Page 69 of Taylor’s Warrior

She went to raise her right hand, but before she could turn thought into deed, the interview room door was flung open, rebounding with a crash that had Markham cowering in fear, while she could only gaze with relief and gratitude—but most of all, love—at the familiar figure standing there, Livingston right behind him.

“Enough,” Rhys growled. “This ends now. You say one more word to her, and so help me, I’ll kill you myself.”

He turned to Taylor. “I’m taking you home.”

CHAPTER 21

“You have got to be kidding me.” Taylor held out her hand, palm up. “Does it ever stop raining here?”

Struggling to stifle a grin, Rhys looked away, hoping he could get his lips under control before the love of his life cottoned on to his amusement at her expense.

“And it’s cold,” she added. “I’m freezing.”

Okay, he was prepared to give her that, given how quickly she’d acclimated to Texas after she’d left New York—a city not exactly known for its temperate winters. He wrapped his hand around hers and tucked it in the pocket of his jacket. “It’s only September. I’ll bring you back for Christmas, then you’ll see how cold it can be.”

He risked a quick glance and a raised eyebrow—his reward was a glare that would shrivel the balls of a lesser mortal. Not that he could blame her. Her introduction to his homeland could have gotten off to a better start. After taking three flights to get to Cardiff, they now faced a couple of hours in the rental car before they reached his family home.

“Okay—so long as we can turn the heating up in the car.” Her eyes narrowed with exaggerated suspicion. “The car will have heating, won’t it?”

For a moment, Rhys wasn’t entirely sure she was joking, but a twitch of her lips gave her away. Two could play at that game. He raised his eyebrows and adopted a shocked expression. “You never told me you wanted the deluxe model. I only booked the basic orange box on wheels.” He glanced down at her feet. “I hope the soles on your boots are sturdy, because those are going to be our brakes.”

The way her eyes narrowed told him she knew he was teasing her. “Smart ass.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Not only will it have heating, fy nghariad, there’ll even be a wheel at each corner and an engine under the bonnet.”

“You put hats on your cars over here? Wow. That, I did not expect.”

This time, he didn’t even bother to try to quell his urge to laugh. It wasn’t the first time Taylor had made a joke out of the differences between British English and American English, and it wouldn’t be the last. If everything went as planned, he could look forward to a lifetime of verbal jousting like this. That being said, he was particularly proud of the fact he’d succeeded in teaching her how to pronounce Worcestershire. She had considered it her crowning linguistic achievement—until they’d started the Welsh lessons.

“Come on. Let’s find that car and get away from here. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of airports for now.”

At least it was the final leg of their journey—a visit to Wales for a much-needed break several months after the distress, anguish, and heartbreak of the events that had brought them together. The delayed impact on Taylor had been brutal, but Rhys had been with her every step of the way—comforting her through the nightmares and supporting her through her counseling sessions while she came to terms with the reality of her relationship with the man she’d once called “Pops.”

That on its own would have been more than enough for anyone to process, but the confrontation with Markham had left Taylor with a much greater burden. The pain of grieving for a little brother she’d never even known she had; the loss of the man she’d loved in truly horrifying circumstances; mourning again for her mother, not killed in a tragic accident but by her own choice. Markham had confessed, during further questioning, to burning the suicide note implicating him in her decision to take her own life. When Taylor was ready to pay a return visit to her mother’s grave in New York, Rhys would be by her side all the way.

However, now they were on their way to the first in-person meeting between all the people he loved most in the world. Hopefully, all would go well. His family was important to him, but Taylor was everything.

He heard her gasp almost as soon as they left the vicinity of the airport. Seeing it through her eyes, it might seem as if they were on a different planet from the big skies of Texas. Rhys’ pride in his homeland prompted him to ask the inevitable question.

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s…” Taylor swung her gaze from the passenger window to him. Her smile was more carefree than he’d seen for a while. “Amazing. It’s everything you said and more. So much green.”

“You remember what I said about that?” He grinned.

“‘Green takes rain’, I believe you said. I assume the depth of the green is directly proportional to the amount of rain? Given it’s so very green and so very wet?”

“Something like that, but I’m no expert.” He’d just grown up in the rain.

“Okay. So, how long until we get there?”

That was the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. “If we get a clear run, just over an hour, no more than an hour and a half.” Rhys sent up a silent prayer to the traffic gods.

“And if we don’t?”

Now came the bad news. “Your guess is as good as mine. You should probably know we’ll only be on the motorway for around half the journey. The rest of it will be on minor roads that’ll take us through some of the villages. If you’re feeling tired, you can always take a nap.”

Her reaction was almost horrified. “Are you kidding me? I want to see everything.”