my folks out of this,” he retorted heatedly. “I’ll talk to Alice. I’ll spell things out for her one more time, but I’ll decide when and where. This is none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business. I like her, Patrick. And she’s in way over her head with you. She’s in love with you.”
He wanted to deny that, but the echo of Alice saying those very words had rung in his head all week long. The words had meant more to him than he wanted to admit, but he wasn’t about to let Molly know that.
“So what if she is?” he asked, his tone cavalier.
Molly scowled at him. “Do you honestly need me to answer that?”
Patrick sighed. “No. I’ll talk to her.”
There was just one problem…once he talked to Alice, really talked to her, things might never be the same. And for the first time in his life he didn’t want to lose the feelings he’d discovered in her arms, feelings he’d never imagined himself capable of.
Chapter Fourteen
Even if she hadn’t been taken aback earlier in the day when Patrick had sent a written summons to her classroom, Alice would have known something was wrong the minute she stepped aboard the Katie G.
Patrick was waiting for her on the deck, a brooding expression on his face and a beer in his hand. He didn’t look especially happy to see her. The fact that he’d been avoiding her most of the week only added to her alarm.
She hesitated when he said nothing, then finally sat down next to him and put her feet up on the railing. The afternoon sun was warm on her face, but the breeze held a promising hint of rain. There would be a storm before nightfall, no question about it. And she had a feeling there would be one on board between her and Patrick even sooner.
She finally dared a glance in his direction. “Is everything okay, Patrick? Have you heard something from your brothers in Boston? Or from Daniel or your folks?”
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
“What then?”
“We need to talk.”
Something inside her froze at the tone in his voice. Those words never meant anything good. “About?”
“Us.”
She’d been anticipating this for days now. In some ways she was surprised it had been so long in coming. As much as she’d wanted to pretend that Molly’s warning was misplaced, she hadn’t been able to forget it. Patrick intended to dump her before things got complicated, or, rather, any more complicated. She’d told him she loved him and that had been the kiss of death. It would be with a lot of men, but especially with a man who had the kind of trust issues Patrick had. And he was too damned noble to let her go on loving him when he was convinced he could never love her back.
Her pride immediately kicked in. She had no intention of being the one dumped. She looked him straight in the eye. “Okay. Are you going to start or shall I?”
He stared at her in surprise, as if it had never occurred to him that she might have an opinion on that subject. “You, by all means,” he said politely.
“You’re going to say that what’s been going on between us has gotten out of hand, that I might be misinterpreting what it means, and that you never intended for it to get serious.” She met his gaze. “How am I doing so far?”
He scowled at her. “Am I that predictable?”
“You are when it comes to relationships. When they get too difficult, you run. I suspect you never even allow most relationships to get to that point.”
“Dammit, you’re the second person today to say something like that to me. I’m getting sick of it.”
“You heard it first from Molly, I imagine,” she said, trying not to be angry at a friend who only thought she was looking out for Alice’s best interests by pushing Patrick to be honest with her. “I also suspect she’s the one who told you that you needed to spell things out for me for my sake.”
“She thinks I’ll hurt you,” he said defensively.
“What do you think?”
He met her gaze, his expression miserable. “That she’s probably right, eventually I will hurt you, Alice. It’s what I do.”
“You could stop the pattern. All you have to do is quit running,” she countered.
“Simple as that?” he said, his expression wry.
“Why not? I’ve never hurt you or given you any reason to distrust me. That was your parents. And