Page 1 of Stronger Than Love

Chapter One

Oonagh

(Pronounced Oo-na)

My pulse pounded in my ears and my vision swam in and out of focus as I stared at the piece of stationery in my hand.

“What do you think?” Mum watched me expectantly.

The urge to tug on my Nike trainers and run out of here threatened to win the war of emotions currently tumbling around inside me.

“Why are Niall and I having a joint birthday party?” I suppressed the shudder that trickled down my back, but a bead of perspiration formed on my brow.

Mum tutted and snatched the card out of my hand. “Because it’s your joint thirtieth birthday and you’ve avoided all celebrations for years with vague excuses and inuendoes. This year, there will be no excuses.”

I rapidly scanned the guest list on the table, my eyes fluttering closed when I came upon the name I dreaded most in the world.

Liam Doherty.

My brother’s best friend and the man who’d savagely crushed my heart when we were younger. I avoided him like the plague, or Ebola, or a really bad case of genital warts.For ten years I’d managed to avoid any sight or contact of him, and now my own mother had dragged my thirtieth birthday into the ninth level of hell and damned me to a fate worse than death.

“They weren’t excuses, Mum. I spent years working inMédecins Sans Frontières, travelling to different disease outbreak areas. I couldn’t leave the dying people to come home and cut my cake.” I deliberately rolled my eyes at her for good measure because she hated when Niall or I did that.

She sniffed, turning her nose up as if I’d mentioned a mortal sin in her presence.

Ignoring her, I slumped into the window seat to stare out into her perfectly manicured garden, watching the cheery birds land on her feeding station to feast on whatever treat she’d left them. Without thinking, I lifted a cupcake covered in pink sprinkles from the counter and joined them in their snack time.

“Oonagh! You know they’re for the lady’s guild coming over later.”

We glared at each other with the same stubborn set to our shoulders and tilt to our heads. We lived in Ireland, the land that bred Irish mothers from the day they were born. I was too like my mother in looks and personality.

Pale skin that never tanned covered in freckles, blue eyes, and red hair that refused to be tamed from its riotous mass of curls. We’d both inherited the genes from my maternal grandmother, including her temerity and attitude.

My grandpa always said red-haired Irish women had passion in their veins and fire in their bellies. It was just a pity no one actually liked those qualities.

I set my half-eaten cupcake back on the stand, meeting the narrowed gaze of my angry mother.

“How did one of my twins get all the goodness and the other the devilment?” she demanded as she snatched the offending cupcake off her stand and threw it toward me to catch.

“It’s all your fault for being greedy and having two babies at once,” I sassed back. “Niall grabbed all the good qualities while I was sleeping and left me with the leftovers.”

“Hey, that’s my good name you’re besmirching,” my twin brother Niall moaned as he sauntered in through the door.

We couldn’t be more different if we tried. He was tall with black hair like our father, and an easy confidence thatmade everyone love him. He gathered Mum in a one-armed hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“What’s up, brat?” he asked, deliberately using the childhood nickname I hated.

Instead of replying, I lifted the offending card and waved it in his direction.

His eyebrow arched as he scanned it, before a slow grin appeared. “Is it fancy dress? I could come as batman!”

Trust my brother to try and find a positive in this situation.

“I have a conference in Glasgow I’m booked to attend,” I nonchalantly dropped into the conversation. Silence engulfed me as I picked pieces off my cupcake to eat. Taking a deep breath, I finally glanced up to find Niall and Mum staring at me like I was a new species just discovered under a microscope.

“It’s your birthday.” Mum’s whisper inspired more fear than irate hollering. “We never see you on your birthday unless we go to wherever you are in the world.”

“Niall’s here,” I deflected.

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