“What’s that?” she asked.
He unsnapped the case. “My stepfather’s old service revolver.”
She flinched. “What are you going to do with that thing?”
He lifted a sardonic eyebrow. “Keep it close.”
“You really think that’s necessary? Do you know how to use it?”
He pulled out a box of bullets, flipped open the cylinder, and loaded the gun. “Yes, and yes. I could have used this in your stairwell last night. And of course I know how to use it. Jesus, what a question.” He tucked it into the back of his jeans and shrugged on his shirt.
She shivered at the thought of the deadly thing, cold against the warm skin of his back. “Do you have a license to carry concealed?”
He looked directly into her eyes. “I’ll arrange to get one. I’ve never needed one before, so I never bothered.”
“But until you get one, maybe you’d just better—”
“Think it through, Nancy,” he said. “If the cops catch me carrying concealed, they’ll give me a hard time. If the bad guys catch me without it, they’ll kill me, and take you. What scenario scares you more?”
Her stomach cramped, into a cold, hard knot, and she doubled up tight around it, hugging her knees to her chest and hiding her face.
After a moment, Liam sat down on the bed beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “It’s just a precaution,” he said gently. “I’m sorry it upsets you. But I’ll feel better if I’m packing.”
She leaned into the hug. She could never get enough of them. She’d been starving for this embrace all her life and never even knew it.
And he seemed just as ravenous. They clung, nuzzling. Offering comfort with their bodies, their warmth, the strength of their limbs entwined. The patch of sun on the floor had moved across the room to the wall by the time he lifted his head and smiled at her.
“You hungry?” he asked.
“That’s the second time you’ve asked me that,” she observed. “I’m beginning to think it’s a loaded question. Are you?”
“Starving. I haven’t eaten since before the seisìun last night.”
She hadn’t eaten since the morning before that, but she thought it impolitic to say so. “You poor thing. Why didn’t you say something?”
He shrugged. “It didn’t seem important. Until now, that is.”
“Well, let’s go feed you, then! Have you got food?”
“I fixed the neighbor lady’s porch steps a month ago, and she gave me a lifetime supply of frozen pot roast stew. Get dressed.”
“Aw. Why? It feels good to be naked. Are you expecting company?”
“Eoin’s around here somewhere. I’m sure he has the good sense to keep his distance, but there are no curtains on the kitchen window.”
Liam finally compromised and enveloped her in his big green terry cloth bathrobe. They went down to feast in Liam’s big kitchen on rich, savory stew, raisin toast, crisp apples, and wedges of white cheddar. Nancy ate with uncharacteristic appetite. Having a man stare at her like that made her giddy. She practiced her femme fatale act, licking fruit juice off her fingers, and was immensely gratified when he dragged her back up to the bedroom. They came together roughly, a wild collision.
The day went by, a blur of caresses, embraces. The revolver sat on the bedside table. A small, ugly sentinel, grimly reminding her of the fear and sorrow lurking outside this little magic circle.
The sun was low and the light a deep, rosy gold when she opened her eyes and found him twirling a lock of her hair and staring into her face with something like awe. “I feel honored,” he said softly.
She gazed at him, muddled and disoriented. “You do? By what?”
“That Lucia thought I was good enough for you.”
Nancy’s eyes widened. “Oh, please,” she snapped, and then suffered a rush of guilt. “Never mind,” she muttered. “I loved her tremendously, but I’m furious with her for setting me up like that.”
He propped his head up on one hand. “Why? What’s so mortifying about her trying to fix you up? She wanted you to be happy.”
She shifted uncomfortably. “I know, but Lucia didn’t understand one of the basic laws of the animal kingdom. Men only want what they can’t have. They chase things that run. So babbling on about my availability is the kiss of death.”
Liam gently turned her face to meet his eyes. “I’m not an animal.”
“I never said you were, Liam! You’re taking this too personally!”
He shrugged. “Don’t know any other way to take things.”
She rolled back onto her side with a sigh. “I bet you wondered why a reasonably attractive woman would be so desperate that her mother has to find her a date.”
He smiled at her and smoothed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “Strike out reasonably attractive and put in drop-dead gorgeous.”
She blew a lock of hair out of her mouth, and tried to concentrate. “So, um, anyway,” she stammered. “To get back to what I was saying—”
“Incredibly gorgeous,” he reiterated.
“Yeah, we’ve been through the beauty-of-the-flower lecture. I got it, okay? Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?” she demanded crossly.
He crossed his arms behind his head. “Hell yeah. Go for it.”
“Lucia wanted save me from myself. She hated all my fiancés.”
That got his attention. He jerked up onto his elbow. “All your fiancés? What do you mean, ‘all your fiancés’?”
She huddled deeper into her quilt. “She didn’t tell you about my train wrecks o’ love?” He shook his head, and she rolled her eyes. “I was engaged three times. All three of them dumped me. Not exactly at the altar, but close. Two of them also happened to be my clients.”
He looked incredulous. “Jesus. Why? What happened?”
She plucked the quilt, feeling stupid. “They fell in love with someone else at the last minute.”
He winced. “Oh, Christ. Ouch.”
“Yeah, it sucked. At least by the time Freedy dumped me, I knew better than to get the wedding dress made in advance. I’ve only got two wedding gowns in storage, not three. One takes comfort in little things.” She stared down, afraid to see pity in his face.
“They did you a favor,” he said. “And me, too.”
“You?” She looked up at that. “How do you figure?”
He gave her a grin. “If you were married to one of them, you wouldn’t be here with me right now, and wouldn’t that be a shame?”
A little fit of giggles shook her. “You’re right. It’s just as well. Lucia nagged and nagged about how they take advantage of me.”
He shot up. “Present tense? You’re still in contact with them?”
“Of course. I told you. Two of them are my clients. Or three, I suppose I should say, counting Enid. I manage her, too.”
His jaw dropped. “These dickheads dump you for other women, and you still work sixteen hours a day managing their careers?”
“Don’t start,” she said huffily. “I have enough to bear from my sisters. We’ve put it all behind us.”
“That guy who called at five a.m., was he one of your exes?”
She hesitated. “Uh, well, yes, as a matter of fact. That was Peter, my first fiancé. He’s married to Enid, another singer whom I manage. I introduced them, ironically enough. He’s an incredibly talented—”
“Manipulator,” he supplied. “Dishonorable, self-indulgent user.”
Nancy’s chin went up. “You don’t know him.”
“I don’t want to,” Liam said promptly. “I know enough.”
She frowned. “That’s very critical, Liam. You don’t hear me making judgments, announcing that you’ve lived your life all wrong.”
“I didn’t mean to sound critical.”
She snorted. “Sure you didn’t. And I don’t mean ‘Liam, you arrogant, know-it-all bastard’ in a rude way.”
He reached, grasping her upper arms, and dragged her down on top of him. “I’m saying the wrong things, so let’s not talk,” he said.
Her face was inches from his silvery green eyes. She was embarrassed to feel her anger fizzling away under the blunt force of his masculine allure. “You can’t win an argument by seducing me.”