Page 57 of Irish Betrayal

Blair had yet to bring up why she’d left him three months ago. Since they’d been awake, he tried to keep the conversation light in the hopes she would relax enough to say something. Daniel’s unease at her avoidance was allowing suspicion to seep into his brain, and he didn’t want that.

He only wanted the truth.

Instead of thinking the worst, he took his arms from her body where she was draped across his chest and scooted back until he could lean against the headboard, pulling Blair with him until she straddled his waist.

“You’ve got a serious look about you, Dan,” she signed. “Though I feel it’s my duty to tell you that your hard-on is giving mixed signals.”

He swatted her ass and laughed when she yelped. “When you’re naked, I’m hard. Now,” he began, clearing his throat and hoping he wasn’t about to screw up their reunion, “will you tell me why you left?”

Daniel watched as red heat instantly climbed from her chest to her neck and face. “Please, Blair. Was it something I did? Was there someone else? Is there someone else?” He hated that he sounded so desperate, but he was.

Even without hearing, Blair could read emotions just as well as speech. That’s why it had always been hard for her friends to keep anything from her. She saw everything, and right now, she was seeing him at his most vulnerable.

Her top teeth were biting into her bottom lip, and tears that weren’t there a second ago sparkled in her eyes. Daniel’s stomach dropped.

“There was somebody,” she began, but stopped and covered her face, rubbing vigorously at her eyes.

Daniel pulled her hands away. “Just tell me. Not knowing is making it worse.”

Blair looked stricken. He knew it went against everything she was to hurt someone. “It was never…it was not…damn it,” she swore. “We weren’t an actual couple. We messed around, but he…he meant something to me. I realize now that I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“About us?” Daniel asked; the grimness of his thoughts was unsettling. “Was it regret then? You said you loved me that night.”

Her eyes grew wide. “No. No, no, no. I meant it. I do love you. When you and I went out, when you took me to that stunning manor with the greenhouse, when we were together that night, I didn’t have regrets then or after. I was only confused, and I panicked like a child because…”

“Because you went to see him the next day and he was mad that you’d been with me?” At his question, sheer panic crossed her face, which was confirmation enough, but he wanted more. “Is it your professor, Peter Samson?”

When she tried to get off his lap, he put his hands on the tops of her thighs. “Please don’t get up. Please tell me.”

Silence reigned for twenty heartbeats, one hundred. When her lids began to close, he clasped her chin until she once again could see his face. “No, Blair. You won’t do that to me. You won’t shut me out.”

Daniel felt her body shudder and tense above his. She was prepared to run. He hoped she wouldn’t. “You can tell me anything. When I told you I loved you, am in love with you, I meant it. We both did. I should have chased after you, but my damn pride stopped me every time. I let you run. I won’t again.

Blair went still, the first time her body hadn’t been twitching since the conversation started. She toppled like the last supporting piece of her equilibrium had been yanked from her.

He felt her wet eyelashes brush his neck as she hugged him tight. It was clear from how upset she was that she still was not telling him everything.

Finally, she spoke, her lips moving against his throat, her unique voice thick with tears. “If you ever read my childhood journals, you’d know I’ve loved you a whole hell of a lot longer than you’ve loved me.”

Blair poked his side, the only sign that her sense of humor was still intact. He didn’t respond since she wasn’t in a position to read his lips or hands.

“It is…was…Peter. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t move her for a few minutes. The confession was clearly difficult, and one she would have preferred stayed a secret. Daniel rubbed her back and massaged his fingers against her scalp until he felt her relax.

Slowly, he grasped her upper arms and gently pulled her up where she could read his lips again. “Why is he here? In Oklahoma. Are you still seeing him?”

“God, no. I mean, I see him at OSU, and he came here once, but I didn’t invite him. I’ve told him to leave me alone. Several times.”

“Help me understand. Did you choose Oklahoma because you knew he was going to teach there?”

She rapidly shook her head no. “I chose Oklahoma because that was where he wasn’t!”

Daniel felt his body swell with rage. Was that scumbag forcing himself on Blair? Had she been running from Peter instead of him?

“Has he been threatening you?” Daniel tried to keep his face passive, but he was already envisioning ruining the piece of shit’s life.

Unfortunately, Blair knew him better than anyone else. “Calm down, Daniel. Please. I am handling him. He followed me here, but not with my consent or knowledge.” She cupped his face and kissed him once, twice, and by the third time he was kissing her back.