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I nearly sobbed with relief.
“Conor,” I breathed, rushing forward, my hands flattening on his door even though the metal was frigid against my palms.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded. But before I could answer, he rumbled, “Move aside.” I blinked at him but obeyed, then he jumped out. “Jonesy,” he called. “Ring my—”
I grabbed his hand and tugged on it, begging, “Conor, no! Please, listen to me first. Please.”
His eyes flickered over me. “Mary Catherine, you’ve been kidnapped and you escaped.” That was when I realized he was cataloging any injuries I might have. “You’re in distress. You need to be with your family—”
“No,” I barked. “I wasn’t kidnapped, and the last place I need to be is with family. Conor, I know you don’t know me well, but you have to know that I wouldn’t want to marry a sixty-year-old man.”
“I didn’t know you were getting married.” He frowned at me but he tapped his chin. “I’ve been busy with…” He cleared his throat. “Well, you don’t need to know with what. Who’s the sixty-year-old?”
Biting my lip, I mumbled, “Bill Murphy.”
He snorted. “This isn’t the time for joking, Mary Catherine.”
“I’m not joking!” I cried, and, God forgive me for being a fool, I shoved him in the shoulder. Hard enough for him to stagger back a step. “My father’s decided that he wants me to marry that old pervert! Conor, please,please, you have to help me. If you don’t, I’m screwed. Literally.
“I managed to run away the day after Father told me who I’d be marrying, but the moment Bill and I’d have met for him to propose, you know what would have happened, Conor. We wouldn’t have left that meeting until I didn’t have a hymen anymore—”
He gaped at me. “Excuse me?”
I swallowed. “You heard me.”
“No. I didn’t. What does your hymen have to do with anything?” His brow furrowed, then he rubbed his temple. “Mary Catherine, I’m functioning on two hours of sleep in the past five days. I need you to speak slowly and clearly.”
“Should you be driving if you haven’t slept?” I chided.
“What are you? My ma? I just escaped her clutches,” he groused.
“Yes, well, maybe you shouldn’t have if you’re so sleep-deprived. Didn’t you know that that’s the equivalent of being drunk when you’re behind the wheel?” I folded my arms across my chest. “I mean, I’m glad you’re here because I need your help, but you could have gotten into an accident.”
He stared down at me, and a smile started dancing on his lips. “You’re right, Mary Catherine.Youcan drive me home.”
I gaped at him. “Me?”
“Yeah, you.” He beamed at me. “We have a solution. You can drive and talk at the same time.”
“No,” I argued. “I need to speak with your mom.”
“You really don’t. She hasn’t taken her meds in a few days. She’s kinda cranky.”
Nerves fizzled to life in my belly as my plan went down the crapper. “Oh, God, what am I going to do?”
But Conor tugged me into a hug that, I thought, surprised us both. “You’re going to drive me home and tell me all about your non-kidnapping and almost-engagement, and then we’re going to fix things.”
Tears made my eyes sting. “You’ll take their side.”
“Whose side?”
“Your da’s side. Father’s side. Bill’s side.”
He snickered. “Mary Catherine, we don’t know each other that well, you’re right, but surely you realize how crazy that sounds. Since when do any of my brothers and Ieveragree with what Da says.”
My soft sniffle morphed into a watery chuckle. I pulled back to look at him. “You promise you’ll help me?”
He tapped my cheek. “What’s family for?”
