.

he had been in the beginning. But maybe, she thought, by opening up herself, she would find it easier to pry information from him.

      “No,” she said at last, “there’s no one now.”

       “Now?”

      “There was,” she told him. “I was engaged once. Brian Feeny.” She paused and realized that she could remember him now, talk about him now and not feel even the slightest echo of pain or regret. “He’s an accountant living in Dublin. I heard he’s married and happy.”

      “Why’d you break up?”

      “Why’s that your business?”

      “It isn’t,” he said simply.

      She laughed shortly. “Fine, then. ’Twas nothing dramatic. It was only that my family needed me and Brian couldn’t understand how I would put them before him. Us.”

      “Most men probably wouldn’t,” he told her.

      “Would you?”

      “I know that if the Ryan brothers needed me, I’d be there no matter what anyone else needed from me.” He shrugged negligently. “Does that answer the question?”

      “Aye,” she said, “it does.” She took a breath and admitted, “When it ended, I wasn’t heartbroken or devastated or even really disappointed. And I knew then that I hadn’t really loved him. Not enough.”

      She’d wanted to love Brian, but she simply hadn’t had it in her. And maybe she never would know the kind of love her parents had had. But then, loving that deeply, that completely—that carried its own risks, didn’t it? She remembered clearly how broken her mother had been at the loss of her love, and Aine had to wonder if the pain of it was worth the loving.

      “Or maybe it wasn’t you at all, and it was just this Brian being a jackass,” Brady said.

      Her gaze snapped to his and a slow smile curved her mouth. She’d never really considered it from that angle.

      “That’s enough depth for today, I think. How about a walk?” He stood up and held out one hand to her.

      Surprise flickered through her again. Aine looked from his eyes to his extended hand and back again. She hesitated only a moment or two before laying her hand in his. Exasperation aside, the man was not only her employer but was currently beguiling her. When her hand met his, heat dazzled her and she fought with everything she had to keep him from seeing her reaction to the connection between them. “I’d like that. I feel as if I’ve been indoors for days.”

      “We’ll walk to the pier, then,” he said, folding his fingers around her hand and tugging her along beside him. “You can watch the Pacific and think of the Atlantic.”