Wild Embrace (Wilder Irish #11) - Mari Carr Page 0,68

“You have to help me understand why—”

“I have to go.”

He turned without saying goodbye, and she started to follow. Ryder must have seen her move, read her intent to chase him, because he spun back around.

“Don’t,” he said hotly.

She blinked rapidly, fighting the tears threatening to fall.

“Don’t follow me.” He must have seen her distress because his eyes softened for just a moment. “This is for the best, Darcy. You have to believe me when I say that.”

“No.” She shook her head, but his mask fell back into place. “Please. Don’t do this. I lo—”

“Stop.” Ryder shut her down quickly, wincing as if she’d struck him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, as he turned once more and headed toward the door.

Darcy took one step to follow before her dad gently grasped her hand to stop her.

“I think you should let him go for now, Darcy.”

She paused. If her dad hadn’t added the words for now, she would have shrugged off his grip and run after Ryder no matter what anyone said.

“I don’t understand what happened.”

Dad gave her a sympathetic smile, then gestured toward an empty booth near the back of the pub. “Why don’t we have a seat over there? We can talk.”

She went with him, the two of them sitting across from each other. Padraig followed them over, clearly concerned. “You okay, Darc?”

She nodded once, then shrugged. “I’m confused and…” She shook her head. “No. I’m not okay.”

“I’m sorry, sweet pea.” Padraig placed a soft kiss on top of her head. “You need anything right now?”

Darcy shook her head again, struggling to speak—her throat was closing up.

“Aaron?”

Dad said, “No thanks, Paddy. I’m on duty later.”

“Okay. Wave me down if you change your mind.” Padraig left them alone.

Dad reached across the table to grasp one of her hands in his. “Maybe we should take this from the top. It seemed pretty obvious at Bubbles’s party that you and Ryder are seeing each other.”

“Yeah. We’ve been going out.”

“When did that start?”

“Halloween. We were both trapped in the elevator during the power outage for a few hours.”

Her dad’s eyebrows rose. “And this is the first I’m hearing of that? Why wouldn’t you have called me to get you out?”

Darcy grinned. Her dad would always be overprotective. She held her other hand out. “It was a city-wide power outage on Halloween. I’m sure you were needed elsewhere.”

“Yeah. Okay. So Ryder…”

“Ryder,” she said sadly.

“He’s older than you are,” Dad said.

“I know.”

“And your boss.”

Darcy grimaced. “You’re not saying anything Ryder hasn’t said himself.”

“Neither one of those things is a problem?”

“No,” she said. “They aren’t.”

Dad considered that, rubbing his jaw. “His wife has been gone…what…three, four years?”

“Four.”

“Still grieving?” he asked.

“I didn’t think so. I…don’t know.” As Dad’s interrogation continued, she realized the cop in him was trying to gather all the evidence in hopes of understanding why Ryder Hagen, the least emotional man she’d ever known, had just flipped his fucking lid because she was talking to a stranger.

“How serious are things between the two of you?” Dad asked.

In Darcy’s mind, they were as serious as they got. She’d fallen head over heels for him years ago. And she’d just begun to think those feelings were reciprocated. She knew Rome wasn’t built in a day, but dammit, she’d really believed construction was well underway. Until tonight.

“Ryder’s been resistant to dating anyone again. Says he likes his unencumbered, workaholic life. Plus, there’s Clint to think of.”

“And you changed his mind about that?”

She casually lifted one shoulder. “I suggested a trial run.”

“How many dates have you had?”

Darcy closed her eyes wearily. “Probably like a dozen.”

Dad chuckled. “Doesn’t sound like a trial to me. Sounds like you’re dating.”

“We are. It was real—all of it. At least…to me.”

Her father sobered up. “You’re in love with him.”

Darcy didn’t hesitate to respond. She nodded, swallowing heavily, fighting overtime not to cry.

“When Ryder said he couldn’t do this, what did he mean?”

“His marriage to Denise…” Darcy tried to figure out how she could explain without sharing more than she should. She longed to open up and pour her heart out to her dad, but so much of this wasn’t her story to tell. “There were some problems. It’s affected the way he sees himself. He blames himself, says he wasn’t a good husband. Plus, I think, since her death, he’s struggled with trusting other people. He’s closed himself off to the idea of falling in love again because he had his heart broken. So now he’s told himself he’s not capable of being in