Free The Last Bride in Ballymuir by Dorien Kelly Page B

hadn’t missed the surprised and disapproving comments when
she’d arrived. And she wasn’t meant to watch Evie lean toward
Michael and tug his face in her direction as if she owned the
man.
    But she couldn’t leave
without ruining Breege’s night. Resigned to staying, Kylie sipped
the pretty colored drink she’d ordered, then winced at its dreadful
taste. No wonder Rory O’Connor had asked her if she might not be
wanting something a bit plainer. Too late
now, just as it was too late to pre tend she
hadn’t seen Michael. But there was some merit in a tactical
retreat; she’d just slink back over by Breege and the
others.
    Kylie was halfway to the front of the pub
when she saw that the others included Vi Kilbride. She turned back
to the bar. While she aimed for the far end, the press of people
around her sent her toward the only open spot. Right next to
Michael Kilbride.
    Keeping her eyes averted, Kylie set down her
drink. A large, warm hand closed over hers.
    “ I know you saw
me.”
    She tugged her hand free. “I did, but you
were looking busy.”
    She nodded to Evie Nolan, who had leaned
forward on the bar to scowl at her from Michael’s other side. Their
homeland might be lacking snakes, but it held its share of venom,
Kylie thought as she took in Evie’s flat eyes.
    “ Never too busy to say hello
to a friend,” Michael said in a way that sounded as though he’d put
in a long day drinking. The thought unsettled her even more. Far
too many of her mornings had been spent nursing her father back to
the living after one of his infamous “investor
meetings.”
    “ I won’t be keeping you from
... well, whatever,” she said, trying very hard not to glance
Evie’s way. “But I do want to thank you for what you did on the
playground today. You’re quite the hero for rescuing Alan ... at
least, that’s what the children are saying,” she stumbled
on.
    “ Thank the children for me.”
His green eyes remained perceptive, unclouded by whatever he’d
spent his day doing. Maybe she’d been too hasty, assuming he’d
drunk more than his share.
    “ Would you sit with me a
while?” he asked. “Please?”
    A note in his
voice—yearning, yet hesitant—tugged at her
notoriously soft heart. She was about to say yes when she noticed
Evie’s crimson-painted nails posses sively
curled around his arm. It was too much for her, one more confusing
detail in this odd landscape.
    “ I’ll leave you to your
friend,” Kylie said, then pushed her way back through the crowd and
away from Michael Kilbride. As she neared
Breege, a hand settled onto her shoulder.
Praying it wasn’t Michael, she spun around.
    “ We need to have a word,
Kylie,” Gerry Flynn said.
    This was all the night needed.
    “ Another time,” she
answered, then tried to hurry past. He stayed her, keeping his hand
wrapped around her upper arm. She was forced to stop and look at
him.
    It amazed her how a man could change while
his face remained essentially the same. Gerry still had hair that
was not quite red, yet not quite blond. His eyes were the same
almost-gray they’d always been. What had changed from the boy she’d
known was the light that used to dance in those eyes. He’d always
been full of laughter and smiles, just a bit of a devil when they’d
been in school together. Now he was hard. From the grip of his hand
to the set of his mouth, he had no lightness about him.
    “ That man—Kilbride—you need to keep away from him.”
    After seeing Michael with
Evie, she hadn’t consid ered doing anything
else, but Gerry’s tone angered her. “Are you giving me an
order?”
    “ More a word of friendly
advice.”
    “ You’re not looking very
friendly this evening, Gerry,” she said as sweetly as she could.
“But thank you just the same.”
    His thick brows drew together over eyes
carrying an edge of possessiveness that frightened her. “I’m
telling you this for your own good. He’s evil, and you don’t want
to be dragged down with