Page 109 of The Last Promise You Made

We both peeked into the bunk, and I was grateful to see Addy had stayed right there under the covers instead of hiding somewhere in the room. She had her jaguar clutched to her chest, the blanket pulled almost over the top of her, but her face was relaxed in sleep. I swore somehow, some way, I would finish this so she could spend the rest of her life sleeping in peace. Safe in a bed with people she loved around her.

I made my way to the attic door, glad when it didn’t squeak as I opened it. The steps were narrow, and cobwebs hit my face as I made my way up them. There were no windows up here, and I felt safe turning on the single bulb that swung from the rafters.

The attic ran the entire length of the house and was stuffed to the gills with the accumulation of McFlannigan lives. Old-fashioned cradles, broken dining room chairs, lamps and knickknacks that had gone out of style, and an abundance of boxes and trunks.

If I remembered right, there was a rolling rack of costumes at the back. I made my way through the maze of our family’s leftovers with Gia on my heels.

“No bats up here, right?”

I stopped, turning around, a smile curving my lips. “Bats?”

She shivered. “I’m just saying… I don’t do bats well.”

A huff of laughter escaped me. “Of all the things for you to be afraid of.” I shook my head. “No bats. No way in except the stairs we came up.”

I pushed aside several boxes to reveal the clothes rack. All the dresses had been carefully wrapped in garment bags with lavender-scented satchels to keep the pests away. Whenever we’d played up here, we’d been sure to put everything back as we’d found it, otherwise Mama or Granny would have skinned us alive.

I unzipped the first one and grimaced. A dress suitable for a wagon train. Another held a men’s suit. Another, a gingham dress that would have made Dorothy proud. Finally, I opened one that held a gown of champagne satin. I pulled it fully out of the bag and shook it. Simple. Elegant. Beautiful. Just like Gia.

When I turned to show it to her, her mouth dropped open a little.

The scooped neck was held up by two slender straps made from crystals. The dress curved in at the waist, and I could just imagine it molding over Gia’s hips before flaring out just above the knees and flowing to the ground in a mermaid-like way. It was longer in the back, meaning the dress would trail behind her, and the back dipped decadently low.

She’d be the belle of the ball in this dress. No one would be able to look away.

That made a wad of dread form in my chest.

“Maybe not,” I said, turning to put it back, but Gia caught my arm.

“It’s gorgeous. Let me at least try it on before you shove it away.”

I handed it to her with reluctance. She stripped off her flannel and jeans and pulled the dress on. Even with her no-nonsense bra sticking out the top, it looked beautiful on her.

“You can’t wear that,” I said, voice gruff.

She looked down at herself, smoothing a hand over it. “It’s a little big in the chest, but it’s not awful. Why doesn’t it work?”

I closed the distance between her. “You wear that, darlin’, and I’m going to be the one losing focus. I’ll want to punch every man in the room because they’ll all be staring at the shimmer of your skin and the soft swell of your curves that dress does nothing to hide.”

She flushed a little in the dim light. “Then it’s perfect. We want to make a scene, don’t we? We want Laredo to pay attention to me.”

“And why is that?” I couldn’t prevent the growl that erupted through my chest at the thought of Jaime showing any interest in her.

“So he’ll take me somewhere private.”

“Gia.” My growl turned into a possessive roar.

“He’s not going to have the box or proof that he’s part of the Lovatos hanging around the ballroom. How did you think this was going to work?”

“We’re not using you as bait.”

But she wasn’t listening to me. I could see her mind whirling as she stepped out of the dress and back into her regular clothes. “I’ve got some comms we can use in my bag back at your house. If I had some jewelry, I might be able to hide a camera in a necklace or earrings.” She looked back at the rack I’d pulled the dress from. “Got anything around here that will work?”

I wanted to say no. I wanted to tie her up and make her stay here, safe and sound, while I went and confronted Jaime directly. But I also knew that reaction did no justice to the fierce woman I’d fallen in love with.

I had to trust her.

My chest tightened uncomfortably.

---