Unending Devotion (Michigan Brides #1)(46)

Connell’s heart flipped like one of Vera’s johnnycakes. He jumped back to his feet. Was Lily finally feeling better?

Stuart straightened and rubbed a hand over the thinning hair of his head, slicking it back.

Lily peeked around the corner into the dining room. Her hair tumbled in wild abandon over her shoulders and around her face. Her honeyed skin was paler than usual, but her eyes were darker and more luminous than ever. They were clouded with the traces of sleep, as if she’d just awoken.

When those rich woodsy eyes collided with his, they knocked the breath from him. He could only stare at her, witless, senseless, and completely speechless with the aching desire to be with her.

“Connell?” A welcoming smile curved her lips. “Where have you been?”

She stepped into the doorway then. She’d wrapped one of Vera’s quilts around her, but it couldn’t entirely conceal the white cotton nightgown she was wearing or the colorful striped socks upon her feet. “I’ve been waiting to see you.” She tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

His heart did another flip. “I’ve been wanting to check on you, but—”

Stuart cleared his throat.

Connell rushed. “But every night Oren’s been beating me away from your door with the butt of his rifle.”

Her smile widened. “At least he’s not threatening to shoot you.”

Connell grinned. “That’s a first.”

“And who is this lovely creature?” Tierney asked, glancing from Connell to Lily and back, his eyebrow quirking into a roguish slant.

A fierce and swift protectiveness gripped Connell. He scowled at Tierney, wishing he’d stayed back in Bay City where he belonged. He didn’t want Tierney meeting Lily. In fact, he didn’t even want him looking at her.

As if sensing the turmoil inside him, Tierney’s grin turned hard and his eyes brimmed with a lust that frightened Connell.

“It’s none of your business.” Connell moved into Tierney’s line of vision, blocking him from seeing Lily.

“Ah.” Tierney grinned up at him, almost laughing at him. “So this is your woman.”

The way he said woman insinuated a relationship far more intimate than friendship. Connell clenched his teeth and fought the urge to swing his knuckles into Tierney’s handsome face and disfigure him so that no woman would ever again fall under his spell.

“His woman?” Lily’s voice rose clear and strong. She stepped forward, her face tense and sparking with anger. “I’m not any man’s woman.”

Tierney’s grin only widened. “And I see you picked a fiery one. They’re the best kind.”

“Don’t say another word, Tierney,” Connell growled. He stepped toward his brother and shoved him.

“It’s no big secret anymore.” Tierney laughed.

“I don’t know who you are or what you’ve heard,” Lily said. “But you’re obviously misinformed.”

“Is that so?” Tierney peered around Connell and appraised Lily again, seeming to take in every detail from her thick hair to the lacy edge of her nightgown.

“Who are you? And why are you here?” she demanded. The fury in her eyes only made her more beautiful.

“This is my brother.” Connell narrowed his gaze at Tierney, hoping he’d take the clue to stop talking. “He’s come up from Bay City for a few days.”

The retort on Lily’s lips died, and the thin line of her brows lifted in surprise.

“Sometimes he doesn’t know how to take a hint and be quiet,” Connell added.

“And sometimes Connell doesn’t know how to speak his mind.” Tierney winked at Lily, laying on the charm like he usually did.

Connell’s fist tightened. His entire body revolted at the thought of Tierney attempting to woo Lily.

Lily regarded Tierney for a long moment, as though trying to see beyond his cocky grin.

Finally she looked at Connell. “He looks a little bit like you, but I’m guessing that’s where the similarity ends.”

She was right. He and Tierney had never had much in common.

“Now, Stuart.” She glanced around the dining room. “Where’s Frankie?”

Stuart shifted, and the mirth in his face dissipated. “I couldn’t get to her.”

“Why not?” Disappointment dripped from her voice.

“She wasn’t with the other girls,” he said. “And when I asked about her, no one would say anything.”

Connell wasn’t surprised. When Stuart had told him yesterday of his plan to travel to Merryville to look for Frankie, he’d warned his friend he would come back empty-handed.

But Stuart had insisted on going anyway—claiming he was planning to track down a couple of potential eyewitnesses to the jail fire while he was there. Connell suspected his real motivation in going was that he wanted to become Lily’s hero, for he surely would have earned heroic status if he’d returned with Frankie.

“Wasn’t there any way to sneak in?” she asked.

Stuart shook his head. “There were bouncers everywhere—at all the stairways and at all the doors.”

Lily’s shoulders slumped and she leaned against the doorframe, almost as if she were too weak to stand another second.

Stuart darted toward her. “I think you need to get back in bed. You’re still not well.”