Page 27 of Over Verdant Irish Hills

“Yes, you did! That’s why you tried to talk me into staying in Paris with you.”

He shifted on his feet, studying her. “Bets, the reason I wanted you to stay in Paris with me was because I wanted to mean more to you than a bunch of dead roses you couldn’t save.”

She stared at him, astonished.

“Saying that isn’t easy for me, but it’s true just the same.”

She inhaled sharply, flooding her nose with the cleaning product. She sneezed twice before she said loudly, “Of course you mean more to me than my roses.”

He only stared back.

Her face grew hot. “I love you, dammit!”

“And I love you.” His voice was whisper-soft. “So why are you shouting?”

“Because I don’t know which way to turn right now. Those boys are out there putting an electric fence around my roses. I have friends like Donal talking about sitting up with shotguns. Maybe I should just drive over to Mary and tell her to go ahead and kill the ones I have left and end this madness.”

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “We both know that isn’t going to work. Worse, that’s not something you can live with.”

“But I can’t live with the thought that little kids in the village are getting scared because of this.” She squeezed her eyes closed for a brief moment. “The arts center is supposed to bring people together and uplift them. Not tear people apart. Don’t you wonder whether Kathleen is still on edge when she goes to work? I do. Now I feel the same way on my own property.”

“So, what do you want to do?” he asked, his blue eyes hot. “Quit?”

“No! I just want it to stop!”

He gathered her into his arms and rocked her. “I do too, sugar. I do too.”

“Linc, what are we going to do?” she asked, her voice rough from the unshed tears she was holding back.

“I’m thinking on that.” He squeezed her gently. “I’m thinking on it real hard. Will you trust me?”

She nodded against his chest. “Do you really think I should visit the Garda?”

He tipped her chin up. “Yes, actually I do, and I rather like the idea of us goingen masse. I say we rustle up a whole bunch of people in the village before we visit those morons. We’ll bring someone from the local newspaper even.”

Her headache throbbed. “I hate this.”

He rubbed the back of her neck. “So do I.”

“Maybe we should just go back to Paris,” she muttered. “You were right. Ididlet Mary ruin our trip.”

“We’ll have another trip, don’t worry.” He kissed her softly on the mouth. “Now, take your rubber gloves off. Cleaning is the last thing you need to be doing right now.”

She shot him a look. “Oh? And what do you think I should be doing right now?”

He tugged off her gloves and hoisted her over his shoulder, eliciting a squeal from her. “Letting me distract you some.”

With her head dangling upside down, her headache actually eased a bit. She felt comforted by the strong but tender way he was holding her in place. She feltsafeas he made his way back to the stairs and up to her bedroom.

“You think you can distract me, huh?”

He set her on the floor of her bedroom and slammed the door. “I know I can.”

Sure enough, he was more than right.

CHAPTERTEN

The community of Caisleán rallied around Bets like none other.

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