Page 125 of This Heart Of Mine (Chicago Stars 5)

“I don’t know.”

“Strong women are my weakness. Tough women who don’t fall apart just because a man doesn’t always say what they want to hear. Except the strong woman I’m falling in love with doesn’t want to put up with me. So where does that leave me, Lilly?”

“Oh, Liam… You’re not falling in love with me. You’re—”

“Have a little faith in yourself,” he said gruffly. “In the woman you’ve become.”

She felt trapped by his brutal honesty. He didn’t know what he was saying. The person he saw when he looked at her wasn’t the person she felt like inside.

He moved to the edge of the patio, his hands in his pockets. “You’ve been slamming doors in my face for long enough, I think. I love you, but I have my pride, too.”

“I know that.”

“The painting’s almost done, and I’d like you to see it. Come to my house on Thursday evening.”

“Liam, I—”

“If you don’t show up, I won’t come looking for you. You’re going to have to make a decision, Lilly.”

“I hate ultimatums.”

“I’m not surprised. Strong women usually do.” He walked away.

Kevin spent most of the next two days trying to catch Molly alone, but what with his trips into town for bikes, attending to the guests, and the kids who kept popping up every time he stuck his head out the door, he didn’t have the opportunity. Twice Dan tried to talk to him, but the phone interrupted once and a guest’s dead car battery the other time. By Tuesday evening he was so grouchy and out of sorts that he couldn’t concentrate on the game film he’d stuck in the office VCR. Five weeks to training camp… He nudged Roo off his lap and got up to go to the window. It wasn’t even seven o’clock, but a few rain clouds had rolled in and it was getting dark. Where the hell was she?

Just then his cell phone rang. He snatched it from the desk. “Hello.”

“Kevin, it’s Molly.”

“Where have you been?” he snarled. “I told you I wanted to talk to you after tea today.”

“I spotted Phoebe coming up the front walk, so I dodged out the back door. She’s getting more persistent. Then I ran into Tess, and she started talking to me about a boy who likes her.”

Yeah? Well, what about the boy who likes you?

“The thing is… after Tess left, I decided to take a walk in the woods by myself, and I started thinking about this idea I have for Daphne. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I was lost.”

For the first time all day he relaxed. “You don’t say.” As he loosened his grip on the phone, his stomach rumbled. He realized he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and he headed into the kitchen to fix himself a sandwich. Roo trotted along.

“Lost in the woods,” she said with emphasis.

“Wow.” He tried to keep the smile from his voice.

“And now it’s getting dark.”

“It sure is.”

“It also looks like rain.”

He glanced out the window. “I was just noticing that myself.”

“And I’m scared.”

“I’ll bet.” He tucked the cell phone under his chin and pulled some lunch meat from the refrigerator, along with a jar of mustard. “So you found a nearby convenience store and called me?”

“I happened to bring Phoebe’s cell phone along.”

He grinned and grabbed a loaf of bread from the pantry. “Smart of you.”

---