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Liam gritted his teeth. “Fine and upstanding” may be a bit of a stretch, but he wasn’t a creep. Never mind the part where he’d crawled through her bedroom window in the dead of night the first time they’d ever met. And the fact that he’d intended to rob her blind. And the fact that he’d ruined her destiny. “I’ll just have to do my best to prove I’m trustworthy.”
“You shouldn’t have to, but Cora can be a bit stubborn,” Hugh said with a note of apology in his voice. “Still, you can’t stay in that crap motel forever. I told your father I’d look out for you, and I’m going to do my damnedest.”
It was odd to hear Cora’s father take such an interest in his well-being. Liam made a noncommittal sound, hoping it was enough. He had no idea what his background story was, so it was safer to say nothing. There was so much he didn’t know, and the angels certainly hadn’t been forthcoming with their information. As frustrating as it was to have to piece together his role in this life, it was even harder to have to accept that Cora didn’t know him, trust him, or even like the idea of him. His fingers clenched on a feather pillow, and he flung it across the room.
“Don’t worry about it. She’s one tough cookie, my daughter. I didn’t raise her to be reckless.” There was a note of pride in Hugh’s voice. “But she’s smart, and she’ll come around. As far as roommates go, I told her you’re the safest bet she’s got.”
Safe. Liam scoffed. Of course, he was safe. He loved her. But she wouldn’t know that now, would she? He sent another pillow hurtling across the room. The bed comforter followed, narrowly missing Margaret’s vase of flowers. He was so irritated, he could barely focus on what Hugh was saying. Surely, the love they’d shared still meant something. It didn’t matter that this wasn’t the same world anymore. She would remember him, wouldn’t she? Some part of her had to. He felt certain of it. The angels might have set everything up to their perfect specifications this time around, but they couldn’t just expect him to shut his feelings off. Maybe they were wrong about everything, and he’d be damned if he’d just follow along like some mindless—
A draft of frigid air suddenly blew across his skin, sending a chill down his spine. It radiated outward, sending crackles of freezing energy along his nerve endings until it was difficult to move. Liam tried to draw in a steadying breath. After several terrifying seconds, the cold dissipated and he could breathe normally again. It was clear the angels were sending him a message. He’d be well and truly damned if he didn’t let this scene play out the way the angels wanted, and he needed to remember that. “Point taken,” Liam murmured, running a shaking hand over his face.
Hugh paused, then said, “So, anyway, I’m driving in to town, and I’m taking you to meet Cora this morning.”
Liam jackknifed off the bed. “Now? Today?” Elation gripped him, followed quickly by anxiety. He ached to see her again, but he’d be a complete stranger to her. How would he bear it?
“Yes, she agreed to meet you, but only because she already had plans to make me breakfast today, and I told her I was bringing you along. She assured me she doesn’t plan on changing her mind about you.” Hugh chuckled again. “So, you’ll have to charm her into liking you enough to keep you around.”
Liam clenched his jaw as he paced the room. “I’ll see what I can do.” Charm was never a problem for him, especially when it came to the opposite sex. But Cora wasn’t just any woman, and he’d never been in a situation like this before. Not when his heart was involved. He suddenly felt like a newborn colt on unsteady footing.
“She’s got her sights set on some fancy cottage house that’s supposed to go on the market before the end of the year, and she’s trying to save money,” Hugh continued. “With her gunning to find a roommate, it’s perfect timing, you transferring there. Kind of funny, the way everything just fell into place.”
“Aye,” Liam said grimly. “Very funny.” He could just imagine the angels kicking back on their misty reclining couches with their gilded feet propped on poufy clouds, grinning as they watched this all play out. He scowled. Why couldn’t they have given him some kind of magical shield to dull his emotions, so he wouldn’t feel so raw? Did they want him to fail? Angels were supposed to be helpful and good. But maybe people like him only got the doom-and-gloom, fire-and-brimstone kind with the scary ultimatums.
“So, I’ll swing by the motel and pick you up in twenty minutes,” Hugh was saying.
Liam snapped back to the moment. “I’m not at the motel.”
“Where are you, then?”
Liam walked to the curtains and drew them open. The downtown streets of Providence Falls were teeming with traffic. Somehow, he knew all about automobiles and bicycles and modern-day conveyances, but it was still startling to see the cars speeding by. There was movement everywhere, and smooth pavement in the place of mud and dirt. Neatly groomed hedges and trees lined the streets, with shops as far as he could see. The only things that looked remotely familiar were the hills and forest off in the distance. Everything in the town seemed sleek edged, orderly and clean. A far cry from his village in Ireland. Across the street was a park with an iron statue of a lion by the sidewalk.
“I’ll meet you at the lion statue,” Liam said. “Near the park.”
“Belltown Heights? What are you doing over in that ritzy neighborhood? Hopefully not looking for places to live, unless you plan on robbing a bank.”
“Not anytime soon.” Liam located his clothes in a heap on the floor. “I was just going to have breakfast with...a friend.”
“Ah. I see.” From the way Hugh’s voice rose slightly, it was clear he did see.
Liam’s knee-jerk reaction was alarm, until he remembered that this was a different life. Hugh didn’t think of him as a poor tenant farmer anymore, and he certainly had no reason to suspect him of foul play with Cora, so Liam had no reason to worry. If Hugh assumed Liam was involved with someone, it wasn’t his business to comment on it.
“I’ll be ready when you get here,” Liam assured him.
They got off the phone and Liam dressed quickly. The black, short-sleeved shirt was luxurious and soft, and he marveled at the stretch as he pulled it over his head. He hitched on the sturdy, dark blue pants, then pulled on a pair of leather shoes that molded perfectly to his feet. He was striding back and forth, enjoying the bounce in the shoes and the ease of movement the new clothes afforded him, when Margaret emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
“What happened in here?” She stared at the jumble of bedding and pillows strewn across the room, then at him. “And why are you doing lunges?”
Liam scooped up the bedding and tossed it back on the bed. “I’ve just had a call from the—” he stumbled over Squire McLeod’s old title “—from...an old friend of my father’s. He’s taking me somewhere this morning, so I can’t stay.”
Margaret’s full lips formed a sensual pout that Liam remembered well. She lifted a bare shoulder and let the towel slide off her naked body. “Have it your way.” She ran a hand across his back as she sashayed over to a chest of drawers against the wall. “Now that you’ve moved here, we’ll have plenty of time to get together. It’ll be nice living in the same town, don’t you think?”
Did he? He wasn’t so sure. Margaret was a complication he hadn’t expected. He cared for her, yes. But he had Cora to focus on now. And, of course, the small matter of his soul facing everlasting damnation. Aye. He nodded. That’s where his focus needed to stay.
It seemed to appease Margaret, because she gave him a sultry smile. Then she took a chemise from the drawer, raised her slender arms and pulled it slowly over her head.
Liam watched as the pale blue satin slid over her naked curves. Margaret Brady had the body of a goddess, and she knew how to use it. That much hadn’t changed. In another life, he’d have taken her hard and fast, throwing her body to the bed and caution to the wind. But that was before he found out the wind could retaliate. And it was merciless.
Several minutes later, Liam found himself leaning against the stone lion near the park, trying to remind himself that caution was a good thing, and he’d been wise to walk away from the warm and willing Margaret. He’d made his excuses to her and she’d been quietly accepting, which had been a big surprise. Back in his time, Margaret had been hotheaded and prone to sulking if she didn’t get her way. On more than one occasion, Liam had been the recipient of her rants, and he was grateful to avoid one today. Small mercies, and all that.
