The mighty Quinns: Liam - By Kate Hoffmann Page 0,37
Conor wandered among the guests, introducing their son, Conor smiling from ear to ear and Olivia looking more beautiful than ever. They came up to Amy and Ellie, and a moment later Ellie had the baby in her arms. Liam’s breath caught in his throat as he saw her smile sweetly at Riley, then kiss the soft dusting of hair on his head.
No matter how much time had passed, Liam was still amazed by the circumstances that had brought them together. Had he seen her sipping a drink at Quinn’s Pub or walking along any sidewalk in Boston, he probably wouldn’t have given Ellie a second look. But something had happened to him when she’d hit him over the head with that lamp, something that had jarred loose in his brain, and by the end of that night he’d become completely smitten.
“Will you look at this?” Brendan muttered, walking up behind Liam. “Sean decided to put in an appearance. Conor told me he wasn’t coming.”
Sean stopped short when Fiona approached, then deftly turned and headed toward the table. But he was halted again, this time by someone Sean hadn’t expected—Ellie Thorpe. Liam winced and knew that he was about to catch holy hell.
“Maybe you should introduce him to your new girlfriend,” Brendan suggested.
“She’s not my girlfriend. Besides—”
“What the hell is she doing here?” Sean murmured under his breath as he approached Liam.
Liam grabbed Brendan’s plate. “Looks like you could use a little more to eat, Bren,” he said. “I’ll just go get us a few of those sandwiches.” He headed for the tiny kitchen, but Sean just followed him, cornering Liam at the refrigerator.
“Answer my question,” Sean demanded.
Liam snatched up two sandwiches and shoved one at Sean. “Have something to eat and relax,” he muttered.
His brother tossed the sandwich back onto the plate.
“That’s really good chicken salad,” Liam said. “You should try it.”
“I told you to get close to her. But I didn’t mean this close.” He gave Liam a shrewd look. “Are you sleeping with her?”
“Not right now. I’m talking to you and thinking that I might just have a few of those shrimp over there. Con and Olivia really went all out here, didn’t they? This is quite a spread.”
“Do you think this is funny?”
“No,” Liam replied with a low chuckle. “But I didn’t have much choice in the matter. I think someone is trying to kill her.”
Sean gasped, then grabbed Liam’s arm and dragged him out to the small porch off the kitchen. The sky was gray and a light mist hung over the city. “What happened?” he asked.
“A lot of things,” Liam replied, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure no one could overhear. “And all of them pretty strange. First, there was the burglary. Then Ellie told me she nearly got hit on the head by a brick falling off her apartment roof. And then, yesterday, she almost got run down by a car just outside her apartment building. The burglary might have been random, but that car was aiming for her.”
“Did you get a plate on the car?”
“Yeah.” Liam reached into the pocket of his sports jacket and pulled out the two photos he’d developed that morning. “I enlarged these and you can see there’s a rental sticker on the back bumper. I went to the place, but they wouldn’t give me any information about who rented the car.”
“I’ll see what I can find. If they won’t tell me, maybe I can get Conor to give me some help.”
“Listen,” Liam said. “I don’t know who Ellie is or what she’s done, but I do know that if I don’t keep an eye on her, she might just end up dead. So don’t give me any grief, all right?”
“All right,” Sean said. “But from now on I’m keeping an eye on you while you keep an eye on her.”
“Here you are!” Liam and Sean turned to find Ellie in the doorway. The cool breeze ruffled her hair and, at that moment, Liam hadn’t seen anything quite as beautiful as Ellie in his whole life.
“Ellie, this is my brother Sean,” Liam said. “Sean, Ellie Thorpe. She lives over in Charlestown. She’s new to Boston.”
Ellie held out her hand and Sean reluctantly took it. “Pleasure,” he murmured.
“I’m not sure I’m ever going to remember all these names,” she said with a warm smile. “You all look so much alike, the dark hair and the…eyes.”
“Right,” Sean said.
As usual, in the presence of a woman, Sean didn’t have