“I know your attraction when I see it, and you’re clearly attracted to your new maid.”
Alannah drew in another breath, this one covered by her hand, thankfully. Of course she’d sensed Kiernan’s desire from time to time, but to have Shelia state it so bluntly made the situation more mortifying.
“Or,” Shelia continued, “maybe she’s your newest distraction—”
“Don’t talk about her that way.”
“Once you finish with her, don’t come crawling back to me. This is it.”
“I agree.” Kiernan’s voice contained a hard edge. “This is it. Go home to Liam and stay faithful to him.”
Alannah was frozen in place in the middle of the entryway. Cook would be wondering what was taking her so long. But she couldn’t make her feet move.
After another moment of tense silence, Shelia’s footsteps tapped down the stairs. At the jangle of a stirrup, it was clear the young woman was mounting and readying to leave.
“Good-bye, Kiernan,” she spoke stiffly a few seconds later, likely in her saddle. “I hope you don’t regret not choosing me.”
The hoofbeats began to clop away, slow at first and then steadier until at last they faded down the lane away from the house.
As the door handle turned, Alannah spun and started toward the dining room, her heart thudding with the need to hide from Kiernan. Not only had she made incorrect assumptions about them over the past couple of weeks, but she didn’t want him to discover that she’d been standing in the hallway listening to his conversation with Shelia.
The door opened behind her. “Alannah, wait,” Kiernan called.
She kept going, racing into the dining room. She reached for the door and swung it shut.
But he was quickly on her heels and stuck his boot into the doorway, keeping the door from closing all the way.
She pressed her whole body against it.
“Talk to me.”
“No, Kiernan.”
“Tell me why you’re avoiding me.”
14
Kiernan kept his foot wedged in the door, but he didn’t force his way into the dining room after Alannah even though he wanted to.
“I’ve been busy,” she said.
He shook his head curtly at her excuse. “You’re always busy.”
“’Tis too embarrassing, so it is.”
Why would she be embarrassed? She’d done nothing wrong. “Did I do something to offend you?”
“Not at all.”
“Then what?”
She paused. Was she searching for another excuse?
“Tell me the truth, Alannah.”
An exasperated exhalation came from the other side. “I didn’t realize you were visiting with so many other women.”
Was she jealous? A strange satisfaction twisted through him. “You knew I met with Bellamy to begin the matchmaking process.”
