Page 68
She finally asked the question that had been forming for days. “Do you think you couldn’t leave the house before partly because of what it meant you were here to do? Kill my brother?”
Oliver shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe. I’m not a bloodthirsty person.”
No, he wasn’t. Even without knowing him well, she understood that. She kept her voice light—Oliver couldn’t handle another emotional conversation right now, and neither could she. Searching out his hand, she held tight. “I know that. Though if anyone can drive a person to violence, it’s Kyle.”
***
Oliver hadn’t celebrated his birthday since the accident. One would think surviving death would have made him grateful for the years ahead. Instead, each birthday reminded him that the life he’d once loved had died in that crash.
But sitting here now, Addison’s hand in his, the Irish countryside around them, he felt something he hadn’t expected to ever feel again—alive. His life looked different now—he looked different. But none of it seemed to matter. Not here, not with her. He was in one of the most romantic places in Ireland, next to a beautiful woman. One he intended to strip naked in a few short hours. That was something worth celebrating.
The clouds scattered as they drove. The morning felt young and full of promise, and hope rose in his chest. Tightening his hold on Addy, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling at her. She returned the smile willingly. His heart beat fast, then settled. This felt right.
Except it was wrong.
Addison Yarrow was Kyle’s sister.
He’d have nothing to do with anyone related to him.
Loosening his hold finger by finger, he made himself let go.
Addison didn’t look at him when he released her, just turned her body toward the window and rested her head against her seat. A few minutes later, she knocked out.
The fever hadn’t returned, but she still looked too pale. Too fragile. Another half hour to Galway. Not nearly enough time for her to rest.
He’d drive around in circles if it meant she’d get some sleep, but she’d never forgive him another delay.
They had her asshole of a brother to find.
Chapter 36
Addison stirred as they pulled into Caity O’Halloran’s Galway neighborhood. The street was lined with stone homes and trees so old their branches met overhead. She let herself imagine living here, strolling these sidewalks with Oliver. A pipe dream. Her life in Seattle—sans Oliver—waited.
Addison laid her hand over Oliver’s on the gearshift. “Thank you for doing this. I know my niece’s welfare is the last thing you should care about.”
“Your brother leaves a trail of destruction in his path. A child won’t be collateral damage.”
Exiting the car, she studied Caity’s house just ahead, draped in fuchsia and hydrangeas crowding the perimeter in clusters of blue and purple.
“You don’t have to go with me if you’re not up for it,” she said when Oliver came around.
Sunlight caught the sparse lashes over his droopy eye. “I’m not letting you do this alone.”
“I’m used to it.”
“Well, get unused to it.”
A nice sentiment. They both knew she couldn’t.
He pulled on his baseball cap as they approached the house.
Birds flitted from tree to tree above, and the scent of flowers lay heavy in the rain-thickened air. The perfect home for a perfect couple. Who’d ever suspect the bride of polygamy?
She was halfway up the stone steps when Oliver stopped her. “Wait.”
Addison turned. “What is it?”
“Let me talk to her alone first. See what she knows.”
