Page 69 of Intimately Faithful

That was some Irish logic and it made her laugh because she felt exactly the same. Her heart swelled so rapidly she was dizzy with relief and euphoria.

Tension fled, and she clung to him, actions over words were needed here, even when Misha stirred and began to fuss for being squashed between two bodies, she just held on tight and breathed in his scent. Knowing for now she was safe and back with Danny.

Boss want back.

Playing on a loop, she knew it would only be a matter of time.

SIXTEEN

“Accept the signs. God doesn’t stutter… nor does he make mistakes.” – Danny

“Nah, nothing to worry about. He was a third-rate lackey at best, hardly on the Russian totem pole. Capone had a friendly word with him. My boy doesn’t take kindly to men treating women, especially with kids, badly. The guy sang like a canary. He was paid to bring her back to where his boss is. He kept saying she had something that belonged to Grigori.”

Misha. Danny thought. The Russian mobster wasn’t stopping in trying to find his kid. But then why, out in the open, with a man twice Aoife’s size, didn’t the Russian try to snatch Misha?

It didn’t make sense.

“Thanks for being there,” Danny told Lawless. He hadn’t wanted to come inside, so the pair were speaking outside his house.

“This isn’t our usual gig, you get me, holy man? I’m not chasing down girls, so tell yours to stay parked, or next time my guy might not notice she’d slipped out and followed her.”

Danny was still sick over it. He assured it wouldn’t happen again.

“I think you gotta consider giving the kid back, or he won’t stop hounding your girl. This guy doesn’t play fair, he’ll get nasty. And you have bigger religious fish to fry, if you catch my drift.”

Danny knew that. He hadn’t stopped thinking about how this would affect his job and place in the community if it worsened. But it was only a passing thought because he knew he’d do anything … give up anything, to keep her safe.

He wasn’t lying.

She was his world. The love of his life.

It didn’t matter to him how she’d come back to him.

He took his signs where he found them.

If you asked God for help while you were stuck in the snow and he sent a sleigh and you didn’t get on it, assuming help would come elsewhere, then it’s on you when you died. Danny prayed for help and it came in the guise of toughened bikers.

But to take their advice and give up Misha, when his heart was already in the tiny palm of her hand? He wouldn’t do it.

“Would you hand over a child to a man like that?”

“As despicable as thebratvaare, he’s not gonna kill his own kid.” Offered Lawless. Danny couldn’t tell whether he believed his own words, the biker was oddly unreadable. “They’re a business. He’s about making money.”

Danny wasn’t so sure.

He went back inside, locked up and found Aoife where he’d left her with a worried look on her face.

He went to her instantly, taking her in his arms, only then did he feel like he could breathe easily.

She clung and buried her face in his chest. Pawing at his shirt as she trembled.

He hated her being afraid and this problem of theirs had just become all the more real.

For the last week, while she’d been hidden in his house, playing happy families together, reacquainting to each other’s needs again, it had felt like a page from a book. A dream come true and not altogether real. It was as if he’d forgotten the reason that had brought her to him again.

Knowing she’d been approached by a very dangerous man still put ice in his veins to realize how close he came to losing her and Misha.

“Danny?”

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