Page 51 of Irish Betrayal

But mere hours ago, she’d hugged Peter. She turned her eyes to look out the passenger side window of her Jeep. Daniel was driving them down one of the property’s private drives toward the guest house where she was staying. Apparently, Daniel had been assigned the same one.

Katy had been meddling. Blair didn’t mind in the least if it meant she got to spend another night in his arms. One safe night when, for a few hours, she wouldn’t let her worries weigh her down.

Tomorrow was soon enough for declarations and confessions. She sat straighter in the seat, deciding that she wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

She didn’t want any more silence between them, so she decided to get a few answers as they pulled up to the lovely guest house that appeared through the trees, a stone and wood cabin with one of the most beautiful flower gardens surrounding the home. Wildflowers wove through the trees and around the large wraparound deck, making the getaway feel like a magical fairy wonderland. Katy had told her that Daniel’s father, Bran, had the flowers planted for his wife, Raven.

“I understand Rowan coming, even though I imagine it wasn’t easy to leave Bébhinn—speaking of which, that bitch never told me about you guys coming.” When he gave her an exasperated side-eye, she admitted, “Yeah, yeah. I’ve been a terrible friend.”

Daniel put the Jeep in park and turned so he could sign, as the dim light made lip-reading not impossible but more difficult.

“You haven’t been terrible, but you have been distant, and I’m not talking geographically. Plus, Aunt Row only called Bébhinn when we were boarding Ulf’s plane.”

“Rowan is here to visit her friends. Ulf is here to harass me, I assume. Why are you here?” Better to get the whys and wherefores out in the open. She’d hurt Daniel when she left Dublin without a word, especially after their first and only night together.

The man took her virginity, and she bailed on him hours later. It had crushed her, and she knew why she’d done it. Why she had to leave. For Daniel, well, he probably felt as though she didn’t care for him. That he wasn’t important to her—everything to her.

He was. Everything.

If they were going to mend their relationship, the one she’d damaged, they needed to put their cards on the table, as William Stanton was wont to say. William’s other favorite country idiom, “colder than a witch’s tit,” would only be applicable once they stepped outside the Jeep.

Daniel sat still for another moment before getting out and walking to the passenger side to retrieve her. She turned in her seat, ready to hop down. Daniel moved between her knees, his hands rubbing along her thighs, back, and up around her shoulders before lifting her chin so she could see his lips clearly in the moonlight.

“I’m here because you left me. I’m here because you let us go, but I never did. I want answers, Blair. Not in this moment, though. Here and now, I plan on taking you to bed, getting you naked, and not letting you out of my reach until morning.

“Tell me you want that. Tell me that you still want me.”

Blair looked deep into his eyes. His expression showed hurt, but it also screamed confidence. She felt that look from her throat, to her breasts, her stomach, deep in her core, and to her toes.

She thought walking out on him had ruined them.

But maybe not.

Maybe there was still a chance.

The thought hit Blair so hard it nearly stole her breath.

Slowly, deliberately, she lifted her hands between them.

“I never stopped wanting you,” she signed, too overcome to try and verbally speak.

Daniel’s eyes closed briefly, relief and frustration crossing his face in equal measure. Her words seemed to sadden him but also give him relief. When he looked at her again, the heat in his expression made her entire body tighten.

“Thank Christ,” he muttered.

Then he kissed her.

Not gently.

Not carefully, but like a man who’d spent three months starving.

Blair gasped against his mouth as his hands slid into her hair, gripping the thick curls at the base of her neck while he pulled her closer between his legs. Every inch of him felt hard and warm and familiar in a way that made her chest ache.

She kissed him back just as desperately.

The pent-up loneliness, fear, and longing between them exploded all at once.

Daniel made a rough sound low in his throat when she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. His hands immediately ran over her back, fingers digging into her cotton blouse like he needed proof she was really there.