Page 62 of Tempting Irish

Yeah, definitely not going to like thisgame.

“Fine. But I gofirst.”

Henods.

“Are you still in love with Emer?” I don’t know why I ask, maybe as a way to put a shield between us. Maybe because it’s still my biggestfear.

He coughs and looks over at me, his expression severe. “No.”

I don’t know if I believehim.

“But youwere?”

“That’s twoquestions.”

“Were you?” Ipush.

“Maybe.” His knuckles whiten around the steering wheel, and he sighs. “Not sure I’ve ever been in love the way ye’re meaning. Emer and the guys; they’re my family. It’s a different kind of love. Took me a while to realizethat.”

I’m still not convinced he’s telling the whole truth. I read the note he wrote her. The words that spilled from hisheart.

Silence stretches between us for a long moment, and I think he thankfully forgot about hisgame.

Until he asks, “Are ye running fromsomeone?”

I go still, my fingers curling into tiny fists beside me. Why did he keeppressing?

“No,” I mumble, with a tug of dread, knowing he won’t let itgo.

“Thetruth.”

“That is the truth,” Ilie.

He grunts. “Then why’d ye come back to Ireland after all thistime?”

“Finally had enough money for a plane ticket.”Partialtruth.

“If ye’d asked any one of us, we would have bought ye one. At anytime.”

“It’s been ten years since I talked to anyone. I didn’t know if you’d even remember me. Which youdidn’t.”

He takes his eyes off the road for a brief second, his gaze narrowing on me. “In my defense, ye were twelve the last time I sawye.”

“I know.” I rub my palms on my jeans, which are finally starting to dry. “I wrote toyou.”

One eyebrow rises. “When?”

“Almost every day for ayear.”

“I never got a letter fromye.”

“Yeah. I figured that after I spoke with Emer. I’m pretty sure Frank….” I inhale a deep breath and look out the window, clamping my lips shut, hating how he was able to coax from me the secrets I’d tried so hard tobury.

“Frank’s the man yer mommarried?”

I nod, wishing I hadn’t mentioned the asshole’s name, because I feel the well burst inside my chest, the need to get out all the toxins I’d been holding in for solong.

“She left him when I was fifteen. Met some truck driver from Fort Lauderdale. Dave, or Dan, I can’t remember his name. It didn’t last long. I got a call from her a year later saying she’d found her soulmate, that she was setting up a house in Colorado for us. The guy was some top cheeseCEO.”

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