Page 14 of The Irishman's Christmas Gamble
“That you’ve commented on my incredible good looks. It’s a good sign.”
“It’s just a fact.”
He lifted an eyebrow and went back to his phone, scrolling and tapping until he made a final grand flourish. “There. Now we’re headed for the proper store to buy decorations for your tree. And we can go back to talking about my handsomeness.”
She punched him in the arm, surprising herself but making him chuckle. “Seriously, Liam, you’re bloody famous.”
“Which can be bloody inconvenient.” He sighed. “I’m not complaining, mind you. I just didn’t expect it so soon here. The truth is that I need all the fans and media coverage I can get when it comes to putting soccer on the map in the States.”
“I’m going to introduce you to a friend of mine. He plays the wrong kind of football, but he’s got powerful connections in the professional sports world.”
Liam frowned. “And who might this footballer be?”
“Luke Archer. He’s the quarterback for—”
“I know who Luke Archer is. The question is: How doyouknow him?”
“He’s a member of the Bellwether Club, of course.” Frankie was amused by his fit of jealousy. She’d come to know Luke well because he was one of the three crazy gamblers from her club who’d made a bet on true love. She was rooting for all of them to win their wager of hearts, but she couldn’t share their secret, even with Liam.
“You keep impressive company.” Liam didn’t look happy about that.
“I’m almost invisible to my members. As long as things are going smoothly, they don’t even know I’m there.”
“That’s been your choice all along.”
“It’s easier that way. You don’t build a billion-dollar company from the ground up without making a few enemies.”
His eyes turned glacial, but he said nothing. Not like the old days, when he would have demanded she give him their names, so he could warn them off. “I have my own connections,” he said.
Pride. He’d always had it in spades. Sometimes that was all that had kept him from giving up, so she couldn’t fault him for it. “I imagine you do. All over the world, in fact.”
“Thanks for the offer of an introduction, though.” The ice melted and the gleam of humor reappeared. “You wouldn’t by any chance know J.K. Rowling personally, would you?”
“Can’t help you with that one. You’re a Harry Potter fan?”
“No, but I know someone who is.” He turned to look out the window but not before she caught the look of discomfort that crossed his face. “Here we are.”
Liam hustled her across the sidewalk and through the door before she could read the store’s sign. As she stepped inside, she had the sense of being inside a kaleidoscope, with brilliant bursts of translucent color surrounding her.
“Welcome to Glass Dreams.” A young man in jeans and a black tee shirt stepped out of the swirl of color. “If you have any questions, just ask.”
Liam pointed upward. “These would go with your apartment.”
Frankie tilted her head back. Globes of blown glass in brilliant colors and patterns hung from multihued silk ribbons. Some had swirls and stripes of colored glass applied to the outside. Some had sculptural shapes inside them. Each one was a work of art in its own right.
“How did you know about this place?” she asked.
That same odd shadow flitted over his face. “I was Christmas shopping in the neighborhood and noticed it. The colors catch your eye from the outside.”
“They’re brilliant.” She ran a quick calculation in her head based on the size of the tree and the density of the branches and spoke to the salesperson. “I’ll need about seventy of these. Do you have ornament boxes?”
The young man’s eyes lit up before he nodded and disappeared into a back room.
“Point to the ones you want and I’ll unhook them,” Liam said.
“You have to help choose them too. What do you think of doing the whole tree in different shades of red?”
“No fun. Let’s just pick the ones we like the best.” He pointed to one that had green and white swirls. “That one reminds me of my first soccer team’s colors.”
