To Love A Wild Irishman

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Riding a stagecoach was not quite the adventure that Cassandra had had in mind upon leaving her home all those weeks ago, however, some would consider being sandwiched between two bickering old ladies while a young boy digs for treasure in his nose across from you and a skinny, sunken-faced man leers from the corner, an adventure in itself.

Cassandra tried to sit up a little straighter to ease the tension in her back and shoulders as she shifted upon the thinly padded seat. She envied Finnegan who was riding alongside the stage on Theo. Seamus was inside the stage with Cassandra and Cassandra could feel him watching her as they rode.

Between his watching, the skinny man's leering, the boy's nose picking and the two women's constant bickering, Cassandra was growing extremely close to going stark raving mad!

She had been cooped up in this stage for five days and the only relief she got was when the stage stopped in the evenings at whatever stage town or house they reached that day. Finnegan had insisted on the two of them posing as husband and wife so that they could continue to share a room and the memories of their nights together managed to bring a ghost of a smile to Cassandra's face.

She realized with disgust that leering man smiled back... clearly he thought he was the reason for her good humor. His hand reached out toward her knee and Cassandra was fully prepared to smack him away when Seamus' hand grabbed the man's wrist and tossed his arm to the side.

"You might want to watch yourself. My brother is a jealous man and won't take too kindly to you pawing all over his woman," Seamus warned.

Cassandra nearly laughed at the idea of Finnegan being jealous. The man was so sure of himself and his abilities that Cassandra knew there was little chance he would be jealous of any other man—especially one that looked like skinny man across the way.

"She smiled at me first," skinny man quickly spoke up. The bickering women had quieted and were completely enthralled in the new turn of events inside the stage. Clearly they thought perhaps there may be a fight.

The young boy had even paused in his exploration of his right nostril and was staring at Seamus with shock. Seamus hadn't spoken much in the five days they'd been with the stage. Cassandra knew they'd be leaving the stage soon because it wasn't heading north the way they needed and she would be glad to be away from all these people.

"I can assure you that I did not," Cassandra countered, her gaze going out the window. She saw Finnegan on Theo a short distance from the stage. He was whistling a tune, though the sound of it could scarcely be heard over the horses hooves and the creaking of the stage coaches wheels.

She longed to be on that horse with him. To be riding carefree with the wind in her hair and Finnegan's strong body against hers.... But Cassandra knew that Finnegan was right when he said they needed to take it easy on Theo for a while. Truthfully she needed her own horse but hadn't had the money for one yet.

Finnegan had been willing to allow her to ride Theo while he rode in the crowded stage but Seamus had been adamantly against that and Cassandra had chosen not to go to war over the issue. Seamus had insisted that stage coach roads could be dangerous places and Cassandra was safer inside. When Finnegan had seemed to agree, Cassandra had given up.

The sun was getting lower in the horizon and Cassandra nearly cried out with relief when the stage coach began to slow and then stopped completely. She moved the dainty curtains aside and saw the large three story manor house they had pulled in front of.