“Well, he doesn’t have my number to start with, and I’ve never met him. Rachel’s been going on at me to ring him to say thanks and all that bullshit, but I just couldn’t be arsed.” Gary took another sip. “The way I see it, any fool would call a bloody ambulance.”
“Too right. But I get what you’re saying. It does seem a bit weird.” Sean looked thoughtful. “And there’s no denying that Rachel is hot as hell, so who could blame him?”
Gary nodded, a strange combination of pride and protectiveness running through him.
So he wasn’t imagining things. Clearly Sean thought there was something off too.
“Maybe you should give this fella a buzz all the same, suss out exactly what he’s up to,” Sean went on.
Gary looked into the fire. “Maybe I will.”
Chapter 27
Ethan’s flight arrived in Dublin exactly on schedule, and now he stood in the taxi queue at the airport, waiting for an available car, checking the directions to the bistro for what seemed like the hundredth time.
Finally getting into the cab, he explained to the driver where he was going, and the man grunted in agreement and pulled away from the curb.
Despite himself, Ethan was full of anxiety. Why, he didn’t know; after all, the ring was his property. He just hoped that he’d be able to get everything sorted with the minimum of unpleasantness.
Thinking of Knowles, he felt another jolt of anger. What kind of man would do such a thing? Take a piece of jewelry, a very expensive piece of jewelry, and blithely pass it off as his own?
Even worse, what kind of man would give a stolen ring to the woman he supposedly loved?
A thief would,Ethan thought. What a nasty piece of work this Gary Knowles must be. He thought again about Rachel and their meeting in New York. She seemed like an incredibly sincere and lovely woman. How could she be remotely attracted to such a rogue?
Then he sighed. Perhaps he shouldn’t make assumptions. For all he knew, Rachel could be in on the whole thing, and all those offers of cookies for Daisy were merely a smoke screen to throw him off the scent.
No, he decided then. Shewaslovely, an absolutely genuine person, he knew it. Why else would she have been so open about her engagement or so willing for him to visit them at the restaurant?
He was sure that by now, Rachel would’ve mentioned to her fiancé that he would be in the city, and he wondered what Knowles would have made of that.
Maybe the man couldn’t care less; goodness knows he’d been bald-faced about everything else so far. Notwithstanding the ring, he hadn’t had the decency to even bother picking up the phone to thank Ethan for helping him out at the accident, so why should he expect him to feel ashamed about nicking his ring?
Because Knowlesmusthave realized what had happened.
Rachel seemed adamant that he hadn’t suffered a brain injury or anything that might cause him to believe that he had somehow, unbeknownst to himself, spent a five-figure sum on a ring.
Ethan couldn’t help but wonder about that too. If Knowles had intended on proposing to Rachel, then surely he (and ergo Vanessa) would have ended up with a diamond ring, albeit a different one, instead of the silver charm bracelet.
So what on earth was this guy’s game?
Ethan looked out the window as the cab approached central Dublin. It had been a while since he’d visited the city, and he’d forgotten how much he liked it. Maybe it would make a good location for his “novel” after all. He felt a pit in the bottom of his stomach as he thought again about his lies to Vanessa and sorely regretted having to bring Daisy in on the ruse too.
But of course, it would all be worth it in the end, and with regard to the novel, Ethan could always pretend afterward that he’d had second thoughts and that Dublin didn’t suit the story line after all.
Or even better, that “the New York agent” had had second thoughts about representing him. That kind of thing happened all the time, didn’t it?
At the end of the day, he was here to get the ring back, nothing else. This wasn’t research, nor a pleasure trip—far from it. It was a mission.
He would take back his ring and then return to London where he would propose to Vanessa and get on with the rest of his life.
Minutes later, the cab pulled up to a curb near Dublin’s Ha’penny Bridge, and Ethan thanked and quickly paid the driver.
He took his case out of the car, looked around for the purple building Rachel had mentioned, and found it easily a little way down by the river.
To the right of the entrance, behind a large plate glass window, was a wicker basket display of every type of freshly baked bread imaginable, alongside a large selection of pastries as well as the cookies she’d promised.
Just by the door, the lunch menu announced a tantalizing selection of Mediterranean dishes, and the wood-paneled interior, colorful leather banquette seating, and soft lighting looked cozy and inviting rather than the harsh monochrome look favored by the majority of modern restaurants.
