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“Good God, Cora. If that was Finley Walsh, it’s no wonder you want to run away. Truth be told, I’ve been quite flattered you’d chosen to flee with me, but now I realize you just needed to jump at the first opportunity, and I happened to be it.” He wrapped his arms around her and spun her in a circle.
Cora gave him a reproving look that ended on a giggle. “I was so nervous with you in the room. I could barely speak.”
“You were a blasted chatterbox compared to that man’s stilted conversation.”
“I don’t think he can help it,” Cora said. “He’s always been that way, which is strange, don’t you think? For a solicitor, one would think he’d be more verbose.” She walked over to the tea tray and handed him the spice cakes with a glowing smile. Liam had a fairly good idea why Finley was so tongue-tied around Cora. She was like an angel.
“He said he’d bring me seashells,” Cora mused, lifting her teacup.
Liam frowned. No one would bring her seashells but him. “Did you hear what he said about after you were married? How he’d continue to travel and leave you home alone all the time?”
“He did say that, didn’t he?” Cora sipped her tea, looking more subdued. “That would be terribly lonely. I’d very much hate to sit around embroidering cushions while my husband was off seeing the world without me.”
“Well, speak no more of it,” Liam said firmly. “In three days you and I will be on the adventure of our lives, together. And I can safely promise you I’ll never expect you to sit home embroidering cushions.”
Cora beamed at him. “I am very glad to hear it.”
“But if you want to bake me these lovely spice cakes once in a while, I won’t say no to that.”
“I almost feel sorry for Finn,” Cora said with a sigh, placing a cake on her plate. “I do believe he means well, but even if he did grow to love me someday, he could never understand my desire to go on adventures. Can you imagine him doing anything like that?”
“And risk creasing those immaculate suits?” Liam asked. “Never. It’s plain to see Finley Walsh is not the adventurous type. He’d never do anything wild in the name of love.”
Cora nodded in agreement and kissed him sweetly. She tasted like cinnamon and nutmeg and the promise of a better future. Once again, all was right with the world.
16
West of Providence Falls,
Present Day
Someone had hijacked Finn’s body.
It was a full-on mutiny; that was the only explanation. Because the clean-cut man Cora knew—the man with the warm eyes and the friendly smile and the neatly combed hair—wasn’t steeringthisship tonight.
Cora gasped. Her brain short-circuited as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
He walked in alone. No entourage. Just a shirtless, chiseled powerhouse of a man, slowly easing his way through the screaming throng of people with smooth, masculine grace.
The crowd flocked toward him, pressing in on all sides until some of the bikers had to intervene and push everyone back.
“Finn,” Cora whispered hoarsely.
But everyone kept chanting, “Jack.”
She watched in stunned shock as he made his way toward the cage.
Finnwas The Jackrabbit? Finley Walsh,the guy who blushed when she gave him compliments, was an underground, cage-fighting legend? It was impossible. Cora felt like Alice down the rabbit hole, as if she’d slipped into some weird, alternate reality. It was unsettling to see him like this. Gone was the custom-tailored suit, the pressed, collared shirt and the designer silk tie. Now all he wore was simple black fight gear: shorts and a pair of open-fingered gloves. This was a boss-level version of the man she knew. A lean, honed, muscular version with six-pack abs and—
Hold on, was that atattoo?
At the cage door Finn twisted his torso and Cora caught sight of his back. A Latin phrase in wicked black font scrolled across his broad shoulders. She couldn’t decipher it; the looping words were as foreign as this fevered dream she’d stumbled into.
The reality of what was about to happen suddenly hit her like a freight train. Overcome with panic and fear for Finn’s safety, Cora began cataloging all the possible ways she could break him out of there before he got himself killed. The exits were blocked. There were too many people between her and Finn. If Meat started beating him to death, she wouldn’t even be able to draw her gun to defend him because there were too many civilians in the way, not to mention the chain-link barrier.
For the first time in all the years she could remember, Cora was furious at Finn.
How could he willingly be so stupid to put himself in this situation? And for what, just to buy her some time to talk to a cranky, sexist jerk like Eli Shelton? Cora wanted to grab Finn and shake him until his teeth rattled, she was so mad. She really ought to be angry with Eli. He was the one who thought it would be entertaining to toss Finn into a cage with the bone crusher. But Cora wasn’t going to waste her energy on someone as stupid as Eli Shelton. Finn, on the other hand, should’ve known better. He shouldneverhave agreed to this. He may have been some legendary fighting champion from the past, but that didn’t mean he could hold his own tonight. Just looking at the freak show Finn was up against made her sick to her stomach.
