The mighty Quinns: Liam (11 page)

Ellie nodded. “When I was a kid, I used to think that my teachers lived at the school. That they all slept together in a little room somewhere and talked about books and chalk and school paste all day and all night. I figured that’s why I never saw them around town. They weren’t allowed out.”

Liam turned his car onto Ellie’s street and scanned the length of it for a place to park. He found a spot right in front, and when he shut the car off, he waited for her to ask him in. Since their encounter in the bathroom, they’d both been a bit hesitant about where to go next. Though Liam didn’t regret what they’d done, he had to admit that the event had brought a change in his feelings toward her.

With other women such an intimacy had always signaled the start of a very passionate but brief affair. With Ellie he was afraid to repeat what they’d shared, afraid that he’d have just a finite number of nights with her before it was all over. He’d have to use them sparingly.

Liam hadn’t given a thought to the future. Until he knew who’d embezzled the money from Ellie’s bank, then he couldn’t completely believe that she hadn’t. And allowing himself to get wrapped up in her life right now was not a smart move.

“Do you want to come in?” Ellie asked.

He’d refused after he’d taken her to the baptism brunch, but it would be difficult to say no again without her wondering why. “Sure. For a little while. I gave the film to one of the sports guys before we left Fenway, so I just have to go down to the
Globe
before seven to look at the proofs.”

“I’ll make us some hot chocolate and we can warm up.”

They strolled up to her building, then climbed the stairs to the third floor. But when she reached her front door, Ellie stopped short. The door was ajar. She reached out and pushed it open, but Liam slipped around her side and stepped in first.

“What happened here?” Ellie murmured, peering over his shoulder.

It was apparent to Liam that the apartment had been torn apart from top to bottom, completely ransacked. He held his arm out to keep her behind him. “Just wait,” he murmured. “Stay right here.”

“You think he’s still here?” Ellie asked with a gasp.

Liam slowly walked through the apartment, checking each room and flipping on lights, finding them all in the same condition as the others. When he was satisfied that they were alone, he carefully evaluated the scene. He wasn’t really sure what to look for. Sean was the P.I. and Conor was the cop. He was completely out of his element here.

He walked back out into the living room to find Ellie sitting on the edge of the sofa, still in shock. “Is anything missing?”

“How am I supposed to tell?” Ellie asked with a defeated shrug.

“Well, let’s just start to pick everything up and put it in its place and maybe you’ll notice if something is missing.” He sighed. “I guess we shouldn’t touch anything until the police take a look first.”

“No,” she said, jumping to her feet. “I don’t want to pick this up. I don’t want to hang around until the police arrive. I don’t want to stay here. This is the second time someone has come into this apartment and I don’t feel safe here anymore. We have to leave.”

“I can’t understand how they got in without setting off the security alarm.”

Ellie gnawed her bottom lip as she glanced furtively over at the keypad he’d so patiently explained to her.

“You didn’t set the alarm?”

“I was in a hurry and you were waiting. We were late for the game.”

Liam closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Well, at least you weren’t here.”

“And I’m not going be here tonight, either. I’ll find a hotel—with big locks on the door and a burly security guard in the lobby.”

“No,” Liam said. “I’ll take you somewhere safe. You can come home with me.”

Ellie blinked, clearly surprised by his offer. “I couldn’t do that.”

Liam glanced around the apartment again, a thought creeping into his mind. Sean had a key. Had he done this to Ellie’s apartment? Liam couldn’t believe his brother would be so obvious—unless he meant to scare Ellie on purpose. Now he was glad they hadn’t called the police.

“You can,” Liam said. He pulled her into his arms, pressing his lips to her forehead.

Ellie sank against his body and he held her gently, stroking her back. “Maybe I’m just not meant to live in Boston. Maybe I should go somewhere else. I was reading this book the other day that said—”

Before she could continue Liam brought his mouth down on hers, stopping her words in her throat. The kiss was soft and reassuring and Ellie opened beneath his gentle assault. She smoothed her hands over his face as he kissed her, exploring with her fingertips, her touch heating his blood.

He pulled back and smiled down at her. “We can talk about books later,” he said. “Why don’t you go grab what you need and we’ll go over to my place? Tomorrow we’ll come back and clean up.”

Ellie nodded. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here. For watching out for me.”

Liam waited while she packed, walking through her apartment and picking up where he could. When he found the phone beneath a pillow from the sofa, he put the receiver back into the cradle. He was tempted to call Sean but he’d leave that for later.

Ellie reappeared a few minutes later with a small duffel bag. “He went through my dresser,” she said. “But he didn’t touch my jewelry.” She paused, then shook her head. “No, it couldn’t be him.”

“Who?”

“I’m just being paranoid.”

“Who?” Liam demanded, slipping the strap of her bag from her shoulder. He reset the alarm, then closed the door behind them and locked the dead bolt. They walked down the stairs to the street and Ellie stopped. “Ronald,” she finally said.

Liam wasn’t sure how he ought to react. Either Ellie was genuinely confused by all that had happened or she was very deftly throwing suspicion onto her partner in crime. “Ronald Pettibone?”

“I just don’t know…” she said, shaking her head.

“Why would you think it could be him?”

“He broke up with me. And he was pretty clear that he didn’t want to remain friends. That’s why I left the bank. And then, out of the blue, he shows up here. He claimed to have friends here, but we spent a long weekend in Boston about a month before we broke up and he didn’t mention any friends then. Do you think he’s stalking me?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “But I’ll find out.”

Liam glanced up and down the street before they got into his car, noticing a black sedan with tinted windows parked down the block. Now
he
was feeling a little paranoid.

As they drove through the city, he kept his eyes on the rearview mirror, swinging around the block every now and then to make sure he wasn’t being followed. When he was satisfied that the black sedan wasn’t tailing them, he headed toward Southie.

He hoped that Sean would be gone when he got home, but when he stepped inside his flat, he found both Sean and Brian sitting on the sofa, eating pizza and watching a game show. They both registered surprise at seeing Ellie again, but for completely different reasons.

“Hey there, Ellie,” Brian said, standing and brushing the crumbs off the front of his sweater. “It’s nice to see you again. How was the game?”

“It was great,” she said, giving him a warm smile. “The Red Sox lost, but it was still fun.”

Liam ignored a tiny sliver of jealousy as Brian held on to her hand for just a bit too long. “You know, if you spend much more time at our place, you’re going to have to start paying rent,” he told Brian.

“I’ll remember that next time you come over to do your laundry for free.”

Sean pushed to his feet. “What are you two doing here?”

“Someone broke into Ellie’s apartment,” Liam said.

“Again,” Ellie added.

“Again?” Brian asked. “You’ve had more than one break-in? Gee, Charlestown doesn’t have a real high burglary rate. Do you think there’s some kind of crime wave starting there?”

“I think I’m being stalked,” Ellie said. “That, or I’m really unlucky.”

“Ellie is going to stay here until we figure out what’s going on with her apartment.” Liam took her arm and tugged her along to his room. “Why don’t you get settled? Then we’ll go out and get some dinner.” He closed the bedroom door behind her, then strode over to the sofa. “Did you ransack her apartment?” he demanded, his voice a harsh whisper.

“No,” Sean said. “I went though everything, but I put it all back in place before I left. Someone must have been there after me. It wouldn’t have been too hard for him to get in—I couldn’t reset the alarm because it wasn’t set in the first place. Ellie might have noticed.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d been watching him like you were supposed to,” Liam said.

“Wait a second here,” Brian interrupted. “Sean broke into her apartment?”

“No, I had a key,” Sean said. “The other guy broke in.”

“How’d you get a key?”

“Liam gave it to me.”

Brian frowned. “I’m seriously out of the loop here, aren’t I?”

“It’s a case we’re working on,” Liam said.

“Ellie’s an embezzler,” Sean commented.

Liam bristled. “She is not.”

“She might be,” Sean snapped.

Brian got to his feet and grabbed his jacket from the end of the sofa. “I don’t think I want to be in the middle of this. I’m going down to the pub to have a pint of the black stuff. Guinness always seems to clear the head. There should be a pretty good party going on there now after the game. Da is serving free hot dogs.”

“I’ll go with you,” Sean said.

“No way,” Liam said. “You’ll go figure out what Ronald Pettibone is up to. Did you trace that license plate I gave you? I know he was the one who tried to run Ellie down.”

“Someone tried to run down Ellie?” Brian asked. “Forget the Guinness. This sounds like a good story.”

Sean grabbed his twin brother’s arm. “You’re always sniffin’ for a story, aren’t you?” Sean muttered. “Come on, I’ll let you drive. Let’s see if we can find this Ronald Pettibone.”

“And don’t come back tonight,” Liam warned. “Sleep at Brian’s.” When they’d both walked out the door, Liam flopped onto the sofa and grabbed a piece of pizza, munching on it distractedly. How the hell was he supposed to keep Ellie safe if Sean didn’t do his part? This was his case and here he was, feet up on the coffee table, eating pizza when he should have been out doing his job.

Liam tipped his head back. There were moments when he cursed the day he’d decided to help with this case and his impulse to ride to Ellie Thorpe’s rescue. Now it seemed he was pulling her out of harm’s way nearly every day.

“I’m doomed,” Liam murmured. If this wasn’t enough to bring the Quinn family curse raining down on his head, he wasn’t sure what was. He and Ellie might as well start picking out the china and monogramming the towels. Marriage couldn’t be far behind.

E
LLIE STARED
at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, then forced a smile. A nervous knot tightened in her stomach and she wondered if it might be better to just stay in the bathroom until morning. But then the bathroom at her place had been the scene of their last intimate encounter. Perhaps the hall closet here at Liam’s might be a better choice.

She smoothed her hands over the Patriots jersey that Liam had given her to wear to bed. Like a fool, she’d brought everything she’d needed—except a nightgown. And the last thing she wanted Liam to think was that she’d done it on purpose in the hope that a naked body in his bed might be too tempting to resist.

Ellie groaned softly. Sex. That’s what this was all about. If the opportunity presented itself, how could she refuse? Liam was just too much to resist. But her past troubles with men still nagged at her. What had she done wrong? Had she been too aggressive or maybe not aggressive enough? Had her skills in the bedroom been a disappointment? Ellie stretched the jersey tight across her breasts. Maybe it was her body.

She’d only have one chance with Liam and she didn’t want to blow it. He was the kind of man who would bring out her passionate nature. He made her feel sexy and uninhibited and a little bit naughty. She glanced down at the sink and her stomach did a little flip as she remembered that afternoon in her bathroom.

Their first intimate encounter had been…overwhelming. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to remain conscious for anything more exciting than that! Taking a deep breath, she raked her fingers through her hair, then turned for the door. When she stepped out, she found Liam smoothing a sheet over the sofa.

She pasted a smile on her face. They hadn’t discussed sleeping arrangements, but it was obvious that they wouldn’t be sharing his bed. She tried to hide her disappointment. “You don’t need to do that. I can fix it.”

Liam shrugged. “I’ll sleep out here. You can have my bed.”

Ellie reached out and took the pillow from his hands. “No, don’t be silly. I’ll be fine here. I don’t want to put you out.”

“All right,” he said softly, clearly uneasy with the discussion. “But if you need anything, I’ll be close by.” He sent her a sideways glance and, in that instant, Ellie saw the desire in his eyes. But for some reason he’d chosen not to act on that desire tonight. What had changed?

Liam reached out, hooked a finger under her chin, then gave her a quick kiss. “Sleep tight,” he murmured. “I’ll see you in the morning.” With that he turned and walked into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Ellie sat on the sofa and pulled a down comforter around her shoulders. Things had been going so well. Though they hadn’t spent a night in bed together, she sensed that their relationship was moving forward. But now it had come to a full stop.

“He’s just another man,” she muttered, reaching for the light. She flopped down on the sofa and pulled the comforter up to her chin. “Nothing special.”

She pinched her eyes closed, but as she tried to relax, her head spun with thoughts of Liam. She settled on an image of him lying in his bed, naked, the sheet low on his waist. She’d never seen him completely naked, but Ellie knew what was beneath the shirt—a broad chest and narrow waist, muscled arms and a smooth back. She could almost feel his skin beneath her fingers and she clenched her hands into fists to banish the sensation. And she could certainly guess at what was beneath the jeans.