Chapter 25
Lily stared down at the second half of her grilled cheese.
She didn’t really have to eat all of it, right?
Harvey picked up the sandwich and held it to her mouth. “Open up.”
Before coming here she’d have never imagined eating dinner at a kitchen island.
Dinner was always extremely formal, eaten at the dining table and would never be just grilled cheese. Her mother would die of horror if she was served up grilled cheese for dinner.
“I can feed myself,” she told him, feeling a blush of embarrassment fill her face.
“But will you?” he said. “Because it didn’t look like you were going to pick up the other half and eat it.”
Urgh. Drat. He wasn’t wrong.
“I’m really not that hungry.”
“Baby, you ate the equivalent of one piece of bread and two slices of cheese, if that. It’s not enough. I know you’ve barely eaten all day. Do you want me to do a choo-choo train or something?” He grinned at her.
Good Lord. She rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head, and reached for the sandwich, taking it from him so she could feed herself.
The man was out of control.
“We’re going to get you back into fighting form, baby, even if I have to feed you every meal myself.”
“You don’t have time for that. What about your job? Shouldn’t you be getting back to it?”
He shrugged. “I’m my own boss, so I gave myself some time off. And my assistant is happy. She’s currently sunning herself on an island in Fiji. She’d be mad if I made her come back early.”
“Oh, wow. That does sound nice,” she said. “I’ve never been out of the country.”
“Really? Not even when you were a kid?”
“No. I don’t think my mother liked to travel much.
She’d send us to Grandma June’s, but I never really liked it there.
I found the whole thing overwhelming. I didn’t know the rules of Grandma June’s place.
I knew the rules back home, what Mother expected of us, and I was good at playing the game so she wouldn’t get mad at me.
” She shook her head at the memories. “Clem wasn’t good at playing the game.
I tried to do what I could to keep Mother’s attention on me.
I even tried to get Mother to leave me at home and just send Clem because I knew how much she loved it there.
I just didn’t fit in. Mother always went on about how it was a depraved place filled with people doing terrible things, but I don’t understand what she meant. ”
“Where is it?”
“Haven, Texas. Have you heard of it?”
“Sounds like it could be an interesting place to visit.”
She would love to be able to visit Clem, but she was pretty certain that she wouldn’t be welcome.
Harvey picked up the piece of sandwich again and held it to her mouth. “Seems like I am going to have to feed you after all.”
Oops, she hadn’t realized that she’d put it back down. She had a bad habit of letting her emotions affect her appetite. Whenever she was upset, sad, or worried, she just couldn’t eat.
“Come on, open wide.”
“Give that back to me,” she told him.
“Nope, you had your chance. Now I’m going to feed you.”
So she ended up taking a bite of the sandwich while he held it. It felt weirdly intimate. A bit strange.
But a part of her kind of liked it.
She ate the whole sandwich. Which was surprising. “I ate it all!”
“Yeah, baby,” he said as he cleaned up.
“My mother liked to say that a lady should never finish her meal. That men don’t like greedy women.”
“Well, I like my woman to be healthy and well-fed.”
“Yeah, Clem once replied that men didn’t like starving women who were mean bitches. My mother gasped in horror at that and sent her out. I think Clem ate in the kitchen with James.”
“I didn’t see James at the house. Just a woman, a bit younger than your mother with dark hair.”
“That’s Selena. She’s not very nice. I always had to be careful what I said or did around her, because I knew she would report anything back to my mother.”
“Yes, she seemed the type to do that.”
“Do you think the break-in at your house was random?” she asked.
It had playing on her mind. Had it been a coincidence that his place had been broken into? Maybe it was due to his work, or perhaps it was due to her. But she couldn’t imagine her mother ever breaking into his house looking for her.
“No. There was something very odd about it. Nothing was really taken. The camera footage showed a person dressed in black, but I couldn’t see their face. It could be somebody who was disgruntled with me over something else, or it could have just been random.”
“Do you have many people disgruntled with you?” she asked as he led her into the living room and they sat on the sofa. He sat in the corner and slid around so his back was against the armrest. Then he pulled her between his open legs and drew a blanket over the two of them.
For a moment, she was stiff, unable to relax, but he started to lightly massage her shoulders.
A moan of enjoyment escaped her.
That felt amazing.
“Baby, you’re all tense. Do you want a proper massage?”
“A proper massage? With a stranger? No, I don’t think so.”
“No, I meant with me. I’ll lie you down on the bed and give you a good massage.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said. “You already do so much. You’re doing all the cooking. Every time I go to clean, you’ve already done it. I don’t even know what to do.”
And she realized in that moment that she was feeling a bit lost.
“Hey, you don’t have to do anything.” He lifted her, turning around so she straddled his waist. “All you need to do is concentrate on getting stronger.”
“I am getting stronger, though,” she said with frustration.
“I don’t want to be seen as weak and delicate.
I can do things. I can help find out what Mother and Dr. Wallace are doing.
Yes, that’s exactly what I can do. You can use me to find out what’s going on.
If anyone has any chance of getting them to talk, it will be me. Take me to the clinic.”
“What?”
“You said that Dr. Wallace wants me to come in, right?”
“Yes, he did. In fact, he even called me just before and sounded even more desperate to get his hands on you.”
“Which is why you should give me to him.”
“I’m not following your logic, baby. Why would I give you to the man that probably drugged you?”
“Because I’ll be bait. He’s desperate, and he’ll slip up. He’ll talk and I’ll be able to find out what’s going on. You could even monitor me with a camera or a microphone or something.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I’m completely serious. I don’t think confronting my mother would work. She’s not likely to tell me what is going on. And even if I can’t get Dr. Wallace to talk, maybe I’ll see something while I’m there.”
“Baby, that’s not happening.” He cupped her face between his hands. “Pay attention to what I am saying. You will not be used as bait.”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Why not?”
“Because you are far too precious to me to ever risk you like that. I won’t hear of it. Don’t say it again.”
“You’re so frustrating. You know that, right? If I want to put myself at risk, I can.” She threw her head back and glared down at him while crossing her arms over her chest.
To her surprise, instead of getting angry, instead of yelling or scolding her, he just gave her a huge smile.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked, confused. “Why aren’t you upset?”
“Did you want me to be upset?” he asked.
“Well, no, but I don’t get it. Why are you smiling?”
“Because you just told me what you want. I just love seeing you grow stronger, baby.”
Wow. What had she done to deserve this man? She had no idea, but she was glad that she had decided to keep him.
“So that means you’ll let me do it? You’ll let me be bait for Dr. Wallace?” she asked.
“Oh, hell no. We’ll figure out what’s going on without you being involved.”
“How, though? We have no idea why they were doing this to me. I just want some answers.” Frustration was building inside her, and she clenched her hands into fists.
“We’re going to get those answers.”
“But how will you figure out what’s going on? No one will tell you anything.”
“They will, once I get them in the right place. After the break-in this morning, Ronan is ready to move in on them, but he doesn’t want any attention brought on the family.”
She didn’t quite understand what he meant. “Attention?”
“From the cops.”
“Is that because I mean . . . are you . . . are you the Mafia?” she blurted out.
He didn’t want to burst into laughter and make her think he was laughing at her, but the way she said that was so adorable. It was said quietly, as though she didn’t want anyone to hear, even though there was no one else in the room.
And she looked so worried as she waited for his answer.
“No, baby. We’re not the Irish Mafia.”
“Are you sure?”
“Fairly sure,” he said.
“Oh.”
“Are you disappointed that we’re not?” he asked, surprised by her reaction.
“Oh, no, no. Of course not. It’s just the way you spoke, it sounded like you might have been.”
“No, we’re not the Mafia. As I said before, Ronan runs the family business. He has a number of guys working for him in security and information, you could say.”
“He owns a security business?”
“Yeah, that’s kind of part of it. On the surface he runs a business that hires people out as bouncers and bodyguards.
But secretly, he also deals in information.
That part isn’t for public knowledge. In my grandfather’s day it was a bit more complicated and my father wanted nothing to do with it.
But when he and my mum died, and my grandfather took us all in, he started preparing Ronan to take over.
I guess my brother felt a sense of obligation toward our grandfather.
It would have killed something inside us to be separated, which is probably what would have happened if Grandfather hadn’t stepped up. ”
“So, Ronan went into the family business because of him.”