Page 49 of Priceless
He scowled and breathed deeply a few times, then hustled away to open the car door for me. "I'll have to look that up."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jacob suggested we stop at the pub for a bite of supper.
“Yes, please,” I said. “I’m starving.”
He snorted. “We’ve just worked up a lot of…appetite, so it’s no wonder.”
I bit my bottom lip and denied nothing. When he had to crack the window due to steamy windows, I laughed out loud. He didn’t, which made me laugh even harder.
At Jocko’s, the place was busy enough that no one noticed us when we slipped in the door and headed for the fireplace. A pole stood in front of the table where I’d had lunch the day before, a “reserved” sign at the top. Jacob pulled out the chair closest to the fire for me before taking the sign and moving it over to the wall. He took our coats and hung them on the sign. Then he sat opposite me. Even sitting, he was a tall wall that kept the heat of the fire from getting away, and I was grateful.
Kicking off my shoes wasn’t really an option, but I hoped the heat would eventually reach my frozen toes.
He was unexpectedly quiet. Only smiled when our eyes met. But maybe he was having the same problem I was—trying to recover from that kiss.
With his back to the rest of the bar, he never noticed the number of locals who looked our way and smiled, waiting to catch his attention. I pretended not to notice and never gave him a reason to turn away from me. We were in our own little world with a soft buzz of conversation in the background.
He must have noticed Vonnie’s bright hair from the corner of his eye because he shook his head before she ever reached our table, and she veered away without saying a word. He reached over to pull my hand to the middle of the table, then removed my glove one finger at a time. I happily offered him the other hand, and when he was done, he tossed both gloves between the wall and the salt and pepper shakers.
He picked up that first hand again and massaged each finger, frowning at them for not warming fast enough. “I have somethin’ to tell ye, Laira. And I fear ye willnae like it.”
“Oh, yeah?” I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. He’d already shown me how he felt about me. What else could there be that was so serious. “You don’t have a second wife, do you?”
Again, when I laughed, he didn’t laugh with me. My face had thawed well enough to fall, and when I was able to shake the stun off, I tried to take my hand back. But he held it tight.
“Easy, lass. I am not married, even to a ghostie.”
“Maybe…maybe you’d better tell whatever it is before I freak out.”
He checked my expression, then nodded and went back to studying my hand. I tried to brace myself for a huge letdown, since it was so serious he couldn’t stand to look at me while he explained.
A pity the memory of our lovely day was about to be ruined…
“I…started somethin’, ye see. I arranged for all this.” With one hand, he gestured all around us.
“Ladies and gents!” Vonnie stood on the rungs of a bar stool to make herself taller while she called out to the crowd. “We’ve a treat for ye this evenin’! Our dear friend Jessica Wallace has agreed to gift us with a song! So shut yer gobs and quiet yer pints, aye?”
In a mere two seconds, the place was deathly still. The only noise came from the distant sizzling of food in the kitchen.
Vonnie gestured to a woman further down the way in a dark skirt and a jean jacket. Her back was to the bar, and she held a half-finished pint in her hand. A man beside her, dressed in a red and black kilt, took her drink and sat it on the bar. She rubbed her hands together, hummed a lilting tune, then began to sing. It was a slow, sad song with no accompaniment. Her voice was lovely, the notes pure.
The story was captivating.
I looked at Jacob’s flushed face. Guilt was written all over it.
I whispered, “Did you think this would embarrass me?”
He shook his head, then turned his chair so he could see both me and the performer.
I rolled my eyes and went back to listening.
Out on themoor where the heather grows bare,
Soni stood singing to the cold midnight air.
Her love was a shadow, no warmth in his skin,
