Irish Eyes (Stolen Hearts Romance) by Annie Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

checked his watch. If Julia didn’t show up in a couple of minutes, he’d have to go in and drag her away from the latest emergency good deed that she thought only she could attend to. He had to smile at her tenacity and go-get-’em attitude, but he wondered if she didn’t get weary trying to take on so much. And now he and his little family scandal had added to her workload.
    He drummed his fingers on the roof of his sedan, tempted to march inside and tell Julia he didn’t need her help after all. The nerve-jangling trill of his phone kept him from doing it. He slid back behind the wheel and answered, “O’Dea here.”
    “Uncle Cam?”
    “Devin!” He gripped the phone receiver so hard edge cut into his palm. “Devin, lad, where are you?”
    “Now, you know I can’t be lettin’ him tell you that, Cam, old man.” Michael Shaughnessy’s voice dripped sarcasm and contempt even through the phone’s speaker.
    The sound brought a weighted chill to the pit of Cameron’s stomach. “How did you get this number, Michael?”
    “We called Mom first, Uncle Cam. She gave it to us. I hope it’s okay”
    “Of course it’s okay” Shaughnessy chimed in. “Your Uncle Cam just loves hearing from you, son. Just as I’d love to hear from him. Especially if he has gold news…I mean good news… for me.”
    “I’m telling you, Michael, if you harm one hair on the head of that boy—”
    “I’m okay, Uncle Cam. Uncle Mike understands that I don’t know where the gold is and he isn’t pushing me to tell him anything.”
    “I see.” The knot in his stomach eased a bit.
    “It’s just like being on one of those fishing trips he used to take me on,” Devin chattered, oddly chipper. “Except no fish.”
    “No fish?” Though his heart wasn’t in it, Cameron needed to find a way to comfort the boy, to make things seem under control. “That’s not so different from your usual fishing trips.”
    Fishing trips. Cameron’s mind raced as the boy laughed at his lame joke. Was Devin giving him a hint as to their whereabouts? He made a mental note to have every nearby pond and camping area checked. Michael would not get too far from the gold at this stage, Cameron was sure.
    “I just don’t want you to worry about me, Uncle Cam. Uncle Mike let me talk to Mom a long time and she knows I’m okay,” Devin went on.
    “Devin, I want you to know, I will do everything I can to get you home to your Mom as soon as possible."
    “Everything?” A slippery quality permeated Michael’s tone. “Does that include handing over what’s rightfully mine?”
    Cameron clamped his jaw down so tight he could hear his back teeth grind together.
    “Well, Cam?” Michael pushed.
    “You know I don’t have the gold, Michael.” Not on him, at least.
    “But when you get it—and that will be soon, I suspect—I wonder if you’d be willing to part with it in exchange for Devin’s safe return?”
    Devin’s safe return. The evil implications pricked at Cameron’s imagination. “So that’s it, then. You’ve officially reduced yourself to threatening your own godson—the child you swore you would love and protect as your own flesh and blood. And for what, Michael? Money? Fulfillment of some legend based on a kind of twisted logic?”
    “I would never hurt Devin. Never.”
    Deep in his heart, Cameron trusted the vehemence of that claim. He had to cling to the hope that the Michael he had once known and loved like his own brother would keep that promise. He had to try to reach that man. “Then let Devin go, Michael. Keep this between you and me.”
    “It can never just be between the two of us, Cam, and you know it. It’s for Devin I’m doing this, for his future.”
    “Devin’s future does not lie in that gold.”
    “I think otherwise, and when you find it—”
    “If I find it,” Cameron corrected.
    “When you find it. You will find it. I know you’re close now. That’s why, when I saw my opportunity to take Devin, I