Hadn’t she called this paradise?
And it was. It was almost too perfect to be real. This could all be hers. If she was indeed Cullen’s granddaughter as he hoped, her life as she’d known it would be forever altered. All her debts would be erased. Her childhood home could be saved or sold, according to her whims. Her future secure for all time.
Wasn’t this what any sane person would want? Why, then, had her heart suddenly become as heavy as a boulder inside her chest?
Ross.
By rights, this should all be his. His estate. His fortune. His legacy. Without Ross, Cullen would have died that night on the streets of Dublin. Without Ross to carry on the search, Cullen never would have found his lost love, and the daughter he’d never known. Without Ross, Aidan wouldn’t be here, sampling a life so foreign to her, it was beyond her wildest imagination.
And now, instead of the reward Ross deserved for his years of love and loyalty, it could be all stripped away. If the DNA tests showed her to be Cullen’s granddaughter, Ross would forfeit any right to all of this.
The man she’d come to love would lose everything that was rightfully his, all because of her.
She stood so quickly, the tea sloshed over the rim of her cup, scalding her fingers. She took no notice as she hurried to the bedroom.
She knew in her heart of hearts what she had to do. And she must move quickly, before Cullen awoke and the courier arrived with information that could alter all their lives forever.
Ross looked up when Meath and Mayo barked. Seconds later a knock sounded on the cottage door. He silenced the dogs, then hurried over to find Bridget looking out of breath, her hair spilling out of its neat knot, her eyes wide and worried.
“Good morning, Bridget. What’s wrong?”
“Miss O’Mara said I was to give you this.” She handed him a folded note. “It must be important, for she said I was not to give it to you until after she was gone.”
“Gone? Gone where?”
The old woman shrugged. “She was calling for Sean to bring the car.”
“Car?” He looked thoroughly confused. “Whatever for?”
The old woman worried the edge of her apron, avoiding his eyes. “I believe she’s planning on leaving for the airport. I saw her suitcase packed.”
“Leaving? Now what’s this all about?” With a scowl, he started past her.
“Oh. When you see her, be sure to give her this.” Bridget reached into her pocket and withdrew a fat envelope. “The courier just delivered it as I was coming to find you.”
He stared at the envelope, then slapped it against his open palm before striding away.
The housekeeper watched him go.
As soon as he was out of sight, the frazzled look in her eyes was replaced with a wide, satisfied smile.
Pausing to scratch behind each hound’s ears, she said with a sigh, “You may as well come along, too, and watch the fireworks. However it all plays out, it should prove fascinating indeed, with Himself, as always, pulling all the strings.”
Without bothering to knock on the parlor door, Ross tore it open and strode across the room to the bedroom. Aidan’s suitcase was closed and lying on the bed. She was standing by the window, watching for the car.
He crossed the room to stand beside her, tossing her note on the cushion of the window seat. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She closed her eyes, cursing his timing. Another few minutes and she could have avoided this scene. “Just what it said in my note, Ross. I’m leaving.”
“I can read. You didn’t bother to tell me why.”
“I realized that I’ve been living in a dream world these past few days. This isn’t my birthright, Ross. I don’t belong here.”
“Isn’t that a decision you should be discussing with Cullen?”
“He’s blinded by the loss of his beloved Moira. He wants so badly to believe, that he’s lost all reality.”
“Oh, it’s reality you want?” He handed over the courier’s envelope. “Read this.”
“So soon? I was hoping…” She stared at it with a look of dread. “You haven’t read it?”
“It isn’t mine to read. It’s yours. Yours and Cullen’s. Go ahead, Aidan. Read it.”
Instead of opening it, she shocked him to the core by tearing it into tiny bits.
He hissed out a breath and tried to stop her. “Are you crazy?”
She pulled away, shredding the last of the documents. “I think I was, for a couple of days.”
“You’re not making any sense, Aidan.”
She tossed the bits of paper into a wastebasket before turning to him. Though she longed to reach out and touch him, she dared not, for fear of losing what little courage she had left. “Listen to me, Ross. You and Cullen love each other. And why not? You’re his true son.”
“And he’s more a father to me than my own ever was.”
“Without you, Cullen would have never become what he is today.”
Ross was shaking his head. “You’ve got it wrong. Without Cullen, I’d still be a street tough, probably living out my years in prison. Maybe I ought to tell you the kind of life I led before Cullen took me in.”
“There’s no need. He told me.”
“But you don’t…”
She placed a finger to his lips to still his words. The warmth of his skin beneath her fingertip caused a tiny thrill to race along her spine. “I know that because of Cullen, you’ve become a better man. And because of you, so has he. You became his reason for living, for growing as a person. That’s what family does for family. Whether I’m related or not, I can never love Cullen the way you do. I can never impact Cullen’s life the way you have.”
“And for that you’d just leave?”
“That isn’t why.” She shook her head. “Why should I have a claim on his estate? Does it make sense to hand all this over to me because of a mistake that was made two generations ago? Don’t you see? You have to let me go.”
“There’s something else going on here.” Ross bit off each word for emphasis. “What you’re planning is selfish and cruel, and now that I know you so well, I know that’s not something you’re capable of being. You’re kind and thoughtful and generous, but never cruel.”
She looked away, wondering how to make him understand. “It would be even more selfish to claim what isn’t mine. I can’t be what Cullen wants me to be. I can’t stay here. I can’t claim any of this, when it’s rightfully yours. If I leave, everything between you and Cullen will remain as it was.”
For the longest moment he merely stared at her, as the truth of her words dawned. She was turning her back on all of this because of him.
Ross felt a surge of such blinding love blooming in his heart, it had him by the throat until he could barely catch his breath.
She loved him. She was doing all of this because she loved him. Completely. Unselfishly.
Hadn’t he truly believed that such love was impossible in this world?
He fought to speak over the rock that had formed in his throat, threatening to choke him. “Aidan, all of this is Cullen’s. To do with as he pleases.”
“But he’s left it to you. The son he always wanted.” She felt tears sting her eyes and blinked furiously to keep from weeping. “And now I’ve come along and messed up everything. This is all a big mistake.”
“A mistake?” His eyes were hot and fierce. “Was the love we shared last night a mistake? What about the feelings we have for each other? Are you saying that’s a mistake, too?”
When she didn’t answer he clenched his hands at his sides. He wanted to shake her until she came to her senses.
He wanted to hold her. Just hold her. But not yet. Not just yet. They needed to get all of this out in the open and put behind them.
“All of this…” She swept her hand. “Ireland. This lovely estate. That fairy-tale town filled with good, hard-working people… It’s all a lovely dream, but for me, it’s just that. A dream. Now it’s time for the truth.”