Merchants with Evil Intent (32 page)

      
As she reached the door knob his hand
covered hers. “You’ll no’ be goin’ anywhere, you hard-headed wench!” he
snapped.

      
“You
did
not
just call me a wench!” she spat, indigently.

      
Declan put his foot in front of the door
to hamper her escape and crossed his arms over his chest. His chin lifted.
“Aye, I did. Wench merely means ‘woman’.”

      
Her eyes challenged his. “Yeah, in
medieval times
you barbarian! Now, get
the fuck out of my way!”

      
Declan blinked in surprise.

      
She managed to pull the door open and ran
to the entrance of the pub, pushing her way out the door.

      
He sighed and ran after her. T’was the
first time he chased after a gel and thought it wouldna
be
the last with
this
particular gel.

      
When he reached the outside he passed Ian
on the sidewalk. Ian pointed towards the street as he talked on his mobile. She
ran towards the Gordon B&B. He frowned grimly in the darkness.
“Camryn!
What makes you think he isn’t here right this very
moment?”

      
She stopped and looked around
suspiciously, then turned and narrowed her eyes as Declan approached. “Well I
guess that’d be my problem. Not yours.”

      
“Christ! Do you always have to be
exasperating?”

      
“Me? Exasperating? Wow, first I’m
hard-headed and now I’m exasperating. Why, I’m such a pain-in-the-ass, I’m not
sure why you came after me!” she sniffed.

      
Jaysus! T’was déjà vu! He wanted to kiss
and throttle her at the same time!

      
Instead he walked to her, taking her tiny
shoulders into his hands. Their gazes fixed on each other, his jaw tensed. He
lowered his head and gently, but thoroughly kissed her. She tried to slap his
arms away, but he held still and deepened his kiss.

      
The man had a way with getting her mind
off how angry she was with him. She let him kiss her and gave as well as she
got. Eventually she folded her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arm
around her and cradled her head.

      
“Car!”
Ian
screamed.

      
“Huh?” Camryn murmured with Declan’s
tongue in her mouth.

      
Declan didn’t skip a beat or a tongue
thrust as he carefully walked Camryn to the safety of the sidewalk, letting the
car pass without incident.

*
     
*
     
*

      
“Camille Butler, huh?” she asked with a
grin.

      
“Yep!”
Joe
replied confidently as he stood.

      
A slow smile spread across her cheeks.
“Wow, you really have it bad for me, huh?” she teased.

      
He spun around and pulled her up from the
bed. “Woman, you have no idea!”

      
He kissed her senseless for a few moments
before she gently shoved him away. “Can we eat before I jump your bones again?”

      
“Sure! How does a fast food breakfast
sound?” he laughed.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan pulled away, a smug look on his
face.
T’was way better kissin’ than arguin’.

      
Camryn’s arms fell away from his neck and
she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she caught her breath. Damn, the
guy could kiss. She was too weary to argue anymore.

      
“Um, Dec?
Do you
still need time alone?” Ian questioned with his hand on the door knob of the
pub.

      
“Gel?”

      
She looked up. His blue eyes gleamed with
intensity. She wanted to fan herself. Instead she croaked out, “Yeah?”

      
“Are we done arguin’ then?”

      
She lifted a narrow shoulder. “I suppose,
besides, I’ve worked up an appetite after all this bitching.”

      
He grinned and wrapped his arm around
her.
“Aye, me too.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
While they waited for their food Ian
broke the silence that hung over the snug. “Well, now what do we do?”

      
Declan’s eyes didn’t leave Camryn’s when
he responded.
“Aboot what?”

      
“Aboot the situation we find ourselves
in?” Ian snorted.

      
Camryn tore her eyes away from Declan. He
was making her stomach flip-flop with the smoldering looks he shot at her.
Instead, she averted her eyes to her laptop as she uploaded the pictures she
had taken during the day.

      
Declan watched her play with the
computer. He wanted to sit next to her, but she quickly opened her laptop on
the table next to her soon after she sat. He frowned as he thought aboot it.
He’d much rather feel his knee pressed against hers than Ian’s. He took a long
pull from his pint.

      
“Earth to Declan!”

      
Both Camryn and Declan looked at Ian.

      
“What?” Declan hissed.

      
“You havena answered me question. The
situation?” he tersely reminded.

      
Declan shrugged. “Well, you’ve found the
gel. What are you supposed to do with her?”

      
Camryn shot them a frown. “I’m sitting
right here, guys.”

      
Ian smiled tightly. “It’s my job to keep
you safe, Miss O’Mara. I’m just wondering how I’m going to do that.”

      
She lifted her hand. “Okay, first of all,
the name is Camryn or Cam, drop the ‘Miss’ crap. Secondly, I can keep myself
safe, okay?”

      
Declan started to protest when Kelly
arrived with a tray of food. Camryn quickly grabbed her plate and began to dig
in.

      
 
“Camryn, despite what you may think, you need
protection. Christ knows what Orlov has in store for you,” Ian said with a
mouthful.

      
“She’ll be stayin’ with me,” Declan
ground out, his eyes sharp as he looked at Camryn.

      
A slight smirk appeared on her face.
“Well, apparently the big, scary ex-cop is going to protect me, Ian,” she
winked.

      
“In truth?”
Declan gasped.

      
She looked at him quizzically. “Cripes,
Declan, you sound like one of those knights from the books that I read. ‘
In truth’?
You’re funny.”

      
His eyes searched hers. He couldna tell
if she was fecking with him. She noticed the look and laughed.
“In truth.
I’ll let you protect me.”

      
Besides, it was what her mom said to do.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Kelly cleared the plates from the table
and asked if anyone wanted afters. Camryn asked, “Does that mean drinks?”

      
“For some, I guess it could,” Kelly
laughed.

      
Camryn looked over to
Declan
,
frowning.

      
“It means ‘dessert’ love,” he murmured.

      
She blushed. Damn, there he goes again
sounding all cute with ‘love’ coming out ‘loov’.

      
“Um, no afters for me then,” she replied
to Kelly.

      
Kelly grinned. “Declan?”

      
He had something sweeter on his mind,
like Camryn’s lips, so he declined also. Ian promptly received a slice of pie.

      
Camryn finished sending out e-mails when
a familiar song played on the jukebox.

      
Her head instantly snapped up and her
eyes sought Declan’s. He stared over her shoulder, with a scowl on his face.
She turned to see what he was looking at. Her eyebrows furrowed when she didn’t
see anything and turned back to Declan.

      
Damn
meddling ghost!
He should’ve never told him aboot the bloody dance at the
ceilidh. Eoghan waved the backs of his hands to him.

      
Declan sighed, “Gel would you fancy a
dance?”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Joe had a grin plastered to his face as
he watched Camille busy herself in his kitchen.

      
“With all the food we bought at the
store, it looks like you plan on having me here for a while,” she joked.

      
Joe closed the freezer door and shrugged.
“That’d be okay with me.” She hesitated slightly and he continued. “Look,
Camille, we’ve only known each other a short time and we don’t know everything
about each other, but dammit,
this
feels
right.
You
feel right.”

      
She stepped into his arms, nuzzling her
face into his chest. “I snore,” she murmured.

      
“I know,” he grinned.

      
“Sometimes I don’t feel like cleaning.”

      
“Sometimes I don’t either.”

      
“There are nights when all I want to do
is read, to get lost in another world. I could be up until four in the morning
reading,” she confessed.

      
“Not a problem. Some nights I’m up late,
painting, to forget about shit, too.”

      
She pulled away, to meet his gaze. “Well,
I think we should try it.”

      
He gently kissed her on the forehead. “I
think we should, too. Besides we can’t disappoint Snoops. I think she likes it
here.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan took Camryn into his arms the
minute they hit the dance floor. She pressed her cheek to his chest. He held
her tighter and breathed in the scent of her hair.

      
He glanced down at her. She leaned
tightly against him, making his heart beat a little faster. He’d only known her
for a short amount of time, but yet felt so drawn to her. Could he move to
America? Would she move to Ireland? These thoughts were too much for him to
wrap his mind around for the moment, especially when she lifted her head and
met his eyes. She looked so content, so lovely,
so
damn sexy with her smoldering cinnamon colored eyes.

      
He quickly put space between them,
causing a slight frown to form on her face. “I think we’d better get home,” he
murmured.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan ushered Camryn from the pub and
walked with her to Gordon’s.

      
“Um, are you staying here?” she asked.

      
“Nay lass, you’re staying at me place.”

      
“I can’t. I mean Mickey is here and I
can’t just leave him,” she flustered.

      
Declan crossed his arms over his chest.
“This Mickey is a grown man, aye? You can leave him a note, thanking him for
his services.”

      
She put her hands on her hips. “I can’t
do that! That’s rude.” She thought for a moment. Hadn’t she been trying to get
Mickey to go home, for his safety? “Okay, you’re right.”

      
He grinned and held the door open, waving
her inside. Mrs. Gordon scrambled downstairs in her robe. When she saw Declan
she smoothed back her hair.

      
“Why if it’s not himself again along with
Miss Lane!” she chortled.

      
“E’en Mrs. Gordon.
Miss
Lane
will be staying at
Teaghan’s tonight and is here to collect her things and settle her bill,”
Declan murmured.

      
“Is something amiss?” Mrs. Gordon
frowned.

      
“Not at all.
I’ve been looking for Declan since I got to Ireland and as luck would have it,
I found him right across the street!” Camryn babbled. Declan shot her a wink.

      
“But what aboot poor
Mickey?
He adores you, so he does!”