Page 17 of Irish Rose
She nodded, hoping she sounded as casual as he. She’d rather have died on the spot than have admitted her own inexperience. “Now that our systems are clear, there’ll be no need for it to happen again.”
“Don’t ask me for promises. You’ll be disappointed.” He strolled to the door, pushing it open so that the wind and rain lashed their way in. It helped cool his head and steady his heart rate. “You can talk to Dee and Travis when you bring the papers in. Give your family my best.”
Then he was gone, into the storm. Though Erin dashed to the door, he was only a quickly fading shadow in the gloom.
A shadow, she thought, whom she knew nothing about. And she would be going with him to America.
Chapter Four
America. Erin wasn’t naive enough to believe the streets were paved with gold, but she was determined to make it the land of opportunity. Her opportunity.
It was the speed of things that struck her first, the hurry every living soul seemed to be in. Well, she was in a bit of a hurry herself, she decided as she sat in the back of her cousin’s station wagon and tried not to gawk.
The cold had surprised her, too, a numbing, bone-chilling cold she’d never experienced in the mild Irish climate. But the snow was novelty enough to make it a small inconvenience. Piles of it, more than she’d ever seen, rolling over the gentle hills and heaped on the sides of the road. It was a different sky above, different air around her. So what if she gawked, Erin thought to herself, and she smiled as she tried to see everything at once.
Burke had been true to his word. The paperwork had gone so smoothly that in a matter of days after he’d offered her the job she’d been across the Atlantic. He’d left her with her cousin’s family at the airport in Virginia, with a casual comment that he’d see her in a couple of days, after she’d settled in. Just like that. Erin was still trying to catch her breath.
She’d hoped he’d say more. She’d hoped—perhaps foolishly—that he would seem more pleased that she was there. She’d even waited to see that half smile, that dark amusement in his eyes, or to feel the flick of his finger down her cheek. But he’d only dismissed her as an employer dismisses an employee. Erin reminded herself that was precisely what they were now. There would be no more waltzes or wild embraces.
Did she wish there would be? The devil of it was she’d done just as much thinking about Burke Logan as she had about coming to America. Something had told her that they were both chances—the man and the country. Sometime, somehow, she’d begun to mix them together and had discovered she wanted both. She knew she was being foolish again and resolved to settle for the land.
It was beautiful. The mountains dark in the distance reminded her just enough of home to make her comfortable, while the whiz of the cars beside them in three lanes were foreign enough to add excitement. Erin found it a palatable combination and was already hoping for more.
Adelia shifted in her seat so that she could smile back at her cousin. “I remember my first day here, when Uncle Paddy picked me up at that same airport. I felt like I’d been plopped down in the middle of a circus.”
“I’ll get used to it.” Erin smiled and took another long look out the window. “I’ll get used to it very quickly, as soon as I believe I’m really here.”
“I for one am grateful to Burke.” Distracted a moment, Dee murmured to Brady, who was fretting in his car seat, then soothed him with a stuffed dog. “It was never in my mind when we went to Ireland that we’d be bringing family back with us.”
The guilt tingled a little, shadowing the pleasure. “I know it was all very sudden, and I’m beholden to you, Dee.”
“Oh, what a pack of nonsense. I feel like a girl again, having my best friend come to stay. We’ll have a party.” The minute the thought struck, Adelia rolled with it. “A proper one, too, don’t you think, Travis?”
“I think we could handle it.”
“I don’t want you to go to any trouble,” Erin put in.
“If you don’t let Dee go to any trouble, you’ll break her heart,” Travis said without embellishment. They crossed over the line into Maryland. “Nearly home now, love.”
“I’m as excited to be back as I was to leave. Brendon, if you don’t stop teasing your sister you’ll be seeing nothing but the four walls of your room until morning.” Dee sighed a bit and shifted.
“All right?” Travis sent her a quick, concerned glance.
“They’re just active.” She patted his hand to make light of the discomfort. “Probably squabbling between themselves already.”
“I’d like to help with the children.” The closer they came, the more Erin’s nerves began to jump. “Or however else I can to pay you back for taking me in this way.”
“You’re family,” Adelia said simply. Then she sat up straighter as they drove between the stone pillars that led to home. “Welcome to Royal Meadows, cousin. Be happy.”
Erin didn’t know what she’d been expecting. Something grand, surely. She wasn’t disappointed. The sun shone hard on the February snow, causing the thin crust to glitter and shine. Acres of it, Erin thought. This world was white and gleaming. Even the trees were coated with it, their bare black branches mantled with snow and dripping with cold, clear ice. Like a fairyland, she mused, then called herself foolish.
When the house came into view, she could only stare. She’d never seen anything so big or so lovely. The stone rose up as sturdy as it was majestic from the white base of snow. Charm was added by the wrought-iron-trimmed balconies that graced the windows.
“It’s beautiful,” Erin murmured. “It’s the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen.”
“I’ve always thought so, too.” Dee reached over to unhook Brady as Travis brought the car to a halt. “And it’s so good to see it again. Come now, my lad, we’re home.”
“Uncle Paddy!” From the backseat, both Brendon and Keeley began to shout. Then they were out and kicking through the snow. A short, stocky man with wiry gray hair and a face like an elf spread his arms wide for them.
