“Miss Thorpe? They’re ready for you now. Down the hall and last door on your left.”

Ellie quickly stood and hurried down the hall, her heart slamming in her chest. “Stay calm,” she murmured. “Be cool.”

She saw him as he stepped out of the conference room. He glanced up and their eyes met for an instant, then held. Ellie knew she was still moving toward him, yet she felt frozen in time. He looked so good, dressed in khakis and a sport jacket and tie.

“Hi, Ellie,” he said, a crooked smile touching his lips.

“Hello, Liam.”

The prosecuting attorney who stood behind Liam cleared her throat. “Miss Thorpe, if you’ll just come inside.”

But Ellie ignored her request. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been-”

“Mr. Quinn, I’m afraid you shouldn’t be speaking to Miss Thorpe right now. Until we’ve interviewed her, she shouldn’t be speaking to any of the other witnesses.” Leslie Abbott crossed to Ellie and gently took her arm, pulling her toward the conference room. “If you’ll just come with me, we can get started.”

The door closed behind Ellie and her heart, pounding so fiercely just a moment before, now dropped. Was that all? Just a few words, a quick hello and nothing more? She’d plucked her eyebrows and shaved her legs just for this moment and it was over before it even began!

“Please sit down, Miss Thorpe.”

Ellie took a place across the table from the court stenographer. Leslie Abbott sat next to her, setting her legal pad on the table in front of her. “So, let’s get started. I understand that you and Liam Quinn were lovers,” she said.

Ellie gasped. “What?”

“You heard me. Do you realize how this could affect our case? Look at this from the defense attorney’s point of view. We have a private investigator who enlists the aid of his brother who in turn sleeps with the suspect’s ex-lover-who was also a suspect in this case.”

“But I didn’t know who Liam was when we…we became intimate. I just thought he was a regular guy. And then when he told me the truth, I was angry. After I learned that I was a suspect, I went to him and Sean and told them that I would help them catch Ronald-I mean, David.” Ellie put her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Is this going to cause a problem? Is Ronald going to get off?”

Leslie shook her head. “I don’t know. We’ll just have to see how the case unfolds. But I have to warn you that Griswold will probably try to shift the blame to you. To make it seem as if you were the mastermind. We’re in for a tough fight here, Miss Thorpe. Are you ready for this?”

“Do I have a choice?” Ellie asked.

“I’m afraid you don’t.”

Ellie closed her eyes, an image of Liam Quinn swimming in her head. Her words to Keely now seemed almost prophetic. She’d never be able to make a fresh start-with or without Liam-until she’d put this whole mess behind her.

And from the look on Leslie Abbott’s face, that was going to take a lot longer than Ellie had anticipated.

“HERE’S TO Ronald Pettibone. Or David Griswold. Or whoever the guy was,” Liam said, raising his pint of Guinness to Sean. “May there be many more criminals like him for you to chase-and me, too, when I need a few extra bucks.”

Sean picked up his glass and knocked it against Liam’s. “Ten years, no trial. That’s pretty good. Plus the bank got its money back and we got paid. Case closed.”

“A few months ago I was wondering where I was going to get the money to pay the rent. And now things are definitely looking up,” Liam said.

“What are you going to do with the money?” Sean asked, grabbing a handful of peanuts from the bowl in front of him.

“I don’t know. Make some plans. I’ve got my eye on a new camera. And I thought I might do a little traveling, see if I can’t get some nice photos to show National Geographic.”

“Any other plans?” Sean asked.

“What do you mean?”

His brother shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought…”

“Ellie?”

“Yeah,” Sean said. “Ellie.”

“Let me tell you, I was relieved when Pettibone took the plea bargain,” Liam said, staring at the coaster beneath his glass. “I didn’t want to see Ellie testify. After that interview I figured it might get pretty ugly. Ellie didn’t deserve to have her personal life dragged out in public. It was a good trade. Pettibone gets to serve his sentence in a cushy country-club prison and Ellie gets to go on with her life. On the other hand I was disappointed I didn’t get to see her. I had this whole speech laid out, how I was going to apologize first and then tell her how much she means to me.”

“And now what?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “I guess I have to figure out another way to get her back. It’s gotta be something really great-so she can’t possibly say no.”

“And while you’re thinking something up, she’s probably getting on with her life,” Sean said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Hell, if you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you.” Sean took another sip of his beer, then slid off his bar stool. “I’ve got to go. Tell Da I can tend bar tomorrow night.”

“And you and I are going to look for a wedding present for Brendan and Amy tomorrow, right? And we have to go get fitted for our tuxes, too.”

Sean nodded and waved as he strode out of the bar. Seamus wandered down to the end and picked up Liam’s nearly empty glass. “Another?” he asked.

Liam shook his head. “Nah. I better get going. Sean said he’ll work tomorrow night. And I think I’m good for the weekend.”

“Ah, you’re a pitiful sight, boyo,” Seamus commented, wiping the bar with a damp rag. “Ya sit here every night moonin’ over that girl and where does it get ya?”

“Da, I don’t need advice on my love life from you. We all know where you stand on the subject of women. Except, of course, for Ma.”

“I’m just sayin’ that ya got to stand up and be a man. Get busy livin’ or get busy lovin’. This in-between makes ya look like a bleedin’ gombeen.”

Liam grabbed his jacket. “Are you going to tell me one of those Mighty Quinn stories now?”

“Maybe you could use one,” he said.

Shaking his head, Liam started toward the door, then heard Seamus softly call his name. He glanced over and saw his father nod his head toward the other end of the bar. Ellie stood next to a bar stool near the door, her hands clutched in front of her. Liam stopped dead in his tracks and his breath froze in his throat. He’d seen her just once in the past month, those few precious seconds outside the conference room in New York. But in the days that had followed, he’d imagined this moment over and over again, dreamed about it at night, carefully considered what he might say.

He slowly approached her, his gaze fixed on hers. God, she looked pretty. She wore a cotton dress with a little sweater. Her dark hair fell in waves over her shoulders. “You’re here,” he said.

Ellie nodded. “I wasn’t sure if I should come.”

“No,” Liam said. “I’m glad you came. It…it’s good to see you, Ellie.”

She stared down at her fingertips, painted a pretty shade of pink. “I’m just in town for the day and I had a few things to say. I thought I’d get a chance to see you at the trial.”

“Yeah, the trial. I guess I’m kind of glad we didn’t have to go through that.”

“That’s what I came to tell you.” She risked a glance up at him. “I want you to know that there are no hard feelings. I understand now that you were just doing a job and that your only concern was putting Ronald Pettibone in jail-where he belonged.”

“That wasn’t my only concern, Ellie.” He reached out to touch her arm. “And it wasn’t just a job. I was with you because I wanted to be with you, not because I had to be.”

A blush stained her cheeks. “You don’t have to say that. I’m really all right with everything that happened.”

“Well, I’m not,” Liam countered. “Ellie, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

She stared at him for a long moment and Liam was sure she was about to turn and run. But then she swallowed hard and attempted to smile. “And I haven’t stopped thinking about you, either,” Ellie said. “I made a mistake and-”

“No, I’m the one who made the mistake.” Liam couldn’t contain his excitement. She still cared! “I never should have let you go.”

“I never should have gone.”

Liam glanced around the pub, then grabbed Ellie’s hand and pulled her toward the door. They stepped outside into the late-afternoon sun. A warm breeze blew from the south and summer was in the air. He pulled Ellie along the sidewalk until he was sure they were completely alone. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know,” she said, her voice trembling. “I just feel like we left things unfinished.”

“Me, too,” Liam said. “Like there’s more to us than what we had. That if we just had a little more time, we would realize how great it really was.”

“So what does this mean?” Ellie asked.

Liam’s gaze skimmed over her pretty face. “It means that I want to be with you, Ellie. I want to see where this could go.” He reached up and cupped her face in his palms, then kissed her, lingering over her lips for a long time. “I love you. I don’t think I really knew that for sure until this very moment. But I can’t even think of a future without you in it.”

“That’s a good thing,” Ellie said, her mouth curving into a warm smile. “Because I just accepted a new job at the Boston branch of Intertel. I thought I might come here and get a new start.” She reached up and brushed his hair back from his eyes. “And just so you know, I love you, too.”

Liam tipped his head back and laughed. Then he grabbed her again and pulled her into his embrace, this time kissing her like a man in love. He’d spent so long avoiding a real relationship and now he understood why-he’d been waiting for Ellie Thorpe to come into his life.