Ella paused, seeming to take it all in. She didn’t say anything, but her hold on Liam’s hand tightened.
He would have given anything to know exactly what that squeeze was meant to convey. Irritation? Surprise? Joy? Anxiety? Too many options ran through his head. She’d reduced him to this person he’d never been, someone who sought the approval of another, someone who wanted nothing more than to make his lover understand what she meant to him.
He’d been unable to articulate that and so much more, so he’d tried to show her.
He squeezed her hand back after several more seconds.
Still, she was silent.
And he broke. “For the love of God, woman, would you say something?”
Her eyes sparkled as a wicked grin spread across her face. “Something.”
The single whispered word took a moment to register. When it did, Liam let go of her hand and doubled over with laughter. He couldn’t catch his breath. No one was that ballsy with him, pushing him when he was so clearly on edge. He loved that about her, that she refused to let him intimidate her. She was perfect the way she was.
The sobering thought stole the last peal of laughter, cutting it short.
...loved that about her, he’d thought.Perfect the way she was.
Too much was happening at once.
“Liam, I can’t believe you did this.”
“Neither can I,” he said. Liam had discovered the one woman who possessed the ability to convince him love might exist after all.
And after the last-minute wedding changes he’d made late this afternoon, love might not be enough to save them.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ELLAHADN’TREALIZEDthat Liam could be quite so charming. While they ate, he was as entertaining as he was attentive, asking about her childhood and telling her stories of his boarding school days and, later, tales that involved a younger American half sister who wanted nothing more than to be one of the boys—right down to her poorly imitated British accent.
“My mates would chuckle at her behind her back, but Jenna knew. She’d get so cross she would stomp her feet and threaten to divest them of their bollocks long before she knew what bollocks were.”
He’d been so descriptive that Ella could imagine the pigtailed girl’s tantrums. “Where did she get the idea bollocks were important?”
“I’m quite sure, us being strapping young lads with quite exaggerated prowess where young ladies were concerned, that she heard us bragging.”
“As boys...and men...are wont to do,” she added.
He tipped his wineglass toward her in unspoken agreement. “She’s a smart girl—always has been. She’d have figured out that, whatever bollocks were, we valued ours greatly, so why not threaten to take what we clearly held in highest esteem?” He laughed then, eyes warm with love for the girl his sister had been. “And what of you, Ms. Montgomery? Any siblings?”
“I was an only child.”
“Ever wish for siblings?”
“All the time.” She sipped her wine, opening her mouth to accept a piece of fruit Liam offered. Exotic flavor burst across her tongue, something similar to cantaloupe but with a slightly softer aftertaste.
Head canted to the side, he considered her. “Would you have had a brother or a sister?”
“One of each, if I’d been able to choose, and I’d have been the baby.”
“And if you could only have one?”
“A sister, hands down.”
Liam clutched his heart with his free hand and furrowed his brow. “A shot to the heart of all mankind. A brother would have looked out for you. What would a sister have done but steal your dolls and borrow your clothes?”
“Since it’s my perfect world, my sister would have been my best friend. Older than me, she would have had all kinds of worldly advice about men, clothes and—” she cringed “—makeup that would have spared me the humiliation of my seventh-grade yearbook photo.”