Trish Wylie - Bride Of The Emerald Isle

Meaning he didn’t? Not that it wouldn’t be better if he didn’t, but, surely, having been on the sidelines earlier, he couldn’t help but at least be curious?

As she was now about the mysterious Terry. ‘He doesn’t get off the island much more than you do I take it?’

‘She. And, no, she doesn’t. No matter how much she bugs me on a daily basis about it.’

Not Terry, then. Theresa.

Keelin was suddenly ragingly curious about the kind of woman that Garrett spent time with. She was probably some excruciatingly pretty island girl who loved the outdoors and had wellingtons in one of the prerequisite colours. At least if she was interested in city life Keelin would have something to talk to her about.

Keelin the outsider might find a way not to feel so awkward in the company of two enigmatic Kincaid men that way. And with a girlfriend in tow then she could concentrate on trying to view Garrett as a friendly brother-figure rather than anything even resembling gorgeous male.

‘You should take her for a nice romantic getaway in the city. She’d like that.’

Garrett laughed a low laugh beside her. ‘Somehow I don’t think dragging her old dad along on the trip would be part of the plan.’

Keelin gaped at his profile. ‘You have a daughter?’

‘Yes, that I most definitely do.’

‘What age is she?’

‘Fourteen.’

She gaped even more. He was obviously ageing better than she’d given him credit for.

When she didn’t say anything, he glanced across at her, chuckling at her expression. ‘Why do you look so surprised?’

Maybe because she was. ‘You just don’t look old enough to have a fourteen-year-old.’

‘Careful now, that’s almost a compliment.’

‘What age are you?’

‘Why is it women are always so quick to ask that question and never that keen on having it asked?’

‘Twenty-seven in two months’ time.’ She smiled sugary-sweet when he glanced her way again. ‘See, I have no problems with my age.’

‘That’s because you’re only twenty-seven.’

‘Still twenty-six, thank you.’

He chuckled again. ‘Yep, no hang-ups about age there at all.’

She lifted her chin when he glanced across after turning onto a narrow lane. ‘Spoken by the man who still hasn’t fessed up to his. Having a fourteen-year-old ages you, you see.’

‘More than you’ll ever know.’

They made a right-handed turn and he slowed down to get through a set of gates. While Keelin smiled wistfully at his confession. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a teenager. Or a child, for that matter.

Even though for a while she had ached for one, so that she could do a better job with it than her mother had with her. But having a child involved a father in Keelin’s mind. One that was there to watch his child grow.

And Keelin had never cared about any man enough for that to happen. To commit herself to a lifetime in his company. Which was the way she still believed it should be. Maybe that made her old-fashioned. But having grown up without one, with only the odd ‘uncle’ as a stand-in…

And Keelin didn’t believe she should even start to look for a suitable candidate until she had sorted out her own life. It would hardly be fair on him, would it? No one should rely on someone else to sort out their problems, to take on their responsibilities for them. Not in this day and age. No, she would walk into a relationship a whole person or not at all. That way she would have equal footing with the man who would be a father to her children.

It took two people to make a marriage work.

They pulled up in front of a two-storey red-brick house and Garrett sounded the horn as he swung the Range Rover around.

‘I was twenty when she was born.’

Keelin looked at him in surprise, again. Her mind immediately thinking back to the person she had been at twenty. She’d had enough of a problem dealing with herself without the added responsibility of a baby.

His eyes flickered briefly over her face again as the front door of the house opened. ‘I’ll let you do the maths.’

But, even while she worked it out, Keelin was already looking out of the side window to catch a glimpse of his daughter. She was the walking female version of her father. No denying her parentage. And she was tall, even for her age. Not quite as tall as her father, but certainly taller than Keelin. Not that that was difficult.

Though she had felt a little better in the hotel foyer, that, wearing heels, she at least made it to Garrett’s shoulder. He just had a way of making her feel small and feminine that went way beyond her height and build.

‘You’re late, Dad.’

‘No, I’m not. I just decided to get Keelin first so I could warn her about you.’

‘Ha, ha.’ She leaned between the seats and smiled at Keelin, her warm brown eyes lit with interest. ‘Wow, you’re beautiful! I love your hair. I’d like to go blonde.’

‘You already think blonde.’

Keelin raised an arched brow at him and he grinned. ‘No offence meant.’

‘Well, I could take offence at that very easily.’ She swallowed a smile as she tried to appear offended. But his grin teased it out of her and, instead, she shook her head at him in mock chagrin.

‘Oh, don’t listen to what he says. I never do.’

Keelin laughed aloud as Terri sat back and buckled her seat belt. And Garrett gave her a sparkling-eyed look that told her his daughter spoke the truth.

‘I heard that Gramps knew your mum. They wrote letters to each other and everything. That’s so romantic.’

Garrett’s deep voice grumbled at Keelin’s side. ‘See? She does listen sometimes. Mostly when it’s none of her business…’

‘Like I wasn’t going to listen in on this one. This is the most interesting thing to happen since Sean Leary’s cow fell off the cliffs last winter.’

‘You’re kidding!’ Keelin turned round in her seat, staring at Terri with wide eyes full of disbelief and amusement. ‘It actually fell off the cliff?’

‘Told you I had to be responsible about where you went this morning.’

She glanced briefly at Garrett from the corner of her eye before her attention was brought back to Terri, who waved a hand in front of her body.

‘We had a stinker of a blizzard and the stupid thing forgot where it was. Sean said it looked like a fly on the windshield of a car.’

Garrett sighed. ‘Sean didn’t even see it. His father found it.’

‘Well, his dad said it was well squished.’

‘I’d imagine it would be.’ Keelin felt a constant smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. ‘I may not know much about cows, but I’m pretty sure they don’t have wings.’

Terri grinned. ‘Make them easier to milk if they could float over your head.’

Keelin laughed.

‘Where are you from, then?’

Garrett’s voice grumbled beside her again. ‘She’ll have you fill in a questionnaire before the end of the night.’

‘Well, it’s not like you were heavy on the details. I asked what you were like and he wouldn’t tell me anything.’ She rolled her eyes dramatically. ‘Men!’

‘Well, you can see me for yourself now.’

‘And you’d have thought he’d have mentioned how beautiful you are. It’s not like my dad hangs round that many good-looking women.’

‘That’s right, ruin my reputation as a lady’s man, why don’t you?’

Keelin couldn’t help but join in with the easy banter, feeling tension roll out of her for the first time in weeks. ‘I thought you said you were a good guy?’

‘Oh—’he stopped at the end of a road and looked directly into her eyes with a look that curled her toes ‘—I’m good all right.’

Keelin’s eyes widened in shock at the innuendo, said as it was with that low rumbling tone of his. Wasn’t he still a married man? What kind of married man flirted with another woman under his teenage daughter’s gaze? She glanced at Terri to see if she’d heard, but Terri was looking out of the side window, her forehead creased into a frown as she thought.