He seemed thoughtful for a moment. “So, Tam and Hallie will be the king and queen of London.”
“That’s okay, isn’t it?”
I searched his face for his true feelings.
“Yeah. I’m pleased for them,” he said. “Since meeting you, I came to realise that none of the business matters to me. It just doesn’t. All I want is you, and now our baby, too.”
“And a quiet place to live.”
“That, too.”
We stared at each other for a moment, and then he lifted his hand and touched my cheek with the backs of his fingers. My gaze flicked down to his generous lips, and my own parted, and I sipped a breath.
It was enough to give him permission, and he leaned in and pressed his mouth to mine. Instantly, I melted and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him deeper. Our tongues met and slid across one another, but this wasn’t the type of hungry, frantic kiss I was used to with him. This was careful and tentative, as though we were meeting again for the first time.
I held on to a fragile hope that everything would be okay. Would Jay really be able to leave this life behind? Could he cope with a quiet one—though it wouldn’t be so quiet after the baby arrived.
He hadn’t doubted me for a second. He hadn’t questioned the paternity of the baby or asked what I planned to do about it. He knew this was his baby and that we both wanted it, no questions asked.
As much as I wanted to carry on kissing him, we still weren’t done with the talking. I wasn’t the only one who needed to do some forgiving. My crime was nowhere near as serious as his, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t something that needed to be told.
I broke off the kiss, but we didn’t part by much. He pressed his forehead to mine, our noses brushing.
I drew a breath and blurted, “I have something else I need to tell you.”
He was so accepting of me—he didn’t even flinch. “Anything.”
“The night you rescued me from those men, I wasn’t out to have a good time at a nightclub. I was there meeting someone.”
Jay leaned away from me slightly and frowned. “A man?”
I shook my head. “No, a woman.”
He raised an eyebrow, and I quirked the corner of my lips in a smile.
“Not like that,” I chided. I hated that he could still tease a smile from me, even after everything. Guilt swamped me just for daring to smile. I shouldn’t be happy with my brother’s murderer.
I shouldn’t be having a baby with my brother’s murderer.
I hurried on with my confession. “Her name was Orla McGuinty.”
He looked at me blankly.
“She was seeing Harvey Cornell behind Hallie’s back.”
Jay shook his head slightly, as though trying to shake into place this change of conversation. “Behind Hallie’s back? You mean, before they were due to get married?”
“Exactly. They were pretty serious—or at least she thought they were—but then Harvey still continued with the wedding. She was the person who’d arranged to have Harvey Cornell shot at his wedding. She’s one of the travellers.”
“The Irish?”
“Yeah. She begged Harvey not to go through with the wedding, and I think he promised her it was never going to happen, but then, of course, it did. She hired the men who slipped into the wedding and paid them to shoot him, or it might not have been directly her, but someone in her family.”
“Jesus.” He ran his hand across his face. “So it was never about the alliance or turf wars over London?”
“No, never.” I gave a sad smile. “It was simply a broken heart.”
“Most people might write a diary or go out and get drunk. They wouldn’t order a hit.”