Kate Hoffmann - Liam

“It does now,” Ellie said. “But believe me, it will fade. You’re a man. Sooner or later you’re going to feel compelled to move on.”

“Don’t lump me in with Ronald and all the others that have hurt you.”

“Why should I believe that you’re different?” Ellie asked, praying that he’d give her an answer she could believe.

“What if I loved you?” Liam asked.

Ellie sucked in a sharp breath and looked up into his eyes. She’d heard those words before and, in her experience, they usually signaled the end of a relationship rather than the beginning. Once a man said it, he believed that it gave him the license to stop trying. Then boredom would set in and then, one day, it would be over.

She’d never realized how jaded she’d become. Was she even capable of loving a man, capable of summoning the trust it required? She’d spent most of her adult life searching for the one person who would return that love. Just one person who’d make her feel as if she wasn’t all alone in the world. “That’s a nice sentiment, but saying it isn’t going to change my mind.”

“Damn it, Ellie, you can’t just walk away.”

“Yes, I can,” she said, her heart aching with tightly controlled emotion. She reached out to touch him, then thought better of it. “Goodbye, Liam. Take care.”

Ellie started toward the door, praying that, this time, he wouldn’t follow her. Yet with every step she took, she was a heartbeat away from turning around and running back into his arms. But Ellie refused to go back. She’d made her decision and now she was prepared to live with it. She’d take control of her life again and think about what she wanted beyond a romantic relationship. When she’d come to Boston, she’d resolved to spend a year without a man in her life, to put all her bad experiences in the past and begin fresh. And now she had to follow through on that promise to herself.

But as she stepped out onto the street, Ellie fought back a surge of tears. Maybe she was walking away from the best man she’d ever met. Maybe she was making the biggest mistake in her life. But she wouldn’t know for sure unless she actually walked away.

She took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life.

LIAM SAT AT THE BAR, a pint of flat Guinness sitting in front of him. It was the lunch hour and there were only a few regulars at the bar. Seamus stood at the far end, chatting with one of them while Liam flipped through the latest edition of the Boston Globe.

He’d taken a nice photo of the governor opening a new factory in Woburn that should have made the paper, but it was nowhere to be found. Well, at least he’d gotten paid, whether they printed the photo or not. And he still had the money from Sean’s embezzlement case burning a hole in his pocket.

He’d thought about buying a new lens or maybe a new camera. Or spending the money on some decent prints of his work, putting a portfolio together that he might be able to take to a few galleries in town. But the idea that seemed to stick in his mind was more of a gamble than a practical choice. He’d considered giving the money to Sean and asking him to find Ellie Thorpe.

She’d left Boston the day Ronald Pettibone was arrested. Liam had stopped at her apartment that night to try to convince her to stay, only to find her gone. Her landlord had told him that the movers would arrive the next week to put her belongings into storage until she settled somewhere and sent for them. He hadn’t been able to tell Liam where Ellie had gone.

Since then, Liam had been at a loss to figure out where she was. He didn’t know anything about her family or her friends. She’d mentioned San Francisco and maybe Chicago, but those were both big cities, and easy places to get lost in.

Liam had no choice but to accept that it was over. He’d never see her again. Unless he thought of a way to find her. It hadn’t taken him long to realize the mistake he’d made, to admit how he really felt. He was in love with Ellie Thorpe.

“Hi, big brother.”

Liam straightened as Keely strolled into the pub. He closed the paper and tossed it onto an empty stool. “Hi, little sister. What are you up to?”

“I’m looking for you,” she said.

“Well, you found me.”

She slid onto the stool beside him. Seamus wandered over and Keely asked for a club soda with a wedge of lime. Seamus winked at her and Keely gave him a warm smile as he served her drink. Though Seamus had only had a daughter for a year or so, he had quickly learned to enjoy the affection that Keely seemed to lavish on him. “And you’ll have something to eat, too,” he said.

“Corned beef on rye,” Keely said, “with a slice of Swiss cheese. And fries.”

Seamus wrote down the order, then tore it off the pad. “Coming right up.”

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Liam asked.

“Photos,” Keely replied.

“When and where?”

“No, this is about photos you’ve already taken. Remember those pictures of Boston landmarks that you did for Rafe’s conference room?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Rafe was hosting a board meeting for some charity he works for and there was a woman there who is working on a coffee table book about Boston. And she was very interested in talking to you about your photos. I think she might want to buy a few of them.” Keely reached into her pocket and handed him a business card. “That’s her number. She’s expecting your call.”

“Thanks. This is great.”

“You know, I’ve always thought your photos were very special. I’m glad someone else agrees.”

Liam reached out and slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. “Does Rafe know what a lucky guy he is?”

“I keep reminding him,” Keely joked. But then her smile slowly faded. “Sean told Conor about your friend Eleanor. And Conor told Olivia and Olivia told me. I’m sorry it didn’t work out. Ellie seemed like a really nice girl.”

“I guess the Quinn curse isn’t much of a curse anymore. I followed the rules, I came riding to her rescue. She was supposed to fall in love with me and take me away from all this. But it didn’t work. Instead, I fell in love with her.”

Keely blinked in surprise, then laughed. “Wow. You’re in love. That’s a pretty important realization. Did you bother to tell her that?”

Liam nodded. “Yeah. In a roundabout way. I mean, I didn’t come right out and say it. It was more of a what-if scenario.”

Keely rolled her eyes. “What is it with you guys? Why is it so hard for you to express your feelings?”

“Do you really need to ask?” Liam nodded toward Seamus. “I guess you haven’t heard enough of the Mighty Quinn stories to understand. Quinns are not supposed to fall in love. Women are evil and they are bent on destroying us in the end.”

“That is such a load of crap!” Keely said.

Liam shrugged. “The way I see it, I dodged a bullet. I’m the only Quinn who has managed to escape the powers of a woman.”

“You’re not free yet,” Keely said. “After all, you’re sitting here in the middle of the day, feeling sorry for yourself and trying to forget about the woman you’re not in love with when I can clearly see that will never happen.”

Liam laughed softly, then shook his head. “You do cut right to the heart of it, don’t you?”

“I’m a Quinn. We don’t sugarcoat things.” Keely reached out and covered his hand with hers. “Go find her. Make this work, Li. Tell her how you feel and make it work. Don’t let those silly legends and family curses take this away from you.”

Liam groaned softly, then put his forehead down on the bar. “What the hell am I doing? I should go to her, find her and convince her to come back. But I’m scared that I’m going to be shut down again and then it’s really going to be over. Right now, it’s safer living in limbo, hoping that I still have a chance.”

“You’re just being a big wimp,” Keely scolded. “Do you honestly think you’re going to get what you want by sitting on your butt at this bar?”

He sat up. “But I don’t know where she is,” Liam said. He paused. “Not now. But I do know where she’ll be. She has to testify at Ronald Pettibone’s trial. And we’re supposed to go to New York to talk to the prosecuting attorneys next month about our testimony. She’s bound to be there.”

“Then you have a month to figure out what you’re going to say. A month to make it so good that she can’t possibly resist.”

“I’m not sure I can wait that long,” Liam said.

“Don’t you think she’s worth the benefit of time? If you really care about her, then you need to be sure that you’re acting out of love and not out of some need to soothe your bruised ego,” Keely said.

Liam slid off his bar stool and grabbed his jacket. “Thanks, Keely.”

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Sean’s number as he walked to the door. But there was no answer on the other end. He knew Sean wasn’t out of town and he wasn’t working a case, so he was probably at home, catching up on his paperwork. Liam had done plenty of favors for his brother, now it was time for Sean to return one of those favors.

He just needed to know where she was, to make sure she was all right. Once he knew that, he could sleep again at night. For the first time in nearly a week Liam actually felt optimistic about his future. He had money in his bank account and a possible buyer for some of his photos. And he had met a woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Now he just had to find the right way to tell her.

THE Manhattan bookstore was a quiet respite from the congested traffic and throng of lunch-hour pedestrians outside. Ellie checked her watch, wondering if she ought to forgo browsing for a quick lunch. She had a half hour before she was due in the federal prosecutor’s office to discuss her testimony in the embezzlement case involving Ronald Pettibone-or David Griswold. She’d learned from the prosecutor that Ronald was one of five aliases that her former lover had used.

The trial would take place next month and Ellie had been told that she would be called to testify. But today her mind wasn’t occupied with thoughts of the trial, or even of her interview. Today there was every chance that she’d see Liam Quinn again.

A tremor of anticipation raced through her and she took a moment to calm herself. She’d been thinking about this day since she’d left Boston nearly a month before, wondering how it might feel to see him again, curious to know if their attraction had faded. She’d even taken the day off to get ready, spending most of the morning picking through her wardrobe and fixing her hair.

Ellie thought it would be simple to forget him. She’d been so hurt and confused and angry when she’d left him at the bank that day. Determined to make a new start, she’d decided to try a brand-new city. But on the way to her new life, she’d stopped by New York and Intertel Bank had offered her another job, as a reward for what she’d done to catch Ronald. Faced with the prospect of an exhausting job search in a new city, Ellie had accepted, gaining a promotion and a higher salary in the process.

It was as if she’d turned back the clock to a time before she’d met Liam Quinn, before she’d laid eyes on Ronald Pettibone. Her life had returned to normal-she had friends, a nice apartment in a familiar city. Only Ellie didn’t really care for normal anymore. Normal was boring.

She glanced at the signs hanging from the ceiling of the store, directing customers to the different types of books. When she saw Self-Improvement, she fought the urge to check the shelves for something new. Since returning from Boston, Ellie had sworn off self-improvement. She was now learning to enjoy fiction. And she’d started collecting cookbooks.

It was high time to be happy with herself exactly the way she was. She didn’t need to go looking for love. If it was meant to find her, it would. And all the relationships that had come before were part of her life’s experience. “The right man is out there…somewhere,” she murmured. “He just has to find me.”

It sounded like a good plan but, in her heart, Ellie had a hard time convincing herself. Every time she pictured her future with one man, that man looked exactly like Liam Quinn, with his dark hair and his gold-green eyes. At first she’d tried a rational explanation-he’d simply been the last man in her life and his image still lingered in her mind. And then she’d decided that Liam Quinn had been the closest she’d come to her perfect man. But, finally, Ellie had been forced to admit that she was still in love with him.

She shook her head, unable to focus on the shelves of fiction in front of her. Her appointment was scheduled for eleven-thirty. There wasn’t any reason she couldn’t arrive early. Maybe Liam would be waiting, as well.