After a quiet lunch, Tierney headed back up the hill to the estate visitor’s center, manning the ticket booth and restocking the shelves in the small gift shop…and trying not to think about Bur—about Burr’s rumbly voice, about Burr’s lips on hers, about Burr driving away.

Maybe this isn’t the end of you and me, aisling.

She thought about those words most of all, playing them over and over again in her head as Anna and Shannon ran the two o’clock, three o’clock, and four o’clock tours, and Tierney, who generally enjoyed leading tours, sat behind the ticket counter in quiet misery.

She glanced over, checking the time on the credit card machine.

It was almost five o’clock. Ian, Rory, and Brittany would be over around six thirty.

Maybe she’d host their weekly family dinner outdoors tonight. The stormy skies had long passed, the sun was out, and it looked like a lovely evening ahead. She could serve something simple like hamburgers and hot dogs with chips and homemade coleslaw. After work she’d make a quick trip to the supermarket in Center Harbor and be back in plenty of time to set the picnic table behind her cottage. One of her brothers could start the grill when they arrived.

Thinking about her brothers, however, made her groan.

Rory and Ian would start asking about Burr the moment they walked in and she dreaded it. She didn’t want to talk about him. She didn’t know if she could talk about him without embarrassing herself. In contrast to her usual stalwart self, she’d been on the verge of tears since he left, and her feelings confused her. It was like she had let something precious and beautiful fall from slippery fingers and crash to the ground. She felt sadness, of course, but that wasn’t all. It was accompanied by frustration, and longing, and regret.

His beautiful face flashed through her mind, and she lingered willfully on the harsh planes and angles of his cheekbones before slipping her gaze to the pillowed softness of his lower lip. Her own lips tingled with the memory of his kiss, and she whimpered softly.

It wasn’t just that he was handsome, though his dark good looks and ice-blue eyes certainly heated up her blood. He was protective and unexpectedly funny. He obviously loved his sister. And there was something else. He was struggling so terribly; he seemed to be fighting with himself—wanting to do the right thing yet somehow mixed up in something wrong. She wanted to see him triumph over whatever evil plagued him. She wanted to see the Destroyer victorious.

The more she put the pieces together, the more convinced she was that Burr worked in some sort of law enforcement capacity. The St. Michael medal aside, there was the small speech he’d made before leaving her: …my being here could put you in danger. I won’t let that happen. I can’t. Hardly the sentiment of a seasoned criminal.

Still, she wondered who shot him and why, and worried they’d try it again. Turning her thoughts to St. Michael, she said a quick prayer for Burr’s safety: Wherever he is, keep him safe. She paused, then added, And if it’s your will, please send him back to me. Amen.

“Tierney.”

Her eyes flew open.

“Burr?”

Taphadh leat, Sceilig Mhichíl!

“Hi,” he said, and his face, which was marked with worry, seemed to relax just a little, the lips that had kissed hers a few hours ago tilting up slightly as he scanned her face.

“Hi,” she answered, feeling a smile split her face, followed by a little chirp of surprised laughter. “You left. What are you doing here?”

“You never showed me the museum,” he said, glancing at the entrance over his shoulder. “I thought I should swing back and see it.”

She shook her head at him. He was kidding, of course, but she didn’t care. He was here. He was back. “Oh. Well, the last tour was forty-five minutes ago. You missed it.”

“Shoot,” he said.

“There’ll be more tomorrow,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound desperate but aching for more time with him.

“How about a private tour?” he asked in a low voice, making goose bumps rise up on her arms under her cream-colored Irish-knit cardigan.

“Well, um…we can see about that—”

“Hey, can I borrow your phone for a sec?”

“Sure,” she said, pulling it from her back pocket and holding it out to him.

He took it from her, smiling in thanks, before throwing it onto the slate-stone floor and jumping on top of it. She heard the screen shatter, but he didn’t stop. He lifted one booted foot and smashed it again and again until it was shattered into a million pieces.

“Wait! What…?” He stopped and looked up at her. “Wh—What did you do that for?”

“You asked me to trust you yesterday, and I did. Can you do the same?”

Could she? Could she blindly trust him? She grimaced.

“I…I have too many questions. I think you’re going to need to tell me what’s going on,” she said carefully. “I don’t like being in the dark like this.”

He pursed his lips, his eyes conflicted. “I really don’t want to.”

“I really need you to,” she answered.

He leaned down to pick up the mangled pieces of her phone and throw them in a nearby garbage can, then he turned to face her. “I’m going to put Suzy’s car back in your garage. Meet me down at the cottage when you’re done here? We’ll talk, okay?”

Her heart swelled. “Wait…you’re staying?”

“For a little while.” He nodded. “You said I was welcome, right?”

“Yes. Yes, you’re welcome here,” she answered, unable to hold back her smile for the second time in the five minutes he’d been back. “For how long?”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t know yet.”

“But you’ll tell me everything?”

“Yeah. I promise.” He looked around the small shop, his eyes landing on an expensive coffee table book called Moonstone Manor: The Palace in the Sky. “Can I take one of these?”

“They’re seventy dollars,” she said.

He took out his wallet, withdrew a one-hundred-dollar bill, and placed it on the counter. “Keep the change. Is the gate by your place the only way in here?”

She nodded. “There were two other gates originally, but they were walled off years ago.”

“Good,” he said. “I’ll see you back at home, huh?”

At home.

Oh, my heart.

“Mm-hm,” she murmured. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Holding the book at his side, he turned around and headed back out the main door. Tierney strained her neck, her eyes dropping to his ass for a second, and sighed before she forced them back up. She leaned over the counter to watch him slide into his sister’s car and drive away. But not away-away. Not like last time.

And just like that, her whole mood shifted from miserable to elated, which should have clued her into something grave: her feelings for Burr—her sharp, intense infatuation, which had just received a booster shot—were growing. But she was too happy to notice anything but the fact that he was back and that each second that passed now drew her closer to him, not farther away.

At five o’clock sharp, she powered down her computer and turned off the lights in the gift shop.

“’Night, Ms. Haven,” said Anna, walking through the visitor’s center on her way to her car.

“Good night, Anna. Is the main house locked?”

“Yes, ma’am, but there are still a couple of stragglers checking out the barn with Shannon.”

“I’ll get them moving. Have a good evening,” she said, turning off the lights and locking the double glass doors of the visitor’s center.

Walking around the building, she followed a brick path toward the barn but stopped and waved when she found Shannon walking toward her with a mother, father, and two teenage boys.

“Finishing up?” she called.

“Yes!” said the mother, walking up the path to chat with Tierney. “We’re so glad we stumbled across this place! I could wander around here for hours. What a find!”

Usually, Tierney would offer to take the family on an extra, off-hours tour of the estate’s attic or one of the outbuildings not on the regular tour, especially when they were as enthusiastic as this family appeared to be. But tonight, she had somewhere to be and she was eager to get there.

“We’re so glad you took the time to visit,” she said, then looked at her watch purposefully. “But I’m afraid we closed…three minutes ago.”

“Oh!” said the mother, looking disappointed. “I guess that’s our cue to go.” She turned to Shannon. “Thanks, again, for a wonderful tour.”

Shannon nodded, accepting the tip offered and waving good-bye as the family walked back to their car, one of only three in the parking lot. The other two belonged to Shannon and Tierney.

“Big plans tonight, Ms. Haven?” asked Shannon with a teasing smile.

“Just my regular Wednesday night dinner. But I need to get over to Center Harbor for groceries. How about you?”

Shannon looked surprised by the question. “Yeah, actually. My boyfriend works as a counsellor at a camp up on Squam. We’re getting together tonight at Walter’s Basin for dinner.”

“Sounds like fun,” said Tierney, realizing that she almost never asked her employees about their personal lives; before now, she’d kept everything professional.

Or had she? Maybe calling it “professional” was a cop-out. Maybe what she was really doing, was sort of like hiding; keeping herself isolated from people as she used to at Summerhaven. For whatever reason, the realization bothered her.

“I hope you have a really nice time with your boyfriend, Shannon. Try the trout. It’s amazing.”

“Thanks, Ms. Haven!” called Shannon, heading over to her car. “See you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow, Shannon.”

Maybe she could make a little more effort with the young women who worked for her. They were all several years younger than she, of course, but Tierney could certainly be a little warmer with them. Something to think about.

She waved to Shannon as she drove away, then looked over at her own car.

Usually she took the time to check the locks on the estate house and barn before heading home for the evening. But she quickly decided it could wait until later. Right now, all she wanted in the whole world was to spend a little of this borrowed time with the man waiting for her at home.

Racing to her car, she followed the family of four and Shannon down the hill to the road, watching as they disappeared through the gate before closing and locking it for the day.

***

Burr didn’t know if the book he’d purchased from Tierney was worth a hundred dollars, but it was pretty damned interesting. He’d spent the past forty minutes sitting in the late-day sun, on her doorstep, looking at the pictures, scanning paragraphs about the Gish family, and examining the foldout map of the extensive property.

Tomorrow morning, he’d walk the whole thing and familiarize himself with all possible entry points. If Sean somehow managed to trace Tierney’s cell phone to her address, he wanted to know every vulnerability of the property where she lived. He might even invest in some cheap, but functional, cameras from RadioShack and install them at weak points so that he could check out the feeds on his phone at all times.

Looking up, he saw a car roll down the hill, followed by a minivan, another car, and finally, Tierney’s Jeep, which paused at the gate. He watched her get out of her car and pull the gates shut manually before walking over to a keypad where she punched in a code, which, presumably, locked them for the day.

As she pulled into the driveway, he closed the book and stood up, reaching for her car door and opening it for her.

“Hey,” he said. “That gate’s locked now?”

She nodded. “Yeah. And automated. Anyone else who wants to get in needs a code.”

“And there are no other entrance points?”

“No. Like I said, this is it.”

He sighed, feeling a measure of relief, then held up the book. “I’ve been reading.”

“And…?”

“Interesting place,” he said, looking up at the tower on the hill. “The view from the barn must be spectacular.”

Tierney followed his gaze, shielding her eyes and nodding. “It is.”

“They originally built it as a lookout?”

“In part,” she said. “But mostly for aesthetic reasons. Herbert Gish liked that it was clearly visible from Lake Winnipesaukee. Tourists from miles around were impressed and intrigued by the sheer scare of it. Made Moonstone Manor look like a palace in the sky. He was a bit of a blowhard, by all accounts.”

“You know what they say,” said Burr, grinning down at her. “Small salami, tall tower.”

Two spots of color appeared in her cheeks as her eyes widened. “Who says that?”

“Everyone who knew Napoleon.”

She rolled her eyes at him, the way the sisters of sometimes-crass brothers often do.

“Any towers at your house, Burr?”

“No, ma’am. I only require a very modest, one-story dwelling.”

She laughed at that, shaking her head at him like he was naughty, and it blew him away how much he liked hearing her laugh. It was the first time he’d heard it, and it was throaty and deep, and unintentionally sexy. But she sobered up pretty quickly. “We need to talk.”

Burr held back a groan. There was never, ever a good time for a woman to say those specific words to a man, and today was no exception.

“I guess we do.”

“But I also need to go to the grocery store, so unless you want the talk to wait until after dinner, I think you’d better come with me and fill me in on the drive.”

Frankly, he wouldn’t mind waiting forever to tell her the truth about his life, but if he was going to stick around to look after her for a while, she deserved to know why. He walked around her Jeep, hopping into the passenger seat and watching as she hit the numeric code on the keypad. It . He’d keep that in mind.

“So,” she prompted as soon as she turned onto the main road. “Who are you, Burr?”

He took a deep breath and exhaled, realizing the he hadn’t told anyone—no one—the truth about who he was for three years. It took a moment for him to remember where to begin.

“My name’s Burr O’Leary. And…in a weird twist of fate, my middle name’s actually Brian, so that was a good choice.”

“What? No!”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Burr Brian O’Leary,” she said, and he tried not to take so much pleasure in hearing her say his full name, but he failed. It felt nice to hear it.

“That’s me.”

“I like it,” she said. “What else? What do you do?”

“I’m an officer with the Boston Police Department. For the last three years, I’ve been undercover with the New Killeens, an organized crime unit headed by the Shanahan brothers, Declan and Sean.”

He said it quickly, like he didn’t want the words sticking around in his mouth a moment longer than was necessary.

She gasped softly beside him, stopping at a red light and turning to face him. “Undercover? That’s a real thing?”

Her question completely disarmed him, and he laughed softly. “Yeah. That’s a real thing.”

“So you’ve been undercover with these Killeens for a few years…doing what?”

Terrible things. Things I don’t want to tell you about, aisling. Things I never want you to know about.

Burr clenched his jaw, dropping her eyes to look straight out the windshield. “Whatever it took to gain their trust.”

Peripherally, he saw her lips part for a moment before she snapped them shut. The light changed, and she pressed down on the gas. “You did what you had to do. What else?”

Her pragmatism, and lack of judgment, was strangely soothing.

“Someone—and I’m pretty sure it was my partner—betrayed me to the Shanahans on Sunday.”

“Betrayed you?”

He nodded, clenching his teeth together before continuing, a fresh onslaught of pain making his chest tight. “Told them that I was working undercover for the BPD.”

“Your partner? Oh, God. No!”

“Yes. The Shanahans went to my sister’s house to try to get information from her, but she didn’t know anything. I haven’t spoken to her in three years. Anyway, someone tipped me off anonymously that they were paying her a visit, and I got there just in time to see Declan Shanahan shoot her in the hip.” He paused. He hated to tell her the rest, but he’d promised her the truth. “I was across the street, but I ran to help Suzy. Declan got me once in the shoulder. I got him in the chest, and I—I killed him.”

“Oh, Burr,” she whispered. “I can’t imagine what that feels like.”

“Confusing,” he admitted. “He was a bad man, Tierney. He could’ve killed my sister. So yeah. Part of me is glad he’s dead, but at the same time, I take no pleasure in killing someone. Does that make any sense?”

“It does,” she murmured. Her breath was shaky when she inhaled. “Keep going.”

“My partner told me to ditch my car and use Suzy’s to drive up here. He told me his wife’s family had a house on Lake Ossipee and that I should use it as a safe house. But…it—it was raining so hard that night, and I was on some pretty strong painkillers. Plus, the shock of the gunshot wound…I was losing blood, I guess. I got lost.”

“…and came to Moonstone Manor instead.”

“Came to you, Tierney,” he said, surprised by the way his heart clenched, by the rush of intense feeling that made him want to touch her, to draw her into his arms, to—to—“And you…”

She pulled into the parking lot of Heath’s Supermarket, cutting the engine and turning her whole body so she faced him. “I…what?”

“You’re so damned brave. You gave me sanctuary,” he said, staring into her green eyes and wondering if any woman in the history of time ever had eyes as beautiful as Tierney’s. “You took care of me. You kept me safe. You…you were my safe haven.”

She stared back at him, licking her tempting lips before parting them. “I just…I just did what anyone would have—”

“No. Anyone else would’ve called the police. Anyone else would’ve been terrified. But you weren’t. Why weren’t you scared of me?”

“I was at first. But when I hit my head on the bathroom door, you said, ‘Sorry.’ And later, you asked me not to leave. You said you didn’t want to die alone.”

“Fucking dramatic,” he muttered, disgusted with himself.

“No,” she said, reaching out to place her hand on his arm. “No, Burr. It humanized you to me. Something told me you weren’t all bad. Just…desperate.”

“I was.” He nodded, using all of his willpower not to cover her hand with his. “And I do know how to say thank you.”

Miss Sassy returned instantly, pulling her hand away. “Is that right? Because I haven’t seen much evidence of it since—”

“Thank you,” he interrupted, looking straight at her. “Thank you, Tierney. For everything.”

“You’re welcome,” she answered, her lips—those soft fucking lips that he’d kissed earlier today—tilting up just a tiny bit.

“You should smile more,” he said.

She blinked. “Téigh dtí diabhail, Burr.”

Damn, but she was surprising. “Ha! Fuck off, huh? Again?”

But she didn’t say it with venom this time. This time it was almost like a private joke between them.

“I’ll smile more when you give me something to smile about,” she said. “Now, finish up. Why’d you leave this morning? Why’d you come back? And why on God’s green earth did you smash my phone to smithereens?”

“I left this morning because if Sean Shanahan somehow tracked me down, I didn’t want him to trace me to you.”

“Okay,” she said. “Then why’d you come back?”

“That call you made to Mass General to ask about my sister. You made it with your cell phone, right?”

“Of course. I don’t have a landline.”

“They have someone on the inside there. They’re looking for any leads that could point them in my direction.” He watched her eyes widen with understanding. “There’s a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on my head.”

Her mouth dropped open, but she snapped it shut a moment later, schooling her expression from real surprise to faux. “You’re worth fifty thousand, huh?”

He’d watched her use wit before to deflect something serious or troubling. But he needed her to understand the gravity of the situation they were in. “These guys are no joke, Tierney.”

“You broke my phone,” she pointed out. “There’s no way to trace it now.”

“But they could get your billing address from the number itself,” he said. “These are bad people. They shot my sister, Tierney. When I left you earlier today, I went to the safe house—a house on Lake Ossipee that my partner said was safe. I got there just in time to see some associates of Sean Shanahan kill the handyman, thinking it was me.” He scanned her eyes. He didn’t want to frighten her, but he needed her to be aware of the potential danger that surrounded them. “If they find out you called about Suzy and trace back your number to a billing address, they could come after you too.”

“That seems unlikely.”

“Unlikely? Maybe. Possible?” He grimaced. “Yes.”

She gulped softly. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“The Shanahans have their dirty fingers in a lot of pockets. I don’t know if they’re connected up here.”

“Is it possible?”

“Anything’s possible,” he answered, “except risking your safety.”

She was holding her breath, her breasts and shoulders high, but she exhaled suddenly, her body relaxing a little. “I appreciate that.”

“It’s the least I can do, aisling,” he said, reaching over to her and capturing a strand of jet-black hair draped over her shoulder. He fingered the silky softness between his fingers for a moment before letting it go.

When she took another breath, it was just the slightest bit shaky—from him touching her? From the story he was telling her? He wasn’t sure, but suddenly he hoped it was the former. He fucking liked touching her, and he wanted it to affect her as much as it did him.

She cleared her throat. “So what happens now?”

“My boss—Captain Donnelley—is working with the gang task unit on an indictment of the New Killeens. As soon as it comes down, Sean Shanahan will be arrested. Once he’s behind bars, you should be safe.”

“And you?”

“I’ll go back to Boston and testify against the bastard and his associates.”

“Until then?”

He sighed. “Any chance there’s an apartment above your garage where I can stay awhile? I want to keep an eye on things here.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Just a dusty storage loft.”

Burr had no right to ask her if he could stay in her cottage; he’d already inconvenienced her, and her kindness had placed her life in jeopardy. He could stay in his car. Hell, it was summer. He could buy a tent and sleep outside in her backy—

“I have a guest room,” she said.

It was his turn to blink in surprise. “Huh?”

“A guest room. In my cottage. I have one. You can stay there.”

“I can’t do that to you.”

“What? Sleep in an empty bed in an empty room? You won’t be putting me out, Burr.”

“Are you sure? You wouldn’t mind?”

“You can’t live in your sister’s car. I don’t see what other choice we have.”

“I could get a tent and—”

“You’re not sleeping in a tent when I’ve a perfectly good—and empty—guest room.”

He grinned at her tone because it reminded him so much of his mother and sister. Don’t argue with an Irish woman once her mind’s made up. But thinking about his family made his mind turn to hers.

“What will you tell your brothers about me staying with you?”

She gave him a look. “That tale’s already spun. You’re my friend, Brian, from Dartmouth, injured in a hunting accident, staying for a visit.”

“Can I make a suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“…because you’re a terrible liar.”

“Come on!”

“The worst I’ve ever seen.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Working with what we have, I think we should make the story a little more truthful so you’ll have less trouble sticking with it.”

“Oh, please instruct me on the ways of deception, master.”

He swallowed a grin, because he liked her sweet and breathless, but damn if he didn’t like her sassy too.

“Brian works. That’s my middle name, so it’s not a lie. But instead of us being college friends, how about we just met there? We’re the same age, and I played ice hockey at Dartmouth several times for UMass, so we were definitely there at the same time. We could say we met while I was playing hockey there one weekend and hooked up again over social media.”

“I guess that could work,” she said.

“And why don’t we say that there’s been some trespassing on the grounds here, which is true. I trespassed on Sunday, right? So I’ve come on as temporary security. Also true. That’s why I’m staying.”

“Yeah. That’s good,” said Tierney. “Even though I live in the cottage, it isn’t mine. Technically it belongs to the Gish Trust. So it makes sense that another employee would be offered housing there too. It’s plausible.”

“See?” he said. “Way better. And I will be there for security, Tierney.” Yours. “I’ll die before I let anything happen to you.”

“Don’t die,” she said, her eyes unexpectedly beseeching.

“I’ll do my best.” He cocked his head to the side. “A word to the wise: don’t make big lies. It’s more to remember and easier to get caught.”

“You’re good at lying?”

He thought back on the last three years of his life, starting with the lies told to his family so that they’d believe he’d turned bad. “I don’t like it…but I’ve had to be.”

“But not with me,” said Tierney, reaching out and touching his arm again. “Don’t lie to me.”

This time he glanced down at her fingers. They were cool on his arm, small and white, with clean, short nails and a gold Claddagh ring, turned heart-out.

“I like your ring,” he said, brushing it with his fingers. “I like the way you wear it.”

When a woman wore her Claddagh ring heart-out, it meant her heart was available…though he reminded himself that she had a date with Dr. Weasel on Friday night. The thought made him glower.

She slid her hand from his arm. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said.

“Burr?”

He looked at her—straight into her emerald eyes, making a thousand dreams that he had no right to take root in his stupid heart.

“Promise to always tell me the truth?” she asked. “I need that. Lie to whoever else you need to, but be honest with me, okay? About all things. All the time.”

“I promise,” he said, though he already knew there were things he’d never be able to tell her, that would only make it more difficult to say good-bye when it was time for him to go.

“Okay, then,” she answered. “Is that everything?”

He nodded. “Everything I can think of.”

“Good,” she said. “Now help me get some stuff for dinner. My brothers are coming in an hour.”

Oh, right. Dinner with her brothers. He’d forgotten about that.

“Speaking of your brothers…anything I should know? Like…is the second one as big as the first one?”

She had her hand on the door handle, ready to leave the SUV, but she turned back to him, her eyes wide. “Hmm? No. Rory’s not as big as Ian.”

“But you are their only sister.”

She grimaced, nodding at him. “That I am.”

As he accompanied her into the grocery store, he couldn’t help feeling that telling Tierney the truth about his life was nothing compared to what he was about to go through meeting her brothers.