The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

man.”
    “You’ve knocked more than your share of them on theirs,” Brenna pointed out. “Seems you’re due for some of the same. I like him.” She took a huge bite of toast and jam. “I think he suits you.”
    “Why?”
    “Hold that thought.” Jude lifted a finger. “Darcy, does he make you happy?”
    “How do I know?” She threw up her hands, then pushed back from the table. “I’m feeling too many things at the moment to know if happy is one of them. Oh, don’t give me those smug, married-ladies’ smiles. I like his company. I’ve never known a man I like being with so much as Trevor. Just being with him. I’d look forward to seeing him even without the sex, and that’s saying quite a bit, as the sex is fantastic.”
    She hesitated for a moment, then continued. “And last night, after we’d made love it just happened. It’s like a slamming into you, so you can’t get your air proper and the blood drains right out of your head and your joints go weak. I’ve never been so furious. What business does he have making me fall in love with him before I’m damn good and ready and have decided it’s what I want?”
    “Oh, he’s a bounder all right,” Brenna said cheerfully. “Why, the nerve of that man.”
    “Oh, shut up. I should’ve known you’d take his part.”
    “Darcy.” Brenna took her hand, and though the humor still brightened her eyes, there was an understanding in them that blew away Darcy’s resentment. “He’s what you’ve always wanted. He’s handsome and clever and rich.”
    “That’s part of the problem, isn’t it?” Jude laid a hand over theirs, formed a unit. “He’s what you’ve always wanted, or told yourself you did. Now that you’ve found him, you wonder if it’s real. And if it is, will he believe it?”
    “I didn’t know it would be this way.” The tears wanted to come, and here, with friends, she let them. “I thought it would be fun, a lark. And easy. But it’s not. I’ve always been able to tell what’s going on inside a man, but I can’t with him. He’s a slick one, Trevor is, and slippery. God, I love that about him.”
    That made her cry harder and reach for a napkin to wipe her face. “Oh, if he knew what a mess he’d made out of me, he’d be so pleased about it.”
    “You may be right, but not,” Jude added, “for the reasons you might think. He has feelings for you. They show.”
    “He has feelings, all right.” Some of the bitterness came through now, and she savored the taste of it on her tongue, as she might a medicine that cured madness. “He’s talked to Carrick.”
    “I knew it.” Triumphant, Brenna slapped a hand on the table. “I knew you’d be the third. You knew, didn’t you, Jude?”
    “Logically, it followed.” But Jude was watching Darcy again. “You haven’t seen Carrick, or Gwen, have you?”
    “Apparently neither of them has time to chat with the likes of me.” And she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or annoyed by the fact. “However, they’ve time for Magee.He told me that Carrick’s aiming toward the two of us, and wanted me to know—made it very clear— that he’s no intention of falling in love with the legend. He’s not looking for love and vows of forever from me, no indeed. He wants me,” she muttered, her eyes going dark, narrowing, sparking. “In bed, and for his recording label. I’ve accommodated him on the first, to our mutual enjoyment, and I may just accommodate him on the second. But he’s going to find Darcy Gallagher doesn’t come cheap.”
    Jude felt a twinge of apprehension. “What do you have in mind?”
    Her eyes might have been wet, but determination flashed through them. “I’ll have him crawling, belly down, before I’m done with him.”
    “I don’t suppose you considered meeting on equal ground?”
    “Hah.” Darcy sat again. “If I’m to be miserable and confused and scared to the bone, then by God, he’ll be the same before I’m finished. When he’s blind in love with me, I’ll get a ring on my finger before he gets his vision back.”
    “And then?” Jude murmured.
    That part of the business was murky, so Darcy dismissed it with a shrug. “Then the rest takes care of itself. It’s the now I have to deal with.”

 
     
     
     
FOURTEEN
     
     
     
    F OR D ARCY, THE now had already started, and she didn’t intend to fall behind. Back at the pub, she went directly to the kitchen. Irritated that Shawn wasn’t in yet, as he made better