I held up my hand. "That explanation's making me even more tired. Does your active brain have any idea where we are and how to get out of here?"
He glanced up at the sky. "I would say we are very deep in the woods somewhere between the castle and the last rock fence at the end of my lands."
"So between a rock and a hard place?"
"I'm afraid so."
"So I'll have to resort to cannibalism?"
"As the plumpest of us, I thought perhaps you would sacrifice yourself."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"I thought plump would be a diplomatic word for it."
"There's no negotiating with a woman and her weight."
"I was afraid not."
"But you seriously don't know where we are?"
"I have a guess, but it will take another hour of walking to reach Lily's cottage. We would do better to return to the castle-"
"No!" The yell came out faster than my brain knew what I was thinking, and a lot faster than my hands that slapped over my mouth. Sean glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. "I mean, not yet. I don't want you looking all non-lordish when you get back to the castle. What will the servants think?"
"That I've returned and am in need of a bath." He crept toward me and I scooted back as far as my rock would allow. "But why keep my from the castle? What are you planning?"
"Me?" I squeaked out. "I'm not planning anything. Just wanting a long walk, and to get out of here alive and in less than two pieces." He stood before me with those beautiful eyes staring down and judging me.
"What are you hiding, Maggie Magee?" he demanded to know.
"A candy bar?" I suggested, and brought out our only hope for not starving to death.
He snatched it from me and swung it like a pendulum just out of my reach. "I take this as a hostage, and demand to know why you've led me out here."
"You would use an innocent candy bar in your sick scheme to make me talk?"
"Yes."
"You're a sick man."
"Perhaps, but you're not answering my question."
"Two plus two equals four?" He unwrapped the bar and took a bite out of the candy. "Hey!" I cried out, and jumped for him. He dodged and I ended up with empty hands. Now he held it high above my head where my pathetic vertical could never reach. "Give it back!"
"Not until you have told your lord what I wish to know."
I rolled my eyes. "Well, if I'm going to marry you than I'll be a lady, and you're not supposed to treat ladies like this!"
His lips curled up into a mischievous grin. "If?" he repeated. "There's no if about my intentions."
The pressure of being lost in the woods with only me as company must have really scrambled his brains. "Now let's just slow down here," I replied in a calm, soothing voice as though dealing with a lunatic. "These Irish woods can play mean tricks on the mind. You probably think you're a cocker spaniel right now."
"I'm quite fine, I will marry you, and I still want to know what you're scheming," he insisted.
I sighed and my shoulders slumped down. "You want to know the truth?"
"I can handle it."
"I think you're crazy for liking me, and there's a snake on your shoes." Sean whipped his head down, and in his moment of weakness I snatched the candy and raced down the nearest path.
"Hey!" he exclaimed behind me, and I heard his footsteps pound the dirt behind me. It only took him twenty yards to catch me, and when he barreled into me we both fell to the muddy ground. I slid for five yards, ruining my clothes and my dignity. Sean hauled me up and stood before me with his arms crossed over his chest. "I wanted the truth."
I sheepishly grinned and shrugged. "I guess it must have been a root."
"Maggie?"
"Yes?"
"What are you and Lily planning?"
"Would you believe nothing?"
"No."
I was stuck. There was no way to physically or wittingly escape him. "Would you believe a surprise party?"
That suggestion intrigued him. "A surprise party? For whom?"
"For your dad, or at least his portrait. They wanted to cheer you up by putting on a big party and are using his portrait cleaning to do it."
"And this is the truth?"
I felt like I was on trial. "The whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God."
"And they are setting up this surprise party as we speak?"
"Yep."
"When will they be done?"
"In another hour or two. They said they'd fetch us at Lily's cottage when they were done."
"And that's why you wanted to go there?"
"That, and I'm filthy." I opened my arms and glanced down at myself. The mud had soaked through my shirt and pants, and strands of my hair were plastered on my face. "I feel like I've been hanging out with Lily's pigs."
"And look like it," Sean teased.
I whipped my head up and scowled at him. "And all thanks you to. You're the one who pushed me down in the mood."
"Because you ran. You shouldn't run from an expert hunter."
"Find me an expert hunter and we'll see if that's true."
"This is getting us nowhere."
"And quickly," I added.
Sean held out his hand to me. "Truce?"
I looked uneasily at it. "Depends."
"On what?"
"Are you going to be surprised when we go to the party?"
"What party?"
I smiled, took his hand and gave it a good, muddy shake. He sealed the deal further by wrapped his arm around me and embracing me in a sweet, sensual kiss. I pushed away from him gasping for air. "At this rate you're going to suffocate us both."
"Then I for one will die happy."
"Better make that two. You're not a bad kisser."
"You should feel me when I make love to a woman."
"Had much practice?"
"Enough to have high marks."
"I guess I'll have to try it out sometime, but right now I really want to get to Lily's cottage and clean up."
Sean nodded down the path I'd taken. "Then you've made a decent start. Her cottage should be in this-" I grabbed his arm and dragged him down the path.
"Come on, then, what are we waiting for!" I teased.
Chapter 20
I dragged him twenty yards before I got tired, and he dragged me the rest of the way. The path we were on crossed the creek and came out on the side of the cottage opposite the castle trail, and I was relieved to see that thatched roof and snail-infested flower beds. We stumbled inside, me forever grateful Lily didn't have much worth stealing and kept the door unlocked, and I collapsed on a bench just inside the entrance.
Sean took off his mud-caked boots and laid them outside. He turned and noticed I hadn't even bent down to untie my own. "Need help?" he offered.
"Only if you like dealing with hazard waste materials. My socks are probably glowing in the dark with all that mud and sweat," I warned him.
He smirked. "I think I'll risk it." He got down on his hands and knees, and pulled off my boots. It was like heaven for my feet, and I stretched out my toes and sighed.
"I think I could die happy just about now," I groaned. I expected Sean to take a seat beside me, but he continued to kneel in front of me. "Something wrong?" I asked him.
Sean shrugged. "Here I am down on both knees, and no ring to propose."
I blinked and leaned forward to look into his semi-serious face. "You're really that desperate for a wife that you'll pick me over Anna? She's not that bad if you can figure out a tape that will last fifty or sixty years over her mouth."
He shook his head. "I'm not desperate in any sense of the word. I merely have different tastes than other men."
"That sounds like you're about to come out of the closet."
"A closet, but not the one of which you're thinking."
"The fat people closet?"
"Large-boned," he corrected me. I almost rolled my eyes, but he grasped my hands and caught my e
yes before they could roll away. His voice was soft, kind, and firm. "For someone who is so outspoken with your thoughts you have a very great deal to learn about yourself." His words made me feel like a child, but I didn't deserve any better treatment. He schooled me, and had been schooling me, on my self-consciousness regarding my figure.
"I. . .I guess I could try not beating myself up so much about it. That, or lose about forty pounds," I suggested.
Sean playfully frowned at me. "Lose any and I may find myself attracted to Anna."
"No man can be that desperate."
"Don't change anything about yourself, and we won't need to find out if a man can be that desperate," he countered.
I sighed and nodded. "Fine, fine, less beating myself up, but not entirely. I have to keep some of my modesty."
Sean chuckled. "Modesty is certainly different in the United States."
"Hey, some of us like a good laugh at ourselves like anybody else. We're just harder to hear over the louder, more obnoxious people."
He held up his hands to defend himself. "I submit to your all-knowing wisdom. I believe you yourself told me once that you were never wrong."
"I said I was always right, not that I was never wrong. There's a difference."
Sean's face took on a quizzical expression. "Some day you'll have to tell me what that difference is, but weren't we to be called soon for a party?"
"That you don't know about," I reminded him.
"Very true, what was I thinking?"
"As long as I'm around I can do the thinking for both of us."
"What a terrifying thought."
I shuddered. "Isn't it? On second thought, I'll give you control of the brains, and I'll be the looks."
Sean smirked. "That's the attitude I want to hear."
The phone in the kitchen rang, and I sprang up from my bench and out of his grasp. "And that's the sound I want to hear." I raced to the kitchen and grabbed the receiver. "Hello?"
"Are you two ready?" Lily's voice whispered back.
"Yeah," I replied in a hushed voice. Sean came to the kitchen entrance and leaned against the door frame. "Time for Big Bird to go to the nest?"
"The nest is ready."
"Good, be right there." I hung up the phone and turned to find him with a raised eyebrow.
"Big Bird?" he repeated.
I shrugged. "You're the big bird around here, and the castle is your home."
"Then I suppose I should fly home and see what's been done to my nest." He offered his bent arm to me, and I gladly took it.
We slipped on our boots and walked down the familiar path to the castle. By the time we reached the meadow night was coming on, and the darkened castle made me uneasy. I took the initiative and led him across the field to the front door. Kelly stood waiting at the door, and his strained face was the only sign of his eagerness. He opened the entrance just enough to let us slip inside the darkened hall, and the moment Sean stepped into the castle the lights flicked on and there was a resounding cheer.
The walls were lined with the dozens of people who were invited, from the mayor of the village to the lowliest land renter. They had bright smiles on their faces and judging by the long table close to the fireplace, each had brought three or four dishes of food. The fireplace had been commandeered to cook a pig and cow, and the smell of their sizzling meat nearly drove me mad. Children ran to and fro across the hall, and up and down the stairs. The stones were decorated in washable paints, courtesy of Lily, and streams covered the ceilings.
To ruin the mood, at the forefront was Anna with her wide, scary smile. She welcomed Sean with open arms and bumped me aside with her hips. "Surprise!" she yelled at him at the top of her lungs and only a foot away from his vibrating ears. "It's a party I've made for you for your father's portrait cleaning!"
I opened my mouth to object to a third of that statement, but Lily pulled me aside. "It was the only way I could convince her to agree to help us," she explained to me in a hushed whisper.
"There are more efficient ways of silencing someone," I reminded her. She scowled and I held up my hands. "All right, we'll go the legal route."
"Everyone! Everyone!" Anna called above the din of congratulations and visiting. She dragged Sean to the lower steps of the staircase and lorded over the crowd, who quieted less at her calling and more at Sean's presence. "We are here to celebrate the cleaning of old Lord MacKenna's portrait. He was a good man, and his son has proven the same." There was a burst of applause and hollering which she scowled at. "And I hope there will be more lords and ladies in this wonderful hall to admire the portraits of their ancestors." I rolled my eyes and Lily fidgeted.
"A speech from his Lordship!" Mr. Finnin called out.
"Aye, a speech!" Duffy piped up from close beside the fire where he sat puffing on his pipe.
Anna scowled and opened her mouth to hush them, but a group of children raced down the steps and collided with her. She sailed forward and was caught by Finnin himself, who grinned up at her. "It seems you've been unseated from your speaking position," he joked. Everyone laughed while she pushed out of his arms and scrambled back up the stairs.
"Dearest, a speech," Anna insisted. She shoved him down a step and he nervously smiled at the party goers.
"I'm very surprised and very grateful to you all for this wonderful reception. Father would be very proud of all of you," Sean told them. "Now if you'd like we should get started on this food before Duffy eats it all." The crowd burst out laughing and dug into the feast.
Lily put me on a temporary diet as she kept me from the food by showing me the great decorations. My eyes wandered over to the food table, but I found myself staring at Sean more than even the delicious vittles. Anna was forever on his arm, smiling and trying to play the part of hostess to a party she had no hand in making. Hell, she didn't even have a fingernail in making, judging by what Lily was telling me. "I'm afraid she was very bossy, but not very helpful," Lily whispered as we warmed ourselves by the roasting fire.
"How did you manage not to kill her?" I wondered.
Lily hid her smile behind her glass of punch. "Mrs. Finnin politely told her to take herself elsewhere, and Duffy scowled at her so horribly while he was making the punch that she retreated to her room." I glanced about the room. Judging by all the happy faces around us I suspected the drink had been spiked by the devious grounds keeper. I also noticed Sean managed to elude his arm wrap and was headed for the front door, albeit by way of talking with every person with whom he came into contact.
I slipped away from Lily and went after him. We met outside on the lawn under the stars and with fresh, cool air around us. He stood off to the side of the castle toward the woods, and looked up at all those bright, twinkling stars. "A little stuffy in there, isn't it?" He jumped at my voice, but the moment his eyes fell on me he smiled.
"But never unbearable with good friends," he added.
I slipped a mischievous grin onto my face and nodded down at the creek. "Want to go for a swim?"
"You lead, and I'll follow."
"On second thought let's just enjoy the night air."
He offered me his arm. "Perhaps on a short walk."
I took his arm and nodded. "Sounds like a plan." We strolled down to the edge of the creek and followed it behind the castle. No other revelers were in sight and we were hidden by a row of bushes that separated the forty yard distance between the rear of the home and the creek. Beneath the tall bushes was a stone bench, and Sean guided us up a flight of mossy stone steps to sit down.
"A very pretty night," he commented.
I noticed he looked at me rather than around us. "Very pretty," I agreed.
"When do you return home?" he asked me.
"You mean to the cottage?"
"No, America."
"Less than two weeks. Why?"
Sean shook his head and turned away. His lips were pursed together and there was a look deep in his eyes that told me he was thinking about something important.
"I was just wondering how long we have left together."
I didn't like the tone in his voice. It struck a sad chord in me that twinged with pain. "I can always come back after a get a job."
"I thought perhaps you would look for employment here," he told me.
I shook my head. "I think Ireland's got a lot more historians than they know what to do with right now. Besides, my visa is only for a visit, not for looking for a job. Even if I wanted to find a job here I don't have much time left to be looking."
He smirked. "My offer to work in my library still stands," he reminded me. I flinched, and even in the darkness he noticed. "What is it?" he softly asked me.
"It's-it's nothing." It was something, and that something was Anna. I didn't want to stick around with her hanging around the castle, wooing him and demeaning me. Eventually I'd be charged with assault, or worse. "I just don't think that would work out."
Sean hesitated a moment before he next spoke. "What about another position?" he suggested.
I raised an eyebrow and leaned toward him. "Another position?" I repeated.
He turned his face away and shook his head. "Never mind, forget it was mentioned."
"I could if I knew what you were talking about," I told him.
He was quiet for a long moment with his lips pursed together and his eyes holding a far off look in them. I could hear the hamster wheels running in their cages and his eyes slowly widened and brightened. He stood up so quickly I nearly went toppling over, and he whirled around and offered his hand to me. "Would you like to dance?"
"Out here?" I asked him. My eyes swept the wet, uneven ground.
"There is no better time," he insisted.
I figured he meant my leaving soon, and I smiled and shrugged. "Why not?" I took his hand and he pulled me against him while his arm wrapped around my waist. We waltzed to a tune nobody but us could hear, and even the muddy ground couldn't ruin our perfect rhythm. It was only the two of us beneath that starlit sky, and we could have danced forever if it hadn't been interrupted by a bad note in the form of Anna. She rounded the far end of the hedge and her glare knocked us off our rhythm.
"There you are!" she screeched at Sean as she marched up to us. "I've been looking all over for you!" She pulled him from my grasp, but he yanked himself from her hold.
"You've found me, what's wanted?" he asked her with as much politeness as he could muster.
His annoyed tone went unnoticed by her. "You've abandoned our guests, and some of them are ready to leave. Come along, dearest, and we'll say goodbye to them." Sean could argue against Anna's selfish reasons for wanting him, but not against his duties as a host.