What was Byrne’s involvement in all of this? I couldn’t bear the idea that he had anything to do with Jimmy’s death. It was Byrne who’d recruited me for IMI in the first place. I had to admit I’d often wondered why. As a candidate, I hadn’t exactly stood out among my peers.
“Uncle Gene? Does the name Daniel Byrne mean anything to you?”
He didn’t answer right away. “Not that I know of,” he finally said. “Why, lass?”
“Just wondering.”
“What are you thinking?” Smoke asked me.
I motioned for him to follow me upstairs and then thought better of it. “Are you able?”
“I’m steadier now that the pain meds have kicked in.”
Instead of leading, I followed.
“If you’re looking for a command performance, I gotta tell you, I don’t think I’m up for it yet.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Smoke, I can’t keep my hands off of you; that’s why I asked you upstairs.”
“Why did you?”
“I’m trying to connect the dots.”
He nodded.
“James Mallory Sr. worked for Arthur Vicars, the man responsible for safekeeping the jewels at the time of their disappearance. His son was one of my father’s best friends.”
Smoked raised a brow. “Your father?”
“Right. I’ll come back around to that. Anyway, Jimmy Mallory is deceased, and the man who is the current head of Irish Military Intelligence is having me tracked, and sent someone to Kinsale where Jimmy, a now-missing safe, and I all were. And finally, we all agree that none of this has anything to do with my original subject of interest—the missing Irish Crown Jewels.”
“Can you circle back to your father?”
I told Smoke about meeting Gene O’Brien in the Kinsale Cemetery while I was visiting my mother’s grave. “I was so frustrated at not being able to remember anything of her other than bits and pieces.”
“You had no other memories of your mother?”
I knocked my head with my knuckles. “Amnesia, remember?”
“But your memory was back.”
“What would make you think that?”
“That’s why you left the ranch.”
I shook my head. “No, Smoke. I’ve told you, I left the ranch because of the conversation I overheard between you and Decker.”
“What about now?”
“Do you mean my memory?”
He nodded.
“I believe the trigger was being flattened on the floor of a burnt-out building and having a ceiling fall on me.”
“That’s when it came back?”
“So it seems.”
“Come here.”
I walked closer to Smoke, and he wrapped me in his arms. “I need to tell you what you didn’t hear that day.”
“It isn’t important.”
He cupped my cheek with his palm. “It’s the most important thing of all.”
We both sat on the bed. Smoke kept my hands clasped in his. “You said the last thing you heard was me saying something about our not working together again once your amnesia went away.”
“That’s right.”
“What happened next?”
“What do you mean?”
“Decker and I were still talking.”
“Oh. I left.”
Smoke took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I thought he was about to speak, but instead, he kissed me. He cupped my face with his hands, and his mouth made love to mine. His touch was soft and gentle, slow and oh, so sweet that I felt my body and my heart melting into him. He pushed me back onto the bed and looked into my eyes.
“How does it make you feel when I kiss you?”
I turned away.
“I’ll tell you what I feel,” he said, gently turning my head back toward him. “I feel everything.”
I smiled. “Vague.”
“Things I’ve never felt before.”
“Such as?”
“Hope.”
“What are you hopeful for?”
Smoke laughed. “You aren’t going to make this easy on me, are you?”
“You could just tell me what you and Decker said after I left.”
“Okay.” Smoke took another deep breath. “I said that I was falling…that…you know…um…that I…uh…love you.”
“Did that hurt?”
Smoke put his hand on my neck. “No, the painful thing is that your response is to ask me that.”
“You asked me what I felt when you kissed me. Couldn’t you tell? Can’t you tell when I look into your eyes?”
“Siren—”
“When I woke with amnesia, my subconscious was certain I loved you and you loved me. Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think it’s because deep down, we did love each other. Deep down, we both knew that, even though our conscious minds fought against it, resisted, and denied it. There were parts of our souls that knew from the very beginning.”
“How do you feel about me, Siobhan?”
“You make me feel things I’ve never felt before, either.”
“Such as?”
“Dependence.”
Smoked closed his eyes, took yet another deep breath, and opened them. “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”
“For someone like me, it is. I feel safe with you, even when I’m feeling my most vulnerable. When Uncle Gene first told me he knew my father, I wished so much that you were there beside me. I imagined you were, and that was what gave me the strength to let him tell me more.”
“Please,” he whispered.
“I love you, Smoke. I can’t deny it. I don’t want to deny it.”
He rested his head on his hand. “We’re a pair, aren’t we? Took that long for either of us to be able to say it.”
“What’s going to happen, Smoke?”
“Between us?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a lot older than you are, Siren.”
“That’s the least of my concerns.”
“It shouldn’t be. In ten years, you’ll still be younger than I am now. Think about that.”
I shrugged. As virile as he was, he’d likely outlive me. “What about our jobs?” I had this house that I was never at, and according to Ms. Wynona, he was never at his ranch either. How could we ever be together if neither of us managed to be home?
“We’d have to work hard to figure it out.”
“I don’t want to give up my work, Smoke.”
“And I don’t want you to.”
“No one will guarantee we’ll always work together.”
“Nor do I think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
Smoke laughed. “Don’t get your hackles up. It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Then, what is it?”
“I’m not sure how effective I’d be.”
“Because you’d be too worried about protecting me?”
“Hey, you got those bandages changed yet?” said Decker, pounding
