Pursued by the Rogue (The Fairy Tales of New York Book 1) by Kelly Hunter

just possibly, she had a point.
    He’d had a point to make too, and he’d made it the best way he knew how. No words could encompass what he’d felt after Dawn had told him about the child that never was. There were no words.
    It had to be music.
    “Did she say anything afterwards?” he asked. “Why did she go?”
    “You mean it isn’t fucking obvious ? She’s in love with you, Finn.”
    His temper and Faith’s were never a good match. Usually they took turns.
    Carefully, deliberately, he took a step back. “Dawn say that to you?”
    Faith suddenly found the beer barrel fascinating. “Not in so many words, but I know her. And I know you. You’re both miserable. I did some reading up on Huntington’s disease and it’s awful. I can see that. I can see how you might want to protect yourself from that, but”
    “What?” Finn stared at the top of his sister’s head as she fiddled with the keg. “Protect me from what ?”
    “Dawn’s Huntington’s. That she thinks she has.”
    Faith finally deigned to stop screwing about with the beer barrel and look at him. Whatever she saw made her suddenly turn pale. “You don’t know.”
    “ I have not one single goddamn clue what you’re talking about ,” he roared. “How much clearer do you want me to get?”
    *
    “Okay,” she said faintly. “Okay. So, ah, Dawn’s father has this disease called Huntington’s.”
    “And Dawn has it too?”
    “She thinks so.”
    Certain things began clicking into place. Dawn’s relationship restrictions. The way she chased her research ambitions as if there was no tomorrow. The way she gave him everything during lovemaking and then got up and stepped back. Nothing special. Don’t look at me for too long.
    You won’t like what you find, she’d said.
    “She finds out today.” His sister’s eyes grew apologetic. “I spent the morning worrying for her and cursing my selfish, fair-weather brother but I should have known. I know you. I know you both. God. She didn’t tell you.”
    No need to keep reminding him. “Did she say where she finds out? Will she find out at work?”
    “I don’t know.” Faith shook her head and corkscrew curls went bobbing. “All I know is that she said she finds out at two o’clock.”
    It was well past eleven am now.
    He reached for his phone.
    Two minutes later he all but threw it across the taproom.
    “She’s not answering,” Faith said gently. “Zel, Mercy, me. We’ve all tried to call. She’s not at work. We tried there too.”
    “Have you tried her at home?”
    His sister looked desolate. “I don’t even know where she lives.”
    He did. And maybe, just maybe, she’d be there.
    He needed to get to her. To make her see, once and for all, that she didn’t have to walk though life alone. What else did he need in order to get through to her? Patience? Understanding? And almighty dose of calm? Did Dawn need another friend there? “Coming?”
    Faith’s eyes filled with tears, even as she shook her head. “Pretty sure she’s not going to want two panicking Sullivans at her side. One’s probably enough. Go.”
    “You’ll call me if you hear from her? Or if you find out where she is?”
    Faith nodded. “Mercy’s busy phoning every gene mapping medical specialist in Manhattan. I mean, how many can there be, right? Go. Keep me posted too.”
    He started towards the door and stopped abruptly. He backtracked and spared a kiss for his sister’s forehead. “I love you. I’m sorry I swore at you.”
    “Go.”

Chapter Nine
    ‡
    F inn made it to Soho in record time and jammed his finger to Dawn’s intercom with enough force to make him wince. When he heard a voice say hello he closed his eyes in pure relief.
    “It’s Finn. Let me in.”
    “It’s Finn,” the voice said. Not Dawn, then, and the connection went silent but the door buzzed open and he figured that for good enough. When he knocked on Dawn’s actual apartment door one elevator ride and six floors later, he managed