“I don’t know what you’d be talking about. What did you want to show me?”
“Not a thing.”
“You said—”
“Well, I lied, didn’t I? I’ve seen the two of you together for a while now, and just today out walking, hand-in-hand—and a look in your eye that I’m not mistaking.”
“And what of it?”
“Tonight, the air frosted between you every time one of you opened your mouth to the other. You quarreled?”
“No.”
She pursed her lips. “Maybe you need to quarrel.”
“Don’t be foolish, Moira.”
“What’s foolish about it? She made you happy. She brought something into you I’ve never seen, and it seemed to me you were bringing the same to her.”
He toyed with some of the pretty stones she’d taken from the stream and put on the bureau. “I think you’re wrong. I think I was wrong.”
“Why is that?”
“She said today I didn’t really know her. I didn’t believe her, but now…Now I wonder if she didn’t have the right of it.”
“Maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t, but it’s no question to me she’s done or said something to upset you. Are you just going to leave it to lie there? Why don’t you kick it to pieces, or at least kick it back at her?”
“I don’t—”
“And don’t make excuses to me,” she snapped, impatient. “Whatever it is can’t be bigger than what we’re facing. Anything else is petty now. Anything else, I swear, can be fixed. So, go and fix it.”
“Why is it up to me to fix things?”
“You might as well because you’ll just be sulking and brooding instead of sleeping until you do. And before you get to the sulking and brooding, I’ll be badgering you about it until your head’s aching.”
“All right, all right. You’re a true pain in the arse, Moira.”
“I know.” She touched his cheek. “It’s because I love you. Go on now.”
“I’m going, aren’t I?”
He used his irritation with Moira to carry him out of the room and down to Blair’s. He knocked, but didn’t wait for an invitation. He opened the door, saw her sitting at the desk at the little computer thing.
He shut the door firm behind him.
“I’ll have a word with you.”
Chapter 10
She knew that tone—when I want to have a word with you really meant I want to have a fight with you. And that was fine, that was great. She was in the perfect mood for a quick, nasty brawl.
But that didn’t mean she’d make it easy for him.
She kept her seat. “Obviously, you’ve missed the fact I’m busy.”
“Obviously, you’ve missed the fact I don’t give a bleeding damn.”
“My room,” she said coolly, “my choice.”