Unending Devotion (Michigan Brides #1)(69)

“I think you’re just going to miss me,” he said lightly. But there was a hard set to his jaw that frightened her. “That’s why you don’t want me to go. Admit it.”

She sighed. And before she could stop herself, she reached up and laid her hand against his cheek. “I admit it.”

His breath hitched. The shadows in his eyes darkened, but this time with something more like desire.

Her fingers grazed the scratchy stubble of his unshaven cheek. Her heart quivered at the texture of him against her fingertips.

He leaned closer, and the sweet tang of oranges lingered between them.

“Connell?” a voice at the entrance of the hallway made her start.

She dropped her hand.

But he didn’t move—except to stiffen.

“I was just coming to tell your mother good-night.”

She glanced past Connell, and there stood Rosemarie. She’d donned a velvet bonnet trimmed with chenille and feathers and a jacket that glittered with fanciful beads. The woman’s eyes widened as she took in Lily’s unladylike proximity to Connell.

A twinge of embarrassment prodded Lily to straighten. She didn’t want to begin her visit with the McCormicks by making a poor impression, especially when she already had a sullied reputation.

She tried to slip away from Connell, but he boxed her in with his other arm.

“Connell, please,” she whispered.

But his eyes had taken on a spark of anger, and instead of moving away from her, he dipped closer.

“I’ll be sure to tell Mam you said good-bye.” He tossed Rosemarie a slight glance, all the while brushing his cheek against Lily’s.

The scruff skimmed her sensitive skin, and the scratchy sensation sent a shiver through her.

Rosemarie didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t seem to tear her focus away from Connell. There was a painful longing in her eyes that pleaded with him.

“You better get home to Tierney.” His voice was hard. “I’m sure he’s waiting for you.”

Lily didn’t know what was going on between Rosemarie and Connell, but she was certain there was something. She knew she ought to break free from Connell and give the two some privacy, but the touch of his cheek against hers and the warmth of his breath held her prisoner.

“Besides, I’m saying good-bye to Lily.” With that he seemed to dismiss Rosemarie. He leaned into Lily’s ear. The rasp of his breath there captured her with a strength that left her powerless, weakened her muscles, and made her dizzy.

The heat of his breath bathed the skin of her neck. And when he pressed a kiss into the hollow of her ear, she found herself clinging to him to keep from falling.

Only Rosemarie’s gasp brought her out of the drowning swirl of his nearness.

Lily tilted her head away from him, breaking the contact. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Rosemarie spin away and retreat toward the stairway, the sharp click of her heels growing more distant.

Lily pushed against Connell’s arms, but he didn’t move.

He dragged in a ragged breath.

The curling warmth in her stomach stretched tighter. And as embarrassed as she was that Rosemarie had witnessed their intimacy, she didn’t want to pull away from him. Would he kiss her again, a real kiss like the one they’d shared in the stairwell of the Northern?

But, as he had the last time, he tore himself away from her and stumbled to the other side of the hallway. With a groan, he rubbed his hand across his eyes. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

The regret in his tone sent a chill through Lily.

He put both hands over his face. “What was I thinking?”

“That you wanted to say good-bye?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lily.”

The cold chill rippled over her skin, and she folded her arms across her chest trying to fight it off. “Who is she to you, Connell?”

He didn’t respond for a long moment. Then finally he straightened and looked directly at her. “She was my fiancée.”

The words blew into her blood like the north wind.

“But now she’s married to Tierney.”

“Why?” She forced the question out, even though she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. “What happened?”

“Two months before the wedding, I caught them together, down in the library.” The dimness of the hallway shadowed his face, but nothing could hide the pain in his voice.

“Were they kissing?”

“They were doing a whole lot more than kissing.”

At his insinuation, she sucked in a startled breath. “Not Rosemarie. She seems like such a lady.”

“Apparently it wasn’t the first time they’d been together.”

“I don’t understand why she would give you up for your brother.”

“Tierney has a way about him that women like. And I guess he was more persuasive than I was.”

“You mean he’s a lying, cheating double-crosser who uses women, and you’re a gentleman, trying your hardest to be honorable?” Connell had always treated her with the utmost respect. She had no doubt he’d done the same with Rosemarie.

“For all my efforts to treat her honorably, I lost her anyway.”

“Then it was her loss.”

“When I see her with the baby and the house across the street, it’s hard not to think about how much I lost too.”