Page 24 of Fall of a Kingdom

“Go away,” I groused in misery.

“I can’t. Not until you’re truly ready to let me go. And I don’t think you want to let me go. You like having something between you and your husband.”

I whirled to face him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re afraid he won’t love you anymore. Not after you tell him the truth. Not after you tell him what you’ve kept from him all this time.”

“Go. Away.”

His cheeks weren’t red with from the chill, and there was no breath from him visible in the cold. He was just the ghost of a man I once knew. It reminded me that he wasn’t real.

But my suffering was real. That was the only truth I knew—and I couldn’t keep living like this.

I needed to talk to Flynn. I needed to come clean. And if he still loved me after the truth…then maybe we would be stronger. Maybe we’d survive.

I’d been running long enough. It was time to face my husband. I’d say goodbye to Hildie and drive back to the airport and catch a flight home.

The weight I’d been carrying around lifted from my heart because I realized I was going to tell Flynn everything.

I turned back toward the mansion, exhausted from the emotion roiling through me, but I was committed to the course now. The agony of limbo was worse than potentially burning everything to the ground and starting over.

Tears threatened to cascade down my cheeks when I thought about losing it all. My throat constricted. I couldn’t picture a life without Flynn.

A lone figure stood on the opposite end of the snow-bathed lawn. When I was closer, I knew immediately it was him.

I paused, but only for a moment, and then I was running in heavy snow boots to Flynn as if my life depended on it. I tripped and fell to the ground, but I scrambled back up. He came for me too, showing me, even now, that he would always meet me halfway.

I ran and didn’t stop, not even when I was close enough to see the cobalt blue of his eyes. I jumped into his arms and wrapped myself around him, burying my nose against the side of his neck, breathing deeply, wanting to inhale every piece of him.

His arms went around me immediately. “Hen,” he whispered.

The tears I’d attempted to hide fell, and they came from somewhere deep inside, springing from my heart. I trembled against him. “You came for me.”

Flynn’s arms loosened, and I slid down his body. When I stood on my own two feet, Flynn’s hands came up to cradle my cheeks and forced my gaze up to his.

“You daft woman,” he rumbled softly. “I’ll always come for you.”

Chapter9

FLYNN

She shuddered in my embrace.

“Hen?”

“Just…give me a minute.” Barrett clung tighter to me, as if she were afraid that I would disappear if she let me go.

We stood there in the cold, the pristine snow all around us as she curled her body into mine.

Barrett needed me. It had been so long since I felt like she’d needed me. I loved that she was strong and independent, but damn it all to hell, all I wanted to do was protect and care for her.

Why wouldn’t she let me?

“Are you ready to go inside?” I asked, leaning my cheek against her head.

“I guess we should.” She sighed and then pulled back to peer up at me. “I still can’t believe you’re here. How did you—”

“In a bit, hen,” I interrupted. “All that can wait.”