“You?”
“I’m your family.”
“I…”
Ronan looked at her carefully. “Would you toss me aside so easily?”
A sob was caught in her throat. “Easily? How dare you, Ronan! None of this was easy. I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t want to agree to Dunn’s request. I didn’t want to stay here and leave you and go to him. I didn’t want any of this! I hate it. I hate him! But I don’t have a choice. What else could I do? What could I have done?” She could hardly speak, let alone breathe, by the end of her words. Her begging brought her down to her knees as she wished everything could simply go away.
But there came Ronan as he scooped her into his arms. She hiccupped and fought him. He wasn’t bothered. He sat her on a closed chest and tightened his grip until she couldn’t move.
It didn’t hurt. Rather, it was secure. Warm. She closed her eyes while weeping silently. She didn’t know how she could ever leave his arms.
“You could have trusted me,” Ronan murmured. His lips were there at her ear. He rocked them slowly while he clung to her. “Perhaps I didn’t inspire that confidence. Not yet. And that is my fault, a dilemma I shall seek to rectify once I bring you home.”
“But––”
“You are not going to Dunn. You are not marrying him. You are never seeing that man again,” he said in a calm, confident tone. It reminded her of their courtship. How definitive he could be.
I want so badly to believe him. But I don’t understand. How does he know? How much does he know? Surely, he can’t mean for Margaret to marry Dunn.
Isla choked back another sob. “But what about––”
He leaned back and used a hand to bring her face up to meet his. The look of intensity in his gaze had her pausing. “I mean it, Isla. You will never be with Dunn. Not ever. You belong with me.”
How lovely that sounds.
Then he stole her breath away with a kiss that left her confused and dizzy. Something in that moment told Isla would be all right. He brushed back her hair and kissed her brow.
Isla couldn’t help it. The stress of the past couple of days, the pain over hurting him as well as herself, was too much. The tears wouldn’t stop coming. Her eyes already hurt. Surely her nose was so red from the way it hurt. But she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t do anything but cling to him even as he carried her down the stairs.
“My carriage will come in the morning for her luggage and you,” she thought she heard Ronan say.
Doreen murmured a response.
“Is everything well again?” Asked Margaret. “What I told you––”
“Yes. We’ll return in a few days, I’m sure, to say hello. But I’m taking her home now.”
Home.Home.Isla didn’t want to hope. She didn’t dare believe it even as he loaded her into an unfamiliar carriage and sent them down the street. Exhaustion and the rolling wheels lulled her into an uneasy sleep eventually, and she didn’t remember anything more for a long time.
It was dark when she awoke next.
Isla winced at the puffiness of her eyes. Trying to look around, she wondered if they were swollen shut. But then she realized it was simply dark. Her curtains were open, and the night sky was a dark blue.
“My window,” she realized in wonder. She wasn’t at her mother’s house any longer, but the townhouse in London that Ronan had for them.
He must have brought me here.
Mixed feelings surged through Isla then as she felt profound relief at the familiar comfort of her home here. She adored it. But even while climbing out of the bed and taking a sip of lukewarm tea at a nearby tray, Isla worried what this could mean.
What if Dunn still expected her on the morrow? She struggled to swallow, not sure how to tell Ronan.
But he deserved the truth. He clearly knew parts. Maybe even everything. However, he couldn’t understand how far she waswilling to go to protect her sister. Maybe she could convince Ronan to help her.
Finding a pair of slippers and dressing gown left for her, Isla slipped into them and then started down the hall. She wasn’t certain where she would find Ronan. She didn’t even know the hour. But one place came to mind and she decided it was worth a try.
There he was.
