“A quarter of an hour?” he repeated, tension in his tone. “I was a mere fifteen minutes away?”
Would the mild-mannered Sean Kirkpatrick show himself to be a man with a violent temper? She could abide a great many faults in a man, but an overly hot disposition was not one of them.
“Saints, I could’ve walked that far.”
Maeve shook her head. “Not in the dark, you couldn’t have. ’Twas only a sliver of a moon last night. And we know full well the unreliable nature of your sense of direction.”
His head turned slowly toward her. She watched for any signs of an explosion. Even Rufus slowed his trot a bit to come up more evenly with her.
“Are you meaning to goad me over that for the rest of m’ life?” His eyes, thank the heavens, had begun to dance. Not a jig, necessarily, but not a dirge, either.
“Are you saying you mean to keep my acquaintance for the rest of your life?” She was likely being too bold, but Maeve never had been one to err on the side of bashfulness.
He only smiled and focused once more on the road. Maeve allowed her own smile to blossom. How was it that, having known him only since the previous afternoon, she was already turning about inside at the thought of seeing him again and again? Perhaps she wasn’t so levelheaded as she liked to believe. But levelheadedness, in general, is rather overrated. ’Tis a fine thing to be a wee bit mad now and then.
“Am I needing to make any crucial turns, Miss Maeve?” Sean asked.
“This road’ll lead you directly past the castle, Mr. Sean,” she answered.
“Mr. Sean?” He clearly objected to her choice of name for him. But, then, she was finding herself objecting tohischoice of name forher.
“Miss Maeve,” she pointed out.
He shook his head quite firmly. “I’m being entirely too forward as it is, having you accompany me on only the second day of our acquaintance, and with only a dog along for propriety.”
“Are we so very fine and fancy now?” She sat up quite straight and proper, adopting her best English accent, which wasn’t very good at all. “Why, Mr. Kirkpatrick, how very bold you are, sir. Why, I shall swoon straight off if you do not assume a bit more indifference.”
Far from indifferent, Sean laughed long and hard. His booming enjoyment even startled the horses and brought Rufus’s eyes around to him, a look of suspicion in their depths.
“What’d it be like living in England, do you think?” He talked through his continued chuckles. “Having to be so stiff and proper all the miserable time?”
“The English are likely not quite the way we imagine them.” ’Twas a more generous statement than most in Ireland made about their less-than-congenial neighbors to the east. History had tainted the two peoples’ views of each other. Centuries of hatred tend to do that. “Just as we’re not the mindless animals they so often claim we are,” she added.
“Do you think, Miss Maeve, that Ireland will ever be a real country, free to rule herself?” Contemplation sat heavy on Sean’s posture and expression. An earnest question, then, not idle conversation.
It was saying something for two people to be comfortable enough for perplexing topics when they’ve only just met.
“If the Americans can manage it,” she answered him, “anyone can.”
That brought another round of laughter from Sean and Maeve both. The two made quite a pair riding together, smiling and quite at ease in each other’s company. The castle came into view in the next moment, something that happens quickly upon the approach to Kilkenny.
“There’s a sight for your sore eyes, I’d imagine.” Maeve indicated the imposing structure. “The stables are just across from the castle.” She motioned in that direction.
Sean whistled appreciatively. “Those’re stables? The house I grew up in could fit inside them one hundred times over.”
“Indeed. It is a bit showy, for sure, but it also makes the town seem a tad more fancy. And it’s a fine-looking structure. Nothingto be ashamed of, at least.” Maeve took a moment to be amazed at how many ways she’d found to compliment a stable.
“I’ve only realized that you have no means of returning home.” ’Twas an admirable quality in a man to be concerned over a woman without being overbearing about it.
“As you said yourself only a moment ago, I live an easy distance from Kilkenny. And today’s my market day, anyway. We make this walk quite often, Rufus and I.”
“Quite often, you say? And do you make this ‘quite often’ walk past the Kilkenny stables every time?”
She smiled up at him. “If I choose to.”
He pulled the cart directly in front of the stables. “This is my stop, Miss Maeve.”
“Do you think you could find your way to calling me Maeve?”
