He gave her a hopeful look. “To my credit, I didn’t try to inflict her on everyone in Ireland. She only came after the others had left, and even that was a mistake, because by then there was you.”
She finally dared to face him. “If I mattered so much, why did you go right back to her when you got back home?”
“I didn’t go back, exactly,” he said. “She came after me. That I allowed that, even for a few weeks, doesn’t speak well of me.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she said, refusing to let him off the hook. “Talk about mixed messages, Luke.”
“I get it,” he said.
“Do you really? Because you’re still sending them out, only now it’s to me.”
“I did not invite Kristen tonight,” he repeated.
“I’m not talking about Kristen now. I’m talking about your taking me into your bed, letting me share in your business, but refusing to commit to anything more and, worse, admitting that there’s been someone else all too recently.”
“But I’ve said all along I’m not ready for more,” he complained. “There’s nothing mixed about that message. Haven’t I been clear?”
“Your words have been,” she conceded. “But your actions have kept me close, given me hope.”
“As they were meant to,” he said. “I care about you, Moira. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. It’s the future that seems too far away to predict.”
“The future is only tomorrow, Luke, or just an hour from now. We don’t even know how much of one there will be. We can never know. It’s only this moment that we can be certain of.”
“And in this moment,” he responded quietly, looking at her until she met his gaze, “I’m exactly where I want to be, Moira. I’m with the person I want to be with. Can’t that be enough for now?”
She understood that it was all he could offer. She even thought she understood what was holding him back—that bloody timetable of his. But was it enough? She sighed. She couldn’t force him into taking the leap of faith that she had taken by getting on a plane and coming to Chesapeake Shores.
And she’d already decided that she needed to stay and fight for what she wanted. Was she now ready to give up at the first big bump in the road?
“For now,” she said. “But not for long, Luke. Not for long. I’ve too much pride to cling to something that might never be.”
He nodded then. “Could I persuade you to come back to my place, so we can celebrate tonight’s success properly? I want to be with you.”
She saw the need in his eyes, felt the pull of an attraction that was always there and slowly stood up. “Let’s go,” she said quietly. “I’ll grab my things and meet you at the car.” She gave him a challenging look. “Do you suppose anyone will be scandalized if I arrive at your place in my robe, wearing nothing underneath?”
He looked as if he were about to swallow his tongue. “Nothing?” he echoed.
“Not a thing,” she confirmed with a grin.
He moaned. “I think you were put on this earth just to torment me.”
“I believe so,” she agreed readily, smiling. “And I plan to do a very fine job of it.”
17
Despite a very short night with very little sleep, Luke was at the pub soon after dawn to meet the cleaning crew he’d hired to deal with the opening night debris. After this he and his employees would handle the cleanup, but Moira had persuaded him to bring in the extra help just this once. And, yet again, she’d been right. He was increasingly awed by her understanding of how to manage the place, to say nothing of the way she seemed to know him inside out.
Though he’d suggested that she stay in bed at his place, she’d insisted on coming with him, stopping off only to pick up coffee and breakfast for them at Sally’s. He expected her to be coming through the door any minute, which was why it was all the more distressing to see Kristen entering instead. If the dark smudges under her eyes were indicative, she hadn’t had a good night after leaving the pub where she’d been so unwelcome. Under other circumstances, he might have felt a smidgen of pity at the humiliation she’d experienced, a humiliation of her own making.
“Back for another round?” he asked, his tone unfriendly.
She winced at his question. “Truthfully, I came to apologize,” she said. “I knew I wasn’t on the guest list last night, but I came, anyway. I have no idea why.”
“I could explain it to you, if you like,” Luke offered. “I think I have a pretty good idea. You wanted to stake a public claim on me that you knew would hurt Moira, a woman you don’t even know.”
She looked even more chagrined by his obviously accurate assessment. “I’ve turned into such a bitch since I moved here,” she admitted. “First, I kept trying to rekindle things with Mack, and now I can’t seem to walk away from you. What the hell is wrong with me? I was never needy like this before. I keep humiliating myself over and over again. I should have taken Mack up on it when he offered to let me out of my contract and help me find another job.”
“You probably should have,” Luke agreed bluntly. “Chesapeake Shores is never going to be a good fit for you, Kristen. You need bright lights and a man who’ll truly appreciate you, preferably one who’s not already taken.”
“You weren’t taken when we started going out,” she reminded him. “In fact, you pursued me.”
“I did,” he conceded. “But things have changed.”
“You’re with the little Irish milkmaid now.”
He scowled at the disparaging comment.
