To Love A Wild Irishman

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Finnegan blinked. He frowned and tilted his head. He studied Cassandra closely. He wanted to look into her green eyes but she seemed to determined to keep her eyes on the floor now that she'd spouted a truth that couldn't possibly be true.

"Come again, then?" he urged.

"I said, I can't read the map. I never could. The seal tells me it's Montana but I couldn't tell you where in Montana it is," Cassandra whispered.

Finnegan took several steps back and sat down hard in the arm chair beside the door. "Why on earth did ya tell me that ya could?"

Cassandra shrugged as she flopped down on the edge of the bed. "Because, I wanted an adventure. I wanted a way out of my life and I knew that you would not give me the chance to come with you unless I could read your map."

Finnegan's first instinct was to scoff and tell her she was wrong about that. He wanted to get angry and be upset but then he realized that she was right. Back then, what seemed so long ago now, Finnegan would have left her behind. He wouldn't have brought Cassandra with him had he felt like she had nothing to offer him. He was a different man now; had been a different man for quite a while.

With a sigh, Finnegan rose and went to sit beside her on the bed. "Little Cass, I want a life with ya. You're my best friend and I love ya more than I've ever loved anyone or anythin' else. We'll figure out the map. We'll show it to Calvin and Seamus and between the four of us mayhap we'll learn to read it. All I know is that I have to have the treasure to have the future with ya that I want and I have to have ya with me. I know that today scared ya a bit but it was a fluke, Little Cass. An accident."

Cassandra stared hard at him a moment as if she were very confused. "That's it?" she whispered.

"What's it?" Finnegan asked, leaning closer to nuzzle her neck. She tasted so sweet and he truly could not get enough of her. She made him feel lighter, higher, better than any bet or whiskey ever had.

He felt her tremble but she pulled away from him and put her hand on his forehead to stop him from following her neck. "You aren't angry?"

"Angry? No, I feel no anger toward ya. I understand why ya misled me back then and ya had good reason to. Just don't leave me now, Little Cass. We've come this far together, let's finish this adventure. We'll figure the map out. Without your help I never would have known it was Montana that the piece of parchment was pointin' me toward."

Cassandra nodded as she sat up straighter and dried her face. "I'm with you, Finn. I don't want a life without you. I'm sorry I panicked that way."

"Well ya can make it up to by removin your hand from my brow," Finnegan wiggled his eyebrows. "And allowing me to continue explorin' that beautiful neck of yours."

Cassandra smiled, a sight that made Finnegan's heart swell and she moved her hand from his head. Finnegan was about to continue his feast when a sudden thought made him pause. "Can I ask ya one more thing then?"

"If you must.." Cassandra winked. "Though I'd much rather have you exploring my neck than using that Irish gift of gab."

Finnegan tilted his head. "I understand why ya misled me that first night. I understand that ya wanted to come with me and feared I would not bring ya along if ya did not know how to read the map--and you were probably right to think so back then..."

"What's your question, Finn?"

"Why did it take ya this long to tell me the truth? It's been two months at least since then. Why are ya just now tellin me ya can't read the map?"