Where the Streets have no Name (19 page)

She saw too much there. So much she didn’t know how to interpret what she saw in the depths of his azure eyes.

He stalked across the room, the hunter going after his prey. When he reached her chair, Amelia half feared what he’d do. So much power exuded from him. So much strength. He was gorgeous and her body reacted to his close proximity, like they’d never been apart.

“There’s nothing I can say,” he told her, hands bunched in fists at his sides. “Nothing I can do.”

As if it weighed ten times more than ten bricks, her heart crashed down to her stomach. Her tongue turned to ash in her mouth.

He didn’t care. Probably just came to satisfy some sick curiosity he had.

“Don’t worry.” She pushed herself to her feet, needing to get away from him. “Like I said, I’m not asking you for anything.” She tugged at her clothing, feeling inadequate and self-conscious. “You can show yourself out. Excuse me.”

Turning on her sock feet, Amelia walked the long, slow walk to her bedroom at the far end of the hall.
She needed to be alone. Needed to grieve for him all over again. She wished he’d never come.

Her hand closed over the doorknob. Daniel’s hand covered hers. She fought the knee-jerk reaction to pull away from his touch.
Half of her wanted it. The other part feared her response to him.

“Don’t run, love.” Heat from his breath
tickled the back of her neck. “Please. I’m trying.”

She couldn’t help but ask. “Trying what?”

“Trying to think of something to say to you so you’ll know just how much I need you in my life.”

His words hitched her breath and shocked her system.

“I’m sorry, love. Sorry for pushing you away. Sorry for asking you if the baby is mine. Of course it’s mine. I…I see it now. Looking back, I see how you felt.” Daniel rested his head on her shoulder. “Nothing I say out loud comes out right. It sounds fine in my head and when I open my mouth something else comes out.”

Nervous laughter bubbled in her throat.
“Five months, Daniel.”

“Aye,” he whispered.

“Five months and not even a phone call. You…you pushed me away. Made me feel like nothing. Less than nothing.”

“I’m sorry, love. So sorry.
” His hand moved away from hers, up her arm, gliding slowly to brush her hair from her neck. Daniel pressed a chaste kiss where her neck met her shoulder. “I don’t expect you’ll forgive me, but I hope you’ll at least let me be a part of your life. Even if you don’t want me.”

So now he was putting everything in her hands. She was just supposed to take him back, forget what happened, and that’s that?
No. It might happen in movies and books, but in real life, actions had consequences. Her current condition was a consequence of acting rashly. She’d not trade that consequence in for anything, but Amelia still had to hold herself responsible and do what was right for her and her unborn child.

“It’s not that I don’t want you, Daniel.” She slipped from his touch. If she let him hold her, she’d lose focus and end up in his arms again. “
I just need time. This can’t be like some romance novel where the guy shows up at the end and everything is going to be all right because he came back for the girl. It isn’t just me anymore. I have to stay strong.”

He nodded but his eyes weren’t understanding. They were pleading. Begging. “I’m an arsehole, Amelia.”

“A twat-waffle.” She grinned.

Daniel’s answering smile filled her heart with pure, unfiltered sunshine. “Aye. A massive twat-waffle, love. So what do you think? Will you let me show you how sorry I am? Will you let me back in?”

Her pulse triple-timed. Wind hammered at the cabin. Silence, apart from their mingled breaths and the beating of her heart, engulfed them. Could she open her heart again and risk having it broken a second time?

“You don’t have to answer right away.
Take some time. Think about it. Take all the time you need. But you had better know that I’m not giving up you…on us. Ever.” Slowly he got to his knees in front of her and held his hands out an inch from her belly. “Can…can I?” He looked up, hope flaring in his expression.

Amelia took his hands and placed them on her abdomen. “Regardless of how it happened, this baby is yours too, Daniel. And if you want to be a part of his or her life, I won’t stop you. I want you to, i-if you want to.”

“Want to?” Daniel moved his large palms over the tight surface of her belly. She heard him suck in a breath when the baby squirmed inside her. “Jaysus.” He dropped his forehead to her abdomen. “We’re having a baby, Amelia.”

Of their own volition, her fingers slipped through the dense silk of his hair. In a two week span, how often had she done this? A hundred times. A thousand. She thought she’d have a lifetime
with him until he pushed her away. It would be so easy to bring him into her room, to lie down beside him on her bed, to forgive him, to let him back into her heart.

But she’
d fall to pieces if history repeated itself.

“
I came here expecting just to beg you to let me into your life, in whatever way you’d allow me.” His hands slid beneath her sweater, pushing the fabric up, baring her stretch marks and inside out belly button to his view. She tried to hide it but he stopped her. “No, love. Don’t hide. Don’t ever hide. You’re incredible. Beautiful.” Daniel kissed her belly and was greeted with a kick to the face.

Amelia laughed
and Daniel laughed with her. His hands circled around, linking at the small of her back. He sighed, rubbing his cheek against her and their baby. Rough and stubbly, it reminded her of the first time he’d dropped between her thighs and tasted her.

Damn, why did everything have to come back to sex?

It wasn’t just sex, that’s why
.

No, it hadn’t been. They had so much more than just sex. It wasn’t just two bodies coupling.
She didn’t imagine the connection. Couldn’t have imagined it. Maybe everything he couldn’t say he’d used his body to show her. Just like she’d done with him.

She had to ask. “Daniel, what do you want? From me, I mean.”

He didn’t move, but said, “There’s nothing I want from you, lass.”

Her heart turned to stone and dropped to the floor
, past her feet, crashing into the centre of the earth. Amelia couldn’t breathe.

“I just want you, love. Just you. And this little one.” He kissed her belly again.

Suddenly her breathing returned, like magic.

Damn it! Amelia needed to get away from him. He turned her brain to mush, and these hormones weren’t helping.

“Don’t,” Daniel said. He tightened his hold on her. “Don’t run. Please. Stay. Let me stay, just for a while. Or forever. Forever sounds so much better.”

Laughing, s
he smoothed a hand over his head while he whispered in Irish to their baby. Forever did sound so much better than a while.

Daniel didn’t leave that night. All of his belongings were in a duffel bag in
the trunk of his new car anyways. By the time Amelia drifted off in his arms, sitting next to the fire, her friend suggested he stay. He carried Amelia to her bedroom and tucked her into her bed, wanting nothing more than to lie down next to her and hold the sweet lass in his arms all night.

But that wasn’t slow. He agreed to take things slow with her this time.

And he needed to get in her friend’s good graces. The best way he knew was to talk to her. But damn if the woman didn’t frighten him. She prowled around the main living area of the cottage, her eyes always watching, seeing everything he did from the moment she came back from the shops.

He’d just laid his cards on the table and told Amelia he wanted forever. A reply didn’t come, and he wasn’t about to force her to make a decision.

They hadn’t spoiled the moment with idle chatter, choosing instead to simply live for the moment. She let him hold her; put up with his constant need to touch the swollen bump of her abdomen and the need to run his hands through her hair. To inhale her fragrance, drugging himself with all things Amelia. They just sat and touched and enjoyed the evening.

Gabby had made supper – a pasta dish he’d never heard of before but one that tasted better than any he’d ever tried – and
then she put on some film. Daniel’s attention was thoroughly engaged by Amelia though and if someone questioned him about the movie, he’d get every question wrong. He watched her breathe. Watched her sighs. Watched her fall asleep.

Amelia meant everything to him and if she turned him away tomorrow he needed
to lock away as many memories as he could. They might very well be his last.

Gabby
was waiting for him back in the lounge. She’d shut the film off and poured two glasses of white wine. The auburn haired lass motioned for him to take one. Daniel shook his head.

“Suit yourself.” Gabby took the glass she’d poured for him and downed it in three gulps. “Now. Tell me what the fuck you think you’re doing here.”

“Eh?” He shook his head, like doing so would help him understand her better.

“You heard me.” Gabby carried the empty glass to the kitchen and walked back to the couch. “What do you want, Mr. Byrne?
Are you after her money?”

Daniel shot to his feet
, moving to the other end of the lounge. Anger vibrated to the furthest reaches of his body. “You’re not right,” he said, glaring at the woman across the room.

One copper brow rose, and she gave him a knowing look. “I assure you, I’m perfectly sane, Mr. Byrne. Here’s my problem; Amelia is
incredibly wealthy. I know she told you about her job. What she does. And I’m not stupid. I didn’t get where I am today by letting people walk all over me. Amelia didn’t get where she is now without me behind her, cutting out the cancer, the evil lurking in the shadows. So answer me, and choose your words wisely. What do you want from Amelia?”

She was mad. She’d lost her bloody mind.

Or she cared about Amelia, enough to make overbearing and utter bitch her companions.

Either way, Daniel figured the next words from his lips better be the most truth he could pack into a small sentence.

“You want to know what I want, lass? Fine, I’ll tell you. I want Amelia, and our child, and nothing else. Make me sign whatever you want. I’ll work myself to the goddamned bone and sleep at the foot of her bed if it means I can be close to her. I’ll never spend a single cent of her money. I don’t want it. Don’t need it. Damn it, but she’s got my heart. I’ll live out the rest of my days just trying to earn half of hers, if she’ll let me.

“If Amelia turns me away tomorrow, I promise you I won’t give up. I’ll fight until my goddamned dying breath
, and I’ll fight you if you stand in my way. Make no mistake about that.” Daniel’s hands shook at his sides. He stared at the other woman, his nostrils flared and seething. If she made one remark about him not being worthy for Amelia, he’d admit it, but if she put up a fight he’d damned well argue until the sun came up and Amelia exited her room.

Until eternity.

What she said next shocked him.

“You’re willing to fight for her.” Gabby straitened, smoothing a hand over her shirt. “Not even her parents would put up a fight for her
. You knew her for two weeks.” She nodded her head, like she’d just worked something out. “Okay. If you love her, Daniel, I won’t’ stand in your way. But if you hurt her, I’ll cut your fucking dick off and shove it so far down your throat you’ll taste your own balls until your stomach acid eats through them and you shit them out. Got it?”

Jaysus. The visual she pain
ted would no doubt strike down his libido for a good long while. Holding his hands over his bollocks, Daniel mumbled, “Oh, aye, we’re grand.”

“Good,” she said, giggling. “Now. Let’s get drunk. I want to hear all about how in love you are with Amelia.”

“Eh…what makes you think that?”

“Please.” Gabby waved a hand. “It’s obvious. You
stared at her all damned night like she’d vanish if the wind blew too hard.”

“So you made me spill my guts, even though you knew…” Daniel shook his head.

“Of course. I had to know the truth, for sure. Would you rather I acted a bitch until I drove you away?”

“You wouldn’t,” he
deadpanned. “You can’t push me away from Amelia, no matter what you do. Nothing and no one can.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Gabby started on her second glass of wine.

And Daniel braced himself for a long night.

The first rays of morning light came through the cracks between the blinds and Amelia stirred. She’d had the most wonderful dream about…

Daniel.

Amelia sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking around her room.
It must have been a dream. If it happened, Daniel would be here with her – but she was alone. Flinging off the blankets and letting out a sigh, she pushed her feet into a waiting pair of fuzzy pink slippers, Gabby’s gift, of course, and found her housecoat on the back of the door.

The scent of bacon met her nose with approval. As if on cue, her stomach growled.

But…

Gabby didn’t cook breakfast.
And Gabby didn’t usually get out of bed until well after dawn came to greet the world.

She wanted to run out and see if Daniel was really there, but Amelia took her time, for her baby. Slow and steady. Walking less than a third of the speed of her pulse, Amelia made her way down the hall. Nerves trilled like staccato
notes on piano keys. Time passed at a snail’s pace, setting off a cataclysmic explosion of anticipation in her gut.

At the end of the hall she spotted him, standing
at the stove in her kitchen wearing just a pair of jeans, giving her an unobstructed view of his broad muscular shoulders, right down to his narrow waist. Her heart danced in her chest at the domestic sight. Hope flared in her belly.

Yesterday Daniel said he wanted to stay forever. Did he meant it? Was this his way of showing her?

“Oh, g’mornin’ lass.” Daniel set the tongs down and moved swiftly to her side. Devilish lips curled in the kind of smile a man reserved for the bedroom. His hands slipped under her jaw, cupping her face. “How did you sleep, love?”

A girl could really get used to this, she thought, melting into his touch. Her eyes drifted shut. “Fine, I think. I didn’t wake up at all
until just now. I thought…”

She didn’t continue and Daniel whispered next to her ear, “You thought what, Amelia?”

“I…I thought it was a dream,” she admitted, easing into his embrace.

Daniel laughed, wrapping her in the comfort of his arms.
“Not a dream. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. Well, except over to the stove to turn over that bacon before it burns.”

He released her and ran over to take care of the breakfast. Amelia
shuffled to the sink to fill the kettle. And a smile crept over her lips, spreading like warm summer sunshine through her soul. She could easily see this becoming a regular occurrence. But for how long? He mentioned the word forever and then nothing else.

They ate breakfast in silence, sitting acro
ss from each other at the table. Amelia stared out the front window at the rolling and rocky peninsula. The ancient coastline hid behind a layer of fog this morning. She watched it recede out onto the water, dissipating up into the atmosphere, nursing her mug of herbal tea. Avoiding Daniel.

She felt his eyes on her from the moment he sat down, raking over her face, down her chest, landing on her abdomen, then back up. Over and over again. Like he was searching for something. So she let him search while she looked outside at her new home.

When she told her parents she wasn’t going back to Canada they were agitated. When she told them why, they were furious.

“
I can’t believe how stupid that was of you,
” her mother had said. “
If you keep that baby, you’re just clinging to a fantasy. If he left you, he’s not coming back. This is the way the world works, Amelia. It isn’t a game. This is real life.
”

Well, maybe it had been unwise to keep thinking her birth control would work. Maybe they should have stopped for condoms at some point. But they didn’t, and letting her parents rip her a new one didn’t change the past. Didn’t change the fact that now she had to think about herself and the future of her child.

They continued berating her, telling Amelia how disappointed they were. How, once she got her act together and came back home, they’d arrange an appointment for her to ‘take care of the problem.’

Her lips
arched in disgust. They didn’t want a grandchild? Fine. They wouldn’t have their daughter either. It was her damned choice to make. Her body. Her baby.

Amelia’s hands held her belly tight. She had Gabby. And now, it seemed, Daniel as well.
Maybe her parents would come around and change their minds about her living her own life and doing what she wanted to. Maybe they’d accept their grandchild once he or she entered the world. If not, she had enough love to give so her baby never had to go without.

“Amelia, love?” Daniel pried a hand from her abdomen and held it flat between his big, warm palms. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

In spite of the melancholy crushing her spirits, Amelia laughed. “That’s asking me to open a can of worms. Don’t you know men
never
ask a woman what she’s thinking?”

Leaning across the table and still holding her hand, Daniel kissed the corners of her mouth, then brushed his lips to hers. Softly. Sweetly. “I’m not other men, love, and I want to know. Can’t read what’s on your mind, so I’ll have to ask.” He winked, retaking his seat.

She didn’t want to spoil the mood by going into detail, so Amelia said, “Just my parents. I told them I was pregnant and they stopped talking to me. And, the truth is, Daniel, I really, really missed you. Even though Gabby is here”– She slid her lower lip between her teeth and nibbled –“she…she isn’t you.”

“Ah, lass…”
Coming around the table, Daniel pulled her to her feet and into his arms. He kissed her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose, her cheeks, jaw, chin…he kissed her a thousand times before he reached her trembling, waiting lips.