Irish Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page A

down the terrace steps. Maggie lifted her eyelids, gasping as she looked at him. In dusk’s light, her honey-colored eyes glistened. Her lips parted, swollen from their kiss. Lip gloss smudged her chin, and he hated he hadn’t been the one to have caused it. Like a deer in headlights, her stance said she was poised for escape. Her chest rose and fell with each breath.
    “Elsie is looking for you.” Not a lie, but not what he felt like saying, either. He didn’t trust himself to speak further. Fisting his hands, he turned into the ballroom and left her standing alone on the terrace. A dull ache pulsed inside him. Just another woman. And tomorrow he would be a free man. A suddenly empty, lifeless excuse.
    “Is she okay?” Elsie ran up beside him.
    “She’s waiting outside.” He moved past her.
    “Hold on a sec.” Bryan stepped in front of him and held up one of his hands between them. “Where you going? What happened out there?”
    “Nothing. I’ve got a lot on my plate tomorrow.”
    “A load of crap if I ever heard one,” Bryan said.
    Shit. Only Bryan would push him. “Not tonight. We’ll talk, but not tonight.”
    His friend studied him for several moments then moved out of his way. “Call me.”
    “I will.”
    “It wasn’t like this with Miriam, you know. Even in the beginning.”
    “I know.” Ethan walked toward the front door. Outside, he pulled off the stifling bow tie and jacket then gulped in cool evening air.
    * * * *
    “Mags, what are you doing out here?” Elsie rushed toward the terrace railing and scanned the lawn below.
    “He’s gone.” Ethan must have mentioned Rick.
    Crossing her arms, Elsie leaned with her back against the railing. “What was he doing here, first of all?”
    Meeting her friend’s pale blue eyes, a sob caught in Maggie’s throat. Rick had told her he loved her and admitted he was an ass. Days ago, she’d yearned for those words. Now everything seemed wrong.
    “Oh, baby.” Elsie stepped close and hugged her. “I’m sorry. What did he do? I can send Bryan or Ethan off to kill him. Rick is such a wimp I doubt it would take two of them.”
    Maggie giggled through tears. A ridiculous thought. She couldn’t imagine what Ethan assumed after seeing her kiss Rick. Either way, she’d bet he wouldn’t come running to her rescue. Didn’t matter. He was a married man. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “I’ve messed up my makeup.”
    “Don’t worry about your makeup. I can fix it.”
    “Rick confessed his love and admitted he was an ass.”
    Elsie huffed. “What an understatement.”
    “He wants me back.”
    “Oh, Maggie.” Elsie pulled away. “Please tell me you haven’t agreed to get back with him.”
    “I haven’t. I am going to meet him tomorrow for dinner when you and Bryan go talk with the priest.”
    “Why? Guy’s a jerk.”
    Rick had behaved like a jerk but if she did the same, neither walked away stronger. “I don’t know. I feel if I don’t take the time, I’m no better than he is. Make sense?”
    “I guess, in some warped supernatural world.”
    Maggie laughed. Elsie always made her feel better. “Ever the drama queen.” She blinked several times. “Does my face look presentable?”
    “You look fine.”
    “Thanks.” She smoothed her hands over her dress. “Did you see Ethan on your way out here? I need to apologize.”
    “Yeah, but he looked like he was heading out. Why do you need to apologize?”
    Would Ethan have left because of her? “I don’t know. Rick cut our dance short and when Ethan came outside…we were kissing.”
    “You kissed Rick?”
    “He kissed me.” A poor excuse.
    “Yeah. Last I checked, a kiss takes two,” Elsie said.
    She couldn’t deny it. “I know. I wanted to see if it would feel the same.”
    “Did it?”
    She shook her head. She didn’t dare admit she’d imagined Rick was Ethan during their kiss. It was like the day in Ethan’s cottage, his fresh masculine scent flooding her senses. Their