“Yes, I know.” He leaned forward in his chair and absently stroked the cat’s head. “With Liam and Walsh still on the loose, I decided to spend my time keeping you safe. Or trying to. Christ, I’m only fit to lead blind monkeys. I’m sorry, Rose, I did a terrible job of it, and it nearly went very badly for you.”
She eschewed his statement with a wave of her hand. “That’s not true. Honestly, your knock at the door reminded me that I wasn’t so far from help. Knowing someone was so close, it roused me from my panic into action.”
“Rather good action, too, as I recall.”
They grinned at each other.
“To your question,” he continued, “I followed you to the hotel and then lost you only while you were in the lift. The operator didn’t mind telling me what floor after a minute or two of conversation”
Rose imagined that. “You charmed the lady with your devilish good looks and charm, didn’t you?”
Finn laughed aloud. “Is that what did it? I thought it was my pleading for her to help me find my wife, whom I told her might at that moment be in the arms of another man. I didn’t bother trying to explain about the danger I feared you were in. Adultery seemed to be enough impetus for her to help me.”
Rose sobered at the mention of being his wife. Yet she would not ruin this easy repartee they had by dredging up the past.
“No doubt the lovely elevator operator helped you in hopes that you would find mein flagrante delicto, and thus perhaps turn your attention on her.”
He frowned. “I saw no lovely elevator operator. I see no loveliness anywhere except when I look at you.”
Her heart seemed to skip a beat, and she swallowed nervously. Finn had a way of saying the most flowery sentiments as if they were simple fact. That trait was most appealing.
“How did you find which room?” Rose persisted, her words putting them back on safer ground.
His mouth lifted wryly. “Pure luck and persistence. I literally ran from door to door, knocking, listening, tossing some open if unlocked. Then I heard you, thank God.”
Knowing that he’d had her under his watchful eye, standing guard in the shadows, certainly endeared him to her. Luckily, she had rescued herself, but the situation had nearly got out of hand. His timely assistance could as easily have been the difference between her remaining alive.
“As I said, after I heard your knock, I began to fight.”
Finn nodded. “Liam never suspected you for a bully-trap, but you certainly handled him.”
Warmed by his praise, she merely shrugged slightly. “I was prepared to do whatever it took.”
They stared at one another for a long moment. Abruptly, Finn stood up and crossed the space between them to crouch down before her. He took her hand, looking at it as if it were new to him, then he raised his gaze to hers.
“Now what, Rose?”
Indeed.
Her bruised heart was not ready. Too much had happened. Years. William. Pain.
Yet she smiled at him, at his familiar handsome face, his earnest eyes, letting her gaze linger on the scar on his right temple, then on his wonderfully skilled lips. Then she saw the hint of gold where his shirt collar gaped slightly away from the column of his neck. Instantly, she knew it was the chain that held her locket. Something shifted inside of her.
Finn Bennet. Rose Malloy.Now what?
“We get on with living,” she said. “No hiding, no sneaking, no heartache, I hope and pray, for either of us. We both deserve normal, ordinary lives, don’t you think?”
For her part, between the Ropewalk and The Quincy House hotel, she’d had enough adventure to last a lifetime.
Finn frowned. “Ordinary? Rose Malloy, living an ordinary life?” He chuckled slightly. “That’s inconceivable,” he told her and brought her palm to his lips for a searing kiss.
