“What did Ron-”
“Ronald,” Ellie corrected.
“What did Ronald do?”
“He made me fall in love with him. And then he made me into something I never wanted to be. And then he dumped me. And then he had the nerve to ask me to return all the gifts he’d given me.”
Liam gazed across the table at her stricken expression. She sure didn’t look like a coldhearted criminal. But she did look like a woman who might do anything for love. And sometimes that kind of woman was more dangerous than a woman bent on a life of crime. “Any man who dumps you has got to be a little crazy.”
She smiled brightly, reached over and squeezed his hand. “That’s a nice thing to say. You’re a very nice guy. Have you ever been dumped?”
“A few times,” Liam lied.
“I have this really good book you should read.” She pushed out of her chair and turned toward the bookcase on the far wall. But the combination of the wine and the quick move caused her knees to buckle. Liam bolted out of his chair and caught her before she hit the floor.
“I think maybe we can leave the book for another time,” he murmured, pulling her against his body, his mouth just inches from hers. He could feel the warmth of her breath against his chin and he fought the impulse to capture her lips.
Ellie’s eyes fluttered shut and her head swayed from side to side. “Are we dancing?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed. “Let’s dance.”
“Let’s not. I think we better get you to bed.”
“Okay. I’m a little drunk, though. I may not remember everything in the morning-but I know it will be good.”
“There won’t be anything to remember.” Liam bent and scooped her into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her into her bedroom.
He set her gently on the bed. Ellie sighed softly, then curled into a little ball, her face pressed into his jacket. “You smell good,” she said.
Liam tugged his jacket from beneath her head and slipped it on. He then pulled her shoes off and drew the blanket up around her. As he smoothed a strand of hair from her face, he bent closer and brushed a kiss across her wine-stained lips. “Good night, princess. I’ll be watching out for you.” With that, Liam turned and walked to the door.
The street was dark and empty when he reached the sidewalk. He glanced both ways before crossing to his home away from home. Spending the night in Ellie’s bed would have been far more comfortable…and convenient. But Liam never seduced a woman who didn’t want to be seduced. And, right now, Ellie was in no condition to know what she really wanted.
Though he hadn’t gotten the answers he’d been looking for, he’d gotten more. He’d learned enough to know that Ellie Thorpe was incapable of deception or cunning or greed. She was a sweet, beautiful woman, a romantic with a silly streak, a sexy temptress with a little-girl laugh. And Liam knew that the kiss he’d given her wouldn’t be the last.
He took the steps up to the attic two at a time, pushed the door open and squinted into the dark, waiting for his eyes to adjust.
“I know where you’ve been.”
Liam jumped at the sound of the voice coming out of the darkness. He spun around to find Sean sitting on the old sofa, his legs stretched out in front of him, his hands locked behind his head.
“Jeez, you scared me!” Liam cried.
His brother pushed to his feet and strolled across the room to the window. He peered through the lens of Liam’s camera. “You weren’t here. I figured I’d do some surveillance. I saw a man in Eleanor Thorpe’s apartment and I thought Pettibone had arrived.”
Liam bit back a curse. “Did you snap some pictures?” he asked matter-of-factly.
“I did. But the guy in the apartment was you.”
Liam waited for Sean to rip him a new one, but the expected rant didn’t come. “All right, I made a mistake. But I was just taking advantage of an opportunity. This is mostly your fault.”
“My fault?”
“I’m not a P.I.,” Liam said. He grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and twisted it open. “You can’t expect me to know all the rules. A few nights ago some guy broke into her apartment while I was watching her.”
“Did you get his photo?”
“No! I ran over to her place and caught the guy before he got to her. She thought I was the intruder and she hit me over the head, tied me up and called the police.”
“The police know about this?” This time Sean strung together a colorful variety of curse words.
“They don’t know about the stakeout,” Liam told him. “Conor smoothed things over. By the way, he wanted me to remind you about the baptism for Riley.”
“Don’t change the subject. This doesn’t explain what you were doing in her apartment tonight.”
“This morning, I stopped by the coffee shop a few blocks over and I ran into her. I guess the police gave her the whole story about how I saved her and how I’m a really good guy, so she asked me out to dinner and I had to accept.”
Sean raked his fingers through his hair impatiently. “What the hell were you thinking? You could have said no.” He shook his head. “Wait, you’re Liam Quinn. You don’t say no to women.”
“I was thinking it would be a helluva lot easier to watch her from inside her apartment, where there’s heat, I might add, than from up here. It’s freezing up here and there’s nothing to do. I’ve watched her apartment for three days now and nothing has happened.”
“A guy broke in.”
“Yeah, but maybe that was just a random crime.”
“Maybe it was Pettibone paying a midnight visit. Maybe she was expecting him, did you ever think of that? He won’t come back with you there.”
Liam held up his hand. “Maybe you should just take over here. I’ll get out of the way and you can do whatever it is you do.”
Sean thought about the option for a long moment, then shook his head. “Now that your cover is blown, you should keep seeing her.”
“You want me to date her?”
“See her. If that means a date, then fine, date her. The first chance you get, search her apartment.”
Liam frowned. “Isn’t that against the law?”
“Not exactly. If she invites you in and you open a few drawers, there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re not acting as an agent of the police.”
“Conor warned me to stay away from her. He kind of figured I was working on a case for you.”
“Good.”
“So what is it? Do you want me to continue seeing her or do you want me to stop?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, let me know when you do.” Liam walked back to the cooler and grabbed a ham sandwich. He’d spent so much time dragging Ellie into dinner conversation that he hadn’t had much to eat. He took a bite of the sandwich, then moved to the window. “There was one other contact. When I came out of the coffee shop she was talking to a guy. It seemed like they were arguing, but she denied it. When I asked her who he was, she just brushed me off. I didn’t want to push the point.”
“Was it Pettibone?”
Liam reached for the photo of Ronald Pettibone and stared at it for a long time. “No…I don’t know. Maybe. If it was, then he doesn’t look anything like this photo. But then Ellie doesn’t look anything like her photo.”
“If it’s him, he’ll be back,” Sean said, joining him at the window.
“She leaves her curtains open when she undresses,” Liam murmured, his gaze fixed on the apartment across the street.
“Oh, yeah?”
Liam pulled the curtains closed. “Don’t be a pervert.”
