“I thought that was your role,” Moira teased. “The one you relished above all others.”
“It was,” he admitted. “And then one day, out of the blue, I wanted something different. I wanted what the other men in my family had found. I wanted to be more than an aimless wanderer. I wanted to be settled in a career.”
“With a family?” she asked.
“You already know the answer to that,” he said.
“When the time comes,” she said, knowing the words by heart by now.
She thought of the calendar ticking away the days of her visit, one by one. They would fly by and, once they were gone, what if the time for that family Luke was thinking about hadn’t yet come? What then? Even with all their talks, not a one had dispelled the uncertainty. Panic, never far away, stirred once more.
Luke had seen a shadow cross Moira’s face as they talked about Matthew and Laila expecting a baby. He realized as they sat across from the bay having lunch, though, that she’d never really said how she would feel about having a family. Did she not want one, or had his own responses daunted her?
Since any thoughts of a family were definitely down the road, he pushed aside his questions in favor of asking about the photographs she’d shot.
“Will you show them to me?” he asked her, pointing toward the camera. “Or are you one of those sensitive, creative types who doesn’t want anyone to see anything except the finished product?”
“I’m so new at this, I haven’t developed any idiosyncrasies quite yet,” she said. “I’ll let you look, but it might be better for you to see them on your computer, if it’s equipped for photos.”
“It is,” he said. “We’ll take a look as soon as we’ve finished lunch.”
She sighed and leaned back. “I was finished before I’d begun,” she said. “How can Jess be around such food all the time and still be so thin? I’d be the size of a house.”
“Although I’ve heard a lot of talk about Gail’s decadent chocolate cake being eaten late at night, it’s been Will who’s grumbling about gaining weight. I think he may be the only one in their household who indulges regularly in Gail’s more caloric offerings. And Jess has always had energy to spare. She burns off everything she eats.”
“Lucky woman,” Moira said. “I doubt I’d have the willpower to resist anything, and everything I eat settles straight on my hips.”
Luke grinned. “You have excellent hips. In fact, all your curves are just perfect.”
She gave him a wry look. “Seriously, though, how is your kitchen at the pub going to compete with Gail’s gourmet fare?”
“By not trying to,” Luke said at once. “We’ll have far simpler food, as you well know, having listed at least a dozen menu alternatives with Gram’s help the other day.”
Moira’s expression immediately brightened. “You’ve gone over them? What did you think?”
“It looked excellent to me. The only hitch is that I can prepare only about half of them so far.”
“I’ll pitch in, if you like,” she said eagerly.
“That would be great for the opening and a day or two beyond,” he said. “But then what, Moira? You’ll be heading back to Dublin. I’ll have to manage on my own. I can’t rely on Gram, either, not at her age. It wouldn’t be fair. I’m thinking it will be necessary to hire a full-time cook, after all.”
She looked as if she might argue, though Luke couldn’t imagine what she could possibly contradict. Everything he’d said was true. Eventually, she sighed. “I suppose you’re right, which means you’ll need to hire that person right away, someone who can master all the recipes right along with you. I’ll help Nell give you both lessons.”
Luke chuckled for some reason. “I’m not quite sure how I feel about your bossing me around within range of sharp knives,” he teased.
“I’ve seen no evidence that I intimidate you on any level,” she replied. “What is the expression? Don’t be a wuss.”
Luke sputtered indignantly, but he couldn’t help laughing in the end. He draped an arm over her shoulders and drew her close enough to peer into her eyes. “You do scare the daylights out of me, you know. You make me feel things that throw me completely off-kilter.”
“Really?” she said, looking pleased.
He nodded. “For instance, right this second, I can’t help thinking about the fact that my apartment is only a hundred yards or so away from here.”
She smiled at the reminder. “And you’d like to play hooky from work to head over there with me?”
“I would,” he said, still holding her gaze. “How about you?”
“There’s nothing I’d like more,” she said quietly, standing up. Then she kicked his hope aside by grinning. “But we’re going back to the pub instead. I’ll not be the one who throws off your timetable, Luke O’Brien. I’d never hear the end of it from your family, and you’d only resent me on top of it.”
“Aren’t you the one who’s been complaining bitterly about my strict attention to my priorities?” he grumbled as he followed her across the street.
“True, but when you have me in your bed, I want all of your attention on me, not half of it on the work you should be doing.”
“Oh, I think I could promise that,” he assured her.
She laughed at his last-ditch attempt to lure her in. “Then I’d be the one doing the worrying.” She winked. “Maybe at the end of the day, then. What would you think of that?”
He nodded reluctantly. “A decent compromise,” he conceded.
“I’m working on learning the art of it.”
Just his luck
