Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
No one had gotten close to breaching Heartstone’s security, but the attempt on the gate was enough. It was a stark reminder that this was an active threat and would continue to be one.
I paused before following her and turned to Ford. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, but his eyebrows were pulled together. In frustration, anger, or fear, I couldn’t tell. Maybe all three. “Yeah, I guess. I’m going to follow Griffen. I want to know what’s going on, even if I don’t understand half the shit they say.”
I rose up on my toes to kiss his cheek. “I’m going to go with Hope.” Stella wasn’t my baby, but I had an itch to lay eyes on her. Being separated from her when scary things were happening left me feeling restless.
I followed Hope out of the room, thinking about the volume of poetry and the pendant in Sarah’s box and wishing we’d found more.
Later that night, I lay in bed, curled into Ford, dozing as his fingers combed through my hair.
“I feel like a sitting duck,” he said, his voice low. “What if the guy this morning got through the fence and reached the house? He could have come across you and the kids, out there playing soccer. Or Hope, walking with Stella.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, shifting to prop myself up on my elbow, craning my neck to meet his dark, worried eyes. “They didn’t even get close.”
“This time,” he said darkly. “I’ve brought too much pain to my family. I can’t stand the idea of anyone getting hurt because of me. Cole is doing this because he blames me for Caro’s death. No one else should be a target.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I sat up, pulling the sheet with me and holding it against my breasts. “Cole Haywood was coming after your family, even when you were in prison. And no one is going to get hurt. Hawk and the new team Sinclair Security sent are too good for that.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” he said, pulling me back down to lie across his chest.
I caught his hand in mine and pressed a kiss to his fingertips. “Everything is going to be okay,” I promised. It had to be.
Ford went back to combing his fingers through my hair. As sleep pulled him under, I heard him say, “I wish we could stay just like this, forever.”
“Me too,” I whispered, not sure he was awake enough to hear me.
Despite the danger we were in, I’d never felt more at peace. Though neither of us had said the words, I’d never felt so loved. Ford was too wrapped in guilt and worry to be at peace. I’d have to believe in happy endings enough for the both of us.
Chapter Twenty-Three
FORD
Sunday dinner was usually a production at Heartstone Manor, though not as formal as it had been when I was a child. Some of my siblings and their partners dressed up. Some of us didn’t bother. Edgar and Harvey usually attended, and liked to harrumph at the presence of children at the formal dining table, but Griffen and Hope had made it clear this was their house, and children would always be an included part of the family. I suspected that while Edgar and Harvey made a show of not liking it, secretly, they enjoyed having the kids around. Everyone liked seeing Heartstone brought back to life. Everyone except Cole Haywood, of course.
Hope had called her uncle Edgar and asked him to bring Harvey and be there an hour early. Edgar had agreed, without asking why. Hope could usually get him to do what she wanted with less explanation than the rest of us would require. He’d raised her since she was a young child, saving her from her criminally neglectful parents. Edgar was gruff and not overly affectionate, but Hope was the daughter of his heart. And while he wasn’t overflowing with hugs and kisses, it was clear that in his own way, he was devoted to her.
He’d had an extra layer of smug satisfaction ever since she’d married Griffen and given birth to Stella. In his old-school way of seeing things, he couldn’t have done better than to get her married off and popping out babies for the Sawyer heir. It was only icing on the cake to him that they were head over heels in love with each other.
He and I had always worked well together. Edgar and my father, along with Harvey, had been best friends. Harvey had handled a lot of their legal business—his focus had always been the law—whereas Edgar had been Prentice’s business partner in many of Prentice’s investments. Though they’d frequently disagreed, they’d been on the same page more often than not. While Edgar wasn’t the monster Prentice had been, I couldn’t say he was my favorite person. He was tougher than Harvey, more likely to think the ends justified the means. Though I knew Edgar looked at me with as much suspicion as I had for him, there’d been things over the years I’d said yes to—like the deal that had almost gotten Finn killed—that Edgar wouldn’t have touched.