The Whisper by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online

to worry about me.”
    Scoop smiled at her. “That’s like telling the rain to stop falling in Ireland. It’s just not going to happen.”
    As he headed out the side door, the three women didn’t interrogate him or try to stop him. He didn’t know whether they could guess what he was doing and approved, or if they just were resigned that he’d made up his mind and there’d be no stopping him.
    Unlike Simon Cahill and Will Davenport, he had no one to kiss goodbye.
    And no one waiting for his return to Boston.
    Except his cats, unless they’d decided they preferred the company of Keira’s young cousins.

4
    Kenmare, Southwest Ireland
    Sophie walked next to her twin sister, Taryn, enjoying the sounds of traditional Irish music drifting from Kenmare pubs on what had turned into a perfect September evening. One last downpour seemed to have done the trick. Fresh from London, Taryn wore slim jeans with flat-heeled black boots and a black sweater that came down to her knees. Although they were fraternal, not identical twins, Taryn also had red hair, but hers was two tones darker and wavier—and easier to manage, Sophie had decided when they were six, because Taryn always seemed to manage it. A few pins and clips, and she looked gorgeous. She had the lead in a new romantic comedy, but her first break had come performing Shakespeare in Boston. She was as dedicated to heracting career as Sophie had ever been to earning her doctorate, or Damian to becoming a federal agent.
    With her afternoon of cleaning, cooking and thinking, Sophie had been in her hiking clothes, still encrusted with mud from her trek on the Beara Peninsula, when Taryn arrived. Taryn, however, had seemed unsurprised and hadn’t asked what her sister had been up to. Sophie had quickly changed into jeans, a sweater and walking shoes. They’d set out on foot from their house to the lively village of bars, restaurants and shops.
    Sophie paused at a hole-in-the-wall pub on a narrow side street. “Tim O’Donovan and his friends are playing here tonight,” she said.
    Taryn’s expression didn’t change. “How nice.”
    “Do you want to go in, or shall we choose another pub?”
    “This one’s fine.”
    Her sister’s nonchalance was totally feigned, Sophie concluded as they entered the warm, noisy pub. A waiter led them to a table against the old brick wall. She and Taryn had done a Kenmare weekend in the spring, indulging themselves at an incredible bayside hotel spa and listening to traditional Irish music every night. Tim had swept them off for a boat ride—one that didn’t go near the tiny island of Sophie’s misadventure. He’d fallen hard for Taryn, and she for him, except she’d never admit as much, even to Sophie. An Irish fisherman didn’t fit into Taryn’s already complicated life.
    Just a touch of spring fever, she’d said, flushed as she’d headed to London.
    Tim had grumbled that he should have known better than to swoon over a woman who was an actress, an American and Sophie’s twin. Sophie had met him two years ago when she’d spent part of the winter in Kenmare, working on her dissertation. Right from the start, she and Tim had been more likebrother and sister. Not the case, she thought, with him and her twin sister.
    Taryn peeled off her teal wool scarf; she’d wound it around her neck, making it look easy, sophisticated and sexy all at the same time. She had an unobstructed view of the small stage where Tim and his friends, who looked as if they’d just come from catching dinner, were setting up, but she carefully pretended not to notice them as she and Sophie each ordered a glass of Guinness.
    “I spoke to Damian just before I arrived in Kenmare,” Taryn said.
    “I’m sure he wishes he could be here.”
    “You’re not a credible liar, Sophie. I’m only slightly better because I’m an actor, but lying doesn’t come easily to either of us. Damian said he talked to you earlier today. He sounded put out with you. Are you