She’d been with me sober. Twice.
I barely listened to their conversation. What did I need to listen for? It wasn’t as if they were including me.
“There’s no need to thank me,”Robertsaid in his bland voice with his bland smile and bland feckin’ face. Then his bland eyes landed on me. “No lady should be forced to wear blood-soiled rags to dinner.”
I would’ve shifted her another dress if she’d asked. But she hadn’t. Far be it from me to take away another one of her choices. If she wanted to waltz around the city in a blood-soaked gown, then that was up to her.
“Any gentleman worth his salt would feel the same,”Robertkept on. “I’m only sorry I don’t have garments here for you to change into.”
I stabbed a bunch of carrots, pretending they wereRobert’sfingers. “Don’t forget, Keelynn, you and I have some business to attend to before we leave the city,” I reminded her, forcing the woman to tear her attention fromRobert.
Keelynn grimaced.
“What business is that?”Robertasked, giving my wife more wine.
Bottle tipping, glass filling. Drinking more and more. I’d seen her drunk. Lines blurred. Boundaries pushed. If Robert had seen her in that faerie’s dress, would he have held back? Something in my gut told me no.
“It’s nothing,” Keelyn muttered, giving me a kick in the feckin’ shin.
“Shit.” What’d the woman have on? Steel-toed boots? That feckin’ hurt. I gave her a dig back to see how she liked it. “I thinkRobertdeserves to know,” I said with my most innocent smile.
Her gorgeous eyes flared to life. “It’s only a tiny misunderstanding that hardly warrants any attention at all.”
A misunderstanding. Is that what this was? If it was a feckin’ misunderstanding, then why was she so put out with me over saving herlife?
The wasp’s glare turned into a sweet smile when she turned back toRobert. “It was so good of Robert to offer us rooms, wasn’t it, Tadhg?”
Robertthought it’d be a good idea to touch my wife’s hair. “My home is your home.”
This was the type of place where Keelynn belonged. In this world, with a man like this. Pampered and pretty. Not traipsing across the countryside, living among the outcasts. I threw my fork onto the table. I needed something stronger than this shite wine. “It was very kind of yourfriendto make such a generous offer.”
“It’s better than being murdered in our sleep,” she clipped.
I respectfully disagreed.
Keelynn shot to her feet, excusing herself and taking me along with her into the tiny hallway of the tiny house.
“What the hell was that?” she hissed, throwing a hand back toward the tiny dining room. “Robert has offered us a place to stay so we don’t getmurdered, and you’re acting like a petulant child.”
“Me? You thinkI’mthe problem here? He’s the one keeping his feckin’ knife on his lap like he expects me to attack him. As if a knife would do anything to hold me off if I decided to break every bone in his worthless—”
“Tadhg!”
My mouth snapped shut. I could dip him in boiling oil.No! Cut off his feet and hands, then throw him into the sea.No! Evanesce to the top of the cathedral and accidentally drop him from the roof.
“I’m calling in our wager,” Keelynn said, dragging me from my fantasies.
“Excuse me?”
She rolled her eyes toward the tiny chandelier. “You promised to act like a gentleman for two hours. I’m calling it in.”
She expected me to act like a feckin’ gentleman with Robert-the-bland glaring at me from across the table with his smarmy smile and tiny knife and . . .Wait. My lips lifted. “Are you sure?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes.”
I shifteddarling Robert’spocket watch straight from the prick’s waistcoat to check the time. “Two hours, starting now. And you remember what I get if I win?” I slipped the watch into my waistcoat for safekeeping.
Her eyes widened, but it was too late.