Love and Blarney Read Online Free PDF

take charge of the pub before Da ran it into the ground.”
    “Why didn’t she ask Marcella?”
    “Marcella has no head for business and even less interest. She likes chatting with the customers when she’s in the mood. However, her real passion lies in the kitchen. She’s responsible for all our hot food.”
    “What about your other brothers and sisters?”
    “Sinéad and her boyfriend have six-month-old twins—with all that that implies. Sharon is still at university. She has a part-time job at the local bookstore to tide her over financially. While she works the odd shift at the pub if we’re stuck, I don’t want her chucking in her studies to work there full-time. Shea, as I said, is responsible for the farm. Our youngest brother, Mikey, helps him out.”
    “What about your father?” she asked, then paused. “Wait… isn’t a brother missing from that list? You said you had three, right?”
    “Yeah. Colm Senior—our father—and Colm Junior have more in common than their names. Let’s just say they’re both well known to the local police and have done more than one stint in prison. To put it bluntly, Colm Junior is currently incarcerated.”
    She tried to wrap her mind around the idea of staid, sensible Ruairí having a brother in jail. “I see.”
    “No, you don’t.” His laugh was bitter. “How can you? My family is a wild bunch. They never had an opinion they didn’t express. I left Ireland for America because I wanted a fresh start. To be someplace where no one knew my background or me. For a while, I lived the dream. And then my mother called, and my past and present collided.”
    And the past had won.
The hollow sensation in the pit of her stomach fed into her self-doubts. “Your mother said she was responsible for the pub until she got sick, hence the crisis.”
    Ruairí nodded. “My father inherited the pub from his father. For a few years, he ran it with my Uncle Buck. When it became apparent Da and Buck were drinking more than the customers, Ma stepped in and took over. For years, the pub was her domain.”
    “Until she got sick,” Jayme finished for him.
    “Yes. Until she got sick.” He flexed his fingers. “With Ma out of commission, the place was going downhill fast. Colm Junior and a prison pal of his took over the day-to-day running of the place. The results were predictable. Within a couple of months, the pub had been raided twice. The second raid bore fruit—Colm and his pal were arrested for possession with intent to supply and sent down.”
    Jayme whistled. “Wow. And then you arrived to save the day.”
    “Yeah.” He halted, jerking his gaze away from the path ahead. He squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Jayme. I should have told you all of this last year. When I first came over, I had no intention of staying in Ireland. When I saw the state of the pub—not to mention the state of my family—I couldn’t up and leave.”
    She swallowed past the razor blades in her throat. “You up and left me.”
    “Sweetheart—”
    “Did you really think I was so superficial that I’d reject you if I knew your dad and brother were jailbirds? Or that I’d object to you helping your sick mother? For heaven’s sake, I’m a doctor. I’m all too familiar with cancer and its ramifications.”
    “Jayme, your mom is one of the most renowned pediatricians in New York, and your dad is the state attorney general.”
    “So? I fell in love with
you
, not your family.
You’re
not a jailbird. What does my background have to do with you not telling me your mom was sick?”
    “Nothing. You’re absolutely right. I should have told you straight out.
    Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of black and white. Slipping her hand free of his grasp, she ran to the fence to take a closer look. “Ruairí, is that your missing cow?”
    He fished binoculars from his coat pocket and peered through them. “That’s Daisy, all right.” He flipped open his phone and hit a number on