“You did earn it.”
“No. I’m sure my mother threatened to divorce my father and take half his money. She does that when she doesn’t get her own way. Only this time she probably meant it.”
Danny grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to him. “You don’t have to make a decision right now. Think about it. You can take some time.”
“We’re going to be done here in a few days. The new owners will be here for Christmas. I’ve hired a housekeeper and a caretaker. After tomorrow, I’m finished. He wants me to start the new project next week.”
“Next week?”
She nodded.
“How long? To finish the project?”
“A year at least,” Jordan said. “It wouldn’t be like this project. I’d have a huge crew, lots of resources. It would be my first really major project for Kencor.”
“This wasn’t a major project?”
Jordan shook her head. “This is a private home. He called it my little decorating job. I could have done this in my sleep. Since I met you, I have kind of been doing it in my sleep.”
“This is bollocks,” Danny muttered. “How the hell am I supposed to compete with a feckin’ hotel in Manhattan?”
“I don’t want to go,” Jordan said. “You’re right. It is my choice. And if I choose to stay with you, my father will have to live with that.”
Danny pulled her into a hug, raining kisses over her face. “Tell me you really mean that,” he murmured. “Just tell me so I can put aside this sick feeling in my gut. I don’t want to lose you, Jordan. I’m not ready to let you go.”
Jordan didn’t speak, but stood up beside the bed and began to take her clothes off. When she was completely undressed, she helped Danny out of his clothes then pulled him down on the bed. She didn’t want to think about all of her choices right now. She wanted to lose herself in the feel of his body against hers, in the taste of his mouth.
Making love to him was the only thing that made sense right now. He made her happy, happier than she’d ever been in her life. Home was no longer in New York. Home was wrapped in Danny’s arms.
9
DANNY WOKE UP LONG BEFORE DAWN, listening to the sounds of Ballykirk as the village slowly came to life. At first, it was just the fishing boats heading out of the harbor and then a lorry or two passing by.
Tossing the covers aside and swinging his feet off the bed, he stood and stretched. As soon as the dogs heard him, they scampered into the bedroom, anxious for their breakfast. “Hi, boys,” he whispered, giving them each a pet.
Jordan’s plane was due to leave at ten. Danny had insisted on taking her to the airport, but she’d decided to drive herself and leave her car in the car park. She’d promised she’d be back in a few days, after she’d settled everything with her parents.
In truth, Danny still wasn’t sure he wanted her to leave. Even though he believed she was going to settle her affairs and come right back to him, there was a niggling doubt that her father might talk her into staying.
He couldn’t imagine a future with Jordan in New York and him in Ireland. Though the two places were only a six-hour plane ride apart, there was still an ocean between them. They’d be living completely different lives. But it wasn’t just their lives, it was their ideas of what constituted happiness. For Jordan, it was professional success and for him, it had become all about love in the past month.
Here in Ireland, she could be in control of her own destiny. With Kellan’s help, she could build a business to be proud of. There were possibilities in the U.K., in Europe. So many interesting things to do.
But Jordan had spent her life trying to please her father and to prove her worth in her family. It was a strangely dysfunctional relationship, but one that she couldn’t seem to resist.
Danny wandered out to the fireplace and threw some peat on the fire, anxious to take the chill out of the air. Her bag was open on the sofa near the fireplace, packed with a change of clothes. He sat down and picked through it, pulling out a T-shirt and inhaling the scent.
Was this all he’d be left with, Danny wondered. Just faint memories of a woman he’d once loved and then lost. He tucked the T-shirt under his arm. She wasn’t going to stay long, he told himself. There was nothing to worry over.
Danny walked back to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. He pressed a gentle kiss to Jordan’s forehead, then drew a deep breath, committing the scent of her hair to memory. They’d spent nearly every minute together since his first day at Castle Cnoc and now, they’d be apart.
His time with Jordan had brought him a love deeper than anything he’d ever expected. Danny felt as if they had already spent a lifetime together. He’d never known a woman so intimately nor had he allowed any woman to know him in that way. Jordan had become a part of him, the part that made him feel alive and aware.
He pulled back the covers and crawled back into bed, snuggling up to her naked body. She stirred then opened her eyes. “It can’t be morning already,” she murmured.
“It is,” Danny replied. “Although it’s only been about four hours since you fell asleep.”
Jordan groaned, then stretched her arms above her head. “How am I going to do without you in my bed? I’ll have to just get reacquainted with my vibrator.”
“You have one of those?” Danny chuckled. “Make sure you bring that back with you.”
He kissed the curve of her neck. Her skin was so soft and he could feel her pulse beating beneath his lips. God, it was strange something as insignificant as a kiss would seem so important to him. Everything was important-the sound of her voice, the feel of her hand in his, the way she said his name…
The first light of dawn illuminated the room and Jordan glanced again at the clock. “I have to get up.” She raked her hands through her tousled hair as she sat up beside him.
Danny watched as she silently got dressed. When she was finished, she sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed her fingers over his temple, brushing aside a strand of hair. Danny looked up at her. “You could still change your mind,” he murmured. “You could take off all your clothes and crawl into bed with me and go to New York some other day.”
“I don’t want to leave,” Jordan said. “But I have to. I won’t be gone long, I promise. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“What if you decide to stay?” He raised up, bracing his arm beside him and leaning closer to her. This was no time to keep his feelings to himself. He was going to say it all right now, just so she knew exactly how much he needed her. “You have everything waiting for you back there. All you have here is me.”
“And that’s everything,” she said. “To me.”
“Me, too,” he said softly.
Her eyes flooded with tears and Danny groaned, pulling her into a hug. He wanted to say the words. They’d been on his lips for days now, yet he was scared that Jordan wasn’t ready to return the sentiment. He loved her, but did she love him?
Danny reached out and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Promise that you’ll come back to me,” he whispered. “Promise you won’t let your family talk you into staying.”
She drew a ragged breath. “I promise.”
“I’ll miss you, Jordan. I don’t think you realize how much.”
Jordan smiled, then bent close and dropped a kiss on his lips. “I’ll miss you, too, Danny.”
He fell back onto the pillow and laughed, throwing his arm over his head. “I sure hope to hell you aren’t leanan sidhe or I’m going to drop dead the moment you walk out the door.”
She grabbed his face and kissed him again, a kiss filled with longing and sorrow and silent promises. “I’m not a fairy. And you’re not going to die when I leave you. I-I have to go.”
“Let me get dressed and I’ll-”
“No, I want to leave you right here, in this cottage, all curled up in bed with Finny and Mogue asleep in front of the door. This is how I want to remember you, all rumpled from sleep and naked beneath the sheets. And when I come back, I want you to be here just like this.”