That brought a smile to Liam’s lips. “I’ll just go plug it in.” He fished a light bulb out of the pocket of his leather jacket. “I thought about getting you a lamp with a brass base, but I figured if you ever decided to hit me again, I didn’t want to end up in the hospital.”
“How is your head?”
“I had a small lump, but it’s going down.”
She felt a warm blush creep up her cheeks. “I really do apologize.”
He glanced over at her. “Hey, there’s no need. You did what you had to do.”
Ellie pointed to the far wall. “There’s a plug behind the sofa.”
Liam set the lamp on the table, then shrugged out of his jacket, revealing a finely pressed shirt that accented his wide shoulders and narrow waist. Ellie quickly hurried across the room and took his jacket from him. “I’ll just throw this in my bedroom.” Right after she said it, Ellie realized that he might misunderstand. “Not that I expect us to end up in the—it’s just that I don’t have a coat closet in this apartment. These old places are—”
“You can put my coat on your bed,” Liam said. “I’m sure it won’t get any ideas.”
Ellie stifled a groan, then hurried to her bedroom. She sat on the edge of her bed, clutching his coat to her chest. “Be cool,” she murmured. “Just be cool.” She lifted his jacket to her face and buried her nose in the silky lining. “God, he smells good.” She tossed the jacket aside, then raced back into the living room.
By the time she got there, Liam had the new lamp working. In all honesty, it was a much nicer lamp than the one she’d broken over his head. “It looks great,” Ellie said. She twisted her fingers together in front of her, suddenly forgetting what came next. “Drinks!” she said. “Would you like something to drink? I have wine and beer and orange juice. Diet cola and club soda and—”
“Beer would be great,” Liam said.
“Good. Why don’t you just sit down and I’ll get it?” When Ellie reached the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and stuck her face inside, grateful for the cool air that counteracted the warm blush on her cheeks. She found a bottle of beer and then rummaged through a drawer for a bottle opener.
“Something smells good.”
His voice in the kitchen doorway caught her off guard just as she was opening the beer and she jumped. The beer bottle skidded sideways, then spun around twice before rolling off the edge of the counter. Luckily, it hit the small rug in front of the sink. Rather than shattering, it just spewed foam all over her shoes.
In a few long strides he was at her side. He bent and grabbed the beer bottle, then rose just as she leaned over to wipe up the mess with a dish towel. Her chin hit his head, causing her to bite her tongue and Ellie cried out in pain.
Liam took the towel from her, ran a corner under cold water, then handed it back to her. “Here, press this on your tongue.”
She did as she was told, now completely mortified by her behavior. He must think she was some kind of loon! “’Anks,” Ellie said.
“I guess you haven’t really recovered from the other night,” Liam commented.
She frowned. “’Aht? ’Ay ’ould ’oo ’ay ’at?”
“Why would I say that? Because you’re just a little skittish. I figured you might still be shaken up over everything that happened. Either that, or I make you nervous. Do I make you nervous?”
Ellie took the towel out of her mouth and shook her head. “No.” It was a lie. Just about the biggest lie she’d ever told in her life. “I—I’m just not used to having guests. You’re the first person I’ve met in Boston and I just wanted to make things nice.”
“You don’t have to try so hard,” Liam said, reaching out to take the towel from her hand. He wove his fingers through hers, lifted her hand up to his mouth and gave it a soft kiss. “Just relax.”
Ellie stared at the spot where his lips had touched, her breath slowly leaving her lungs. So much for platonic intentions, she mused. Maybe if she tipped the refrigerator on top of herself, he’d kiss her on the mouth.
“Is there another beer in the fridge?” Liam asked.
“Yes,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. “I’ll get it.”
“
I’ll
get it,” Liam said.
Ellie decided to busy herself at the stove, checking the pasta sauce that was warming on one burner, then salting the water that had come to a boil on the other. “I hope you like pasta.”
“I’ll eat pretty much anything, especially if it’s home cooked. Sean and I eat a lot of take-out and frozen pizza. And we eat at my dad’s pub whenever we’re working there. I can’t remember the last time I had a home-cooked meal.”
“Is Sean your roommate?” Ellie asked, anxious to keep the conversation rolling.
Liam took a sip of his beer. “My roommate and brother. We have a place over in Southie, near where we grew up. My dad owns a pub and my brothers and I work there whenever we can.”
“You have more than one brother?”
He nodded. “Conor, Dylan, Brendan, Brian, Sean and me. And we have a sister, Keely.”
“You’re the youngest?”
“Of the boys. Keely’s the youngest of all. Where is your family?”
Ellie sighed. “I don’t have any family, except for my mother. But I don’t know where she is. She took off when I was three or four. I never knew my father. My grandparents raised me and they died while I was in college. So it’s just me.”
“Sounds like you had a pretty tough childhood,” Liam commented.
“No, it was really wonderful. My grandmother was a librarian in this little town in upstate New York. And when I wasn’t in school, I hung out at the library with her. I just loved books—I still do. I mean, there’s an answer to every question in a book somewhere. You just have to find the right book.” She paused, realizing how silly and naive her words sounded.
“What do you do for a living?” Liam asked.
She grabbed up a handful of dried pasta and dropped it into the water, then stirred it with a plastic spoon. “Nothing right now. I’m looking for a new job. I just moved to Boston from Manhattan.”
“And what did you do there?”
“I worked in a bank. I’m an accountant.”
“Why Boston?”
“I had to get away from New York. I just couldn’t work there anymore.”
“Why is that?”
Ellie really didn’t want to get into a conversation about all her man troubles, especially with a man she was trying so hard to impress. “I really don’t want to talk about that. It’s in the past. I’m starting a new life here.” She paused, searching for another topic. “I didn’t think you wanted to accept my dinner invitation. I thought maybe I was being too bold.”
“I don’t mind that.”
“Some men do. That’s always been a bit of a problem with me. I’ve never really been myself around the men I date—not that I’m dating you. I guess I feel as if I can talk to you. You saved my life.”
“Speaking of which, I noticed that you don’t have a decent dead bolt on your door. And you could probably use some sash locks on these windows that open onto the back porch. If you’d like, I can pick up some stuff at the hardware store.”
Ellie nodded, warmed by his offer. How had a man like Liam Quinn ever stayed single for so long? A sudden thought hit her. What if he wasn’t single? What if he had a steady girlfriend? But then surely he wouldn’t have accepted her dinner invitation. But what if he’d felt obligated to accept?
“He probably was just looking for money,” Liam continued. “You don’t keep any large sums of money in the house, do you?”
“No,” Ellie said. “I don’t have any large sums of money. Why don’t we have our salad now while the pasta cooks?” She turned to retrieve the plates from the refrigerator, then walked out of the kitchen into the dining alcove. She set the plates down and Liam held out her chair for her, pushing it in as she sat. Then he took a spot across from her.
He grabbed up the wine she’d put on the table and poured her a glass. “I think we should have a toast,” he said. “To the burglar who brought us together.”
“And to the white knight who rode to my rescue,” Ellie added with a laugh.
Liam’s expression shifted slightly and, for a moment, Ellie thought she’d said something terribly wrong. But then he smiled and clinked his beer bottle against her wineglass.
Ellie took a gulp of her wine, watching him over the rim of the goblet. The liquid burned as it went down, but the sensation caused warmth to flood through her limbs, making her relax just a bit. Ellie knew that she’d have to stop after one glass, though. She was having a hard enough time keeping her distance as it was, especially while operating under the influence of Liam Quinn.
“W
OULD YOU LIKE
another glass of wine?” Liam picked up the bottle and filled Ellie’s glass, not waiting for a reply. God, she was pretty when she was drunk. Her face was flushed and her eyes glittered with amusement and she kept leaning over the table, giving him a tempting view of her breasts beneath the low-cut neckline of her sweater.
“I really shouldn’t,” she said with a giggle. “Two glasses is my limit.”
Liam didn’t have the heart to tell her that she’d reached her limit about three hours ago. The bottle was empty and Ellie Thorpe would probably wake up tomorrow morning with a raging hangover.
Usually, Liam was loath to take advantage of a woman who’d had too much to drink. But his mind wasn’t on sex tonight—not that he hadn’t thought about pulling Ellie to her feet and dragging her into the bedroom. There was something highly attractive about a woman who was completely unaware of her sexuality.
The way she smiled, the way she reached out and touched him every so often, the way she licked her lips after she took a sip of wine—all of it was driving him a little crazy. But Ellie was guileless, completely unaware of the effect she was having on him.
Liam watched as she stuck her finger into the frosting of the chocolate cake she’d served for dessert, then put her finger in her mouth. He couldn’t help but imagine what that mouth might do to him, how her lips might move over his body, how her tongue might taste. He swallowed hard. Maybe this would take more strength than he possessed. He knew enough about women to know that he could have Ellie tonight if he simply asked.
But Liam had to settle a few things before he took that step—if ever. Now that he had her good and drunk, he needed to get her talking. About her job at the bank. About Ronald Pettibone. And about the two hundred and fifty thousand that Sean suspected she’d stolen.
“So, tell me about your job in New York. Why would you leave an exciting city like that to come to Boston?” The question sounded innocuous enough, Liam thought.
“Oh, let’s not talk about New York!” Ellie replied. “Bad memories of a very bad man. Make that four or five bad men—I’ve lost count.”
“What about that guy on the sidewalk this morning?” Liam asked, unable to contain his curiosity. There had been something between them, something that hinted at a prior relationship. The more he’d thought about it, the more he’d wondered who the guy had been. He’d gotten a fairly decent look at him, but he didn’t resemble the photo of Pettibone. “Was he a bad man?”
Ellie groaned. “He was—or is—nobody.” Her frown quickly turned to a devilish smile. “Are the men better here in Boston? Please tell me they are.”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should tell me a little more about the men in New York.”
“Who do you want to know about? If I tell you, will you promise to drive to New York and beat them all up?”
Liam chuckled. “I’ll consider it. Why don’t you tell me about the man who made you decide to leave?”
“That was Ronald,” she said, crinkling her nose. “Ronald Pettibone. And, let me tell you, he didn’t have one petty bone in his body, he had about five hundred. God, I don’t know why I always pick the jerks—present company excluded.”
“What did Ron—”
“Ronald,” Ellie corrected.
“What did Ronald do?”
“He made me fall in love with him. And then he made me into something I never wanted to be. And then he dumped me. And then he had the nerve to ask me to return all the gifts he’d given me.”
Liam gazed across the table at her stricken expression. She sure didn’t look like a coldhearted criminal. But she did look like a woman who might do anything for love. And sometimes that kind of woman was more dangerous than a woman bent on a life of crime. “Any man who dumps you has got to be a little crazy.”
She smiled brightly, reached over and squeezed his hand. “That’s a nice thing to say. You’re a very nice guy. Have you ever been dumped?”
“A few times,” Liam lied.
“I have this really good book you should read.” She pushed out of her chair and turned toward the bookcase on the far wall. But the combination of the wine and the quick move caused her knees to buckle. Liam bolted out of his chair and caught her before she hit the floor.
“I think maybe we can leave the book for another time,” he murmured, pulling her against his body, his mouth just inches from hers. He could feel the warmth of her breath against his chin and he fought the impulse to capture her lips.
Ellie’s eyes fluttered shut and her head swayed from side to side. “Are we dancing?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed. “Let’s dance.”
“Let’s not. I think we better get you to bed.”
“Okay. I’m a little drunk, though. I may not remember everything in the morning—but I know it will be good.”
“There won’t be anything to remember.” Liam bent and scooped her into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her into her bedroom.
He set her gently on the bed. Ellie sighed softly, then curled into a little ball, her face pressed into his jacket. “You smell good,” she said.
Liam tugged his jacket from beneath her head and slipped it on. He then pulled her shoes off and drew the blanket up around her. As he smoothed a strand of hair from her face, he bent closer and brushed a kiss across her wine-stained lips. “Good night, princess. I’ll be watching out for you.” With that, Liam turned and walked to the door.
The street was dark and empty when he reached the sidewalk. He glanced both ways before crossing to his home away from home. Spending the night in Ellie’s bed would have been far more comfortable…and convenient. But Liam never seduced a woman who didn’t want to be seduced. And, right now, Ellie was in no condition to know what she really wanted.
Though he hadn’t gotten the answers he’d been looking for, he’d gotten more. He’d learned enough to know that Ellie Thorpe was incapable of deception or cunning or greed. She was a sweet, beautiful woman, a romantic with a silly streak, a sexy temptress with a little-girl laugh. And Liam knew that the kiss he’d given her wouldn’t be the last.
He took the steps up to the attic two at a time, pushed the door open and squinted into the dark, waiting for his eyes to adjust.
“I know where you’ve been.”
Liam jumped at the sound of the voice coming out of the darkness. He spun around to find Sean sitting on the old sofa, his legs stretched out in front of him, his hands locked behind his head.
“Jeez, you scared me!” Liam cried.
His brother pushed to his feet and strolled across the room to the window. He peered through the lens of Liam’s camera. “You weren’t here. I figured I’d do some surveillance. I saw a man in Eleanor Thorpe’s apartment and I thought Pettibone had arrived.”
Liam bit back a curse. “Did you snap some pictures?” he asked matter-of-factly.
“I did. But the guy in the apartment was you.”
Liam waited for Sean to rip him a new one, but the expected rant didn’t come. “All right, I made a mistake. But I was just taking advantage of an opportunity. This is mostly your fault.”
“My fault?”
“I’m not a P.I.,” Liam said. He grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and twisted it open. “You can’t expect me to know all the rules. A few nights ago some guy broke into her apartment while I was watching her.”
“Did you get his photo?”
“No! I ran over to her place and caught the guy before he got to her. She thought I was the intruder and she hit me over the head, tied me up and called the police.”
“The police know about this?” This time Sean strung together a colorful variety of curse words.
“They don’t know about the stakeout,” Liam told him. “Conor smoothed things over. By the way, he wanted me to remind you about the baptism for Riley.”
“Don’t change the subject. This doesn’t explain what you were doing in her apartment tonight.”
“This morning, I stopped by the coffee shop a few blocks over and I ran into her. I guess the police gave her the whole story about how I saved her and how I’m a really good guy, so she asked me out to dinner and I had to accept.”
Sean raked his fingers through his hair impatiently. “What the hell were you thinking? You could have said no.” He shook his head. “Wait, you’re Liam Quinn. You don’t say no to women.”
“I was thinking it would be a helluva lot easier to watch her from inside her apartment, where there’s heat, I might add, than from up here. It’s freezing up here and there’s nothing to do. I’ve watched her apartment for three days now and nothing has happened.”
“A guy broke in.”
“Yeah, but maybe that was just a random crime.”
“Maybe it was Pettibone paying a midnight visit. Maybe she was expecting him, did you ever think of that? He won’t come back with you there.”
Liam held up his hand. “Maybe you should just take over here. I’ll get out of the way and you can do whatever it is you do.”
Sean thought about the option for a long moment, then shook his head. “Now that your cover is blown, you should keep seeing her.”
“You want me to date her?”
“See her. If that means a date, then fine, date her. The first chance you get, search her apartment.”
Liam frowned. “Isn’t that against the law?”
“Not exactly. If she invites you in and you open a few drawers, there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re not acting as an agent of the police.”
“Conor warned me to stay away from her. He kind of figured I was working on a case for you.”
“Good.”
“So what is it? Do you want me to continue seeing her or do you want me to stop?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, let me know when you do.” Liam walked back to the cooler and grabbed a ham sandwich. He’d spent so much time dragging Ellie into dinner conversation that he hadn’t had much to eat. He took a bite of the sandwich, then moved to the window. “There was one other contact. When I came out of the coffee shop she was talking to a guy. It seemed like they were arguing, but she denied it. When I asked her who he was, she just brushed me off. I didn’t want to push the point.”
“Was it Pettibone?”
Liam reached for the photo of Ronald Pettibone and stared at it for a long time. “No…I don’t know. Maybe. If it was, then he doesn’t look anything like this photo. But then Ellie doesn’t look anything like her photo.”
“If it’s him, he’ll be back,” Sean said, joining him at the window.
“She leaves her curtains open when she undresses,” Liam murmured, his gaze fixed on the apartment across the street.
“Oh, yeah?”
Liam pulled the curtains closed. “Don’t be a pervert.”
“You haven’t been looking?”
“Yes. But it was strictly professional.”
“And what did you think?”
“She’s got a nice body,” Liam commented. “A great body. And whoever took that bank photo of her ought to have his shutter finger amputated. It’s those kinds of photographers that make us all look like hacks.”
“What else did you find out?”
Liam shrugged. “I don’t think she’s a criminal.”
“She’s a woman,” Sean said, his expression tight. “A beautiful woman. And you’re blinded by her beauty.”
“I just met her,” Liam said. “I don’t get blinded until the fourth or fifth date.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Life. Romance. Work. Nothing in particular.”
“Introduce her to me. I’ll date her.
I’d
get answers.”
“Oh, right. You’ll charm her with your rapier wit and your bubbling conversation,” he said sarcastically. “Besides, we’re not dating. I had dinner with her, that’s all.”
“What’s her name?”
Liam frowned. “You know what her name is. Ellie. Eleanor Thorpe.”
“You’re falling for her. The way you say her name. You smile when you say it. I’ve seen that before. It always means the same thing.”
“I’m getting the hell out of here,” Liam said. “You’ve got your case back now—you can watch her.”
“I can’t. I’ve got to follow up on the case from Atlantic City. Husband’s heading off on a business trip to Syracuse and I’ve got to trail him there.”
“No way. I’m not spending another day in this attic.”
“Then spend as much time as you can with her. You have my permission. Whatever you get, you get.” Sean walked to the door, but at the last minute he turned around. He reached into his pocket, withdrew a wad of cash, then tossed it to Liam. “Three thousand,” he murmured. “That’s half of the retainer they gave me. It’s yours. Just don’t screw this up.”
The door closed behind Sean, but Liam didn’t move. Instead he stared down at the wad of cash in his hand. Three thousand dollars. He would have spent time with Ellie for free. But now, with the money in his hands, Liam realized that he wasn’t just playing at private investigator for his brother. Sean expected him to come through and ultimately that meant putting Ellie Thorpe in jail.
Liam shoved the cash into his pocket. Until this moment the women in his life had been conquests and challenges and, sometimes, lovers. Charming them had been part of his nature. But now, Ellie Thorpe was something else. Charming her was a job—a job he’d been paid to do. And if he was to succeed, he’d have to ignore the urge to romance her.
Liam had never done that before. “I guess there’s always a first time,” he murmured.
E
LLIE STARED
at the keypad mounted next to her apartment door. “I thought you were going to buy me a new lock.”
Liam smiled and casually draped his arm over her shoulder. “You remember that conversation?”
She felt a blush warm her cheeks at the memory of their dinner. And the blush was intensified by the blood pounding through her veins at his touch. Ellie knew it was simply a friendly gesture, but the warmth of his arm against her nape made her knees a little weak and her brain a little fuzzy.
She couldn’t deny her attraction to him. What woman wouldn’t be attracted? That dark hair that never seemed to see a comb. And those eyes, always with a devilish twinkle that made him seem all the more dangerous. Ellie knew she couldn’t let herself surrender to that kind of charm, but sometimes she couldn’t help herself. “I remember most of what happened,” Ellie murmured. “Especially the headache I had the next morning.”