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Lounging in a wingback chair next to the unlit fireplace in Weston’s lower drawing room, Des looked up from theTimesand nodded. He folded the paper down and set it across his lap, his hand moving to rest on the shin of his right leg cocked atop his left knee. His bare toes stretched. Elle had long since become accustomed to Jules’s husband’s quirks—such as his consistently bare feet.
Without looking at the window and the sheer drapes holding a thin line between them and the outside world, Elle moved into the room, sitting on the chair opposite Des. “It’s been two days. How? Why? He hasn’t moved from that spot—how is he even managing it? He must be leaving at night.”
“He hasn’t moved.” Des’s lips pursed for a long second.
“A stone.”
“He’s stubborn. Always has been.” Des’s gaze moved to the sheer drapes. “Wes went out and talked to him this morning.”
Elle perked up in her seat. “He did? Did he tell him to leave?”
Des lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know exactly what directive he gave Rune.”
Her bottom lip slipped under her top teeth. “We cannot stay here forever—Weston has been more than gracious in opening his townhouse to us, but I am sure he wants to get back to Laney and I know that you are rather desperate to return to Seahorn and Jules and your babe. I have interrupted your lives long enough.”
“Stop—this isn’t an interruption. You are family, Elle. We show up for family—always. What we really need to know is what would you like to do?” Des’s eyes narrowed at her. “I would offer to open up my townhouse for you, but you know we aren’t about to leave you alone in the city with Rune lurking about. He’s stealthy and there has never been a building he couldn’t quietly break into.”
“Truly?”
“He was known for it.” Des frowned. “Which is why I don’t like the thought of you going back to the isle either. You need to come back to Seahorn with me. Jules will be desperately worried about you if she doesn’t see you alive and well in the flesh.”
A half-smile touched her lips. Des was every bit the big brother she never had.
Her look went downward, her head shaking. “I know, but Seahorn…it’s not the place for me right now. And I don’t know why. It’s always seemed like a true home to me—with you and Jules. But now…now it just seems…” Her words trailed off and she shrugged, unable to put into words the heaviness that was in her heart. Heaviness that she knew Seahorn and Jules could not soothe.
For all that Des and Jules had made her a part of their family—for all that she loved them for that—she was still an extra. An extra in their lives that could come and go and their lives would go on, nonetheless.
And she truthfully didn’t know if she could bear it. As much as she loved her niece, it was a babe, a family, a home. Everything she’d lost long ago. Everything she’d just dared to start to hope for again.
Hope that had been stupid.
Des inclined his head to her, his voice low and patient. “It’s your choice, Elle. Until you make it, we will stay here. Jules would kill me if I left you alone and in danger. Truly, we want you at Seahorn.”
She nodded. “I know and I thank you for that. I will come there soon, I promise.”
Des looked past her to the window facing the street. His jaw shifted back and forth, clear he was pondering his next words. “You didn’t ask what Rune said to Wes.”
She stilled, her head tilting to the side. “Do I want to know?”
Des shrugged. “You tell me.”
Her look went down to her lap, her eyes glazing over as her fingers played with the light cream muslin of her skirt.
Did she want to know?
Of course she did.
Shouldshe want to know—that was the real question.
She had to hold tight to the fact that Rune had lied about everything. Used her. Hold tight to that and not let the small cracks in her resolve to hate him turn into gaping canyons.
Still, she couldn’t hold herself back.
As much as Des’s next words could destroy her to the core, she lifted her gaze to him and nodded.
His mouth quirked to the side. “He’s out there for one reason. You.”
“Me?”
