AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTERONE
Addie.
It washisAddie.
Bram O’Donovan stared across the busy Irish bar, his gaze on the woman who’d haunted his dreams for months.
She is not yours, you eejit.
No. Not his. But…they’d spent ten days together. For ten days, he’d gorged himself on her.
He’d thought…
Well, it didn’t matter what he’d thought. Adaline Harris was young, blonde, beautiful, an amazing dancer, and sweet. She was too good for him.
He was an older, battered, ex-military man who would never be good enough for her. While he’d been away with work, she’d wised up.
He barely registered the sounds of the people in the bar. Addie looked up and met his gaze, and all the color drained out of her face, leaving her whiter than the sheets his ma used to have flapping outside on the line when he was a boy.
That’s when his brain registered that Addie wore the uniform of the staff at the bar—black shirt and pants, and a dark-green apron.
And that apron sat snug over a small mound of a belly that she hadn’t possessed the last time he’d seen her.
Shock rocketed through him.
Addie was pregnant.
She whirled and ran behind the bar, disappearing through a doorway.
Pregnant. It’d been several months since she’d disappeared from his life. He’d returned home to find she’d left her dance show and her apartment, and her phone had been disconnected.
That baby in her belly was his.
His friends at the table where he sat had fallen silent. Without a word, he rose and strode after Addie. He shouldered past several bargoers.
“Hey.” One man spun around, took in Bram’s size, and snapped his mouth closed.
Bram charged around the bar and through the door, ignoring a shout behind him.
Where was she?
There were several rooms off a long hallway. He heard the noise of the kitchen nearby. Then he detected the faint scent of spring flowers. It made him think of a sunny meadow. Her scent was embedded in his senses. He’d know it anywhere. He’d damn well dreamed about it over the last few months.
Addie.
He stalked to a door at the end of the hall and nudged it open.
It was filled with stacked tables, St. Patrick’s Day decorations, and racks of unused glasses.
Addie stood in the center of the space, and spun to face him.
“Addie,” he murmured.
She swallowed. “Bram, I…”
“You disappeared,” he said.
Her head jerked. Her blonde hair was up in a jumbled bun on top of her head. It always made him think of strands of golden sunshine.
