Page 30 of Over Verdant Irish Hills

His mouth twisted. “Yes, by offering her a buttload of money to leave Mayo with her infernal son and never return. Guess what she said.”

“She laughed in your face.” She swiped at her hair as rain ran down her hot face. “Know what she did to me? She brought me a cursed, dead rose—the same kind she beat me with at the state fair last year—and told me she wanted to buymyhouse. With your money!”

He swore under his breath. “Dammit! This is why I wasn’t rushing toward a fix. I just didn’t realize Mary had more regard for her roses than her own son. My mistake.”

“Your mistake?” She took a step back and nearly stumbled. “You made this move without talking to me. How could you?”

“I was trying to handle things. Like you’d asked me to. Like everyone wanted. I even called Donal in France to see what he thought of my idea. He agreed it was worth a shot. But we’re back to square one. That pisses me off, but not as much as you accusing me of getting Owen out of jail early.” He regarded her with icy blue eyes. “How could you even think I would do something like that?”

He was right. But she just couldn’t help herself. The words just flew out of her mouth in a broken voice. “How could I not? Ever since you first came to town, you’ve been talking about rubbing elbows and greasing palms—”

“I would nevereverarrange for a hardened criminal to be released early, Bets! Dammit, he threatened Kathleen and vandalized our arts center. A few days ago she stood in my family room and told me she was still scared of him. Do you honestly think I’d willingly cause her more worry? Or you? Or anyone else? My God!”

The rainwater was making her cold, the kind of cold that cut to the bone, but the knowledge that he’d done all this without saying anything to her chilled her worse. She’d had a lifetime of overbearing men. This was exactly what she wanted to avoid. “We’re supposed to be partners. With the arts centerandwith each other. You cut me out, Linc. I don’t want to be with someone who’s not going to talk to me about something this important.”

He reached for her, but she took another step back.

Pain rippled over his features. “Noted, and I sincerely apologize. But Bets, you questioned my character just now, and I’m going to need an apology for that.”

She felt something in her chest turn over. “You have it. I’m sorry. But it doesn’t change anything. You made things worse by talking to Mary, and now I have to live with the consequences.”

He stalked forward until he was directly in front of her, the rain sluicing down his head onto his blue shirt. “So do I. You think it’s easy watching you being brave every day? I’ve been waiting for a chance to fix this. It’s what I do. What I’ve always done. I won’t apologize for taking it.”

“But if you’d asked, I could have told you Mary wouldn’t sell her house.” She threw up her hands. “This feud is not about money.”

“No, it’s about old business between the two of you.” He swore again. “Bets, I did my best. Hell, even Donal agreed it might work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Now Donal is back and working like hell to make sure Owen doesn’t get out of jail. As am I.”

Well, that was something, but she was too keyed up to back down. “But you offered her money. For bad behavior.”

“I was trying to remove her and her son from our lives. Mary doesn’t seem to want to go, does she?”

“No, she offered to buymyhouse.”

“I hopeyoulaughed inherface.”

That was what it came down to, wasn’t it? Who was going to have the last laugh. She was so done with the whole thing. “I don’t feel like laughing. In fact, I feel pretty sick. I trusted you.”

His face went blank. “And now you think you can’t? You know, if you truly believed I was the kind of man who’d help that criminal get leniency, you’d be right to worry. I wouldn’t trust me either if I believed that.”

She bit her lip when it started to quiver. It had to be the cold. “So this is how we end, huh? Our run is over?”

He blinked, a grim comprehension settling into the lines of his face. “So that’s what this is about. You’re willing to believe the worst of me so you have an out. Bets, if you want our run to be over, you just have to say so.”

Fear wrapped around her throat. “Me? You were the one—”

“No, you wanted the run.” He rubbed his jaw, his blue eyes somber. “After our first day in Paris, I wanted forever. More fool I.”

“Linc—”

“Here I thought you knew me—through and through.” He had to pause to gather himself. “Bets, I might have made a mistake in not telling you, but you basically just accused me of the lowest possible moral conduct. You cut my knees out from under me. That’s what hurts the most.”

She sucked in her breath. “I’m hurt too! You didn’t talk to me! You went behind my back. You didn’t treat me like an equal partner.”

“And I apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again.” His whole face seemed to fall with heavy sadness. “In my case, you had me tried and judged before you even spoke to me. Bets, I trustedyou, and that’s not something I did with any of my ex-wives. Oh, hell! You’d best get home and out of the rain. I don’t think we have anything more to discuss.”

Inside her chest, hurt pressed against her ribs. Suddenly she knew she was losing him the whole way, as a friend and a lover. She bit her lip to hold back the waves of pain threatening to swamp her. “No, I suppose we don’t.”

She turned around and walked back to her car, sloshing more frigid water, this time into her boots. She looked around, hoping to see Sorcha. She even sniffed the air. All she smelled was rain and damp earth, not the comforting scent of oranges. Why wasn’t she helping?

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