She couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t bear that something she’d done had brought danger to him again. She needed to see him. To hug him to her and never let him go. ‘Do you know where the kids are right now?’
‘I’ll call Nat.’ He put the phone on speaker so she could hear. The kids were sitting quietly, watching a movie.
‘Do you want me to send him down?’
‘No. Don’t disturb him.’ Just hearing that he was doing something so normal made her realise she couldn’t run up there and act like a mad woman. He needed to be protected from this. Couldn’t know something was wrong. But she still needed to see him. She just had to make sure she wasn’t clingy about it. Flynn was here. He could distract her. Make her think clearly. ‘Can you bring him down when they’re finished?’ That would give her an hour or so to calm down.
‘Sure. They’re nagging us about going down to see the damage to the climbing wall but I said they couldn’t until Reid’s looked to make sure it’s safe. He’s going to do that this afternoon.’
‘Maybe we can all go down together.’ Maybe she would see something there that would give her a clue as to who was doing this.
‘Sounds good. See you when they’ve finished the movie.’
‘Okay.’
As he hung up the phone, she said, ‘I hope the wall isn’t too damaged. Carter won’t want to miss his lesson with Reid this week.’
‘None of them do. Although, if it needs some work, at least it will keep me from having a fight with Aaron about keeping him grounded while his shoulder heals. I’m not looking forward to trying to keep him off that wall for another six weeks.’
‘I could always put his arm in plaster,’ she joked.
Flynn snorted. ‘I might take you up on that.’
He bent and kissed her and she moved into the kiss, even though Cherry could come out at any moment and see them. Right now, she didn’t care. She needed the comfort and thrill of his kiss more than she cared about people knowing they were together in this way. Whatever that way was. She wasn’t sure exactly what was going on but couldn’t make herself have that conversation right now either. None of it mattered. Just this and him and Carter and their safety.
A car pulled up outside. She drew away from Flynn reluctantly in time to see Barb hop out of the passenger seat. Then the driver’s door opened and Diarmuid Brennan was standing there.
Prita let out a little cry and let go of Flynn’s hand to run around the car, throwing herself at her papa. His arms wrapped around her, one hand stroking her hair like he’d always done when she was having a moment. ‘Prita, aingeal?’
‘I’m so glad you’re here.’
‘So am I, aingeal. So am I. I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long.’
‘You’re here now.’ She pulled back and looked up at him. He looked a bit travel weary, his usual five o’clock shadow more of a rough beard and he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt rather than the usual three-piece suit without the jacket and the sleeves of his shirt rolled up that had become his ‘look’. That wasn’t the only change. There was a greater dusting of grey in his hair and beard from when she’d last seen him and there was a worried, haunted look in his light blue eyes that she hadn’t seen since just before he’d sent her away. Oh god. What was wrong?
‘What?’ he asked her, his fingers tightening a little on her arms in a loving squeeze.
‘Nothing. I’m just so glad you’re here.’ She blinked rapidly, her eyes prickling hotly.
His laughing smile faded a little as he looked into her face. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I was just about to ask you that.’
He grimaced. ‘It appears this nonsense with the man claiming to be Carter’s dad is more serious than I first thought.’ He swore. ‘He’s contacted you, hasn’t he? Is that why the police were here? What’s he been saying?’
‘Nothing. I haven’t heard anything from him.’
‘Are you sure? I thought maybe he’d found out where you were and had come up here making demands.’
‘No. Nothing like that.’
‘Then what is it? Why were the police here?’
She waved her hand. ‘It’s something else and nothing you need to worry about right now. Let me introduce you to …’ She turned to Flynn, wondering for a moment how to introduce the man who’d come to mean so much to her. But he took the worry of that out of her hands, stepping forward and extending his hand.
‘I’m Flynn Findlay. It’s lovely to finally meet you. Prita always talks so fondly about you.’
‘It’s nice to meet you.’ Diarmuid gave Flynn a firm handshake then slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tight. ‘Thanks for looking after my girl and grandson so well.’
‘It’s a pleasure. We all love Doctor Prita and Carter.’
Prita did her best to hide the frisson of pleasure that slid through her when he said the word ‘love’ and her name in such close proximity—even though she knew he meant it in a general sense and nothing more—but she could do nothing about the heat that stole into her cheeks when Flynn’s gaze settled on her as her papa said, ‘Of course you do. They’re special people.’
‘Yes. Very special.’
The way he said that, oh god, it was a caress, inside and out and she wished, wished, he meant it in the way she wanted him to, even though it was madness. She wasn’t free to be with him and he sure as hell didn’t want to be with her in a way other than what they had. Madness to think otherwise. To wish otherwise. To read anything into his words, his looks, his
