Chapter 27

Tag

After the breakthrough of Laine confiding her truths in us, I want to end the day as quickly as I can and get her alone—but I can't. I'm still bothered about the tracking device Aiden found on the truck and I haven't checked the perimeter of the compound since coming back here.

It won't serve anyone if I get distracted and overlook something. But to make it more entertaining, I fire up one of the UTV Side-by-Sides and give her a tour of the grounds at the same time.

"And those are the stables." I point out the old stone and wood building that sits down by the pond.

"You have horses?"

"Not anymore, no. When we were kids, Mam insisted that we all learned to ride, and we had three chestnuts: Curly, Larry, and Moe."

She laughs. "The poor things. Who named them that?"

"Och, that was Da. He didn't see the point in teaching five metropolitan boys how to ride horses, so he had a little fun at Mam's expense."

"Finn showed me your family portrait in the great room. They looked like a loving couple."

"They were at that." I stop along the fence line and frown at where one of the exterior trees has grown enough to have branches reaching over the property wall.

Pulling out my phone, I text Aiden to have it cut back in the morning.

With the message sent, I gesture to the russet-haired man coming out of the stables with an axe in hand. "Have you met Cora's husband?"

"I haven't. Not yet, anyway."

I press my fingers under my tongue and let off a whistle. Connor turns at the sound and waits while we drive over to join him.

When we stop outside the stables, Connor rushes over to accept my outstretched hand. "Evening, Mr. Quinn. Everything all right?"

"All is well on my end. How are things with you?"

"Right as rain, Mr. Quinn. Can't complain."

I gesture to Laine sitting beside me. "This lovely lady is Miss Laine O'Neill. I suppose Cora has mentioned I've had a guest in the main house?"

Connor wipes his hand on his pants and then extends it to Laine. "Och, aye. She's been plumb tickled about it, too. Having you home and with a lady-friend to boot. She's been humming up a storm these past few days."

Everyone who knows Cora knows that when she's happy, she's always humming a tune.

"Well, I'm glad she's happy," I say.

"Your wife is a lovely lady and a marvelous cook," Laine says. "She takes very good care of us."

Connor grins. "She does what she loves and loves what she does. Can't ask anything more than that."

"Aye, that's the truth of it," I say.

Laine grabs a strand of mahogany hair from her face and curls it behind her ear. "It's a wonder the Quinn boys can even get through the doors, given the way they eat and the temptations of Cora's talents."

Connor grins. "She's a marvel."

I gesture down to the axe in his hand. "What are you up to?"

"Och, one of your mam's old pippin trees was struck by lightning in the storm the other night. I hope to clear off the damage and maybe save it, if the goddess is with me."

I frown at the axe. "Don't you have a chainsaw for that? It seems a big job for an axe."

Connor shrugs. "The chainsaw has seen better days, I'm afraid. So, I sharpened up this fellow and thought I'd have a go."

I shake my head. "It's nearly dark and you'll have a new chainsaw by morning. Save your back and go collect your wife for an evening together. Laine and I have dinner awaiting our return and the boys are out for the night, so we're all set."

Connor considers my offer and looks like he might object, but I slide out of the driver's seat, and reach to take the axe from him. "Off you go, good man. I want to show Laine the stables anyway, so I'll put this back and close up for the night."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"I am. There will be plenty of work for you tomorrow. For tonight, enjoy yourselves."

Thankfully, he doesn't argue. With a tip of his cap, he bids us a good night and strides off toward the house.

"Well, he's adorable."

I send a quick text off to Bryan to ask that he pick up a new chainsaw for Connor tonight while he's in town. "Aye, salt of the earth, both of them. We've been very lucky to have them."

Laine gets down from her seat and we watch him go for a moment before we turn to the stables. "Let me just put this away and then we'll continue our tour."

She follows me as we head inside, to hang the axe on the tool wall in the utility room. "So, a stable with no horses is just outbuilding storage?"

I glance around. "Aye, I suppose that's about right. After Mam passed, Da let the horses go and focused our trainings on more conventional skills."

I shut off the lights, pull the barn door along the metal rails, and latch things up for the night.

"Where to now?" Laine asks, walking back toward the UTV with me.

I point, gesturing into the growing darkness beyond the stables. "Well, there's the gazebo on the edge of the pond—that's where Mam used to sit to watch us while we played in the water—and then the orchard. Other than that, you've seen it all."

She steps in front of me and climbs in behind the wheel. "Well, it's almost dark and since Connor is going to work on the trees tomorrow, I say you let me drive back and we save the orchard and the gazebo for the light of day."

"Have you ever driven a beast like this before?"

She shakes her head. "Not yet, but I'm all about new experiences. With a little guidance, I'll get us there just fine."

Her words are dripping with double entendre, and I'm not about to put a dampener on that. "Eager to get back to the house, are you?"

"I am. And since your brothers are out tonight, I say we eat our dinner and turn in early. Your bedroom or mine?"

"Why not both?" I joke.

I climb into the passenger seat and her question—while made in jest—sits wrong in my gut. I have no intention of letting her go back to the guest room or us sleeping in my childhood bedroom down the hall.

No, it's time I claim everything the universe has given me. Tonight, I'll move Laine and I into the master suite and show her how life at my side is meant to be.