I kiss her forehead, wanting to understand. “But why did that ruin the town? Weren’t people here before some big promise?”
She’s silent for a beat too long, and I don’t understand how I’m missing the mark.
“My dad was counting on the business. Bought new equipment to help with the clearing of the land for the ski runs. He was promised a contract that would pay them, but... then... “
“Then he was left with a debt he couldn’t afford.”
“Exactly,” she murmurs. “And now he has nothing.”
I run my hand over her bare shoulder, pulling her close. Hating that my mother’s husband’s company did this her family.
She falls asleep in my arms and as I hold her tightly, I vow to right his wrongs.Chapter TenBellaI fell asleep in his arms after swearing him off forever—but I couldn’t stay away.
I didn’t want to stay away.
I wanted him.
And now I awaken again, in an empty bed.
My eyebrows crease, how did he manage to get out of bed on his own? But the room is warm, despite the fact, the fire is out and the lamp at the bedside table glows. Electricity must have returned while we slept.
I wrap his robe around my body and enter the corridor. “Ronan?”
He calls my name from the end of the hall.
“I’m in here, Bella.”
I pad down the hall and find him in the exquisite library. My novel from last night is open on the couch, but he’s on a club chair with his injured leg propped on a cushion, and a laptop balanced on his lap.
“Working through the pain?” I smirk. “You don’t need to prove how manly you are. I got a pretty good idea of it last night.”
He gives me a grin and my belly blooms with delight. His smile could move mountains.
“I wanted to thank you,” he says. “For all you did for me yesterday.”
My eyes widen, and I walk toward him, wanting to get a look at his wounds. “I should be thanking you. You saved my life, Ronan, and risked your own.” I sit down on the floor, at his feet, and look up at him.
Our eyes lock on one another and traces of our conversation in the middle of the night return to me.
I told him things I may not have in the light of day but at last, he knows. It’s too late to pull back and I don’t want to. I want to move forward with him and being honest is the only way I know how. I may have the instinct to run when things are hard but I have a feeling Ronan is worth sticking it out for.
“Guess we were both lucky, then,” he says. “But I think it was more than luck.”
I twist my lips, remembering more of what he had said. “I know. We said the other day it was fate.”
“Were we wrong?” he asks directly. “Because I think it was more than fate, Bella.”
I draw in a breath, thinking about my father. What would he think of this? Of Ronan and me?
“I know what you’re thinking,” he says.
I scoff. “No, you don’t. You hardly know me, Ronan.”
“I know enough.”
I shake my head. “I may have been a virgin needing a man to save me the other night, but I’m also a strong woman in my own right. I’m nearly done with school, have a career all planned out and I don’t need a man who just met me telling me what was fate. It isn’t that simple.”
He runs a hand over his beard, the beard that tickled me into submission last night. “What if it is?” His eyes are lit, and I know there is more to his smile than he lets on. “Look, if it’s your father you’re worried about, I have that more than covered.”
“What do you mean?”
“I paid his debts this morning.”
When I frown, confused at his words, he points to his laptop and smiles. I focus on Ronan’s words, not the luxury of heat and lighting. “What do you mean you paid his debts?
“Exactly as it sounds. I called a few guys who helped me locate your father’s debts and I paid them off. Your student loans too.”
I lean back. My student loan debt is nearly eighty thousand dollars and I know my dad’s debt is near that as well.
“What are you talking about Ronan?” I shake my head. I don’t want him to try and fix things with a check. That isn’t how the real world works. Not that a rich man like Ronan would understand anything about the real world. To him, life is a fantasy. Just look at this house and anyone could see that. “Money doesn’t fix everything. It’s the spirit of the town that is broken.”
He twists his lips. “But aren’t you glad I did?” He closes his laptop and sets it on the table beside him. “Now you don’t need to resist the idea of you and me. Of us.”