Page 84 of Beside Golden Irish Fields
She lingered over the choices to give her face some time to cool down from his comments. When the server returned, she ordered roast chicken.
“I thought you wanted a steak,” he said.
He’d remembered?
He gave her a look as if reading her mind came as easily to him as breathing. Scary, really. Still, she changed her order. Shedidfancy a steak.
“Thanks for the reminder,” she said afterward, clearing her throat.
“Let’s see how else I can romance you,” he said, taking her hand and turning it over. “We can pretend I’m reading your palm.”
His touch sizzled, and her fingers clenched in response—like somewhere else in her body. Good Lord! She was getting hot at their table. “Stop that! Only a fool would believe you know how to read palms.”
He laughed when she tried to pull her hand away. “It was only an excuse to keep touching you. But I could tell you a tale about your life and future even without reading your life line, or whatever it’s called.”
When he straightened in his chair, tightening their connection, she nearly tore her hand away and ran to the bathroom. But she wasn’t a coward. She picked up her champagne with her other hand and met his gaze head-on. “Go ahead then. It’s clear you won’t be stopped.”
His mouth tipped up again. “We’ll have fun together and travel together. When you have another business idea, I’ll be there to support you or help you build it. I’ll love you slowly while the rain soaks the land—and you’ll remember how much it rains here.”
Her core flushed with heat, and she almost moaned aloud.
“But most of all, Bets,” he said, kissing her hand again. “I promise to make you laugh every day—even if it’s over something silly. Because you love to laugh. And I do so love to hear it.”
Her heart was like a crazy Irish storm, dark in one corner and filled with light in another. One person shouldn’t be able to feel so much all at once. “Back where I come from, we’d say you’re too good to be true.”
“Then I’m glad you came to Ireland, because Baltimore sounds like a miserable place.”
The gritty neighborhood she’d grown up in had mostly been miserable, with dirty streets and lots of garbage. Ireland had been a marvel from the beginning, always presenting her with something new to be in awe of. Seems the man before her was its newest offering.
She was afraid to take it, she realized. It felt she was missing something. She’d known Donal forever. He wasn’t like this. “Are you saying all this just to get me into bed?”
His mouth twisted, and he set her hand down gently. “No. I thought we’d covered that. It bothers me greatly that you’d still think so.”
She almost reached for his hand then. “I’m sorry, Donal.”
He nodded crisply. “Okay. Let’s eat. Our food is coming.”
They ate, but some of the magic was gone. She wanted to kick herself as he chewed his steak slowly, keeping his mouth occupied so he wouldn’t have to carry the conversation.
The silence grew awkward, and she felt his challenge in it. Would she start to do her part on their date? She bit the inside of her cheek, unable to hold back. She started talking about the new arts center.
He looked to be fighting a smile when she finally wound down. She forked a cold piece of steak after telling him about the classes she’d like to offer—pottery and knitting and stained glass—and he commented on how much he loved the windows in churches like Chartres or the Rosary Chapel in Vence, designed by Henri Matisse. When he went on about his interest in Matisse’s paintings, especiallyWoman in a Purple Coat, she’d drunk her champagne, hoping to disguise her surprise. He liked art?
He was right. This might as well be a blind date. She may have lived near Donal for thirty years, but she didn’t know him.
It alarmed her how much she wanted to.
After they left the restaurant, he walked her to her car. She protested, of course, but he didn’t fight with her about it. Only continued to walk next to her as she told him she would be fine getting to it alone. When he opened the door for her after she unlocked it, he looked her straight in the eyes and lifted those sexy silver brows.
“Will you come see my tropical garden?”
She fought the urge to swallow under that intense gaze. Her reaction to him unmoored her, but she couldn’t deny she was curious. “I’ll meet you there.”
He started whistling as he walked away.
When she got on the road leading home, she noticed him a few cars behind her. Her heart grew warm again. They pulled into his driveway almost at the same time.
He strode to her car with the single-minded purpose of a man on a mission. She’d hoped for a moment to reapply lipstick, but there was no time. He was already helping her out of the car and taking her hand. “Come.”
