“Hon,” Emma said, giving him a look, and he chuckled.
“Let me be noble and protective of my pregnant wife?”
“I’ll stand behind you,” she offered with a quirk of a smile. They both got out of the car and made their way toward the gate and the parked vehicle. True to her word, Emma let Nathan take the lead, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there. Then she looked past him. The gate was open—and walking toward them from the house was the lanky form of Gabriel Mahoney. He raised a hand in greeting from a distance, picking up his pace to a loping jog to reach them. A smile broke across Emma’s face, warm and unexpected, but Gabriel’s expression was neutral as he approached.
“Got your email,” he said, nodding to her, then looked immediately at Nathan, sticking out his hand. “Gabriel Mahoney.”
Nathan seemed to hitch for a moment before taking the offered hand and giving his own name. He snuck Emma a glance that she was pretty sure she knew the meaning of. Gabriel was, no way around it, gorgeous, with tousled brown curls that fall to his jaw and deep brown eyes. The cheeks that had been soft and boyish at twenty-one had given way to a sharp jaw and sharper cheekbones, accentuated by a close-trimmed beard. His eyes were hooded, somewhere between soulful and mysterious; she’d teased him for it, once upon a time.
“Sorry I wasn’t out here sooner. My grandmother’s been in the hospital, so I was with her,” he said, still talking more to Nathan than to her. The smile that had curled her lips faded.
What had she expected? That he’d be happy to see her?
“No worries,” Nathan said immediately, bobbing his head.
“Is your grandmother okay?” Emma asked. “It’s not—”
“Nothing to worry about, just a routine procedure,” Gabriel said, looking at her at last. “Still cancer-free.”
Emma let out a breath, nodding in relief. Lorelei Mahoney had been at her sickest the weeks before Emma’s parents died, but even weak from chemo she’d been unfailingly kind to Emma.
“So you two are old friends?” Nathan asked, breaking the awkward silence and looking between them. Emma adjusted her purse strap, shifting her weight.
“Sure. Friends. You could say that,” Gabriel said, staring straight at her. Then he turned back to Nathan, slapping a ring of keys into his hand. “Here. Keys to the front, back, garage, gate. Only thing missing is the carriage house—I don’t have a key to that. Daphne or Juliette might. I’ve already let the landscape company know you’re in residence, so they’ll get in touch next time they’re scheduled to come out. Sorry about the graffiti. I was going to get around to cleaning it, but it’s not like there’s been a rush without anyone living there.”
“Does that happen a lot? Kids breaking in?” Emma asked. Gabriel seemed to resent every time he was forced to acknowledge her presence. His jaw worked before he answered.
“Early on, just about every week. Nowadays it’s pretty quiet. Old news. Though with you being back, who knows? Lock your doors at night.”
“I always do,” Emma said, a little sharper than she’d intended.
“Well. I’ll leave you to it,” he said. He started past Nathan. Emma turned, staring after him.
“Gabriel,” she said. He stopped, looked slowly over his shoulder.
“Yes, Emma?” he asked, wearily neutral.
“I just…” she stammered. “It’s good to see you again.”
He was silent for another beat. Then he offered a single nod. “Sure,” he said. He opened the car door and slid into the front seat. Emma and Nathan backed away to give him room to turn, rolling over the grass and dirt as he squeezed past their car. And then he was driving away, the car vanishing around the bend.
“A friend,” Nathan said, voice choked with skepticism.
“Yes. A friend. Isn’t that what I said?”
“You weren’t looking at him like he was just a friend,” Nathan said. “Didn’t seem like he was being very friendly, either. What are you leaving out? Is he the boyfriend? The one who you were seeing that your parents didn’t like? The one they thought—”
“You mean the evil older boyfriend who seduced me—or wait, maybe it was the other way around—and helped me murder my parents so we could run away together?” Emma asked, venom dripping from her voice.
“That’s not what I said,” Nathan objected.
“It’s what you were thinking,” Emma said.