Page 103 of Once upon a Summer Night

“There was a time, not so long ago, when I had more gold and land than I ever thought possible. Growing up, as you well know, I’d been trained to protect things. My clan and their safety, women, and children. I did that, and I did it fairly well. No one ever died on my watch, and no one suffered too greatly, either. As a lad, I never thought I’d want more. When I arrived here, speaking a dead language, not an ounce of gold to my name, you saved me. You, and James, and—” he choked a little “—O’Malley.”

“Make your long story short.”

“Impossible; I’m Irish. Stay with me, lad.” Aidan thanked the bartender for the beer and sipped appreciatively. “After all my successes, I began to realize that for all I had in modern times, I was missing something. I wanted a bit of land to call my own, enough food on the table for a full belly, and a family to share it all with. Something to fight for, something to protect and cherish. You recognized that, mate. You figured it out before I did, and you gave me a mission that was so much more than acquiring a new employee for your business.”

“You’re becoming maudlin in your old age,” Colin muttered curtly.

Aidan shrugged. “Probably. But you know I was in a dark place. I thought I had nothing to live for, no real value in the world. I found myself again when I met Emmaline. I became the man I was supposed to be. She makes me a stronger and better MacWilliam. Without her, I’d still be just a shell. Or worse.”

Colin finished his own beer. “I’m happy for you, Aidan. I hoped she’d be the one for you when I met her. Emma’s amazing.”

“My point—”

“I thought we’d never get to it.”

“Mypoint,” Aidan repeated, humor lurking in his eyes, “is that I lost her once. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, and I pray I never have to experience it again. But, you see, I would do it all over again. Because having her, even if only for a slice of time, is infinitely better than never having had her at all.”

Colin leaned forward. “It’s different for me, MacWilliam. So much different. I would search high and low for your and Emma’s kind of love, if it were only my happiness at stake. But it’s not. The other person in a relationship with a Protector is tied to them forever.Forever. That means she’ll never have a chance at happiness in a future life if I were to try to make her mine. And if I never try to make her mine, she’ll never know that pain. So you see…I can’t.”

Aidan regarded him thoughtfully. “If you claim your soul mate, how do you know she won’t find you in the next life? Or the one after that? Or in whatever happens once we leave this earthly plane?”

Colin sighed heavily. “It doesn’t matter.”

Aidan’s face hardened. “I understand your heartache, Colin. But it’s time to fish or cut bait. The poor lass can’t know heads or tails with you—one moment you’re kissing her, and the next, you’re pushing her into another man’s arms. Then you’re not being truthful with someone who is genuinely interested in making a life with her. It’s unfair, and it’s not right. Get your head on straight, make your decision, and stick with it.”

“You don’t understand—”

Aidan slid out from the booth, pity etched into hisexpression. “Oh, I do. I absolutely do.” With a tip of his head, he left.

Colin grabbed his phone and sent a text to Candice.Bad service. Second date is a go.Then he opened his laptop and booked himself the first available flight out of Dublin.

He brought his beer to his lips again, but he was left staring at the bottom of a pint glass as empty as his chest.

“You’re terribly quiet,”Reginald noted as they strolled. “Is everything to your liking?” He solicitously held an umbrella over the both of them as the rain poured down.

Ellie didn’t have the heart to tell him that her right arm was soaked from the runoff. Instead she gave him a reassuring smile. “Everything’s wonderful. I’m just feeling a bit melancholy. Probably the weather.”

“Shall we head in here for a cup of tea?”

Ellie glanced to where he pointed and nodded her assent. The little bell tinkled above their heads as they entered, and he shook the umbrella outside the door before closing it behind them.

The smells of the shop assaulted her senses, and at the sight of the complicated espresso machines behind the counter, her mind conjured up an image of Colin’s beast in his kitchen. She imagined herself curled up on his comfy couch, a book in her hand as she sipped a cup of steaming tea, the fire popping and crackling before her. Colin would be next to her on the couch, his arm across the back of it, the other holding the remote as he watched something on television, rain pouring outside the window.

“There’s a smile!” Reg boomed, shaking her from her daydream. “Tea fixes everything, even rainy-day blues.”

It was their third date, and Ellie was more convinced than ever that she could make a contented life with Reginald. Hewas a decent man. He tried too hard sometimes, but she thought his heart was in the right place.

She didn’t have a heart anymore, so it didn’t really matter if hers was.

Reg ordered them tea, and they sat at one of the little tables closest to the bakery display case. He chattered on about his latest software release—Ellie couldn’t comprehend exactly what he did in his career, but he seemed to love it.

“How’s the bookshop going in your absence?”

“Oh. Very well, I think. My employee, Norman, has been doing a bang-up job of it. He managed to secure a Canadian author to launch her book in our store. It’s quite exciting.”

The barista delivered their drinks, and Reg stirred his before placing his spoon on the little dish. He took a deep breath. “This isn’t working, is it?”

“What?”

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