Page 66 of Taming Irish

“Thank you.” Their kindness makes me slightly emotional. Other than my own family, I’ve felt disconnected from the people I once called friends. It’s nice to have people accept me just as I am, and not judge me based on what they think theyknow.

You don’t find that veryoften.

“What are the three of ye conspiring about over here?” Shane’s deep voice says behindme.

Emer grins up at her brother. “Mom was just getting all of Makena’s personal information so she can pass it along to Father Patrick. Were ye wanting a summer or a fallwedding?”

Surprising me, Shane just laughs and points a finger at her. “Ye’re a brat. And I’ll make ye pay forthat.”

“As long as it’s not with teal bridesmaid gowns,” Emer says in a terrible American accent that sounds more like one of the Kardashians. “The color does nothing for mycomplexion.”

Shane scoops up a handful of dirty sink water and splashesher.

She puts her hands up in surrender, stilllaughing.

“Shane,” Owen says gruffly from the entranceway, walking toward us. “Ye’re going to want to seethis.”

“What is it?” Shane asks, his gringone.

Owen glances at me briefly, a small frown pulling at his lips, then hands his phone to Shane, who scrolls through whatever is on it, his features tightening the longer his eyes are glued to thescreen.

“Fuck,” Shane mutters, then glances up at Owen. “Where did ye getthem?”

“A kid’s blog. She posted them this morning. And because of…” Owen looks back at me and winces. “They’ve gotten a lot of viewsalready.”

“Have them taken down.” It’s the first time I’ve heard real anger in Shane’svoice.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, having a bad feeling that whatever it is involvesme.

Shane drags his hands through his hair, then hands me the phone. “Someone must have taken pictures of us this morning at theShamrock.”

With trembling hands, I scroll through the photos. They’re innocent enough. Just two people sitting at a booth together, talking. Except we’re not just two people. And with the right headline, the media can spin the pictures any way they’dlike.

“It’s not a big deal. We’ll have them taken down,” Shane assuresme.

My gut twists, because I know that even if they can somehow manage to remove the photos, they’re already out there incyberspace.

I came here to get away from allthis.

Emotion tightens my throat, and if I didn’t have half a dozen pairs of eyes on me I’d probably let the tears that burn the back of my eyesfall.

“Can you take mehome?”

Shane frowns down at me. He opens his mouth to say something, then clamps it shut and nods. “Let’sgo.”

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