by Debbie Mason
“You can leave the tray on the table, Jasper. I have to make a phone call. I’ll take the tray to the sitting room once I’m finished.”
He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it when a group of older women arrived. Sophie headed for the study to call her brother in private. She didn’t think Kitty would mind. They’d organized the wake and funeral from there the past two days. As soon as she walked inside and closed the door behind her, she realized she wasn’t alone.
The room was dark, except for the light from the green lamp that pooled on the desk and from the quarter moon streaming through the window where Liam stood. His back was to her, the black, well-cut suit he wore emphasizing his broad shoulders and long legs. His dark, wavy hair curled damply at the collar of his white shirt. She hadn’t seen him since the day he’d worked valiantly to save his great-grandmother. She’d heard he’d been at the fire station to free up his father so the chief could spend time with Kitty.
Liam glanced over his shoulder, and she caught a brief glimpse of his perfect white teeth. He’d been Sophie’s pet project back in the day. She’d studied him, could read every nuance of his face, his smile. She’d only ever gotten the tamped-down version of the charming but wicked smile he’d given the other girls in town. She got the one without heat. The one that said You’re cute but annoying.
“Hey, Soph.” His voice was like his smile…quiet.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. Are you okay?” she asked as she made room for the tray on the desk.
“I’m good. How are you doing? How’s Mia?”
She walked to his side and touched his arm, feeling the tension in his bicep. The same tension that hardened his chiseled profile. She wished she had the words to take some of his sorrow away. Instead she lifted on her toes to kiss his clean-shaven cheek. His skin smelled spicy and was warm against her lips. “We’re good. I’m sorry for your loss. I didn’t get a chance to tell you the other day.” She glanced at the old-fashioned crystal tumbler in his hand. There was a decanter of amber liquid sitting on the window ledge in front of him. “Are you sure you’re okay? You know you did everything you possibly could to save her, don’t you?” She couldn’t imagine how difficult it had been for him to work on his great-grandmother, but he’d been amazing. He hadn’t hesitated or given up. Outwardly he’d appeared calm and quietly confident.
He lifted the decanter and raised an eyebrow. “Have a drink with me?”
“I shouldn’t. I’m driving.”
“Small glass. We’ll drink a toast to GG.”
She nodded and walked to the globe that served as a bar. She retrieved a glass and handed it to him, watching as the amber liquid splashed into the crystal. It looked delicate in his large, capable hand. “Thank you.” She lifted the glass and touched it to his. “To Colleen, a woman who will live forever in the hearts of everyone in Harmony Harbor.”
He smiled. “There’ll be no forgetting her. She was a force to be reckoned with. To GG,” he said, and they both took a drink.
The whiskey burned a path down Sophie’s throat, and she choked. She waved a hand in front of her face. “That’s, ah, potent stuff.”
Liam smiled and took the glass from her, setting it beside the decanter. “You need some water?”
“No, I’m okay. What about you? Is there anything I can get for you? I know this must be really hard for you, losing Colleen.”
“She was a hundred and four, Soph. We didn’t expect her to live forever.”
“You seem so sad. I was worried…I thought maybe—”
“GG was an amazing woman. Greystone won’t be the same without her, and we’ll all miss her, but I was thinking about my granddad, mother, and sister.” He looked out the window and took another drink. “They were waked here too. Mom and Riley then a few days after their funeral, Granddad.”
“I’m so sorry, Liam. It must have been devastating for all of you to lose them like you did. I don’t know if you got it, but I sent you a card.”
“I did.” He glanced at her. “I thought you’d come home or call.”
She’d known the card wasn’t enough when she’d sent it. He was her brother’s best friend. She’d practically grown up with him and knew his mother well. Mary Gallagher had been a kind woman with an easy laugh and a warm smile for everyone she met. “I didn’t have the money to fly home, Liam.” She didn’t add that, even if she had, she wouldn’t have come home no matter how much she’d wanted to, and she did. More than any of them would ever know. “I didn’t even have enough money to make a long-distance call.”
He turned to face her, his brow furrowed, and put down his glass. “I thought you were living with your mother.”
“No, she wanted me to give up Mia. We had a fight, and I moved out.” Pregnant, broke, and alone, she’d never been more terrified in her life.
Her luck changed the next day when she got a job at a run-down motel. The pay wasn’t great, and the work wasn’t easy, but Doris, the tough-talking, chain-smoking owner, took Sophie under her wing. Tina waltzed back into Sophie’s life a few months later. Doris had called Tina the night Mia was born. But she couldn’t tell Liam any of this because Mia had been almost six months old the day Tina told Sophie about the tragedy that struck his family.
“Jesus, Soph, all you had to do was call your family. They would have—”
He had no idea how many times she’d picked up the phone. “You weren’t there the night my mom and I left, Liam. They practically disowned me.”
“You should have called me then. I would have sent you the money. Jesus, if I knew it was that bad, I would have come and got you myself.”
She looked away. She couldn’t let him see how much his words meant to her. “Why would you? I—”
“Why? Because I was in love with you. I would have done anything for you back then.”
She stared at him as the blood rushed from her head, leaving her weak-kneed and off balance. It couldn’t be true. She didn’t want it to be true. “W-why would you say something like that? You didn’t even know I existed.” She was surprised she sounded so calm when all she wanted to do was yell at him. Tell him to take it back. Because if there was any truth to what he said, any truth at all…
His laugh was rough. “Seriously? You didn’t think I knew you existed? When I’d come home from school, it was you I spent time with, no one else. I took you surfing and fishing, combed the beaches for sea glass with you for hours, and you didn’t think I was interested? Give me a break.”
“Yes, you hung out with me and we spent a lot of time together, but not once did you ever look at me the way you did Arianna Summers, Mackenzie Ryan, and Lacy Bishop. You didn’t flirt with me or—”
“No way was I going to make a move on you. You were sixteen, and I was twenty-one, and you were my best friend’s baby sister. But you had to have known.”
“How? How was I supposed to know?” Fighting back bitter tears, she flattened her palms on his chest and pushed him. If he would have given her the slightest hint he had feelings for her, she would have waited. She wouldn’t have dated his cousin. She wouldn’t have…
“Hey, why are you mad at me? I was trying to be a good guy and do the honorable thing. I was waiting until you turned eighteen.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much for thinking for me, Liam. For not giving me any say in the matter. I was young, but I wasn’t stupid.” She pushed him again and swore at him in Italian. “I loved you. I loved you, you big idiot.”
He stared at her and slowly shook his head. “No, you loved Michael. You told me you did. It wasn’t me.”
“No, I—” She swallowed the words that would give everything away. “Before Michael, it was only you, always you, Liam.”
Several emotions crossed his face at once. She imagined he felt the same as she did moments ago—shocked, angry…bereft. He turned and picked up his glass, tossing back the amber liquid as he stared out the window. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. But, Soph,
the past has to stay in the past. I saw how you reacted when GG announced that Michael and Bethany were getting married here. You’re still in love with him. They’ll be here tomorrow—”
“What are you talking about? I’m not in love with him. I don’t know why you’d say—”
“Really? So why did you look like you were about to faint? If you weren’t upset that he was getting married, why were you doing this?” He put down the glass and took her hand, circling her wrist with his fingers, twisting them around and around.
He saw too much. She had to think of a believable excuse, but she was afraid he’d see through a lie. So she’d tell him the truth. Just not about Mia. Liam would never forgive her for keeping her daughter a secret from his cousin. Family meant everything to him. The Gallaghers were loyal through and through. They might have their disagreements, but they had each other’s backs. They always had. “Trust me, I’m not in love with Michael. I don’t want anything to do with him.” She went to tug her hand from his, but he held on.
His thumb absently traced her scar; then he frowned and turned over her wrist. “What’s this?”
She hesitated then reluctantly admitted, “I was arrested the day of the fire. The police dragged me out of my final exam and charged me with child neglect and endangerment. The officer who put the handcuffs on me wasn’t gentle. I went a little crazy when they told me that Mia was in the hospital. I fought them. I tried to get away. I—”
He interrupted her, his fingers tightening around her wrist. “So you lied to Marco about the sitter being a no-show? You actually left Mia on her own and went to class?”
“How can you even ask me that? You know me.” She jerked her hand from his, unconsciously curling her fingers around her wrist.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He took her hand and gently rubbed the scar. “I’m sorry, Soph. You’re right, I do know you. Tell me what happened.”
She looked out the window to the courtyard, tracing the outline of a tree with her finger on the glass. Anything to put off talking about what happened again. It was bad enough she had to live with it forever. But she felt Liam watching her and knew his patience would only last for so long. If there was anyone she wanted to know the truth, it was him. “It was my last exam to get my degree. My regular sitter, a neighbor in the building, had to go out of town for a family emergency. My friends were working, and there was no one else, so I asked my mother. I called and reminded her the night before and again that morning. I was late getting off work and had to take a bus route I wasn’t familiar with. I was panicked, afraid I’d miss my exam, and didn’t call Mia until I’d almost reached the school. My mother wasn’t there. I called her cell. Her hot yoga class had run late. She was completely unfazed that Mia was on her own. She told me to relax, that she’d be there in ten minutes. I didn’t trust her and called one of my friends. I was on the other side of town, and even if I took a taxi, it would have taken me at least forty minutes to get home. My friend, we were roommates, told me she’d go right away and not to worry and take the exam. She and my mom got there at the same time. It was almost too late.” She looked up at Liam. “You can’t tell Marco. Rosa knows, and that’s bad enough. But Marco would tell Lucas, and they’d never forgive my mom.”
“Can you?”
“I don’t know.” A waft of cold air brushed against her back, and she shivered.
Liam let go of her hand and drew her into his arms. “I’m sorry, Soph. So damn sorry you and Mia had to go through that. But it’s over now. You’re—”
“It’s not over.”
He drew back to look down at her. “What do you mean?”
“Just before the interview with Colleen, I got a call from Child Protective Services. They weren’t happy I left the state before my in-home visit. My file has been transferred to a caseworker here. What if I don’t live up to their expectations, Liam? What if they take Mia from—”
“Look at me. No one is going to take Mia from you.” He cupped her face with his hands, ducking to meet her eyes. “Let me help you. I think I know someone I can talk to for you. And if I don’t, I’m sure my dad does. Will you trust me to do this for you?”
“Yes, I trust you. I always did,” she managed to say past the lump in her throat.
“I wish I would have known how you felt about me eight years ago.”
“Me too.” Sophie wasn’t sure if she reached up on her toes or if he lowered his head. If he meant to comfort her or if she was seeking it when their lips met. The kiss was tentative, soft, and sweetly tender. But when his hands moved from her face and into her hair, and she moved hers between them to curl into his jacket, the kiss changed. She tasted the whiskey in his warm mouth, and he explored hers with a raw passion that made her moan and…
There was a heavy thud, like something had fallen. Sophia and Liam jerked apart at the same time the study door opened.
Chapter Eight
Unable to take his eyes off the woman he’d just kissed, Liam blinked against the light that suddenly flooded the study. He’d kissed Sophie and made her moan one night years before. Instead of drinking his granddad’s hundred-year-old whiskey, she’d been drinking cheap wine. But to Liam she’d tasted of sweet ambrosia and victory. He’d won the heart of the girl he loved. Or so he’d thought. If only she’d told him then what she had tonight—that she’d loved him. That one word would have changed his world and hers. She lifted her heavy-lidded eyes to his, desire slowly fading as reality and Jasper intruded.
The old man stood in the doorway with his mouth compressed and his eyes narrowed. It was an expression he’d directed at Liam more times than he cared to remember. At least when he was young. He didn’t have only parents and grandparents to keep him on the straight and narrow; he had Jeeves. The Gallagher family watchdog.
“Your grandmother and Miss Kitty are waiting for you in the drawing room, Miss DiRossi.”
Her eyes flicking from Liam to Jasper, Sophie said, “Thank you. I’ll be right there. I have a call to make.”
“My apologies. I presumed you would have made your call by now.”
Sophie stiffened and lifted her chin. “Apology accepted. I’ll be with them in a moment,” she said, a note of dismissal in her voice.
Liam wondered if Jasper could tell that, beneath the bravado, Sophie was embarrassed to be caught in a compromising position. To anyone else, a kiss wouldn’t be considered compromising or a position. But to a woman who hoped to manage Greystone and a man whose employee handbook dated back to the dark ages, it was. Now, if Jasper hadn’t interrupted them…
Maybe he owed the old man his thanks, Liam thought as his eyes were drawn back to the dark-haired beauty in a black dress that hugged her curves. She wasn’t the girl he remembered. Too many years had passed. Too many things left unsaid. If he told her now, he risked losing her trust. He wanted her to trust him. Whether she’d admit it or not, she needed his help—for her own sake and Mia’s. Due to her misplaced sense of loyalty to her mother, she wouldn’t tell Marco, and her grandmother wouldn’t know how to help her, but Liam did.
She waited until Jasper left the room before taking her cell phone from the pocket of her coat. “I have to call Marco.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“No, of course not. I’m just checking on Mia.” She turned to the window and spoke to her brother.
Liam bent down and picked up the book that had fallen to the floor, placing it on the desk. He smiled when Sophie cursed out Marco in Italian. “Problem?” he asked once she returned her phone to her pocket.
“I told him Mia can watch Casper, and what does he put on? Halloween Five. She’s…six, and he’s got her watching horror movies. If that doesn’t give her nightmares, the pop, candy apples, and popcorn will. He’s thirty-one going on fifteen.”
Liam struggled to hold back a laugh. His best friend was an idiot, but he had his back. “Most guys are. Betcha he ends up being Mia’s favorite babysitter.”
“No, that wou
ld be you. I think you’re the reason she put up such a fuss about coming tonight.”
He liked the kid…a lot, and he liked kissing her mother a lot too. But he and Sophie had a complicated past, and gorgeous single moms with adorable daughters were not in his wheelhouse. The rules in his playbook might not be as old as the ones in Jasper’s handbook, but they were as nonnegotiable. A relationship with Sophie would be the polar opposite of keeping it easy and simple. There was nothing simple or easy about Sophie DiRossi.
“Liam, did I say something wrong?”
“No...” He rubbed his jaw. “Soph, about the kiss—”
“You don’t have to say anything. I was upset, and so were you. It was a mistake. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. You know, I should probably get going. Rosa—”
He grabbed her hand before she took off. “Wait. You have nothing to apologize for. I just don’t think a relationship right now is a good idea for either of us.”
She frowned. “A relationship? How did we go from a kiss to a relationship?”
He didn’t have a clue. “That’s not what I meant to say. Okay, so maybe I thought seeing that you’re a single mother, you wouldn’t be looking for just a good time. You’re not, are you?”
“I’m a healthy twenty-six-year-old who hasn’t had sex in six years. So what do you think?”
He wasn’t thinking. He couldn’t. Every ounce of blood from his head had gone south.
She started to laugh. “You should see your face. I’ve shocked you, haven’t I? I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me say that. Other than that it’s true, I guess. Don’t worry. I’m not going to compromise your honor, Liam. I’m just tired and stressed. I have a daughter to think about, and a life to rebuild.” She glanced at the door. “You don’t think Jasper will tell Kitty about us, do you?”
Did she really expect him to be able to speak right now? She was staring up at him with an anxious look in her big eyes, so obviously she did. He jammed his hands in his pant pockets and tried to surreptitiously adjust himself while clearing his throat. “No, there’s nothing to tell. He didn’t see anything.”