Page 72 of Liberating Lily

“Yes, she does. But she’s now finished for the night.”

They left the building. Paddy was whistling as they strode toward his car.

“That was interesting, wasn’t it?” Paddy said. “Lily St. Clary, huh?”

“Yes, Lily St. Clary.”

“Isn’t that the woman who is engaged to Rick the Dick?”

“Yep,” he said.

“And she’s your ward, is she?” Paddy drawled.

“She certainly is and I’ll do anything to protect her. He was lying, wasn’t he? Seemed desperate to get me to bring her to him.”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t think there was a word out of his mouth that was the truth. And he wants your girl. He was practically salivating at the idea of having her back.”

Fucking asshole.

“Right, something’s going on in that clinic that we need to get on top of.”

“Oh, yeah. There’s got to be something dodgy. I looked at the appointment list for the week. There were only three appointments listed. That’s not normal,” Paddy told him.

“You saw that on the receptionist’s computer?”

“Yep.”

“You think there’s any way we can get into their computer system?”

“I think I’m going to have fun trying. If I can’t, we might have to do a spot of breaking and entering.”

Which wasn’t going to be easy. It was that or kidnap the doctor. But they’d need more evidence before doing that.

“What are you going to do next?” Paddy asked.

“Speak to her mother. I’ll do it tomorrow, though.”

“I bet you’re wanting to get back to your girl now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am.”

When Harvey arrived home, he crept carefully into the bedroom, not wanting to wake her up. But she rolled over and opened her eyes, staring straight at him. “Where were you?”

Shit. Had she woken up with a nightmare and needed him, and he hadn’t been here?

“I’m sorry, baby. Did you need me? Did you have another nightmare?” He walked over and sat on the bed, facing her.

“I didn’t have a nightmare. I just woke up and wondered where you were because you weren’t lying on the floor. I thought that maybe you’d decided you wanted to sleep in a bed. So, I snuck downstairs to check. But I couldn’t find you anywhere, and that’s when I began to get worried.”

Shit. He’d really fucked that up, hadn’t he?

“I’m sorry, Mo bhreáthracht. I’m sorry you were looking for me, and I wasn’t here.”

“It’s not like you owe me any explanations or that I have a right to know your whereabouts⁠—”

He had to stop her right now. She was killing him with this.

Harvey placed his finger over her lips. “Shh. If anyone has a right to know my whereabouts, it’s you. I didn’t want to tell you where I was going because I thought you might want to come.”