The Mighty Quinns: Danny (17 page)

Slowly, he uncovered a small metal box, the kind that usually held ammunition. Danny held his breath, hoping that Bartie wasn't about to be disappointed. “Can you get it open?” he asked.

“You do it,” Bartie said. “I'm not sure I care to look.”

“Let's get it into the light,” Danny said.

They hurried back to the cave entrance and set the box down on the ground. It was barely rusted, the dark-green paint still visible. The box wasn't locked. Danny grabbed the top and pulled it back.

“Jaysus, Mary and Joseph,” Bartie whispered. “It's the treasure. It's gold.”

The old man was right. The box was filled with gold coins, hundreds of them. Danny picked one up and examined it. “It's a British sovereign,” he said. “Looks like a coin from the Victorian age.”

“But my great-grandfather buried the treasure in the 1920s,” Bartie said.

“This might not be his treasure. This might be gold from the smugglers.”

“How much do you reckon it's worth?” Bartie asked.

“I don't know,” Danny said. “A lot. It's gold.” He took a deep breath. “We're going to have to show this to Jordan. It was found on private property. I don't know what the law says.”

They made their way back up the cliff and Danny ordered Bartie to take the box of gold to the garden and wait there. With every step he took toward the house, he thought about keeping the gold a secret from Jordan, of letting Bartie walk away with his treasure—even though it wasn't the treasure he was looking for.

Though he knew Jordan well, Danny had no idea how she'd react to this interesting development. Would she insist that her clients get the gold? Or would she find a way to compromise? The new owner was certainly rich enough. A movie star like Maggie Whitney made millions for each picture.

He found Jordan standing in the foyer, a clipboard clutched in her arms. He strode up to her and gently grabbed her elbow. “Jordan,” he murmured. “I need to see you out in the garden.”

“Not now,” she said. “They're just bringing in the dining room table and I need to make sure they put it together properly.”

“This is an emergency,” Danny said.

She looked up from her clipboard. “Can't it wait?”

“No, it can't.” He took her hand and pulled her out the terrace door and down the path to the walled garden.

“What is it? Is Bartie all right?”

“Bartie is fine,” Danny said. “We found the treasure.”

Jordan stopped short. “
What?
Where?”

“In the cave,” he said. “A big box of gold coins.” He squeezed her hand. “What are you going to do?”

She drew a deep breath. “What do you think I should do?”

“I think you should let Bartie keep his treasure,” Danny replied. “But I'm not the boss, you are.”

He watched as she thought through her options. Then she glanced up at him. “Why am I out here? There can't be anything more important than moving the furniture into the house. You and Bartie get back to work on the rose garden.”

With that, Jordan turned on her heel and strode back inside, leaving Danny to wonder at what had just happened. She'd completely ignored everything he'd just told her—

He grinned, then walked back to the garden. There was a reason he loved Jordan and he had no doubt that his feelings weren't going to change.

Odd how the prospect of falling in love had once scared the hell out of him. Now, it made him feel as though he was sitting on top of the world. Danny didn't care that it had happened so fast, or that they hadn't completely decided on a future together. Jordan wasn't going home tomorrow, she was coming to live with him. Tomorrow, they'd start their life together.

Bartie was waiting for him, the box at his feet. “I guess you can just take that old metal box and everything inside it home, Bartie, and I'll finish up in the garden. Jordan isn't interested in anything you've
found.” Danny pressed his finger to his lips. “But I wouldn't go passing this story around the village or she might change her mind. Keep your good fortune to yourself.”

“I'll do that,” Bartie said, reaching down and picking up the box. “Yes, I will. I'll do that.” He pulled a coin out of the box and handed it to Danny. “Here. It will bring you luck.”

Danny watched as Bartie hurried off, the box tucked under his arm. He chuckled softly. Things had a way of working out just grand.

 

J
ORDAN STOOD IN THE DOORWAY
. Her hair, twisted into a tidy knot earlier, now tumbled around her flushed face. Her clothes were dirty and wrinkled and she felt exhaustion overwhelming her.

“Almost done?”

She turned to look at Danny and smiled. “Almost. We're just missing a sofa. Either it never got delivered to the warehouse or they misplaced it there. But that's it. Everything else arrived in one piece, no scratches, no breakage.”

Danny reached out and gathered her in his arms. “Congratulations. You did it.”

“I did. Almost. I have to finish my paperwork tonight and email that to the office and then make a quick double check of my list and I'll be done.”

“We should celebrate,” he said. “I'll take you out tonight and we'll have some fun.” He pulled the gold coin out of his pocket. “I've come into a little bit of money.”

She laughed. “Don't show me that. I might ask where it came from.”

“You did a good thing,” he whispered, his breath warm on her hair.

“Right now, all I really need is a nice long foot massage, a hot bath and a warm bed.”

Danny grinned. “I can do that,” he said. “In fact, I'm good at all those things.”

Jordan kissed his cheek. “We're back to the caretaker's cottage for now. I'll be out in a minute. I want to call your mom and Nan and see if they'd like to come tomorrow morning for a tour. And I have to track down that—” Her cell rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. “This might be my missing sofa.”

“I'll see you in a few minutes,” Danny said. He wandered through the doors to the terrace and Jordan smiled as she watched him move. She'd worried for so long over the day they'd have to part, but now, all those worries had disappeared.

Her phone rang again and Jordan looked at the caller I.D. then winced. It was her father. She hadn't spoken to him since their exchange of text messages earlier that week. She was in no mood to talk to him now. She groaned, still staring at the phone. “I don't have time for this right now.”

She walked over to an upholstered bench and sat down, then answered the call. “Hello, Daddy. How are you?”

“It's not your father, Jordan, it's your mother. I want you to talk to your father and give him a chance to apologize to you. Don't argue with him, just listen.”

“I don't want to talk to him, Mom,” she said. “He made his decision and now I've made mine. And I'm
all right with that. It's for the best. It's time for me to move on with my life.”

“It certainly is not!” her mother declared. “Here he is.”

“No, I don't want to— Hi, Daddy.” Her heart began to pound in her chest and she took in a deep breath.

“Your mother wanted me to call. I'm sorry I was so unreasonable with you. And I've taken Matt off the hotel project and assigned it to you. You need to finish up this week and get back to New York.”

“Daddy, I'm not sure I—”

“I'm not going to beg you, Jordan. Just get back here and we'll smooth things out. You'll have your project and now you're going to have to prove my trust in you is worth it.”

Jordan slowly shook her head. “I'll be back in New York in a few days. I'll talk to you then.”

Jordan turned off the phone and slowly walked outside. She found Danny in the cottage, sitting on the edge of the bed. His smile faded as his gaze met hers. “What's wrong? Is your sofa lost, then?”

“My father just called,” Jordan said.

“Did he apologize?” Danny asked.

She shook her head. “He just offered me the hotel job. I guess after my mother heard that I quit, she was very upset. She was afraid I wasn't going to come home so she told my father he had to give me the project.”

“Do you still want the project?” Danny asked.

“I—I don't know.”

The expression on his face told her the whole story. This was what she'd wanted all along and now that it
had been offered, Danny wasn't at all confident that she would turn it down.

“Hey, this is good, right?” Danny said, forcing a smile. “This is what you've been working for.”

“I really wanted to earn it,” she said. “I didn't want it handed to me like some bribe.”

“You did earn it.”

“No. I'm sure my mother threatened to divorce my father and take half his money. She does that when she doesn't get her own way. Only this time she probably meant it.”

Danny grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to him. “You don't have to make a decision right now. Think about it. You can take some time.”

“We're going to be done here in a few days. The new owners will be here for Christmas. I've hired a housekeeper and a caretaker. After tomorrow, I'm finished. He wants me to start the new project next week.”

“Next week?”

She nodded.

“How long? To finish the project?”

“A year at least,” Jordan said. “It wouldn't be like this project. I'd have a huge crew, lots of resources. It would be my first really major project for Kencor.”

“This wasn't a major project?”

Jordan shook her head. “This is a private home. He called it my little decorating job. I could have done this in my sleep. Since I met you, I have kind of been doing it in my sleep.”

“This is bollocks,” Danny muttered. “How the hell am I supposed to compete with a feckin' hotel in Manhattan?”

“I don't want to go,” Jordan said. “You're right. It is my choice. And if I choose to stay with you, my father will have to live with that.”

Danny pulled her into a hug, raining kisses over her face. “Tell me you really mean that,” he murmured. “Just tell me so I can put aside this sick feeling in my gut. I don't want to lose you, Jordan. I'm not ready to let you go.”

Jordan didn't speak, but stood up beside the bed and began to take her clothes off. When she was completely undressed, she helped Danny out of his clothes then pulled him down on the bed. She didn't want to think about all of her choices right now. She wanted to lose herself in the feel of his body against hers, in the taste of his mouth.

Making love to him was the only thing that made sense right now. He made her happy, happier than she'd ever been in her life. Home was no longer in New York. Home was wrapped in Danny's arms.

D
ANNY WOKE UP LONG BEFORE DAWN
,
listening to the sounds of Ballykirk as the village slowly came to life. At first, it was just the fishing boats heading out of the harbor and then a lorry or two passing by.

Tossing the covers aside and swinging his feet off the bed, he stood and stretched. As soon as the dogs heard him, they scampered into the bedroom, anxious for their breakfast. “Hi, boys,” he whispered, giving them each a pet.

Jordan's plane was due to leave at ten. Danny had insisted on taking her to the airport, but she'd decided to drive herself and leave her car in the car park. She'd promised she'd be back in a few days, after she'd settled everything with her parents.

In truth, Danny still wasn't sure he wanted her to leave. Even though he believed she was going to settle her affairs and come right back to him, there was a niggling doubt that her father might talk her into staying.

He couldn't imagine a future with Jordan in New York and him in Ireland. Though the two places were only a six-hour plane ride apart, there was still an ocean
between them. They'd be living completely different lives. But it wasn't just their lives, it was their ideas of what constituted happiness. For Jordan, it was professional success and for him, it had become all about love in the past month.

Here in Ireland, she could be in control of her own destiny. With Kellan's help, she could build a business to be proud of. There were possibilities in the U.K., in Europe. So many interesting things to do.

But Jordan had spent her life trying to please her father and to prove her worth in her family. It was a strangely dysfunctional relationship, but one that she couldn't seem to resist.

Danny wandered out to the fireplace and threw some peat on the fire, anxious to take the chill out of the air. Her bag was open on the sofa near the fireplace, packed with a change of clothes. He sat down and picked through it, pulling out a T-shirt and inhaling the scent.

Was this all he'd be left with, Danny wondered. Just faint memories of a woman he'd once loved and then lost. He tucked the T-shirt under his arm. She wasn't going to stay long, he told himself. There was nothing to worry over.

Danny walked back to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. He pressed a gentle kiss to Jordan's forehead, then drew a deep breath, committing the scent of her hair to memory. They'd spent nearly every minute together since his first day at Castle Cnoc and now, they'd be apart.

His time with Jordan had brought him a love deeper than anything he'd ever expected. Danny felt as if they had already spent a lifetime together. He'd never known
a woman so intimately nor had he allowed any woman to know him in that way. Jordan had become a part of him, the part that made him feel alive and aware.

He pulled back the covers and crawled back into bed, snuggling up to her naked body. She stirred then opened her eyes. “It can't be morning already,” she murmured.

“It is,” Danny replied. “Although it's only been about four hours since you fell asleep.”

Jordan groaned, then stretched her arms above her head. “How am I going to do without you in my bed? I'll have to just get reacquainted with my vibrator.”

“You have one of those?” Danny chuckled. “Make sure you bring that back with you.”

He kissed the curve of her neck. Her skin was so soft and he could feel her pulse beating beneath his lips. God, it was strange something as insignificant as a kiss would seem so important to him. Everything was important—the sound of her voice, the feel of her hand in his, the way she said his name…

The first light of dawn illuminated the room and Jordan glanced again at the clock. “I have to get up.” She raked her hands through her tousled hair as she sat up beside him.

Danny watched as she silently got dressed. When she was finished, she sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed her fingers over his temple, brushing aside a strand of hair. Danny looked up at her. “You could still change your mind,” he murmured. “You could take off all your clothes and crawl into bed with me and go to New York some other day.”

“I don't want to leave,” Jordan said. “But I have to.
I won't be gone long, I promise. I'll be back before you know it.”

“What if you decide to stay?” He raised up, bracing his arm beside him and leaning closer to her. This was no time to keep his feelings to himself. He was going to say it all right now, just so she knew exactly how much he needed her. “You have everything waiting for you back there. All you have here is me.”

“And that's everything,” she said. “To me.”

“Me, too,” he said softly.

Her eyes flooded with tears and Danny groaned, pulling her into a hug. He wanted to say the words. They'd been on his lips for days now, yet he was scared that Jordan wasn't ready to return the sentiment. He loved her, but did she love him?

Danny reached out and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Promise that you'll come back to me,” he whispered. “Promise you won't let your family talk you into staying.”

She drew a ragged breath. “I promise.”

“I'll miss you, Jordan. I don't think you realize how much.”

Jordan smiled, then bent close and dropped a kiss on his lips. “I'll miss you, too, Danny.”

He fell back onto the pillow and laughed, throwing his arm over his head. “I sure hope to hell you aren't
leanan sidhe
or I'm going to drop dead the moment you walk out the door.”

She grabbed his face and kissed him again, a kiss filled with longing and sorrow and silent promises. “I'm not a fairy. And you're not going to die when I leave you. I—I have to go.”

“Let me get dressed and I'll—”

“No, I want to leave you right here, in this cottage, all curled up in bed with Finny and Mogue asleep in front of the door. This is how I want to remember you, all rumpled from sleep and naked beneath the sheets. And when I come back, I want you to be here just like this.”

“I'm actually contemplating staying in bed until you come back. I'm not sure I'll be able to do anything else, I'll be so consumed with loneliness and despair.” He tried for a lighthearted tone.

“Get up and get some work done.” She gave him another quick kiss and then walked to the door. Jordan picked up her bag and gave him one last look. “I'll talk to you soon,” she murmured.

“Call me when you get in?”

She nodded. “I'll do that.” She crossed the room and kissed him again. “Let's just say goodbye like it's any other day,” she murmured. “I'll be back soon. I promise.”

As she walked out of the bedroom, Danny wondered what it would be like the next time they saw each other. Would the attraction still be so intense or would it have cooled? Would they pick up where they'd left off or would they need to get to know each other again? These were all questions that worried him. Danny knew they'd have to figure out a way to get through the confusion and back to where they belonged.

He jumped out of bed and hurried to the front door, standing naked in the damp morning air. She saw him and waved from inside the car, then turned on the ignition. “Come back,” he murmured to himself.

If she came back, this would become home. His family would become her family. They said absence made the heart grow fonder. Danny was counting on that to get him through the next few days.

He drew a deep breath of the morning air and then cursed loudly.

“Oh, to hell with this.”

 

J
ORDAN STOOD AT
the elevator and watched as the lighted numbers above the door moved downward. She'd been back in Manhattan for exactly one day, just enough time to sleep, sort through her mail and do laundry before grabbing a cab to the office.

The flight back had been uneventful, except for one thing. Whether it was the regret at leaving Ireland or the doubts she had about leaving Danny, she'd decided that it was time for her to have a serious talk with her father.

The elevator opened in front of her and she stepped inside, smoothing her hands over the designer suit she wore. She'd assumed that once she was back in her own bed, wearing her regular wardrobe she'd start to feel more like herself. But New York seemed like a foreign country now and she felt oddly out of place in the midst of all the noise and chaos.

When she stepped out of the elevator on the seventeenth floor, a familiar face greeted her. “Miss Kennally! Welcome back. You look…fabulous.”

Jordan frowned at Isabelle, their receptionist. “Fabulous?”

“There's something different about you. You look…sunny.”

“Well, I feel sunny,” Jordan said with a smile. “Is my father in? I need to talk to him right away.”

“He's in. You'll have to check with Anne Marie to see if he's available.”

“Great,” Jordan said. “Well, wish me luck.”

“Luck,” Isabelle replied. “Miss Kennally?”

Jordan turned back to her. “Yes?”

“I do hope you plan to stay. Rumor around the office was that you quit. That's not true, is it?”

Jordan smiled. “I think it is.”

When she reached her office, just three doors down from her father's, Jordan dropped off her coat and briefcase. The sooner she got this over with the better. It wouldn't do to delay and lose her nerve.

Jordan glanced down at her hands, her fingers twisted together so tightly that they were losing circulation. Conversations with her father had always been very cold and businesslike. But today, she hoped to appeal to his emotions. She wanted, no, she needed his blessing.

In truth, she expected it would be much worse. He'd throw her out on her ear, maybe even refuse to pay her for the Castle Cnoc project. He'd disown her, forbid her to come to family functions. Andrew Kennally hadn't gotten to where he was today by being a nice guy.

Drawing a deep breath, she headed toward his office. His assistant was sitting at her desk and Jordan pointed at the door. “He's in?”

“Yes. But I think he's on the phone. Can I make an appointment for you?”

“No,” Jordan said. “I need to talk to him right now.”

“But, Miss Kennally, I don't think he wants to be disturbed.”

“I'm his daughter. I'm allowed to disturb him.” Before the assistant could stop her, Jordan opened the door and stepped inside. Her father was sitting at his desk, his back to her, his feet kicked up on the credenza. She listened to his conversation and it was obvious he was discussing the closing on the hotel project.

Jordan sat and waited patiently, silently going over all she planned to say. She was putting her future on the line, but it had to be done.

The entire way home, she'd thought about what she was giving up by moving to Ireland. She loved her family, but she loved Danny more. He was the one who believed in her, who supported all her dreams. Her future was with him.

Her father hung up the phone, then slowly turned around to face her. Andrew Kennally was a handsome man of nearly sixty. His graying hair was set off by a deeply tanned face. He wore custom-made suits and hand-stitched shirts and Italian shoes that cost more than the rent on a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side. And all of that made him very intimidating.

“Hello, Daddy.”

“You're back,” he said, nodding at her. “It seems like you just left.”

“I've been gone for almost eighteen months,” Jordan reminded him.

“Right,” he said. “Well, welcome back. I'm sure you want to jump right back into work so…run along.”

“That's what I want to talk to you about,” Jordan
said. “If you'll remember, we had a discussion on the phone not too long ago about the hotel project.”

“Yes. I remember. It's still yours, if you want it.”

“Why?” she asked. “I know you didn't want to give it to me. Why did you change your mind?”

“Your mother can be very persuasive.”

“So, it's not because you trust my work. In fact, you don't think I deserve it, do you?”

“That's neither here nor there,” he said. “You have the damn project. We close day after tomorrow so I'd suggest you sit down with your brother, Matt, and get up to speed. He's been doing all the preliminary work.”

“I don't think that's going to be necessary,” Jordan said.

“What? You think you're just going to hit the ground running?”

“No. I'm not going to hit the ground at all. I don't want the job, Daddy. I'm going to go back to Ireland. I'm quitting Kencor.”

“Quit? Don't be ridiculous. You'll never find another job like this.”

“I hope not. This hasn't been all that great. And you've been a horrible boss. You've always favored my brothers more than me and I'm tired of that. I proved myself capable of handling larger projects, but that didn't make a difference to you.”

He shook his head. “Your mother isn't going to stand for this,” he warned.

“I don't care. It's time for me to make my own way in the world. I've met a man. I'm in love and I'm happy.”

“This is about a man? You're quitting your job for a man?”

“No,” Jordan said. “I'm quitting my job because I need to find a place where my talents are appreciated.”

“Oh, we're not going to get into all that warm fuzzy stuff. We don't do that here. I don't run around telling my employees how wonderful they are. That's not the way I run things.”

“Maybe you should. People might not think you're such a jerk.”

“You don't have any loyalty to me?”

“You're my father and I will always love you. But as a boss, you kind of suck. I've worked my ass off here and I deserved more than you gave me. But that's all water under the bridge. I just want you to give me your blessing and then I'll get out of your hair.”

“What is this really about?” he asked. “What happened to you in Ireland?”