He cursed the men in her life who had made her so distrustful. Though she'd never told him about her past, Brian sensed that she'd been hurt, and not just once or twice. He was loath to believe that he'd be another name on that list. But the choice had been hers, not his. He'd admitted his feelings for her and now it was up to her.

"What time is this supposed to start?" Brian asked.

Taneesha held out the press release. "Three p.m. sharp. Why are we here? I thought you'd already edited this piece."

"I'm not happy with it yet," Brian said. "There's something missing."

"Hello," Bob said, peering out the front window of the news van. "What's this?"

Brian stood between the two front seats and watched as a line of vehicles drove onto the property. As each one stopped, five or six people hopped out, each of them carrying a sign and a plastic garbage bag. Brian chuckled. "We have a protest. Maybe this is worth covering."

"Who are they?" Taneesha asked. "And what's with the garbage bags?"

"They're commercial fishermen," Brian said. "And dockworkers." He caught sight of a familiar shock of white hair. "Aw, hell, that's my da out there." Brian yanked the side door open and jumped out of the van. "Set up outside. I think this might get interesting."

Brian wove through the growing crowd of people, their signs clearly putting them in opposition to Richard Patterson's plans for the waterfront. He caught up with his father just as Seamus Quinn was shouting directions to a group of dockworkers.

"Da!"

The older man turned, then broke into a grin. "Hey, boyo! Are you here to put us on the news? Make sure you shoot me from my good side." He grabbed a wizened old man and pulled him over. "You should talk to Eddie here. He used to operate a fishing boat right off that pier over there, the Maggie Belle. Brought in the biggest load of codfish in Boston fishing history. When was that, Eddie?"

"That would have been 1952," Eddie said.

"What's in the garbage bags, Da?"

"Never you mind," Seamus said.

Brian shook his head. "Don't do anything stupid, all right? I'm not going to have time to bail you out of jail."

The crowd began to shout and Brian turned and saw two black limousines rumbling down the dusty road. The reporters moved in a swarm to catch Richard Patterson as he emerged from the car. But Brian was waiting for someone else. Lily stepped out of the next limo, frowning as she took in the unruly crowd of protesters and the clamoring reporters.

Apprehension niggled at Brian's brain. He didn't like the way things were beginning to look. The protesters seemed a little too volatile and the reporters were more interested in the protesters. He tried to catch Lily's eye, but she moved closer to Patterson and whispered something in his ear. Then they walked toward the small stage that had been set up at the head of the pier.

"Save our waterfront!" the crowd began to chant. "No more development!"

Lily forced a smile as she stepped in front of the microphone. But just as she began to introduce Richard Patterson, all hell broke loose. Something flew out of the crowd and hit the podium. Brian rushed forward and more objects whizzed through the air in the direction of Patterson. It was then he realized the protesters were throwing dead fish-and from the smell, they were more than a few days dead.

"Go back to the van," he shouted to Bob. "Taneesha, keep the tape rolling."

Brian shoved through the crowd of protesters as they surged toward the podium. The reporters backed away, not willing to risk a close encounter with a rotten fish. Richard Patterson had already disappeared behind a wall of bodyguards, but he'd left Lily to fend for herself, dodging and ducking flying fish.

Brian reached her a few seconds later and she was still trying to calm the crowd. "Come on," he shouted. "You've got to get out of here."

"No!" Lily said.

With a low curse, Brian grabbed her legs and pulled her off her feet. She fell over his shoulder and he carried her through the crowd to the news van. Bob slid the door open as Brian approached.

"Put me down!" Lily shouted, kicking her feet. "I can handle this!"

"The hell you can," Brian said.

"Brian, put her down!" Seamus shouted just outside the van. "Don't you go actin' the hero. You know what happens."

Brian ignored his father and the rotten fish that hit him on the shoulder. Lily screamed as another fish hit her head. When he reached the van, Brian dropped her inside, then climbed in after her.

She brushed the hair out of her eyes and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Saving your pretty little butt," Brian said.

"I can't let these people scare me," Lily said. "You have to stand up to protesters. If you wanted to help me, why didn't you call the police so they could arrest them all and throw them in jail."

"Isn't security your responsibility?" Brian asked. "After all, this was your ground-breaking ceremony, not mine."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you," Lily snapped. "This is just great news for you."

"You think I wanted to come to your rescue?" Brian asked, his anger getting the better of him. He'd just dragged her to safety! The least she could do was thank him. "I might as well have tied an anchor around my neck and thrown myself off the end of the pier. Now I'll have to marry you."

Lily gasped. "What?"

"The curse," Brian said, raking his hand through his hair. "I save your life and that's it. It's all over. The curse. There's no going back now."

"Don't be ridiculous. You didn't save my life. No one ever died from getting hit by rotten fish."

"Well, I saved you from danger. More than once. About five or six times by my count. That all adds up."

"And you think that means I'm going to marry you? You're crazy."

"You won't have a choice in the matter," Brian said. "It's already been decided."

Bob cleared his throat. "Would you like me to leave?" he asked.

Brian ignored him, fixing his attention on Lily. "It's not such a bad idea, you know. You can't deny that there's something between us and it's more than just sexual attraction."

Lily shook her head. "You're wrong. And you know you're wrong. This is all just about the pursuit. You're going after me just like you go after a story, no holds barred. But once you get me, you'll just move on to something new, someone prettier or more interesting, someone who can hold your attention for a little longer than I could."

"Lily, that's not true."

"I am going to leave you two alone," Bob said. He opened the driver's side door to the van.

"No!" Lily cried. "I was just leaving." She jumped out of the side door and started through the crowd of protesters toward the second limo that waited, the fish flying again. Brian watched her, ready to jump to her aid if anyone tried to stop her. But the protesters were happy enough to have broken up the event and limited themselves to a few derisive shouts in her direction. She crawled in the limo and it quickly sped away, the tires kicking up a cloud of dust on the gravel road.

"Did you just ask her to marry you?" Bob inquired.

Startled out of his thoughts, Brian glanced to the front seat of the van. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"I told her I was going to marry her," he murmured. "I didn't ask. There's a difference."

"It was a full-ON disaster," Lily said. "Rotten fish everywhere. It's been all over the news. And there was a photo of me on page nine of the Herald. Actually, not me but my backside. My very big backside."

Lily grasped the newspaper as she paced back and forth in her office. After yesterday's horrific groundbreaking ceremony, she had scrambled to cover all the public relations ramifications. She'd issued a statement to the press touting Richard Patterson's belief in the right to protest, yet his determination to see the Wellston project move forward. She'd answered questions from reporters and analyzed media coverage of the melee. Everything seemed as if it would be all right-until the Boston Herald hit the newsstand.

"It can't be that bad," Emma said, her sympathy diminished only slightly by the distance between them. "You always have a tendency to exaggerate when you're upset."

"He threw me over his shoulder and carried me off the stage," Lily said.

"Who? Patterson?"

"No, Brian Quinn. It was so… mortifying. The Herald got a photo and now, the news media is all over it. Two stations ran tape of it on their noon news and not in the news segments either. They're using it as humor. There's one piece of tape that shows me getting hit in the head with a rotten fish. Before I know it, that tape will end up on one of those bloopers shows." Lily moaned. "And that's not the worst part."

"There's worse?"

"I think he may have asked me to marry him. I'm not sure. I mean, it wasn't a traditional proposal. He tossed me into his news van and said we had to get married."

"This guy sounds like he's a few sandwiches short of a picnic. He hauls you around like some caveman, then demands that you marry him. Lily, what do you see in a guy like that?"

"Oh, that's not the way he is," Lily explained. "He's usually so sweet and considerate. But he's also dangerous." She paused. "And funny… and he's smart, really smart."

"It sounds like you're in love."

"I'm mostly confused," Lily said. "And maybe a little in love."

"A little?"

"Yeah," she admitted, pleased with the thought. "Or maybe I'm just in love with the idea of being in love. It's been so… intense between us, so passionate. I didn't think I was capable of such desire. But the rational side of me knows that this will all fade over time and I'll discover that I'm not in love. Or maybe, it won't fade and he'll discover he's not in-"

"Stop trying to overthink this. Do you or don't you love him?"

She ignored Emma's question, unable to answer it at the moment. "I've already written my letter of resignation. I can't be effective here. I'm a joke."

"Lily, don't make any rash decisions. Don't react emotionally. Isn't that what you always tell your clients? Take some time, see how things play out. Maybe they aren't as bad as you think."

Lily stared down at the newspaper, at the awful photograph. "Oh, they're bad, all right. If you'd like to come to Boston, I can recommend that you replace me. I think I can talk Patterson into keeping the agency on, but with another account manager. And maybe, if I can do that, I can save my job at DeLay Scoville. If not, Gallagher Public Relations will be launched and I'll be eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and buying my designer shoes at K-Mart."

A soft knock sounded on her office door and Marie poked her head inside. "Mr. Patterson would like to see you," she whispered, a worried expression on her face.

"Thanks, Marie." She sent the girl an encouraging smile, then turned her attention back to Emma. "I have to go. I've been summoned. Wish me luck."

"You won't need luck, Lily. Everything will be just fine."

Lily hung up the phone, then slowly stood, taking a last look around her office. She'd already gathered what few personal items she'd brought along and packed them in a bag, just in case. But as she walked to the door, Lily found herself strangely calm.

This all seemed part of some grand cosmic plan. The way Brian talked, they'd been destined to be together from the moment they'd met. Though it was a wonderful fantasy, that was all it was. As soon as they put some distance between them, this overwhelming attraction would fade. It was all about lust and not about love. Lily was honest enough to admit that to herself.

She walked out of the office to find Marie hovering near her desk. "Miss Gallagher, is everything all right?"

"Probably not. But you don't need to worry. It's not your fault."

Lily moved toward the elevator and waited. But the moment she stepped inside, she realized that she should have taken the stairs. Her mind flashed back to the night she and Brian had been caught inside. What had ever possessed her to make love to him in an elevator? She'd lost all sense of professional and personal decorum since she'd arrived in Boston.

But as the doors opened up, Lily couldn't bring herself to step out. She remembered the words he'd said to her and how hard it had been to believe him. Did he really love her or was it just the passion of the moment that had brought the sudden declaration? The doors began to close and she quickly stepped out, putting that night behind her for good.

Mrs. Wilburn was coldly efficient as she showed Lily into Patterson's office, not bothering to offer her coffee. This time, she wasn't greeted with a smile. Patterson's dour expression clearly telegraphed the subject of their meeting. She'd never been fired before, but now that she'd accepted her fate, she felt almost calm.