Baily's Irish Dream: Baily's Irish Dream / Czech Mate. Stephanie Doyle
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had snuggled into bed. Miss Roosevelt, evidently having forgiven him for his previous attack on her mistress, had huddled into a ball on top of him. Traitor.
It was the first time Baily could ever remember being jealous of a cat. And what made it worse was that Miss Roosevelt had gaped at her mistress as if she were crazy to pass up the opportunity to snuggle with Daniel. Evidently, he was a very good snuggler.
Now in the wee hours of the morning, Baily was feeling restless and very unsnuggled. It was only right that Daniel share in her insomnia. “So you can’t sleep, either,” she said, stating the obvious.
As if he could have slept with her only one foot and eleven inches away from him. Did she think he was made of stone? He hadn’t been able to close his eyes let alone sleep. Every time he did, he saw flaming red hair. Red hair spread out against a white pillow. Red hair clutched between his fingers. The only way he knew to prevent the erotic, ungentleman-like dreams that would surely come if he slept, was to stay awake.
Awake was no picnic, either. Awake, he heard her soft breathing, imagined the rise and fall of her chest, imagined her soft, full, and well-kissed lips parted ever so slightly. No, awake wasn’t any easier than asleep was, and now Red had just made it harder by informing him that she was having as much difficulty sleeping as he was.
“I see you’re having the same problem,” Daniel noted with a hint of smugness. The way he saw it, her suffering was of her own making. She was the one who’d established the rules.
“Yes, and it’s all your fault,” Baily snipped. She was tired and frustrated, feeling lustful and guilty all at the same time. If he hadn’t kissed her, she’d be snoozing sounder than Theodora right now. It was definitely all his fault.
“My fault! The way I see it, Red, this is all your fault,” he informed her, amazed at her audacity to blame him.
“My fault!” she exclaimed. “You’re the one who kissed me.”
“And you’re the one who said I couldn’t do anything more than kiss you. That’s why we’re both frustrated. I’m a gentleman, remember.” Daniel taunted her with her own words.
“I said you couldn’t do any kissing before you kissed me,” she retorted. “Then you kissed me, anyway. That’s why we’re both frustrated. Now that I think of it, you’re about as far away from a gentleman as as…Miss Roosevelt.”
“Meow!” Theodora wailed from her perch, apparently not pleased with the analogy.
“Honey, you may have said no kissing, but your whole being cried out to be kissed. I was simply…helping you fulfill your needs.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Daniel had the distinct impression that he’d said the wrong thing.
“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?” Baily fairly shrieked with rage. Fury vaulted her into a sitting position. “Are you saying that was a pity kiss?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a pity kiss,” Daniel said, attempting to retreat. But he had a feeling that one false move and she would be feeding him his other foot.
“Theodora! Get off him,” Baily ordered. The cat, despite her contended position, knew where her kitty kibble came from. She immediately jumped off Daniel and off the bed to seek a safer bed.
Daniel should have seen it coming. Without the cat in the way to prevent a full frontal assault he was left vulnerable to whatever revenge Baily had in mind. The pillow that hit him squarely in the face wasn’t a surprise. Nor was the second one. He thought she overdid it when she threw the third pillow, and he laughed out loud when she threw the fourth pillow.
“Why are you laughing?” Baily screamed. Her temper still flared, only now she was weaponless.
“Typical redhead. You got yourself in a snit and now you’ve just thrown all your pillows away. Looks like you’ll be resting your head on the mattress tonight.” Daniel chuckled. He had to admit she was entertaining.
After a few deep breaths Baily managed to calm herself. Fighting with a man she had no intention of remembering five days hence was pointless. So she decided to forget her temper, put him completely out of her mind, and drift off into a peaceful slumber. Which was exactly what she would have done if she had a pillow.
“Give me my pillows back,” she ordered.
“No,” Daniel answered smugly.
“Come on, just one pillow.”
“No.” Who had the last word this time? Him. Heh, heh, heh.
“If you don’t give them back I’m just going to come over there and get them,” Baily explained logically. Then she saw the form beneath the sheets move. Suddenly his eyes gleamed at her through the dark, cat’s eyes that seemed to see right through her despite the lack of light.
“If you come over here, I can guarantee you won’t make it back to your bed tonight. Have I made myself clear?”
The husky timbre of his voice, the gleam in his eyes…yes, his point had been made, and his threat was unmistakable. Baily shut her mouth and laid her head down on the mattress. It wasn’t so bad.
“THIS IS HORRIBLE!” The morning sun was harsh on eyes that hadn’t been closed for more than a few hours off and on throughout the night. Baily felt as if her whole body was about to burst with annoyance as she stared down at her car. The one with two flat tires. Two. How could anyone get two flat tires at the same time?
“What the hell did you park it on? Glass?” Daniel had exited the room with the cat under one arm and their overnight bags under the other.
“Me?” Baily still hadn’t recovered from being furious with him the night before. So it wouldn’t have taken more than a sneeze for Daniel to irritate her all over again this morning. He had just given her more than a sneeze. “If I recall correctly, you were the one who parked the car when we drove up to the motel. So what the hell did you park it on?”
“It’s pointless to stand around here arguing about how it happened. What we need to do is get it fixed. Then we can find the Western Union office. I can’t waste a whole day in Jackson Hole, or I’ll never make it to Philly in time to stop the wedding.”
Baily mumbled something about men never being able to admit when they were wrong, but she let it go at that. He was right. This was more than two flat tires. This was his sister’s future. “I spotted a gas station when we pulled into town. Maybe they have a tow truck.”
“They’d better.”
He turned his back on her then and returned to the room to get the rest of their belongings. As if Baily had any say in whether the gas station had a tow truck or not. She took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at him again. The effect was ruined with the sight of Theodora’s tail swishing about from under his arm. Baily was forced to smile and that only irritated her more because the last thing she wanted to do was to dwell on how cute he looked holding her cat.
Better to think of him as a tyrant. Much better. It wasn’t as if she wanted to be stuck in Wyoming with two flat tires. She had places to go, people to see, a man to become engaged to. Okay, so maybe there were worse things in this world than being stuck in Wyoming. Still, she hadn’t popped the tires herself. Not only that, but if they didn’t manage to find two new tires they were going to have to spend another night together in that tiny motel room. She simply didn’t have the willpower.
After a short search in the small town, Daniel and Baily first located the Western Union office, then the service station. Luckily, the attendant had two tires available for them and Daniel was able to pay cash as an incentive to speed the process along. The attendant promised to tow the car and change the tires. They could return in a few hours for the car. Baily balked at Daniel’s highhandedness for paying for the damage, but he considered it his way of paying for his trip across country. Since Baily secretly believed that the tires were his fault anyway, she accepted.
“We’ve got some time to kill, what do you say we hunt