Page 8 of Irish Rose
“The tune’s changed,” she murmured, and drew out of his arms, relieved, regretful that he didn’t keep her there. She turned once again to walk. “Why did you come here?”
“To look at horses. I bought a pair in Kildare.” He took a puff on his cigar. He’d yet to realize himself what his horses and farm had come to mean to him. “There’s no match for the Thoroughbreds at the Irish National Stud. You pay for them, God knows, but I’ve never minded putting my money on a winner.”
“So you came to buy horses.” It interested her, though she didn’t want it to.
“And to watch a few races. Ever been to Curragh?”
“No.” She glanced up at the moon again. Curragh, Kilkenny, Kildare, all of them might have been as far away as the white slash in the sky. “You won’t find Thoroughbreds here in Skibbereen.”
“No?” He smiled at her in the moonlight, and the smile made her uneasy. “Then let’s say I’m just along for the ride. It’s my first time in Ireland.”
“And what do you think of it?” She stopped now, unwilling to pass out of the range of the music.
“I’ve found it beautiful and contradictory.”
“With a name like Logan, you’d have some Irish in you.”
Unsmiling, he glanced down at his cigar. “It’s possible.”
“Probable,” she said lightly. “You know, you said you were a neighbor of Travis’s, but you don’t sound like him. Your accent.”
“Accent?” His mood changed again with a grin. “I guess if you want to call it that it comes from the West.”
“The West?” It took her a moment. “The American West? Cowboys?”
This time he laughed, a full, rich laugh, so that she was distracted enough not to protest when his hand touched her cheek. “We don’t carry six-guns as a rule these days.”
Her feathers were ruffled. “You don’t have to make fun of me.”
“Was I?” Because her skin had felt so cool and so smooth, he touched it again. “And what would you say if I asked you about leprechauns and banshees?”
She had to smile. “I’d say the last to have seen a leprechaun in these parts was Michael Ryan after a pint of Irish.”
“You don’t believe in legends, Erin?” He stepped closer so that he could see the moonlight reflected in her eyes like light in a lake.
“No.” She didn’t step back. It wasn’t her nature to retreat, even when she felt the warning shiver race up her spine. Whether you won or went down in defeat, it was best to do it with feet firmly planted. “I believe in what I can see and touch. The rest is for dreamers.”
“Pity,” he murmured, though he had always felt the same. “Life’s a bit softer the other way.”
“I’ve never wanted softness.”
“Then what?” He touched a finger to the hair that curled at her cheekbones.
“I have to go back.” It wasn’t a retreat, she told herself. She felt cold all at once, cold to the bone. But even as she started to turn, he closed a hand over her arm. She looked at him, eyes clear, not so much angry as assessing. “You’ll excuse me, Mr. Logan. The wind’s up.”
“I noticed. You didn’t answer my question.”
“No, because it’s no concern of yours. Don’t,” she said when his fingers closed lightly over her chin, but she didn’t jerk away.
“I’m interested. When a man meets someone he recognizes, he’s interested.”
“We don’t know each other.” But she understood him. When he’d brought his arms around her in the waltz, she’d known him. There was something, something in both of them that mirrored back. Whatever it was had her heart beating hard now and her skin chilling. “And if it’s rude I have to be, then I’ll say it plain. I don’t care to know you.”
“Do you usually have such a strong reaction to a stranger?”
She tossed her head, but his fingers stayed in place. “The only reaction I’m having at the moment is annoyance.” Which was one of the biggest lies she could remember telling. She’d already looked at his mouth and wondered what it would be like to be kissed by him. “I’m sure you think I should be flattered that you’re willing to spend time with me. But I’m not a silly farm girl who kisses a man because there’s a moon and music.”
He lifted a brow. “Erin, if I’d intended to kiss you, I’d have done so already. I never waste time—with a woman.”
