Page 67 of Hold a Candle

Luca stared at Dalwith a skeptical expression. “Ye are in love with a girl ye have never even met?”

Dal flushed, but his affable grin across the card table where the three boys were seated and playing poker curled his lips. “I did meet her once,” he protested. “Sorta.”

Luca’s eyes dropped to the cards in his hands and then back up. “Sorta?”

“Aye. It was last year when I came to Neamh to meet and interview with Darro and apply for an internship with Heaven’s Gate. We were never introduced, but I watched her riding out on that horse of hers, her long hair blowing back in the wind. She sat on that horse so well that I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Gorgeous in every way,” he enthused, a dreamy look in his eyes. “I knew right then that she was something special.”

Luca looked doubtful, but interested. He really liked Dal, and the few days he’d spent at Neamh in his company had been great. It had even renewed his one-time vision of being a veterinarian. His interest was more in exotic animals, but that probablywasa pipe-dream.

He glanced over at Belton, who was furtively glancing around the barracks with a half-panicked look on his face. The incident with the sniper taking a shot at them had really spooked him. He had yet to relax and smile one of his famous toothy grins that the girls seemed to like. Dal’s admitted interest in Darro’s sister seemed to perk him up though.

“Is she that hot?” Belton asked, his blue eyes lighting up. “Ye got a picture?”

Dal grunted and reached for his phone. When he held it up for the two boys to see, Luca instantly recognized it from the picture on the fireplace inside Neamh.

“That’s all ye got? A picture of a picture?” Luca scoffed.

“Cripes, she’s hot alright,” Belton breathed in male appreciation. “I’d like to have a go at that lass myself.”

Dal frowned. “Watch it, she’s spoken for,” he replied sharply.

“What makes ye think a beauty like that will go for ye?” Belton grunted, throwing his cards on the table in a huff.

Dal’s eyes narrowed at Belton. “Maybe because my hair isn’t the color of boiled carrots?”

Luca rolled his eyes. “Chances are she wouldn’t be interested in either of ye. If she didn’t give ye a yearning backward glance, Dal, then she didn’t even notice ye. She might give me a shot though.”

A heated argument ensued over which of them had the best chance with the lovely Ainsley until a disbelieving voice suddenly interrupted them.

“Am I hearing this right, Angus? These three knuckle-heads are arguing over my sister when they should be paying attention to their surroundings?”

The boy’s heads swiveled in unison to see Darro and Angus standing just inside the door. Darro did not appear to be amused.

Luca jumped up, Belton and Dal copying him. “S-sorry, sir,” he stuttered, feeling his face flush. Dal and Belton weren’t doing any better. They were stammering right along with him. “Sorry, s-sir. N-No offense intended.”

Angus suddenly grinned. “Ye are right, boss, but ye have to remember the age. Hormones at work trump danger more times than a lad can count.”

Darro slapped the rounded coil of a horsewhip against his leg with a steely glare and Luca shifted nervously. Dal put himself behind the table and Belton backed up with a wary eye. Both boys had heard Dal’s version of the infamous horsewhip.

“I suggest ye keep yer voices down and lay low,” Darro snapped. “We could hear ye halfway to the barn. Anyone looking for two igit lads wouldn’t have any trouble locating Luca and Belton.”

Dal stood taller and took a deep breath. “Sorry, sir, it was my fault.”

“Of course it was,” Darro barked. “Keep yer mind on business and not women and ye are guaranteed to live longer. And that goes for all three of ye,” he added, his steely gaze softening somewhat as if trying to contain a sliver of mirth.

When he whirled and turned on his heel to go out, Angus shot them a grin and a wink. “Find a shadow to stand in instead of out in the open in front of windows and within quick access of two doors. This one isn’t even locked. Is the back one?” he asked as he stepped outside and nodded towards the door to the outhouse behind the barracks. “Joe and Bubs can’t do it all. And ye need to be careful when ye open the outhouse door. Ye never know what might be hiding in there just waiting for an opportunity,” he added as a parting shot, and then closed the door behind him.

Quickly the boys locked both doors and then they all looked at each other.

“Come on, help me with this table,” Dal instructed as he picked up one side of the card table. The boys moved the table into the spare room that was reserved for Angus. Then they locked the door and put the bar across it while Dal nailed a blanket over the window above the bed, blocking out the light from the room. “Now, we can play cards,” Dal declared with a grin. “And no more talk about stealing my lass,” he warned the other two.

Luca huffed and Belton rolled his eyes, but playing cards and arguing about girls was infinitely better than just sitting and waiting for an unknown assailant to spring out of nowhere.

“Uh...I think I might need to take a whiz?” Belton’s tentative voice drew Luca and Dal’s accusing gaze.

Luca looked furtively around, images of something horrible and black with red eyes arising from the depths of the bench hole once the outhouse door was opened. Or worse yet, a volley of shots putting holes in all three of them because they couldn’t let Belton go outside alone. He looked to Dal for help.

Finally, Dal grabbed the 2-liter bottle of water he’d been carrying around and emptied it in the little sink in front of the mirror. “Here, use this,” he said gruffly, handing the bottle to Belton.

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