Page 10 of Tee’d Up For Trouble

This woman was a bunch of contradictions, now, wasn’t she?

I accepted her apology. “I’d like that.”

I had to admit that I was enjoying myself. People came by and chatted with me, and no one except for the server, who I think was taking a piss, gave a shit about who I was and what I did. They accepted that I was a stranded tourist and told me that Paddy would do a fine job with the car, even though it was his first Porsche.

Nikolai was going to murder me.

The bread pudding was excellent, as I’d been told it would be, as the stew had been. I was happy as a clam. When Dee served me an Irish coffee with two homemade cookies, I knew I’d gotten lucky to end up here with good food, great company, and a sense of home that was comforting for even a stranger like me.

I felt someone touch my thigh. I looked down to see a toddler, a girl who waved a chubby hand at me.

“Hi there.” I grinned at the kid.

She gave me a thousand-watt smile that all but blinded me.

“Don’t let that smile fool you,” the man sitting next to me said, raising a pint of Guinness. “That one’s a tyrant when she wants to be.” He leaned closer. “Gets it from her mother.”

“Biscuit.” Thelittle tyrantpointed at my plate. “You got two. You gimme one.”

Okay, so young children around the world are told about stranger danger and not to approach people in bars and ask for cookies. I looked around for the person who was her parent and saw a woman who was nursing a baby, a shawl over the baby’s head.

Themother, I presumed, looked at her toddler. “Now, Fiadh, you already had one biscuit. You can’t have another.”

“He has two,” the toddler protested.

Dee picked up little Fiadh. “You stealin’ biscuits, love?” She nuzzled the little girl’s neck, making her giggle.

“Eamon, take care of your daughter,” the mother yelled.

I looked around to see who Eamon was and realized it was the man who’d called Fiadh a little tyrant.

“I’m drinkin’ me Guinness, love, and you know well enough that when I am, I need me peace."

“I’ll give you peace once this one’s done nursing, you wanker,” the mother threatened.

Eamon didn’t seem affected. The toddler wiggled, making demanding sounds.

“You gonna eat both?” Dee asked me of the cookies sitting on the saucer of my coffee cup.

I shook my head.

Dee snagged the cookie…er, biscuit, and gave it to Fiadh, who took it like it was a champion’s trophy. She wriggled out of Dee’s grasp, cried out a “thank you” to me, and ran back to her mother.

“When she has cavities, I’m gonna send the dentist’s bills to you, Dee,” the mother called out.

“Whatever.” Dee waved airily. When she went back behind the bar, she stood in front of Eamon. “Get your ass back to your wife before she cuts your balls off.”

Eamon scoffed but did as Dee instructed. I turned to see that his wife glared at him but let him kiss her lips.

“You good?” I heard Dee ask me.

I met her gaze, and suddenly, the pub seemed quieter, smaller, like it was just the two of us there. “Yeah, I’m good,” I breathed.

Her lips curved into the faintest smirk, and I knew, right then and there, that pursuing this Wild Cat, when I’d pursued no other woman, was going to be a whole hell of a lot of fun.

CHAPTER4

Dee

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