Lilac Lane

“Bryan, we’ve talked about this. She’s trying to find her place here,” Luke reminded him. “She’s a proud woman who wants to earn what little she’s being paid. It’s not easy being in a new country with few people she knows. And she didn’t leave Ireland under the best circumstances. She’d just lost the man she loved.”

Bryan heaved a sigh. “Moira has repeated that more times than I can count, and while I appreciate the position both of you are in, I’m just not sure how much more I can take.” He leveled a look at his boss. “And before you ask, I have no idea why the woman bugs me. I should let her comments roll off my back. I always intend to do just that. Just this morning I would have sworn we’d reached a truce of some kind, but then she says or does something and before I know it, the battle lines are drawn once more.”

“I know it can’t be that you simply don’t like being told what to do,” Luke said. “You took my grandmother’s cooking lessons well enough when she was teaching you all of her old Irish recipes. How many times did she ask you to make the same thing over and over before she was satisfied? When she did the same to me, I came close to saying words that no grandmother should ever hear a grandson utter, but I never once heard you complain or say a sharp word. Give that same patience a try for Kiera’s sake.”

“Nell may have been a tough taskmaster, but she’s practically a saint by comparison to Kiera Malone,” Bryan said. “And before you say it, the same could be said of Moira.”

Luke’s eyes widened in surprise. “You think Kiera is more maddening than Moira?”

“At least a thousand percent,” Bryan confirmed.

“Really?” Luke asked skeptically. “Then, again, you didn’t know Moira back when we first met. Let’s just say I found her to be a challenge.” He regarded Bryan intently. “Much the same way you look upon Kiera.” He grinned suddenly, looking oddly satisfied, as if something he’d been theorizing about had just been confirmed. “This should be interesting to watch.”

Bryan regarded him suspiciously. “You’re not going to tell her to back off?”

Luke laughed. “I’ve told her the kitchen is your domain. What more can I do?” he inquired a little too innocently.

“Remind her that this is your pub and that she is most definitely not in charge, at least when it comes to me.”

“I’ll mention it,” Luke agreed. “But she’s a strong-willed woman.”

Bryan regarded him with confusion, but then understanding dawned. “You’re actually enjoying this test of wills that’s developing between us, aren’t you?”

“A tiny bit,” Luke conceded. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with the pub running smoothly, I intend to enjoy this in much the way my family enjoyed watching Moira tie me up in knots.”

“Not the same,” Bryan said fiercely. “They thought you needed someone to shake up your life. I’m not looking for a challenge in mine.”

“Neither was I,” Luke replied. “Lo and behold, though, there was Moira. As my grandmother took great pleasure in reminding me, we don’t necessarily get to choose when love comes along.”

Bryan gave him a horrified look. “Love? If you think that has anything at all to do with what’s going on between Kiera Malone and me, then you need a bit of counseling about relationships.”

Luke laughed. “My wife would probably say the same, but I think I’m right about this. All that chemistry will explode one of these days.”

“Just pray it doesn’t take your pub down with it,” Bryan retorted.

As his boss walked away, Bryan got the distinct impression he might be doomed. That deli in Baltimore was looking better and better.

Chapter 6

For the better part of a week following their last confrontation, Kiera managed to steer clear of Bryan. Obviously she had to speak to him when placing orders or relaying special requests from their customers, but there was a deliberate civility between them these days. She should have been grateful, but it was starting to get on her nerves almost as badly as their previous exchanges of quick-tempered words. She knew exactly how to deal with a mercurial temper. Stiff politeness was something else entirely.

“You and Bryan seem to have made peace,” Moira said one evening as the crowd was thinning. “I’m not hearing the tart comments and testy tones this week. How did that come about?”

Kiera shrugged. “We’re both trying a bit harder, I suppose. Luke has repeatedly told me he wants peace and harmony among the staff. I’m trying to do my part to achieve that. Bryan must be as well, though it doesn’t seem to suit him. He cuts himself off midsentence, when we both know perfectly well he wants to lash out and put me in my place.”

Moira regarded her curiously. “You don’t sound pleased about him making the effort.”

Kiera hesitated then admitted, “It doesn’t seem quite natural, if you know what I mean. Has Luke gone a step beyond and ordered him to be on his best behavior around me just because I’m your mother?”

“I seriously doubt it,” Moira said. “Has he given you instructions to go easy on Bryan?”

“He’s stressed again and again that Bryan’s invaluable as his chef and that we need to find a way to get along. I’ve taken that to heart, but I thought Bryan was too stubborn to listen.”

Moira smiled. “Well, however it came about, you’re doing as Luke wanted.”

“Not really. What we’re doing is being exceedingly polite whenever we can’t possibly avoid each other. That’s not the same as real teamwork.”

Her daughter carefully banked a smile. “And that’s now driving you crazy? Do you have any idea why?”

“I told you before. It’s not natural.”

“And the bickering felt right?”

“Well, of course not,” Kiera said impatiently, knowing that she was making little sense. “Who wants to argue with someone day and night over the slightest thing?”

Moira laughed. “Do you know what my brothers told me about the early days when Dad was still around?”

Kiera stared at her, startled by the change of topic, especially the shift to Sean Malone. Moira knew perfectly well that she didn’t like talking about the past in general or Sean in particular. “The three of you talked about that?”

“Of course we did. I was curious about the man I never got to meet. You never wanted to answer my questions. It always made you either sad or angry, so I stopped asking you and coaxed things out of the two of them. Not that they could be credited with much insight, but their memories were clear enough.”

Kiera should have realized that her daughter would naturally be curious about the father who’d abandoned her. And, given Moira’s stubborn streak, Kiera also should have known her daughter wouldn’t have given up without answers from someone. Just because she’d stopped asking Kiera, Kiera shouldn’t have assumed she’d stopped asking at all.

“And what did your brothers tell you?” Kiera inquired. “Not that they could be trusted. They were practically babies themselves.”

“They were old enough to remember that before the drinking got so bad, the two of you would argue night and day. Bickering is what they called it.”

“And they recalled that as being a happy time?” Kiera asked incredulously.

“They said it was always with an undertone of affection and that you always kissed and made up.”

Kiera sighed. That much was true. There had been so much heat between them that any conversation could turn from peaceful to all-out warfare in a heartbeat, then end with another sort of passion entirely. She hadn’t known her sons were so aware of the pattern. She’d assumed they were far too young to have any real awareness of the stormy dynamics between their parents.

“Did you?” Moira prodded. “Always kiss and make up?”

Unable to speak past the lump in her throat, Kiera nodded. “Until we didn’t.”

“They noted the change,” Moira said, surprising Kiera again. “They said it was as if you both simply stopped caring about making things right and the arguing was all that mattered.”

That summed it up nicely, Kiera thought, but concluded they’d delved into the past quite enough for one sitting. And she wasn’t sure she liked where her daughter was heading with this.

“Are you drawing some sort of comparison between those days and what goes on between me and Bryan? If so, you couldn’t be more wrong.” She hoped her firm words would put an end to that, though she was forced to admit she’d wondered about it herself lately. While she hadn’t reached any conclusions, she had lectured herself with reminders that it was not a pattern to be embraced yet again.

“I’ve seen the passion in your exchanges with Bryan,” Moira insisted.

“It’s not of a personal nature. It’s because I care about doing my job, about doing the best I can for Luke and the pub,” Kiera countered, satisfied with the spin.

“That’s some of it, I’m sure, but I think it runs deeper. I think there’s chemistry at work. I’ll admit I didn’t like it at first. I said as much to Luke. I thought it was disrespectful to Peter, but I’m forced to admit that it’s made you come alive. There’s been a spark in your eyes and color in your cheeks.” She regarded Kiera intently. “That’s really all I want for you. I want you to go on living.”

“And you think battling wits with Bryan Laramie over his Irish stew or his fish and chips holds the key to that?”

“Maybe. It’s not as if you have to rush into something with him or anyone else. Just keep an open mind, the same way I’m trying to do.”

“Moira, darling, I love that you want to see me happy, but some sort of romance with a man who gets on my last nerve is not the answer. The only thing I feel when I see Bryan is the desire to shake some sense into him.”

Moira laughed. “Exactly.”

“You have a very odd understanding of the way relationships should work,” Kiera concluded. “I suppose I’m to blame for that, since I set no example at all for you. Your dad was long gone and I never let another man into our lives until you pushed me toward Peter. He was another sort entirely. He was kind, respectful and steady, exactly the sort of man capable of giving me the life I’d never had.”

To her surprise, Moira looked deeply troubled by her words. “You would have settled for that?”

“It wasn’t settling,” Kiera said indignantly. “I was reaching for happiness. Why would you say such a thing? You and your grandfather believed that Peter was perfect for me. Now you’re questioning it?”

“I know. I’m surprised myself. It was just hearing the way you described him, as if he were a comfortable fit.”

“And what’s wrong with that? At my age and with my background with your father, comfortable holds a great appeal.”

“A few months ago, I would have agreed and seen nothing at all wrong with it,” Moira told her. “But it implies that you’re past passion, like a woman who chooses shoes that don’t hurt her feet over those that make her feel feminine and sexy.”

Kiera didn’t like the analogy, but she was forced to admit she could see the truth of it. “Perhaps that’s where I am in my life.”

“I don’t believe it. I’ve seen a difference when you’re around Bryan,” Moira said, then grinned. “I don’t like saying it, because you’re my mother, after all, but it reminds me of the way things are between Luke and me. There’s a lot of heat and electricity when the two of you are in the same room.”

It was a bit frightening to have her daughter romanticizing the situation. Kiera had to put an end to the speculation or any attempt at matchmaking it might inspire. “If there are any sparks at all, and I’m not saying there are, it’s only because he’s infuriating,” she responded emphatically.

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