Page 40 of Over Verdant Irish Hills

The bed mocked them. The owner of this here hotel had a right funny notion about superior beds. Linc could see nothing superior about it.

“Well, hell, that doesn’t look like a large bed, does it?” he asked. Sometimes the obvious statement was a person’s only recourse.

Bets put her hand over her mouth, trying to contain her laughter. “Not even close.”

Linc walked over to the bed in sheer disbelief. “This is two twin beds stuck together.” The bedsheets were even separate. “We might as well be living inThe Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.”

“I was thinking they were made up like we’re two boys on a slumber party,” she finished with another laugh. “Oh, Linc. This is terrible.”

He was going to fall through the crease between them. “I thought the French believed inl’amour. This is ridiculous.”

Bets walked over and sat on one side, bouncing a few times. “It’s soft at least. Care to try it out, cowboy?”

The Ritz could wait, he decided. So could his toothbrush stunt. What was the worst thing that could happen?

He found out ten minutes later when he really did fall off the bed.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Their four days in Paris turned into eight.

Butthey left their dinky hotel and checked back into the Ritz after Linc fell off the tiny bed during their first afternoon there, making Bets dissolve into giggles after seeing that he wasn’t seriously hurt.

From then on, Bets couldn’t get enough of him, and even though he had a few bruises from his tumble, neither could he. He seemed downright proud of hislove wounds,as he called them. Heck, he’d surprised her by coming out of the bathroom buck naked holding nothing but a toothbrush. They’d laughed like loons until they’d launched themselves at each other and spent the entire rest of the day tearing up the sheets in bed.

They made it out of the hotel on the fifth day, hand in hand, in the same clothes they’d worn on the plane. Bets let the Paris sunshine fall on her face. Her body felt limber, but it was her heart that felt the biggest change. She knew it was burning strong for the sexy cowboy who walked beside her as they headed to a nearby café for an early drink. Later on, they bought a change of clothes so he could take her to the restaurant from their first trip to Paris, the place where he’d never taken another soul save his daughter. Every time she thought about that, she got choked up. After eating a scrumptious dinner, she had done her best to show him how much it meant to her.

For their remaining days in Paris, they ate room service and made love some more.

But they talked too. About the arts center. About the new constructions. About Sophie Giombetti, who’d be arriving at the end of August, and Tom Sarkesian, two artists who were going to change their landscape.

The two things they didn’t talk about were Mary and the rose competition. Bets made it a point to keep her phone off, and Linc’s phone lay facedown in the sitting room beside hers.

Enjoying each other was all he wanted, he told her. Now and always.

Her heart didn’t flinch at that word,always.And the day she caught Sorcha smiling at her in the mirror in their glitzy bathroom at the Ritz, she smiled back. The ghost didn’t say another word before disappearing again. She decided not to mention her appearance to Linc. He wasn’t Irish enough yet. Maybe someday.

On the last day of their trip, Bets had a sudden flash of insight as she lay tucked up against his side, sucking in air after another glorious bout of lovemaking.

“I know what I want to do,” she breathed out, happiness flooding her already blissful body.

“What are you muttering about, sugar?” Linc rolled them to their sides and looked at her. “You ready for more?”

She laughed at his hopeful tone and kissed him on the mouth. “In a minute. Linc, I want to have an open house at the arts center instead of going to the rose competition. Hell, I want us to throw a party. Last year, Angie had her first gallery showing at the local bookstore during the fair, and it was amazing. She was representing the arts center and putting us on the map. This year we’re at a whole new level, and I want everyone who’s coming to the Bonniconlon Agricultural Show to come by and see us if they have the interest.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear. “How many people is that, sugar?”

“Over thirty thousand.” She could already see it. They would have an Irish BBQ and give tours of the center.

“Thirty thousand?” His brows shot to his hairline. “I thought this was a county fair.”

“It is,” she said, grinning. “One of the biggest in Ireland. And I’m going to fill the front hall with my roses. Oh, Linc. It feels so right.”

He pulled her against him. “Are you sure this is what you want? I know I said some things before on this topic—”

“That’s not why I’m doing this, and those words are forgotten, remember? I want to focus on all the good things in our lives now and the future.”

He ran his hand along her spine. “Good. I wasn’t looking forward to watching you get all upset again.”

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