“Tiernan.”
“Aye, he's fine, brother. I’m wondering where the hell you've been. I've been calling you for an hour.”
“I was asleep.”
“Well, it’s time to wake the fuck up.” Seamus’s voice is tight and angry. This isn’t good. “We’ve got a problem. What can you tell me about Marcus Crowning?”
Fuck.
My brief time with Bianca has come to a close, even before I imagined it would. I run a hand across the back of my neck. “What about him?”
“He's asking questions about a missing woman? Someone he was supposed tomarry,Ash?”
Ice floods my veins. “What kindof questions?”
“The kind that means he knows she's gone and he's not happy about it. He's reached out to every family, claiming the McCarthys may be harboring stolen property.” Seamus's disgust is palpable. “Come to the house. I'm going to ask you one more time, Ash—do you know anything about this?”
“Aye.” It comes out hard. It’s time to tell them… to deal with the aftermath. “She's with me.”
He curses under his breath. “Jesus fucking Christ,Ash, what the fuck iswrongwith you?”
I blow out a breath, and before I can answer, he continues. “We need to figure out how to handle this before it turns into a war.”
“Aye.”
War. Because of me. Because I couldn't keep my hands off what didn't belong to me.
Except… shedoesbelong to me. Always has.
“I'll be there in an hour.”
“Make it thirty minutes,” he says. “And Ash? Leave the girl wherever you've been hiding her. This conversation might not be one she needs to hear.”
He ends the call before I can respond. I run a hand through my hair.He knows.And he’s gonna lose his fucking mind because there’s no way I’m leaving her here.
I stand there, phone in hand, staring at nothing. Leave her at the cabin? Over my dead body. I suppose it makes tactical sense—leave her safe here while I go clean up the mess I made. But no. Crowning knows she's missing. He's looking for her. And if he connects her disappearance to me, to this place…
No.
“Ashland?”
Bianca's voice is soft and sleepy. I turn to find her in the doorway, wearing nothing but my shirt from last night. Mygod, the sight of her curvy body silhouetted againstmy tee—I swallow hard.
She’s here, in my bed, in my clothes, and she trusts me. I have to go against what Seamus tells me, even if he'll fucking kill me for it.
I'd crawl over flames just to be with her. Her curvy, pale legs are bare, her hair wild over her shoulders. She looks like every goddamn fantasy I've ever had and knew I didn't deserve.
“Come here,” I rasp.
She smiles and moves toward me, practically bouncing. “Come back to bed?”
I catch her around the waist and pull her against me, breathing in the scent of vanilla and rose. “I can't, love.”
“Why not?”
“Family business. My cousin needs me.”
“Oh.” She bites her lip, and I want to soothe it with my thumb, kiss away the worry. “How long will you be gone?”
