“Perhaps you and Shane will want to spend time together your last night,” Maeve said. “I understand that.”

Keara shook her head, keeping her smile firmly in place. “I doubt it. Now that he knows I’m going, he’s…well, I’m feeling better and…”

Maeve’s eyes sharpened. “Oh no.”

“What?”

“You two have fallen in love.”

“No we haven’t!”

Maeve sighed. “I should have known that would happen if you had sex. What was I thinking? I knew that oxytocin had that effect.”

“What effect?”

“It makes women feel like nurturing. Bonding.” She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, then flashed Keara a quizzical look. “You’re in love with him but you still intend to go back to LA?”

“I’m not in love with him!” Keara speared her fingers into her hair, pushing it off her face. She paced away from Maeve. “It was just sex, Maeve, just like the Irish Sex Fairy ordered.”

Maeve blinked several times, her mouth a thin line. “What about Shane?”

“What about him?” She tried to prevent the defensive tone from edging her voice but didn’t succeed totally.

“If he’s in love with you…oh Jesus and Mary. What have I done?” Maeve covered her face. “I can’t believe…oh lord.”

“What?” But Keara knew exactly what Maeve was thinking. If Shane cared about her and she left, it was his history repeating itself. She was going to hurt him, and the thought of that was like an icicle stabbing into her heart. She didn’t want to hurt him. She turned away, chest aching, throat throbbing, and glanced at her watch. “Isn’t it time for your bridge game?”

“I don’t know if I’ll go tonight.”

“Oh, Maeve. You should go.” Keara turned back to her and forced a smile.

Maeve studied her then said, “All right. I’ll be home at the usual time.”

When she had left, Keara wandered to the window and looked down into the street at the cars passing by, the people walking along the sidewalks. When she realized she was looking for Shane she muttered a curse and turned away from the window.

She rubbed her face and wandered through the empty apartment. He knew it was Maeve’s bridge night. He always came over on bridge night.

She sat on the couch and turned on the television, stared at it without really seeing it as the evening passed, time measured in thirty minute programs, until it was ten o’clock and with a dismal, aching heart she knew Shane wasn’t coming.

* * *

Maeve and Keara had decided they would go out for dinner for Keara’s last night in Kilkenny. After they picked up the rental car and dropped it off at Maeve’s, they drove to Peabody’s, an elegant restaurant on the edge of town. Keara was all packed and ready to load her things into the car in the morning.

White cloths covered the tables, silverware and glass gleamed in candlelight at each table, and a fresh orchid floated in a small bowl. Soft music drifted through the restaurant, accompanied by the hushed murmur of voices and the clinks of cutlery on china.

Keara was sure her meal was delicious, but she didn’t even taste the chicken piccata she’d ordered, so elegantly presented, and the glass of wine that accompanied it was probably lovely.

She declined dessert and was finishing her second glass of wine when she looked across the room and saw Shane walk in. Her heart leaped and her pulse accelerated. The wineglass in her fingers trembled.

Was he here on a date? God, she so did not want to see Shane with another woman. Yes, she was leaving, but please, let him wait until she was gone before he started dating someone else.

But as he spotted them and crossed the room toward them, he appeared to be alone.

“Um…Shane’s here,” she said to Maeve, who looked behind her.

“Oh! That’s wonderful!” Maeve pushed back her chair and stood to hug him as he neared. As his arms circled her, his eyes met Keara’s above Maeve’s head.

Her body quivered in response and her heart tightened.

“You came!” Maeve said. Keara frowned.

Maeve turned to her with a small, cunning smile. “I’d invited Shane to join us for dinner, but he…uh…declined. But, Shane, we’ve just finished our dinner.”

“That’s okay,” he said, voice rough, eyes still holding Keara’s gaze. “I ate anyway. I just stopped by to say goodbye.”

“Would you look at the time?” Maeve said. “I have to go meet Glen! Shane, you’ll give Keara a ride home, won’t you?”

Shane’s expression didn’t change. “Sure.”

“Oh…” Keara began, pushing her chair back. Maeve had to meet Glen? How could that be?

“The bill is paid,” Maeve said with a wave of her hand, scooping her purse off the floor. “But stay and have another drink if you like.”

And she disappeared, her trim figure in all black with a silver and gold metallic scarf draped around her shoulders, hurrying across the restaurant.

Keara’s gaze returned to Shane. He stood there, still looking grim faced. “I…uh guess we can go.”

“Finish your wine.” He dropped into Maeve’s seat, taking up far more room across the table from her than Maeve had, his broad shoulders blocking out other diners. She regarded him for a moment, taking in the short black hair, the thick brows, his sapphire blue eyes, firm square jaw locked.

He wore a white button shirt loose over a pair of black pants, and the turned-back cuffs revealed his strong wrists and forearms, dusted with dark hair. He was so appealing, so sexy and attractive, she felt herself warm and melt inside.

Heart aching, she picked up her wine and sipped what was left.

“Would you like to order a drink?” The waiter appeared at their table.

Shane glanced at Keara. “Sure. I’ll have what she’s having, and she’ll have another.”

Oookay. She shook her head at his bossiness. Guess they were staying a while.

“I didn’t think I’d get to say goodbye to you,” she said. “I haven’t seen you all week.”

“I know. You could’ve called me.”

She blinked. Yes, she could have. But she’d gotten so used to him just showing up every day, when he hadn’t she’d interpreted that as him not being interested anymore. “I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me.”

He inclined his head. “I didn’t, actually.”

“Oh.” She bent her head, stinging inside from his rejection. But what did she expect?

“I figured it’d be easier if we didn’t see each other again. That’s why I said no to Maeve’s dinner invitation. But then…” He looked away from her, gazing across the restaurant. “I couldn’t do it. I had to see you one more time.”

Her mouth felt full and soft, her eyes prickling. It was hard to breathe, her chest felt so tight. She emptied the rest of the wine into her mouth.

She didn’t know what to say.

“Keara.” She looked up at him, his gorgeous blue eyes sad and full of shadows. “I don’t want you to go.”

Her heart cracked and splintered, slowly, agonizingly, filling her chest with painful shards. She gazed back at him, and blinked back tears. “Shane…”

“Never mind. When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning. I’ve rented a car to drive back to LA. I’ll get a new car there. I start work on Monday.”

“That’s going to be okay?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. But…I have to do it.” She pleaded for understanding with her eyes. “I have to, Shane.” She wanted to say more, but the words clogged up in her throat.

He gave a jerky nod and sat back as the waiter set their glasses of Sauvignon Blanc in front of them. He picked up his glass. “I know. I understand.”

“Shane.” There was so much she wanted to say to him, to tell him…but she knew she couldn’t. Things were complicated enough. It was better just to leave without things getting all messy.

“Maeve’s going to go to the doctor next week,” she said, her voice annoyingly shaky and low. She told him about the money Maeve had forgotten. “I wish I could be here to go with her.”

Shane’s mouth tightened. “Yeah. That’d be nice. But I’ll take care of her.”

She nodded. “I know you will. And I’ll be in touch with her. I promise you I will. But I know she has good friends looking out for her.” And she did. She trusted Shane and knew without a speck of doubt he could be counted on to do just that. That’s the kind of man he was.

He lifted his chin, sipped his wine.

They watched each other, and the restaurant around them faded into a blur, the noise muted to a murmur, Shane’s face crystal clear in her vision. Emotion swelled inside her, rising into her throat, and her face felt tight and hot. She ached but she didn’t know exactly for what. She wanted…but she wasn’t sure what. She only knew she wanted something, so much, that she could have cried from it. And she had to blink back the tears that gathered.

Shane reached across the table and took her hand in his. The warm strength of his touch sent ripples of need through her. She needed him.

“Come home with me,” he said, his thumb stroking over the pulse in her wrist that fluttered there, eyes blazing blue.

There was only one answer. Right or wrong, she didn’t know. Maybe it was right and wrong. “Yes.”

Shane wasn’t sure if he could walk with the massive hard-on pressing against his zipper. Luckily he’d worn his shirt untucked. He stood, tossed some bills on the table to cover their glasses of wine, then put a hand out to Keara. When she set her hand in his, creamy soft and small, he felt the tremors in it and something swelled inside his chest. Pausing beside the table, right there in the middle of the restaurant, he tugged her hand so she took a step closer to him, then lifted her fingers to his mouth and pressed a kiss to them. His gaze met and held hers and the glossy green of her eyes and the sharp intake of her breath told him her emotions were as turbulent as his.