Liam's Perfect Woman (Home to Harbor Town 2) - Page 61

Natalie started guiltily from her hyper-focus on the exchange when the door was flung open and suddenly she was face-to-face with Brigit Kavanaugh.

“You,” Brigit said softly.

The word seemed to lance straight through Natalie. There was little doubt what Brigit meant, innocuous as her utterance may seem. It’d sounded like a malediction ringing in Natalie’s ears. Liam’s mother clearly held Natalie responsible for turning her calm family life upside down.

Brigit rushed past her.

A moment later, Natalie heard the front door slam and she was staring at Liam, whose face looked tinged with gray in the dim light.

Natalie stood on Liam’s terrace, squinting to make out the shimmering lake. The night was black. Clouds had swept in that evening, obliterating even starshine.

She heard the screen door squeak and close and knew Liam had joined her. Her hands twisted together nervously. They hadn’t spoken much since they’d stood in the hallway of the Family Center. They’d left the fundraiser soon afterward, driven to his cottage and made dinner.

You heard? Liam had asked her as they stood there in the hallway.

Natalie had nodded her head, embarrassed that she’d eavesdropped on something so personal. Liam had just taken her hand and led her out of the building. For the last two hours, she’d still been vibrating with the shock of hearing the encounter. She thought it was similar for Liam, given his absorption and distance.

Now that the shock was wearing off, uncertainty and nervousness were starting to creep into her awareness. Liam’s approach from behind her on the darkened terrace only seemed to amplify her anxiety.

Surely she should leave. She’d overstayed her welcome here. Liam had other things to think about. Perhaps even now he was rethinking the wisdom of becoming involved with her—

“Are you wondering why I didn’t tell you that my mother grew up in the same town as Lincoln DuBois?”

She inhaled slowly. His voice had resounded from just behind her. Yet he didn’t touch her, Natalie realized with a sinking feeling. She sighed and glanced down. After only a few days, she’d become accustomed to Liam’s tender caresses. Their absence now seemed telling.

“Why didn’t you?” she asked.

“I wanted to ask my mother first. It only seemed fair. In case it didn’t mean anything. I was going to tell you, I just wanted to give my mom a chance to give her side first.”

“I understand,” Natalie said.

He put his hands on her shoulders and urged her to turn. He was a tall shadow looming over her. She couldn’t make out his features, but she sensed his intensity.

“Do you?” he asked.

“I’ve told you before how important I think family is. Of course you wanted to speak to your mother about it before you mentioned anything to me.”

“It’s got nothing to do with family loyalty,” Liam said, a hint of frustration in his voice. “I just…I’m starting to think she’s hiding something.”

“Then let’s stop. Let’s stop, Liam.”

He’d pulled her in contact with his body, so she felt the shock that went through him at her resolute tone.

“How can you say that with so much certainty, when you’re the one who started this? Wouldn’t you regret it…stopping?”

She put her arms around his waist. “I might regret not stopping,” she said, her throat thick with emotion. She thought of what she’d told him when she first visited the cottage, here on this very patio where they now stood. She’d told him there was a chance he might love his father more if he knew the truth of what had motivated Derry that night, not less.

After hearing Brigit’s and Liam’s heated exchange at the Family Center, she was starting to realize just how naive—how selfish—she’d been in saying that.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Liam,” she whispered.

For a few seconds he didn’t speak. The tension increased in his body. She kept her gaze trained on his shadowed face as if she could read every nuance of his expression, even though the shadows blinded her.

“We’re not stopping,” he said. “We’re not stopping any of it.”

His mouth covered hers, and Natalie knew in that second that Liam’s passion had captured her soul…ruled it. Her awkwardness, her unanswered questions, her anxieties and curiosity about the crash—all those things had once been sovereign in her mind.

Now they receded to the background, bowing down to a new master.

Tags: Beth Kery Home to Harbor Town Billionaire Romance
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