“Dance with me.” Without waiting for an answer, he tugged lightly on her hand and guided her toward the area where several couples were moving together to a slow ballad.
“I can’t dance,” she murmured in protest, but he knew instantly that it was a lie. She moved easily, gracefully against him, fitting in his arms perfectly, as he knew she would. Yet there was no denying the tension in her body.
“Relax, Faith,” he breathed, pressing her closer. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Her sigh was barely audible as she melted against him. Kieran held her close for as long as he could, wishing there was some way to keep her there, bound to him indefinitely, but the moment the song ended, she began to pull away.
“I have to go,” she murmured, avoiding his eyes. Placing his finger beneath her chin, he lifted her face so he could see her eyes. What he saw there made the breath catch in his throat – sadness. And a soul deep longing that had no place in the eyes of his heart.
“No, you don’t.”
*
But she did. Because when she was this close to him, it was too easy to forget what might happen if she allowed herself to acknowledge the feelings she had for him. The feelings she was finding it increasingly difficult to hide.
Held safely in his arms, she could almost believe that everything was right with the world. He felt so strong, so solid, so certain. Yet there were some things even he was powerless against. Her ever-growing certainty that she was in love with him for one.
It was why she had been trying so hard to avoid being alone with him. Because she feared that she would not say no if he wanted to kiss her again. Or more. If not for Matt’s timely interruption that night, who knew how far she would have allowed things to go? When it came to Kieran, her natural defenses were useless. But here, with his family watching closely, she could find the strength she needed to leave before those defenses were needed.
“Kieran!” Shane’s voice called from nearby. “We need you for some pictures.”
Kieran made no attempt to move. “Go,” she encouraged with what she hoped was a convincing smile. “They’re waiting for you.”
After a few more shouts and a couple of creative threats, Kieran gave her a martyred look. “I won’t be long. Please wait for me.”
She reached up to adjust his tie and smoothed down his lapels. “You clean up pretty good, you know that?” It was an understatement. In everyday clothes, Kieran was gorgeous. In a wedding tux, he was devastating.
He smiled, then leaned down and brushed a quick kiss across her temple. “Please be here when I get back, Faith.”
Without giving her a chance to respond, he was gone just as quickly. She muttered a near-silent curse as she watched him cross the lawn to join the others for the obligatory wedding photos. She couldn’t leave now.
“Faith, right?” The low, raspy voice startled her. She turned to look at the lean, blonde man who had spoken.
“Right,” she said, recognizing him. “You’re Brian, Lacie’s brother.”
“You have a good memory,” he observed.
“I could say the same for you.”
One corner of his mouth quirked. “You could, but it’s not quite the same. You are far more memorable than I am.”
Faith couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not, but the mischievous glint in his eye hinted that he was. “I doubt that.”
He chuckled softly. “You look like a woman in the grips of a fight-or-flight battle. Can I ask which one is winning?”
“At the moment, it’s a dead heat.”
“Then permit me to sway the odds. Come and have a drink with me.”
Faith glanced over toward the flower-laden arch where the photographer was positioning the wedding party. “I’m not really much of a drinker.”
“All the better. Won’t take as much to get you nice and liquored up.” Her eyes widened, and he winked. “Trust me. It’ll help.”
For some strange reason, she did trust him. With another quick glance reassuring her that Kieran was occupied and Matt was engrossed in conversation with his friend, she dutifully followed Lacie’s brother across the yard, through the sliding glass patio doors and up to the fully stocked bar.
“The Callaghans are good people,” Brian said, grabbing a variety of bottles and tipping them into a glass with dizzying speed. “A little intense sometimes, but good people.”
Faith didn’t know how she was supposed to respond to that, so she said nothing. Brian tipped the mixture into a silver container, added some crushed ice, and shook it.
“Lacie tells me you’re from Georgia,” he said, pouring the drink back into the glass. She nodded.
“I was at Marietta for a while,” he told her. “Hot as hell down there, and those swamps stink to high heaven sometimes, at least to a boy who grew up in these mountains. Here, try this.”