“We had best avoid that,” Liam agreed, “else Sean’ll likely get himself stuck in here as well.”
Sean took the ribbing in stride. “And do the two of you intend to let me fall in this well of yours, stumbling about as I will be in the dark?”
“You’ll have to take your chances.” Kieran slapped a hand on Sean’s back.
The lads were outside in a moment. Though she ought to have set herself to the task of placing bowls and cups and such on the table, her mind had followed the men out the door.
That Sean Kirkpatrick is a handsome man, mud and all. And quick-witted. And not easily offended. Now to discover if he turned his nose up at simple country fare. For if a man can’t stomach a woman’s cooking, ’tis best for all concerned that he not come around at mealtimes. And if he’ll not be around at mealtimes, there’s little point in him being around the rest of the day, either.
But Sean quite heartily approved of her cooking, both in words and in his very enthusiastic devouring of his meal. Indeed, he referenced a good number of saints as well as the heavens themselves between bites.
“You’d best not praise her too highly, Kirkpatrick,” Liam said, wiping the last of his colcannon from his bowl with a slice of soda bread. “She’ll get it into her head to go work at the kitchens up at the castle, and we’ll lose our cook and our sister all in one go.”
’Twas Finley who responded, the first time he’d spoken since arriving for supper. “You’d not up and leave us, would you, Maeve?”
Where the Butler boys were rather expert at teasing, Finley Donaghue was of a more sober mien. His question was asked in absolute earnest, the kind of earnest that either endears a person or makes the entire room a touch uncomfortable. In that room, with that question, ’twas something of an endearing discomfort.
Maeve took another quick bite before answering Finley’s question. “Seems to me, seeking one’s fortune up at the castle is becoming quite the fashionable thing.” She allowed the quickest glance in Sean’s direction. “AndIactually know how to get to Kilkenny.”
“Perhaps you’d accompany me there, Miss Maeve, to make certain I don’t lose my way again.” A slow smile tugged at Sean’s lips. “’Twould be a shame if I drove into another field.”
Liam spoke before Maeve could manage even the quickest of answers. “You’ll not be driving anywhere tonight.” Liam, being oldest, tended to make declarations for other people as if he were the law. “But come morning, Maeve and one of her hounds could take you up the road.”
“IfIchoose to.” Maeve, being the much-put-upon younger sister, tended to correct Liam’s declarations as a reminder that he was not, in fact, the law.
“Anddoyou choose to?” Sean held her gaze.
Maeve had never been one to let her heart override her head. But now and then the struggle between those two parts of herself proved a close-run thing. Sean’s question set her insides flipping about. Did hewanther to go with him? A bubble of wonderment formed deep inside, growing as his gaze remained steady on her.
“I suppose Rufus and I could spare some time in the morning to see to it that you don’t get yourself lost again.” She took a bite and half-shrugged. “If you’re needing me to, that is.”
“I do believe I most decidedly need you to.” His smile tipped a bit even as a laugh entered his eyes. “Though I could do without Rufus coming along.”
“Rufus is going,” Liam added with the firmness of an older brother when a near stranger proposes walking out with his younger sister without a chaperone. And Rufus was a fine chaperone. The hound wouldn’t stop at simply shooing away a suitor making advances; Rufus would likelyeathim.
“Good,” Sean said, much to Maeve’s surprise. “He can help pull the cart.”
A sense of humor he had, to be certain. Maeve found herself very much looking forward to joining him on his way to Kilkenny in the morning. Indeed, it might be worth her while to get him a little bit lost and prolong the outing.
***
“It has occurred to me, Miss Maeve, that you may be of a mind to misdirect me so as to steal a few extra minutes with me.” Sean kept driving his cart as though the remark wasn’t the least bit remarkable.
Maeve knew otherwise. The man had all but read her thoughts the night before. She didn’t truly intend to mislead him, but she’d most certainly given it some consideration. “If I’d wanted afew extra minutes of your time, I’d’ve made you help wash dishes last evening instead of allowing you to seek your bed first thing.”
“I’d’ve helped, you know.” He expertly guided his team around a bend in the road. “Your brothers, however, saw me as a wounded sparrow in need of tucking safely in a nest.”
Maeve laughed long and hard, for she knew far better what her brothers had seen him as. Not a bird in the nest, but a fox in the henhouse. If not for Rufus running alongside the cart, standing nearly as tall as the horses themselves, and the admittedly short distance to Kilkenny, she’d have been the one tucked “safely” away at home.
“And have you a knack for washing dishes?” She threaded her fingers through each other.
“I’m almost as good at it as I am at reading a map.” He wiggled his dark eyebrows in the way that’s meant to indicate one is aware of how idiotic one is being, all while pretending to not be idiotic at all.
“Well, what does your map tell you is up in the distance?”
“Kilkenny?” He let his doubt show. “But we’ve only been driving a quarter of an hour.”
“I did tell you you were close, now, didn’t I?” Her laughter died out when she saw the tightening of his lips and jaw.
