his hand reached up again, cupping her elbow briefly, squeezing in reassurance. ‘They’re not bad people. They won’t shoot the messenger.’
‘That really depends on what the messenger tells them, doesn’t it?’
A dark brow quirked. ‘Is it the messenger’s fault?’
‘No.’ The whispered word came out on a small sigh as a wave of emotion swept over her. She really had thought she was better prepared for this. But she was out on a limb further than she’d ever been. And it was terrifying. When she had told him she still wasn’t sure what she was doing here, it hadn’t been entirely a lie. Not entirely.
She had reasoned with herself that she could handle it if she was turned away. If she was rejected. But there was still a part of her that would hurt deeply if she was. If she didn’t find out what it was she was looking for.
It would be pain on top of anguish and grief that she was barely holding together as it was. Maybe she should just have let it be. Left the past in the past and got on with building her future, instead of standing beside a complete stranger with a confession on the tip of her tongue.
The large hand on her elbow exerted a little pressure, bringing her out of her sorrowful reverie, so that she was forced to look up again.
Garrett smiled a slow, soft smile and the depth of warmth that emanated from it brought an equal warmth to her chest in reply that was surprisingly soothing.
She stared at him with wide, curious eyes. She’d just never met a man quite like him before. And she couldn’t even put it down to the romance of rolling mists and a grand entrance into her line of vision. There was just something about him, something that held her attention, fascinated her more than she’d ever been fascinated before.
He was compelling. Yes. Compelling was a good word.
Toffee eyes roamed over her face and his hand dropped from her arm. ‘Dermot Kincaid is a good man. He’ll listen to what you have to say, whatever it might be.’
Keelin’s eyes widened. ‘You know him?’
Garrett’s eyes sparkled briefly again as they began walking once more. ‘Yes, it’s safe to say I know him as well as anyone. And judging by the look on your face a minute ago, whatever you’ve come to see him for is important. He’ll see that too, if you’ll give him a chance. Not all us island folk are potential mass murderers…’
She found it difficult to breathe, her chest suddenly tight. So that it took a few moments before she could find a single question to ask from the long list she’d been forming on her way to the island. ‘What’s he like?’
Garrett’s eyes took on a far-off expression before he looked away from her face. ‘Like any other man his age. Has lived and learned some, so sometimes has entirely too much common sense, which can be annoying if you’re convinced you’re in the right when he knows you’re not. And he’s formed some strong opinions along the way, so can be a real stubborn-headed goat when he wants to be.’ He grinned briefly at her, dimples flashing.
‘But he still has an appreciation for a good-looking girl, so you’ll be just fine.’
Keelin felt her cheeks warm again.
And Garrett caught sight of it before he laughed. ‘Yeah, he’ll like you all right, even if he is old enough to be your father.’
She was glad he turned his face away as he threw out the latter.
‘That’s the house over there.’
The hand that had been subconsciously straightening the material over the elbow he had held onto froze as her gaze followed his pointing finger to the large, old stone farmhouse ahead of them.
Garrett stopped a few steps in front of her and turned, a quizzical expression on his face when she remained still. ‘What’s wrong?’
Keelin frowned. She had been so momentarily transfixed by the sight of her destination that she had forgotten he was there. And she wasn’t about to explain to him why it was suddenly so difficult to take the final steps to get there. How could he possibly understand that, to her, it had taken a lifetime to reach this place?
So she sought a safer answer. ‘And you couldn’t have just told me it was round the next bend?’
He smiled laconically. ‘And ruin all the fun?’
Hitching her chin up a very visible inch, Keelin walked past him with determined steps in flowered wellingtons. ‘You really need to get off this island more.’
It didn’t occur to her addled mind that he was still following along with her until his dogs stopped at the small gateway, wagging their tails as they waited for it to be opened. Keelin stopped, looked down at them, and then up at Garrett’s face as he reached for the latch.
‘You don’t need to see me to the door. I can take it from here.’
‘I already told you I was going this way.’
‘I didn’t think you meant all the way into the house.’
With his hand holding the gate open, dogs already having galloped ahead, Garrett leaned his head a little closer, and smiled another heart-stopping smile. ‘I have to go in. I live here.’
Keelin’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. ‘You live here?’
Garrett nodded very slowly. ‘Yes, I live here, for the moment anyway. I’m building a house nearby, but this has been home for a long time. I did try introducing myself but you were having none of it. And incidentally—’a single eyebrow quirked at her ‘—I didn’t catch your name….’
Still reeling with the new information, Keelin had to struggle to keep up. ‘Maybe because I didn’t give it. And you didn’t ask.’
‘Well—’he leaned back and took a breath ‘—that we can fix.’
She watched as he reached a large hand out towards her, but hesitated accepting it, in making the simple skin-to-skin contact involved with setting her smaller hand into his.
And he quirked a single eyebrow again in question.
So, with a deep breath, and a brief run of the end of her tongue over her dry lips, she placed her hand in his. And felt the immediate sliver of warmth run through her fingers and up her arm. ‘I’m Keelin O’Donnell.’
‘Hello, Keelin O’Donnell.’ Still holding her hand in his, he inclined his head slightly. ‘It’s nice to meet you. I’m Garrett Kincaid.’
‘Kincaid?’
Again in that deeply hypnotic tone. ‘Yes, Kincaid.’
Keelin let go of his hand as if he’d burned her, rubbing her palm up and down against her thigh as she stared up at him.
Garrett in turn held his now-free hand out to the side, beckoning her through the gateway. ‘My father will be in the kitchen.’
Keelin walked through the gateway on automatic pilot. His father. His father, whom she had come all this way to find. It held a certain irony that she would feel
