Four

‘Look, I don’t know the full extent of your brother’s disability but I think you’re doing both he and Niamh a disservice without a proper conversation with them first.’

‘Marriage is out of the question. I’ll do everything in my power to stop it.’ His adamant tone riled me more than it should have. It was like I was programmed to adopt the opposite stance even though I agreed with him. But then he was a Barlowe, and I was a Clancy. We had a long history of going he-to-head.

I rose from the sofa and nailed him with my gaze, still playing devil’s advocate. ‘You know, some people do fall in love quite quickly. Or don’t you believe in love at first sight?’

His mouth slanted in a smile right out of the cynical playboy’s playbook. ‘No. But lust at first sight? Yes.’

  There was a pulsing silence. The silence was so intense that I could just about hear my heart beating. I could certainly feel it hammering away in my chest like an industrial piston.

Grayson’s eyes roved over my face in slow motion. He studied my grey-green eyes for a heart-stopping moment. Then he shifted his focus to my mouth and paused there even longer. I was having trouble breathing. I had forgotten how to do it. My breath was locked somewhere in my throat as the seconds ticked on and on and on. Niamh is always saying what a nice mouth I have. I am less complimentary about my features. But right then, with Grayson Barlowe’s gaze staring at my mouth as if it were the most beautiful and fascinating mouth in the world, I was starting to wonder if I needed to reassess my opinion of my physical assets.

But suddenly, as if someone had snapped their fingers to break a spell, Grayson shifted his gaze and glanced at the door. ‘We’d better get back to the restaurant and talk some sense into them.’

He strode purposefully over to the door and opened it for me, standing to one side as I walked through. I was aware of the difference in our height as I walked past him. I was aware of the citrus and bergamot fragrance of his aftershave was as intoxicating as a mind-altering drug. I was aware of him following my every movement, making my body feel different somehow, more feminine, more graceful...desirable.

And I was acutely aware that I was the one who needed some solid sense talked into them.

WEMADEOURway back to the restaurant but when I looked at the table where Niamh and Ethan had been sitting it was now occupied by another group of people. I swivelled my gaze around the restaurant but there was no sign of my sister and her... Ethan. I still couldn’t bring myself to refer to him as her fiancé. Niamh was mentally too young to be married. Too naïve to know what she was doing. I had to stop her from screwing up her life and I had to do it now.

I swung around to look up at Grayson. ‘Where are they?’ My voice was kind of scratchy as panic climbed up my spine.

His frown carved a deep trench between his eyes and he muttered a filthy curse not quite under his breath. ‘They can’t have gone far. Wait here. I’ll ask the staff.’

I’m not used to being ordered around but this time I did as I was told. The thunderous expression on Grayson’s face was enough to freeze me on the spot. For a decade.

But while he was off interrogating the staff, I did my investigation. I pulled out my phone from my tote bag and opened the app that could locate my sister’s whereabouts within seconds. But for some reason, Niamh was not showing up anymore. She had either turned off her phone or blocked me from keeping track of her. I didn’t even realize she knew how to do that. Or had Ethan done it for her? My sister could be impulsive at times, it was one of the things that had changed about her personality since the accident. One of many things that had changed. But, until now, I had always managed to stop her from doing anything rash.

How could I stop her if I didn’t even know where she was?

Grayson came back to me with an even more furious expression. ‘They left the restaurant soon after we left them to talk privately. Damn it. I should’ve known something like this would happen.’

My heart was thumping like I’d been administered with a shot of adrenalin. It threatened to beat its way out of my ribcage. ‘We didn’t leave them for long. Is Ethan able to drive? Or did they come in a cab or rideshare?’

A flicker of something passed over Grayson’s face, something I recognized because I had seen it on my face for the last twenty years just about every time I looked in a mirror. A flash of pain, a ripple of regret, a gnawing ache of guilt. The trifecta of ghastly feelings one has when one feels responsible for a loved one’s injuries. I had heard about the serious car crash Grayson and Ethan were involved in when Ethan was a teenager. Someone had mentioned it to me at an architectural conference but they hadn’t given me many details and I was too polite to dig for more information. Besides, I didn’t want anyone to think I was showing too much interest in my business rival’s background. But, as far as I knew, Ethan had been the one driving. Or did Grayson blame himself for not insisting on driving himself?

‘No, he no longer drives. What about your sister?’

‘No. She mostly uses public transport or I take her where she needs to go. Oh, and sometimes her support worker.’

Grayson looked at me oddly for a moment. ‘She has a support worker?’

‘Yes, not a full-time one, though. She only needs help with some tasks, I fill in the rest.’

A perplexed frown wrinkled his brow. ‘I didn’t realize she was disabled.’

‘Most people don’t until they spend some time with her. She has an acquired brain injury from an accident when she was seven.’ I didn’t tell him the rest of the story. The horror story that had changed my family forever. I had turned my back for only thirty seconds while she was on the swing, possibly even less time than that, and yet it had been enough for her to fall off and fracture her skull. Those few seconds had changed everything for all of us, most of all for Niamh. Her potential was stolen. Her brain was no longer functioning the way it was meant to.

Grayson sent his hand through the thickness of his hair again and I wondered if it was a stress thing. A habit he had adopted without realizing it.

‘I’m sorry.’ His voice was deep and rusty. ‘I thought she was yet another gold-digger after Ethan’s trust fund.’

‘But she told you she met Ethan at the gym. It’s a specialized one that has tailor-made classes for each client.’

His jaw worked for a moment as if he was mentally chewing over something. ‘I thought she might be a care worker or fitness trainer or something. Ethan was taken in by a carer a couple of years ago. He was convinced she was the real deal but, of course, she wasn’t. She knew about his trust fund and wanted to set herself up in life. I knew what would happen. A costly divorce in a year or two’s time. I paid her off in the end. It was cheaper and easier and saved a fortune on legal fees.’

‘How did Ethan take it?’