Page 5 of The Irish Rogue

“Aye,” he replied, his lips quirking at her smile. “Southern?”

She laughed, nodding her head. “Fair enough. We both have accents. But yours is nicer.”

He rolled his eyes, amusement lurking on his firm mouth. “Go get yer purse, lass. “I’ll walk ye out to yer car.”

That must have startled her because her smile disappeared and she looked around. “Oh, you don’t need to do that. You’re not even finished with your beer.”

“The beer is warm. I’ve been working on it for a while now.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “So you’ve just been hanging around here all evening for…what?”

“Just observing,” Sean replied. “Get yer purse.”

She turned, obviously responding to the authority in his voice. But the adorable woman stopped herself and turned, scowling up at him.

“Do people always obey your orders?”

He chuckled. “Aye. They do.”

The lass obviously wasn’t sure if she should laugh or roll her eyes. Instead, she turned and disappeared through a pair of swinging doors that obviously led to the kitchen.

Sean suspected that the lass was annoyed with him, and would go out through the employee doors on the other side of the building. That was fine with him, he thought. It was time for him to head back to his rental house and consider everything he’d learned tonight.

Stepping outside, he looked around at the parking lot. Sure enough, there was a dark shadow skulking along the row of cars on the other end of the parking lot. Sean turned with an irritated growl, heading in that direction.

At the same time, the woman in question came out through a pair of glass doors, then turned and locked them behind her. There was a security light directly over the doors, but the shadow that was hiding near the cars kept still and went unnoticed. Sean could still see the outline of the man crouched down by the cars, but the woman had no idea that he was there.

“Oi!” he called out, startling her.

Sean noticed the terrified look in her eyes but he kept on walking, breezing right past her. “Brody, come on out and get away from her car!” His accent was in full force now, his anger pulsating.

There was a small gasp behind him when Brody pushed up to his full height. The man was still a half a head shorter than the woman, but he was pissed off now.

“What the hell are you doing out here, Brody?” the woman demanded.

Brody stepped fully out of the shadows now. He held his hands out to her placatingly, trying to appear less menacing. It wasn’t working.

“Now, see, Kennedi, I just wanted to talk to you,” the idiot explained, stepping out into the light.

“Lass, why don’t you get in your car and head on home. I’ll make sure this ass doesn’t come after ye.”

The woman, Kennedi, he realized, huffed a bit. “Were you planning to jump me in this empty parking lot, Brody?” she insisted. “Were you?’

“No!” he lied. “Like I said, I just want to talk to you!”

“We havenothingto discuss. And if you come near me again, I’m going straight to Mick. You seriously do not want Mick to dig into your life, Brody.”

Brody huffed a bit, but backed away. “Fine! I’m leaving!”

Sean didn’t believe him for a moment. “Why don’t ye just stay here for a bit. Let the lass get a head start on her drive home.” He stepped closer. “I’m sure that Kennedi,” damn, he liked that name, “would feel more comfortable if she was sure ye aren’t gonna follow her back to her place.”

“I’m going home!” Brody snarled. “Get out of my way, you prick!”

“Here now,” Sean replied, moving so that Brody would follow him. That would allow Kennedi to get into her car and drive away. “Let’s discuss yer anger issues over here, ta?”

“I’m not discussing anything with you! Why don’t you head on back to Scotland or wherever? We don’t need ya’ll coming over here and stealing our jobs!”

Sean sighed with irritation. The man really needed to get a new line. “That’s an excellent idea. Have ye ever thought of visiting Europe?” He didn’t bother to correct the man about his country. Scottish! As if any intelligent person would mistake an Irish accent for a Scottish one! Ridiculous!

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