by Debbie Mason
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not…” Colin glanced at Sophie, a rosy flush coloring his cheeks. “I’m fully clothed.”
“The painting Colleen commissioned Maggie to do was incredible. I’m sure yours will be too.” He looked so uncomfortable about it, Sophie thought she better give him a heads- up. “Kitty’s bringing Michael, Maura, and Bethany and her family to the showing tonight.” He stared at her, and she grimaced. “The Widow’s Club are going too.”
Liam ducked his head to look at her. “We actually want him to go, sweetheart. So could you maybe—”
“Who else, Sophie?” his father asked.
“All the staff at Greystone who aren’t on duty tonight. Dana and Jasper too. You’re a very popular man in town, Colin.”
“Okay, Dad. Time to go. You don’t want to keep your fans waiting.”
“The three of you should come. Maggie will be disappointed if you don’t show.”
“Come on, Dad. We’re not going to expose our seven-year-old daughter to a naked painting of her grandfather.”
Colin scowled at Liam and walked to the hall closet. “Mia mine, come kiss your granddad good night,” Colin called as he shrugged into his coat.
Mia came running down the stairs with Miller galloping after her. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Sophie. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. Liam, who apparently could read their daughter as well as Sophie, said, “Look who came for a visit. Your mom brought us cake.”
Mia gave Sophie a tentative smile then ran to her grandfather, who swung her up in his arms and gave her a kiss. “I’ll see you in the morning. You be good for your mommy and daddy.” He put her down and came to Sophie. Cupping the back of her head, he kissed her forehead. “I’m glad you’re here.” As much for her daughter’s benefit she thought as for hers.
The to-serve-and-protect Gallaghers were always on the job. Sophie got the warm fuzzies knowing that they considered her worthy of their protection.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning Sophie arrived at Greystone eager to get to work. She felt revitalized, invigorated, ready to take on Bethany, her mother, and Maura. One way or another, Sophie was determined to nail down the plans for Bethany and Michael’s wedding today. She had Liam and the best sleep she’d gotten in months to thank for her newfound energy. Even knowing Mia wanted to stay with Liam didn’t dampen her spirits…much. At least they’d be having Thanksgiving dinner together at the manor. If Sophie and Liam’s relationship was headed in the direction it seemed to be, it wouldn’t be long before they were living together as a family.
She powered up the computer with a smile on her face then rolled her eyes at herself. She needed to get her mind off her future and concentrate on the present. She had to approve the changes to the manor’s website and reconfirm the times for her conference calls tomorrow with three wedding planners and two bridal magazines.
But, she admitted, having a future as bright as the one she was imagining would be enough to throw off anyone’s concentration. Especially someone like her, who not that long ago had given up on dreaming.
The door to the study opened, and the man who played the starring role in Sophie’s dreams walked in. So much for concentrating on work. Liam wore jeans and a long-sleeved gray thermal T-shirt that hugged his impressive shoulders, chest, and arms. It was the toolbelt at his waist that held her attention, though.
“You really do have a thing for my tools, don’t you?”
Thanks to his teasing remark, her eyes dropped to the front of his jeans. He laughed, and she jerked her gaze to his face. His gorgeous face that was just as distracting as the rest of him.
“What are you doing here? Where’s Mia?”
“Hi to you too. Are you always this grumpy in the morning?”
She made a face. “Sorry, I’m just surprised to see you.”
“Good surprised?”
“Good because I’m happy to see you. Bad if you plan on sticking around and distracting me. I have a lot to do today.” She sighed when he put his cup of coffee on her desk and moved to take her face in his hands. “You’re going to distract me, aren’t you?” she said, looking into his beautiful eyes.
“Yeah, but I promise you’ll like it.” He held her gaze and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “You shouldn’t have left before Mia went to bed. I didn’t get the time I wanted with you.” She didn’t get a chance to respond. He gave her a closed-mouth kiss, his lips warm and firm. She could smell his spicy aftershave, his minty breath. He slowly pulled back, his fingers caressing her face.
“I didn’t want to intrude on Mia’s time with you.”
“I got that,” he said as he kissed her again. Only this time, he let his lips linger a little longer before pulling back. “I appreciate it, but I want to spend time with you too.”
“We need to take it slow,” she murmured, sinking into her chair when he kissed her just below her ear.
“Not sure I can.” As though to prove that to be true, he gently tilted her head and slanted his lips over hers, taking her mouth in a breath-stealing kiss. She fisted her hands in his T-shirt to keep from sliding off the chair, drawing him closer. His powerful arms caged her in, the heat and friction of his chest against hers making her moan. Taking advantage of her parted lips, he delved deeper, exploring her mouth with his tongue. By the time he slowly pulled away, they were both panting. “No way are we taking this slow, babe.” Removing his hands from her face, he straightened.
“Then why did you stop?” she asked, as her body thrummed with want and need.
He raised his eyebrows and pointed at the door when someone knocked. Obviously, by his reaction, not for the first time.
“Just a minute,” she called out, finger-combing her hair and then smoothing her rumpled jacket and skirt.
Liam smiled and gently rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “I’ll stop by and see you later, and maybe we can take up where we left off.”
She pretended she didn’t hear him, ignoring her body’s reaction to the promise in his voice. “You didn’t tell me what you’re doing here or where Mia is.”
There was another light knock on the door. “Sophie, I forgot something in my room. I’ll be back in five minutes,” Dana said through the door.
“Guess we weren’t as quiet as I thought,” he said with a grin then turned to her. “Kitty called me at seven this morning with a list of crap she needed done. First of which was to bring you your morning coffee. Mia, Amanda, and my dad were playing Barbie when I left.”
She waited for her chest to tighten, the sudden drop of her stomach at the news Mia wasn’t at the manor. Nothing happened. She wasn’t overcome with a rush of panic. It felt good to be free of the worry, the thought that she was the only one who could keep her daughter safe. “Your dad’s sweet with her. How did his night go?”
“Turns out we had nothing to worry about.” He swiped his phone and handed it to her.
A picture of the painting showed Colin sitting on the rocks. He wore a faded denim shirt and jeans with Miller resting his head on Colin’s thigh. It looked like the wind was blowing through their hair, sea foam on the waves rolling onto shore, a seagull pinwheeling overhead. Looking down on them from the window of the Gallaghers’ dining room were Colin’s four handsome sons, his wife, and daughter. “She did it again. I bet there wasn’t a dry eye at the showing,” Sophie said, swiping under her own. “It’s heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. How did your dad handle it?”
“Mixed feelings, I think. He didn’t say much.”
“And you?”
“Same as the old man, I guess. I feel bad for Maggie. I think she may have been expecting a different reaction.”
“She’s in love with your dad, isn’t she?” You could almost feel Maggie’s emotions—passion and desire mixed with heartache—through the painting. Like Colin was just out of reach. Caught between her and his family.
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure it is
n’t one-sided. But lately he’s been pulling away from her. Having Mia around, staying in Riley’s room, I think he’s reminded of all that he’s lost. Of what he and my mom had.”
“Has it been hard on you too?”
“It’s different, right?” He gave her his quiet smile. “I’ve got my daughter, and I’ve got you.”
“Kitty, Mrs. Fitzgerald said you needed—” Sophie looked up to where Liam stood on the ladder in the middle of the library fixing a loose wire in the chandelier. “They’re driving me insane. They’re worse than Bethany and her mother and Maura, and let me tell you, they’re really bad.”
His matchmaking grandmother and the Widow’s Club had been making up any excuse they could think of to get Sophie alone with him. “I told you what they’re doing and how to stop it, but you won’t listen to me.”
“I’m not telling them we’re together yet. Not before we’ve given Mia time to adjust to the idea.”
Since they’d had this conversation three times in the past four hours with the same result, he went back to what he was doing.
“Are you ignoring me?”
“Yep. Go nail down Bethany’s wedding plans so we don’t have to hear about it all through Thanksgiving dinner,” Liam said.
“Easy for you to say.” She threw open the door that had inexplicably closed behind her when she’d walked into the library. “Men have no idea the work that goes into planning a wedding. It would be a lot easier to nail Bethany down if we could find her husband-to-be. He’s a pain in the culo.”
“Soph,” he called out just before she shut the door.
“What?” she snapped.
He held back a grin at her show of temper. “I’m heading up to the bridal suite next to fix the tiles in the en suite. So if the Widow’s Club sends you up there, don’t refuse.”
“Even if I had the time, which I don’t, I have no idea how to lay tiles, Liam.”
“Who said anything about laying tiles. I thought we’d check out the king-sized mattress.”
She swore in Italian and slammed the door.
He laughed when it opened a few minutes later. “Change of heart, babe?”
“How did you know, darling?” his cousin said, ducking his head outside the door to look down the hall before shutting it. Michael looked up at him. “Can you remind me why I thought this was a good idea?”
“Getting married or having your wedding at Greystone?”
“Having it at Greystone was a good idea. I know where to hide. It’s the planning-the-wedding part.”
Liam wondered if it was more the marrying Bethany part. That, he could understand. “You’ve got cold feet. I hear it goes with the territory.”
“Nope, they’re pretty much frozen.” Michael sat in their grandfather’s leather wingback chair and placed his elbows on his thighs, rubbing his fingers on his forehead.
“What’s really going on?”
“I feel like I don’t know Bethany anymore. I know she can be difficult and demanding, but she has good qualities, too, and I was able to look past that. But now I’m not sure we want the same thing. The wedding has kinda been an eye-opener. I’d be happy with something small and intimate, but Bethany, along with her mother and mine, insist we have to have this huge spectacle. And you know why? Because of my political career. A political career I no longer want, and I don’t have the balls to tell Bethany or my mother.”
Liam nearly dropped the chandelier. His aunt had been grooming his cousin to be in politics for as long as Liam could remember. “That’s huge, Mike. I have to admit I’m kind of shocked.”
“Just imagine how my mother and Bethany will feel.”
“What brought this on?”
“The case I’m prosecuting. Actually, it’s one of many. The guy’s guilty, and he’s going to walk because the cops bungled the investigation, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. I want to make a difference, and lately, on the job, I feel like my hands are tied.”
“Sounds like you’re thinking about more than giving up on running for political office.”
He nodded. “I talked to Aidan at GG’s funeral. I’m thinking about going into law enforcement.”
Whoa. Aunt Maura would have a coronary. And Liam didn’t think Bethany would react any better to the news. He couldn’t imagine the woman living on a cop’s salary. “That’s quite the career change. Are you sure it’s not the stress of the job and wedding getting to you?”
“No. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Just didn’t know how to break the news to Bethany and my mother. Then Bethany decided she didn’t want to wait until next summer to get married because two of her friends did the unforgivable and are getting married next spring. I don’t understand women, I really don’t.” He rubbed his stomach. “I’m thirty-three and have an ulcer and high blood pressure.”
“My advice, cancel the wedding until you…” He frowned. His cousin was looking past him with an oh-shit expression on his face. Liam turned to see Sophie staring at him. “Soph, I can ex—”
“All this time we’ve been worrying about Paige and Hazel and their evil minions sabotaging the wedding, and the person we should have been worrying about is the man that I…my daughter’s father.”
“Sophie, put the knife down. You’re making Dana nervous,” Ava said.
Sophie looked down at the butcher knife clutched in her hand. She hadn’t realized she’d been waving it around. They were in the kitchen at the manor, cleaning up after the Thanksgiving dinner that, according to Kitty, had been an unmitigated success. For Sophie, it had been a disaster.
Mia had sensed that Sophie was mad at Liam, probably because she hadn’t done a very good job hiding her anger, and now her daughter wanted nothing to do with her. The one positive of the day had been that Helga had stormed out earlier that morning, leaving Ava responsible for the Thanksgiving meal. Though Ava would probably disagree.
Sophie was exhausted. All she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed. Dana looked like she wanted to do the same.
“I understand you’re mad at Liam, Sophie. But I didn’t see any sign at dinner that they were calling off the wedding. Michael was being very sweet and solicitous to Bethany. He agreed to everything she wanted.” Dana’s narrow shoulders rose beneath her silk blouse. “Even to holding the first dance on the pond. Michael can skate, but Bethany can’t, so I have to book lessons for her. You may want to look into the manor’s insurance policy.”
Ava turned from where she stood at the sink and took the knife from Sophie’s hand. “Stop looking like you want to murder someone. Everything will be fine. Just because Liam suggested that Michael cancel the wedding doesn’t mean that he will. He looked as nervous as Liam did every time you came out to serve the table. I’m sure he was worried you’d spill the beans to his fiancée.”
“Either that or he was afraid she was going to spill hot gravy on his lap like she did Liam,” Dana said, sounding as though she was trying not to laugh.
Sophie narrowed her eyes at the statuesque redhead. “That was an accident. I can’t help that I haven’t waited tables in years.” Not that she’d share with her cousin and Dana, but she’d been embarrassed having to wait on Mia and her daughter’s new family. But they were short-staffed, and she didn’t have a choice.
“Sophie, you can stop worrying, right, Dana? They’ve signed off on the plans, and the senior Mrs. Adams gave you the deposit.”
“But if we order everything and we get a phone call from Michael three weeks from now canceling the wedding, the deposit won’t cover our expenses,” Sophie said.
Kitty walked into the kitchen. “We have a problem, ladies. I overheard Michael and Liam. They’re meeting up at the Salty Dog. Liam will probably ply his cousin with alcohol and convince him to cancel the wedding. You have to get over there and put a stop to this once and for all, Sophie. Stop Liam in his tracks or, the next thing we know, he’ll convince Michael to sell Greystone, and then we’re doomed. Doomed, I tell you.”
Sophie imagined the bottle of brandy she’d caught Kitty and the senior Mrs. Adams sharing was behind the older woman’s prediction of doom. But Sophie had to admit she wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear Michael and Liam were going off alone to the Salty Dog. If Michael was getting cold feet, it wouldn’t do for him to meet up with his old girlfriend, the owner of the Salty Dog’s niece—Shay Angel.
When she caught the silent exchange between the three women, she crossed her arms. “You’re setting me up again, aren’t you?”
“Why would we do that?” Ava asked.
“Because you’re all members of the Widow’s Club, and you probably took an oath when you joined. All for one and one for all and all that jazz. They’ve been trying to set me up with Liam all day.”
“You’re a member too,” Dana reminded her.
“No, we revoked her membership. Sorry, dear, but you’re neither widowed nor divorced. Shouldn’t you be leaving for the bar now? I don’t like to think what Liam will get up to with Michael. I truly don’t.”
“I agree with Kitty. It’s probably best if you go, Sophie,” Dana said.
“So do I. It’s the perfect opportunity to confront Michael without Bethany and Maura around,” Ava added.
“Fine. I’ll go, but you two are coming with me.”
It took some convincing, but Dana and Ava finally agreed to go along. An hour later, they parked across from the bar. Kitty wouldn’t let them leave until they’d changed and freshened up. Since neither Sophie nor her cousin had much in the way of a wardrobe, Dana had insisted they take advantage of her extensive one. She’d turned the second bedroom of Liam’s old apartment into a closet. She’d moved in the day before Michael and the Adamses arrived.
Sophie had agreed to borrow a cream sweater and black boots but wore her own jeans. Ava wore a pair of Dana’s skinny jeans, black half-boots, a black sweater, and a leather fur-lined bomber jacket. With her hair loose and falling to her waist, her cousin looked gorgeous. So did Dana in a short, fake fur jacket over her black jeans and white shirt.