Read Online Pursued by the Rogue (The Fairy Tales of New York Book 1) by Kelly Hunter - Free Book Online Page B

you,” he continued. “Something beyond our different goals. Because goals can change with the right person in place and there is nothing that can’t be made to work.”
    “You’re wrong.” Her laugh sounded more like a sob as she pushed at his chest until he gave her some space. She rolled onto her back, but all he did then was rise up onto his elbow and stare down at her, his hand splayed possessively over her waist. “I can’t do this,” she told him raggedly. “Please. Don’t look at me like that. Don’t you look.”
    “What is it that you think I see?”
    Nothing good.
    “Pretty girl,” he murmured. “Smarter than most. Strong-minded. You also know passion and how to surrender to it. Fascinating.”
    She couldn’t bear his tender gaze. That which had thrilled her ten years ago was now ripping her to pieces. Finbar Sullivan had so much to give. He’d find someone to share his life with. Someone who was all of those things and more. Someone who could unconditionally give him all he asked for. She pressed her lips to his collarbone and he trembled beneath her kiss, before rolling onto his back on the bed and looking at something else instead. In this case, the back of his eyelids.
    “A secret for a secret,” she said. “Tell me something you’re not proud of and I’ll do the same. You first.”
    He stayed silent for a while and Dawn closed her eyes on a sigh or relief because she thought that was the end of this line of questioning.
    And then he spoke.
    “The family pub. Sully’s,” he said gruffly. “The home I grew up in. The home where my mother’s memory is strongest. I’d get rid of it in a heartbeat if I thought it would free my sister to do what she wanted with her life. I swear to God, Dawn, I hate it more than I love it. I hate my father’s stubborn attachment to the place and his inability to fucking run it alone.”
    “Why can’t he run it?”
    “His heart’s no good. He’s not physically capable of doing a day’s work, and he won’t have the operation that could fix him.”
    She could hear the frustration in Finn’s words. His inability to accept his father’s decisions.
    “Illness changes people,” she offered tentatively.
    “He could at least try to get well.” Finn lifted his arm and raked his hand through his hair. “I know I get frustrated when people don’t perform to their abilities. I know I should respect my father’s decisions, but I don’t. He’s taking advantage of Faith, and it burns me to see her squandering her talent in service to him. That was the deal, right? To tell you something about me that I’m not proud of.”
    That was the deal, yes, and she wasn’t reneging. But his revelations had surprised her. “Faith’s unhappy?”
    “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.” Frustration laced his voice. “I’m ambitious, always have been, and not just for me. For Faith as well. Chances are I need to dial it down and let her be.”
    Intimate thoughts from a man who’d taken her at her word and bared soul secrets.
    And now it was her turn.
    She took a deep breath and then another, trying to still the hammers in her heart. Trying to figure out where she was going with this.
    Nowhere good.
    He took her hand and slid his fingers in hers as if sensing her inner disquiet. He was so very attuned to her, this man. “Your turn,” he rumbled.
    Her turn.
    “I got pregnant once, years ago,” she began, and stopped.
    Because this rehashing of history he’d played a crucial part in … this was just cruel. “I wasn’t looking for it. Didn’t want to be.”
    His fingers tightened around hers and gently squeezed, as if encouraging her to continue. “What happened?”
    “I miscarried around the six week mark.”
    “Did the father know? Were you a couple?” He let her hand go in favor of sliding it over her abdomen and up towards her rips and heart as if touch alone could heal her. Maybe it could.
    “No. The father didn’t know.” She cleared her throat and