to keep the necklace safe for you until you left, but I was lying to myself. I knew that bringing you here was the beginning of the end.”
“The end of what?” I asked, propping my chin up to look at him.
His gaze softened. “My solitude.”
He braced an arm underneath his head. Hadrian stared down at me with languid eyes, but another part of him seemed ready and eager for my attention. The sheet above his lower half was tented.
I reached underneath the covers and grasped him.
Hadrian closed his eyes, his jaw clenched.
He was like hot granite and my mouth watered in anticipation. I wanted to feel him at the back of my throat.
I removed the sheet so I could see him in all his naked glory. I glided my lips over him, causing him to groan. I strung out his pleasure and his hands clenched at his sides. Watching the big, brawny man lose control made me feel powerful in a way I’d never felt before.
I owned a part of him like he owned a part of me, and when he came in my mouth, I swallowed every bit of him.
His skin was flushed and damp, and I kissed his taut belly before resting my cheek against him.
“Have you forgiven me?” he asked.
“For what?”
“For my domineering nature?”
I let out a laugh. “I guess it comes with the package. The whole beautiful, protective, generous package.”
“I’ve never heard myself described that way, but I’ll take it.”
“You’re also broody and terrifying.”
He grasped my hip and gently pulled me toward him. “I thought you weren’t afraid of me. Despite what you know about me.”
“I’m not. I feel…protected around you. I can’t explain it.”
He stroked my spine, and like a whip, his next words made their mark. “I’ve invited your family here.”
My heart kicked up in fear, and I shot up off of his chest to stare at him. “What? Why?”
He pondered my question for a moment. “It’s two-fold. Your mother’s debt must be settled. You can’t go through life on the run. How do you know you haven’t made a mistake, just like Sister Agatha? You’re not a professional, Sterling. You could have already done something you’re not aware of that puts you…no, us, in jeopardy. Your family is powerful, and if there’s any chance in the world they might piece together who you are…I can’t risk it. We have to settle it now. But your family are also the kind of people who might know who tried to kill me—and why. The assassin spoke Sicilian just before he died. These men have ears to the ground in their own country. If they know anything about what happened, I need them to tell me.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Fear slashed my insides as my mind churned over Hadrian’s announcement. I attempted to slow my racing heart.
My mind kicked into survival mode and traveled every avenue of thought. I would come face to face with my family, the very people who were never supposed to know about my existence. The people my mother had warned me about.
This next part is the most important of all—you cannot go to my family.
But Hadrian would be waving me in their face.
I instinctively clutched him tighter. Even though I trusted him, I was afraid, and we lay there in silence until I fell into a restless sleep.
A few hours later I awoke, my heart thundering in my chest. The alarm clock on the bedside table read 3:15. I didn’t need to reach out to Hadrian’s side of the bed to know he was gone. A patch of moonlight speckled the floor and my sluggish brain managed to piece together that the drapes on the balcony doors were pulled back.
I could see Hadrian’s stark form through the glass, and I blanched when I realized he was bare-chested. The weather in Shetland had been steadily getting colder, and I couldn’t imagine being out in the elements without being properly dressed. It had been raining only a few hours ago and the air was no doubt still cold.
I flipped on the bedside lamp and sleepily stuck my feet in the pair of slippers at the edge of the bed. After I got up, I grabbed the tartan wool blanket from the back of the leather couch, turned on the gas fireplace to dispel the chill in the air, and then went out onto the balcony.
Hadrian sat in a patio chair, not noticing my intrusion. Without a word, I placed the blanket around his shoulders. He grasped