system to protect the family’s summer cottage. Regardless of his older sister’s suspicions of high-tech gadgets, he knew she realized that the equipment he’d installed at the beach cottage was a good idea.
Several minutes later, Liam was pulling a set of sheets, a blanket and a pillow from the hall linen closet when he heard Bridget’s light footfalls behind him. “I’ll sleep on the living room couch,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye on the front door in case our houseguest decides to sneak out.”
Bridget stood on tiptoe, reached up to pull out a handstitched quilt from the top shelf. “That might be a good idea.” She shrugged. “She seems very agitated. Who knows what she might do?” She walked toward the stairs with Liam. “She’s very lucky. With the darkness and the patchy fog, it’s a wonder you saw her.”
The coincidence wasn’t lost on Liam, either. His sixth sense had been tingling ever since he’d spotted the woman. Something wasn’t right.
Maybe he was just paranoid. He’d had very little sleep in the last twenty-four hours, and had been back in the country only since last night. No doubt what he’d been through was finally catching up with him.
Liam took the quilt without argument. “I’ll send Willie upstairs as soon as she arrives.”
“SO YOU’RE SAYING she wasn’t raped?” Liam asked awhile later as he studied their neighbor. He’d known the gray-haired woman for as long as he could remember. Dressed in a faded flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up to her deeply tanned elbows, Dr. Wilhelmina Prescott returned his gaze over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses.
“That I’m sure of,” Willie said, folding her stethoscope inside her black leather medical bag. “I can’t tell you much more until she’s x-rayed. She might have short-term memory loss from that bump on the head.”
“Did she tell you what happened?”
Willie shook her head. “No, but I gave her something to relax her. After she’s rested, I think she’ll be more receptive.” She leaned over to stroke the collie’s head. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her sleep too long. Bridget knows what to do, and she’ll take the first watch.”
Willie peered at Liam with a no-nonsense look in her gray eyes. “Your sister said you drove up here from New York City in this fog.”
“Now, Willie,” he said lightly. “The highway was clear until I reached the island, and then there were only patches of it.” When his answer failed to melt the censure in her flinty gaze, Liam added, “I just came off a mission in the Middle East and needed to finish debriefing. I left as soon as I could.”
Willie’s lips firmed into a tight line. “Bridget and your other sisters worry about you, Liam.” She shook her head. “You’re getting too old for living on the edge.”
“Let me walk you to your cottage,” Liam said, hoping to avoid the usual lecture. Dear Willie meant well, but ever since his Special Forces buddy and close friend, Master Sergeant Stewart Thomas, who was also Bridget’s husband’s brother, had been killed in a covert mission four years ago, Willie and his sisters had been clamoring for Liam to quit taking covert ops and find a less dangerous profession.
“It’s time you settled down, got married. Your life is too risky, Liam. It’s time you grew up.”
Liam kissed Willie’s leathery cheek. “Thanks for worrying about me, Will, but I’m fine.”
“Don’t think you can use your Irish charm on me,” she said, but the smile in her eyes betrayed her words. “You’ll be thirty-four in June. Time to get married. Settle down like your sisters.”
“I’ll marry you tomorrow, Willie, if you’ll have me.”
Her mouth curled and her eyes twinkled. “Ah, if I were forty years younger, I’d give you a run for your money.”
Liam heard her chuckle as he helped her into her yellow hooded slicker. She was still grinning when she grabbed her medical bag.
“If anything changes, give me a holler.”
“I will,” he said, “and thanks for coming over so soon.” His thoughts turned back to the woman lying upstairs. Thank God she hadn’t been raped. Yet whatever had spooked her might have been as traumatic or worse. He followed Willie toward the porch steps, preparing to walk her to her cottage.
“Stay where you are,” she said, pulling the hood over her short gray curls. “I’ve been making my way around these dunes since you were a twinkle in your ma’s eye.” She stomped down the porch steps, as agile as a woman half her age. “Get some sleep, Liam. You’re still as handsome as sin, but you look as tired as I feel.”
He chuckled softly. “’Night, Willie.”
“Don’t forget your niece’s baptism is at one o’clock. Maureen will be sorely disappointed if you miss it.” Willie’s voice rang with spirit. “See you in church.”
Liam nodded, then watched until the old woman disappeared behind the shoulder-high clumps of sea grass that sprouted from the shifting dunes between the O’Shea summer cottage and Willie’s place at the end of the road.
He was about to shut off the porch light when Bridget’s footfalls on the stairs caught his attention. He looked up to see her walking toward him, a pair of scuffed running shoes in her hand. “I laid a change of clean clothing out for her in her room. I think we’re close to the same size.” Bridget looked up. “Did Willie leave already?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Think I should go after Willie to be sure she gets home okay?” he asked.
Bridget frowned, brushing past him. “Heaven forbid! She’s like a mountain goat along the dunes.” She laid the shoes on the welcome mat, inside the door. “Besides, you’d hurt her feelings. She’d think you decided she was getting old.” Bridget straightened, bracing her hands at the small of her back as she studied him. “I’m so glad you’re finally home.” She moved toward him, then put her palm on his shoulder as if she needed to feel him to be sure he was really there. “Even if it’s only for a few days.”
He gave a deep sigh. “One day, I’m afraid, sis. I planned to head back to New York late tonight.”
Bridget withdrew her hand and glared at him. “Damn it, Liam. David and the girls and all our sisters and their families will be here in a few hours.” She swallowed, as though fighting back her temper. “You haven’t been home in two years. And that was for Mom’s funeral.”
Liam knew the issue wasn’t that he was away from the family, but that Bridget feared what had happened to Stewart would happen to him. He waited, giving his sister the time she needed to pull herself together.
“How’s the patient?” he asked when she had quieted, purposely changing the subject.
“When I left her, she was asleep.” Bridget leaned on the porch railing, gazing across the driveway at the silvery wisps of fog hovering among the shadowy pines. When she turned back to him, her eyes were thoughtful. “You’ve been bringing home strays ever since you were old enough to crawl. But you’re going to have your hands full with this one, brother.”
Surprised, he frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
Bridget
