’t have any family?” Her voice was sympathetic. I liked Katie. Although the media had painted her to be not much more than arm candy for a wealthy man much older than her, she was a genuinely nice person who just happened to be beautiful.
“He’s got a brother, Killian, and his parents, but they live just outside of Dublin. They’re good people.”
They were. Killian was. And that was what broke my heart all the more.
Chapter Two
Killian
“No, that’s not meant for eating, Kitty,” I said, putting a finger into a sticky mouth and removing a piece of her dad’s newspaper. “Ouch!” The new tooth that Kitty had recently cut tested my finger and a little giggle emerged. “Nick, your daughter is clearly a cannibal.”
My brother laughed, his eyes fixed on the large screen TV, fingers battering a controller. He’d never gotten over his obsession with video games. His other daughter and Kitty’s twin, Margot, sat in the octagonal playpen, building towers of bricks and then knocking them down. “I starting them on self-defence. They were briefed to use you as a test before you got here.”
Kitty grabbed at my beard, which wasn’t really long enough to be grabbed and therefore hurt like fuck. “Not going there, Kits. Let’s put you with your sister.” I walked over to the playpen, placing her next to Margot who proceeded to smack her over the head with a toy brick. Kitty laughed. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down next to my brother, picking up my beer.
“I don’t know how you do it,” I said, as he paused his game. “Twins. By yourself.”
“I don’t have any choice,” Nick said. “Besides, you would think that ten years in the marines would give me some survival skills, although I didn’t manage to stop them from redecorating the wall in the guest bedroom this afternoon.”
I chuckled having seen the twins’ effort at mimicking Picasso already. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “No one will be using that room for a few weeks so you have time to get a decorator in.”
Nick shook his head. “Wrong.” He took a deep inhalation and a mouthful of beer. “You know the case your lady is working on?”
I pulled my face at his description of Claire. He was the only person who knew what had happened between us and how it had ended. “She’s not my lady.”
“No, but you still want her to be,” he said, casting an eye over to where the girls were playing quietly, which was always a concern. They were far less suspect when noisy. “Katie Worthington called me today to ask if I’d provide security as we agreed the other month. Which will be an easy job for a few weeks at least.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because Katie’s staying here.”
My head snapped round to Nick. “Whose little plan was that?”
“Claire’s,” he said. “Sort of. Apparently, Katie needs to lie low for a few weeks while papers are served and needs space to get her shit together. I have no further details than that. Marie asked if I would mind a house guest.”
I frowned, a loud bang sounding behind me. I didn’t jump, ten years in the Royal Navy Marines had stopped loud noises having any affect, which was a huge positive given the state some of my comrades had come out in.
“Margot! Do not hit your sister!” Nick stood up, six feet four inches towering over the playpen. A tiny chuckle replied. “And don’t try looking cute because it doesn’t work!”
I laughed. “Damn right it does. Every goddamn time. What are you going to do when they’re older?”
“Send them to an all girls’ boarding school where they have retired sergeants on the doors and windows to stop them escaping.”
“I notice you thought about the retired.”
“Do you remember what we were like when we were in our early twenties and on leave?”
“Manwhores.” I’d slept with anything with tits and a pulse, desperately trying to get Claire out of my system. After leaving the marines, I’d managed a couple of semi-serious relationships but neither had been strong enough to make me work at them when things had started to go south.
“Exactly,” Nick said. “Or I could have two towers built like in that fairy tale they’re obsessed with. Only I’d keep their hair short.”
“Rapunzel?”
He nodded. “It’s a good plan. I’m sure I could buy a plot of land in the middle of the moors somewhere. Add a few wild bears.” He took another slug of beer. “You know Claire’s here too this weekend?”
