Page 50 of Catch Him
“I’m not sure you can say that when it’s actually happening.”
“Tell security, she doesn’t leave,” Declan commanded.
Flynn laughed. “Dude, she just got there. I don’t think she has any intention of going anywhere until you show up.”
Declan disconnected the call and looked up to see Jillian smiling.
“I am so fucking impressed right now.”
“This is not a happy event, Jill. She has no idea what’s she done. Mary is in jeopardy, now Sinead’s life is in danger too.”
“Then go save them both. Isn’t that what you love to do?”
“Fuck you, Jill.”
“Just keeping it real, brother. You’ll do what needs to be done. You always do.”
* * *
It tookDeclan nearly an hour to make his way out of the city into the rural sleepy town of Middleburg, Virginia. His grandfather’s farm, that he’d bought and rebuilt for Mary, was tucked amongst gentle rolling hills. It was a big and sprawling farm, but most importantly it was private. A privacy he’d reinforced with a wall that surrounded the entire property. There was security staff inside the house, and for good measure twenty-four-hour surveillance outside the house as well.
The only way Sinead would have been able to get past the security gate was if Mary let her in. Which begged the question why Mary was allowing strangers onto the farm when she knew how much trouble she was currently in with her ex.
Or more accurately, her ex father-in-law.
Beyond that, she was in a fragile emotional state. As much as Declan felt for Sinead and her situation, he could not allow her to upset Mary.
When he got to the gate, he pressed his thumb against the access panel. He drove up to the large sprawling red brick mansion and popped out of his black Mercedes SUV. He was only mildly aware of the sense of anticipation he was feeling on the prospect of seeing her again.
He needed to control that. Showing no emotion, or only the emotion he wanted to project, was the first lesson of his particular game. He’d failed with Sinead. He’d given her everything. He needed to take that back.
He walked through the unlocked door. “Mary!”
“We’re in here.” His sister’s voice was coming from the right. Declan turned into the parlor and there she was.
Unruffled in jeans, a simple but pretty white blouse he didn’t remember, and a black leather coat that made her look a little dangerous. But it was the red fuck-me heels that drove him crazy. Because he knew she’d bought them just for this showdown.
Her hair was down around her shoulders, not tied back in a ponytail, and somehow that meant something to him. Like she wanted him to see her as confident rather than meek.
He’d never thought of Sinead as meek. She’d survived too much for that. The way she let him fuck her… no, there was nothing meek about that either. This woman, the one sitting in his sister’s parlor calmly drinking a cup of tea, showing no expression whatsoever on her face…. this was not the woman he’d left behind.
He thought her even hotter than the shy woman he’d met that first night.
Fuck him.
No, he thought. He wanted to fuck her instead.
Dec struggled for control. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said, he hoped coolly.
Carefully, she set the tea cup down, and there it was. The slight rattle of the cup in the saucer that betrayed her casualness.
“But here I am,” she said.
“Dec, don’t be mad,” Mary said as she stood and walked over to him. “When she buzzed at the gate she told me she knew you and all this stuff about Garrett. I had to talk to her…”
“Mary. Stop talking. Sinead, would you please come with me.”
She shrugged. “Sure. But you shouldn’t tell your sister to stop talking. She has a say in this too. She’s a grown woman.”
