Where the Streets Have No Name(51)

She turned her head, eyeing him warily. “But what?”

His eyes drifted down to her abdomen again. The gentle swell. Beneath that bump was his child. Growing. They created life together.

Jaysus, he’d lost so much time. Too much. Maybe he’d lost her all together.

The problem, Daniel recognised, was any grovelling he did would be construed as because of the baby. He wanted Amelia. Needed her. Loved her. Damn, but he loved her. How to make her see? How to win her back?

He had no precursors, no knowledge of what to do. Had no one to tell him how to achieve his task. He knew what he wanted; he wanted Amelia. The initial shock of finding her pregnant wore off. He’d been angry. Felt lied to. But then, it took two to make life. No blame. That wasn’t the right way to go. And he didn’t blame her.

“Daniel?”

“Eh?” He looked up. Amelia was watching him, concern etched in her eyes. Oh the sadness in them shot straight to his heart. Searing pain spread in his chest, through his shoulders, down to his hands. He burned for her.

The best way to beat someone at their game, or show them you mean business, lad, is acceptance. Trust me on this one, Daniel. Accept people for who they are. Accept the things you can’t change. Accept that the world isn’t black and white. Accept and you’ll be accepted.

Aye, Da was such a clever man. But acceptance wasn’t as easy as saying so and hoping for the best. What if rejection ensued? What if…what if…

What if he didn’t try and regretted it for the rest of his miserable life? What if he grovelled and she turned him down?

“If you just came to see that I’m okay, then let me tell you, I’m not. But I will be.”

Her words were acid rain eating away at his flesh.

“I… God, for a long time, I just…gave up.” Her shoulders dropped and Amelia sighed, hanging her head. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. Maybe it’s helping me get over everything. I don’t know.”

She was shutting him out. Closing the door he thought might still be open, just a crack.

“It was two weeks,” she continued in a voice unlike her own. A voice fraught with emotions she tried to conceal from him. “You saw a chance and took it. I get it, I understand. You…you lost so much time. I was there and–”

“Now hold on just a minute!”

Amelia gave him the full view of her face. Dead eyes. All the life, all the mischief, it was gone. “Are you trying to tell me that’s not what happened?”

“No! I mean aye! I mean”– he fisted his hair at the temples –“you’re confusing my words, lass. Just…give us a minute.”

Amelia nodded and sipped at her tea. One hand absentmindedly smoothed over her belly, like it was second nature to her now.

Daniel pushed to his feet, ignoring the stab of pain in his knee, and walked through the cottage. All stone and wood and natural materials. Cozy. No wonder she stayed. This was exactly the kind of place he pictured himself living in. But…did she even want him?





Amelia tried to calm her rapid pulse. Being alone with Daniel brought back memories she tried to forget. The feel of his hands on her skin, his lips on hers, the way he held her close after they were intimate. It brought everything back to the surface.

He seemed torn. What was he trying to say to her?

Daniel turned, tearing his attention from the nick-knacks and books on the shelving unit across the room from the fireplace, and his eyes landed on her. Hunger. Desire. Need. Want. Lust. And…love?

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.