Having Faith (9 page)

Apparently anyone who warranted the attention of Kieran Callaghan automatically warranted the attention of others as well.

Faith was uncomfortable with the sudden interest, and tugged Matt out of the large room rather hurriedly.  It was good to have such a tall son, she thought gratefully as they waited beside the massive potted plant in the corridor.  Only the tip of her head was visible over the ever-broadening shoulders of her teenager.

* * *

I
t took a while for Kieran to make his way out of the demo room.  People were converging from all sides.  The demo had had exactly the response he’d hoped for.  Judging by the amount of people hanging around the sign-up tables and asking questions, he’d be adding more classes.  Though that had been his intent, it was now relegated to the back of his mind.  There was only one thing consuming his thoughts now.

Getting to his
croie
.

She was fast, he had to give her that.  One moment she was there, and the next, she’d simply disappeared.  The natural hunter in him sat up excitedly.  The thought of a brief chase coming on the heels of what had been a flawless demonstration had adrenalin coursing through his veins.  Especially when he knew he was guaranteed success.  She might elude him temporarily, but he would always find her.

He spotted Matt easily enough.  With that burnished brown hair and gray eyes he stood out.  Apparently a lot of younger girls noticed him, too. Kieran chuckled, seeing their interested double-looks and murmurs to their friends.  Matt, however, seemed oblivious to it all.  Kieran remembered those days with a slight pang of nostalgia.

There!  Faith was behind Matt, trying to fade into the shadows.  That puzzled him for a moment.  Why?  Perhaps she didn’t like crowds.  Then he realized it was probably a good thing she was off to the side.  It kept her from getting caught in the throng moving to the next demo as part of the open house. 

She
was
on the small side.  He wondered vaguely if her petite stature would be a problem, then dismissed it just as quickly.  If she really was his
croie
, as he suspected, then they would fit together flawlessly in all things.

“That was the most freaking awesome thing I’ve ever seen,” Matt said, his eyes bright with excitement.

“Thanks,” Kieran said modestly.  “How about you, Faith?  Did you like it?”

She peeked around Matt’s shoulder.  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said truthfully.  “You were ... amazing.”  The color crept up in her face and she turned shyly away even as the beast in Kieran’s chest purred with her praise.  He had never been the sort to consciously try to impress a woman with any display of prowess, but standing before Faith, he had the nearly irresistible urge to preen.

Outwardly, he smiled, pleased, and kept the preening to a minimum.  “How about some lunch?”

“Oh, no, thanks,” Faith stammered, that restless look back in her eyes again.  “We really should be going.”

Kieran frowned.  “Why?”

“I wanted to get to the farmer’s market while we’re in town,” she explained.  “I was going to leave after I brought Matt in earlier, but I got caught up in your demo...”  She shifted her weight from side to side.  Quite a few people were trying to get his attention, and at least half of them were clearly unhappy that he was devoting so much of it to her.  Too bad.

“Okay,” he said slowly, not liking the idea of her leaving one bit.  It was a natural reaction.  Now that he knew who she was to him he would always want to be near her whenever possible.  It was pure instinct, generated on a level far beneath layers of conscious and rational thought.  “I have to stick around for a while, but I can take you over later.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” she said, and he was beginning to sense her rapidly rising sense of discomfort as the small crowd around them grew.

“You didn’t,” he said firmly but quietly.  Faith
was
uncomfortable in crowds, he realized.  And unfortunately, his interest in her was drawing more attention with every passing second.  His first instinct was to grab Faith and whisk her away to someplace more private, but that would only exacerbate the situation.  She was getting ready to bolt, and he had to do something.  If she left with Matt now, he would have no excuse to see her again later.

And he
needed
to see her again today, if for no other reason than to confirm what he already knew.

“Tell you what.  Why don’t you let Matt hang here with me while you hit the Market?” 

He turned to Matt.  Enlisting an ally was good strategy.  “You don’t really want to troll the farmer’s market, do you?” he asked, appealing to Matt’s innate male aversion to shopping and hoping the kid took notice of the attractive teenage girls currently milling about.

Matt looked hopefully at his mother, who in turn looked back to Kieran, her eyes narrowing somewhat.  Had she seen through his not-so-subtle ploy? 

“You’re very busy,” she said, glancing nervously around them.

“My entire team’s here,” Kieran informed her with a casual shrug.  Then he lowered his voice and winked. “Sometimes it’s good to be the boss.”

* * *

M
att continued to stare at her with hope in his eyes.  She might have been hurt by her son’s blatant preference to spend the afternoon with Kieran in a testosterone-laden environment instead of sorting through stacks of second-hand wares looking for the best possible deals, but she couldn’t find it in herself to do so.  Truth be told, she didn’t blame him one bit.  If there were no other considerations, she’d rather spend the afternoon watching Kieran than haggling with the local vendors, too.  But she was a woman with responsibilities, not a mooning teenage girl crushing on the popular jock.

“Alright,” she breathed, reaching for her wallet as she mentally calculated how much she could afford.  “I’ll leave you something for lunch - ”

Kieran’s hand closed around hers, and this time the effect was even more powerful than before.  Rather than a sharp, unexpected shock, she felt a heady warmth radiating outward from the point of contact. 

“No, Faith,” he said softly but firmly.  “Matt is my guest.  I’d like to treat you as well, if you’ll let me.”

His breath smelled like peppermint, cool and fresh.  It was in distinct contrast with the warmth of it, which she felt very clearly throughout her entire body when he leaned down to speak into her ear.  The same thought she had before loomed in her mind once again:  Kieran Callaghan was a dangerous, lethal man in boy-next-door clothing.

She somehow managed not to melt into a puddle at his feet.  The very thought gave her the strength she needed to ensure that her backbone remained in place.  No matter how much she might outwardly resemble those young, college-age groupies anxiously awaiting Kieran’s attention, she was a twenty-eight year old mother barely making ends meet.  She could not afford to indulge in any silly girl fantasies, and especially not with a man as unattainable as Kieran Callaghan.  He was so far out of her league it would take a space shuttle to get to his realm.

That’s when it hit her.  Kieran Callaghan could never be interested in a woman like her.  And that made her safe.  Hadn’t Lacie alluded to something like that?  That Kieran was tired of being chased by women? She thought back to the pizza parlor the night before.  Kieran had been so relaxed and easy-going.  Until Natalie showed up.  Then he’d grown tense.

Faith felt a stab of sympathy for him.  He really was a nice guy.  And here she was, offering him the perfect out.

She ignored the pang of disappointment.  This wasn’t a fairy tale, after all.  Kieran might be many women’s idea of a modern day Prince Charming, but she was as far away from a Princess as she could get.  Even Cinderella in her early days looked like a finishing school deb next to her.

It was disappointing, yes, but also liberating.  The realization that she could provide him with an excuse to avoid some of that – albeit through her son – was grounding, too. 

Calmed, she offered him what she hoped was an understanding smile.  “Thanks, but I’ll take a raincheck.”

* * *

K
ieran considered her thoughtfully.  He’d seen the wheels turning.  Sensed when she’d made a decision.  Unfortunately, he had no idea exactly what she’d been mentally debating or what the resolution was, but something told him he wouldn’t like it.  He knew there could only be one possible outcome where he and Faith were concerned, but that didn’t mean that
she
did. 

His brothers had a hard time of it when they had met their
croies
.  Trials by fire, so to speak.  Maybe he would, as well.  The thought was not a pleasing one, but there was no other option.  He would simply have to tread carefully and try to minimize the damage.  If he was careful and gave it some serious thought, he might be able to learn from his brothers’ mistakes and ensure he didn’t make the same ones.  Perhaps there were some useful benefits in being the last to find the woman meant for him and him alone.

He fought his natural urge to pull her to him and simply refuse.  Taryn had put a name to it, calling it the ‘inner caveman instinct’; apparently it was a trait shared among the men of his family.  Instead he said, “I’ll hold you to that.  How about I bring Matt home later?  That way you don’t have to cross town again when you’re done.”

“I couldn’t ask you to - ”

“You aren’t.  I’m offering.  Besides, I was going to stop by tonight anyway.  I found some more stuff leftover from when we renovated the Pub that you might be able to use.”

Faith bit her lip.  Several people were getting rather impatient, clearly unhappy that Faith was consuming so much of Kieran’s attention.  Given the way she was practically dancing on the balls of her feet, she was anxious to be out of there as quickly as possible.  It worked to his advantage; rather than continue to argue with him, she nodded in concession.  “Okay.  Thanks.”

Kieran smiled, relieved that she had finally decided to stop fighting him on every little thing.  “Cool.”  Placing his hand on Matt’s shoulder, he said, “Don’t worry, Faith.  I’ll take good care of him.”

Faith nodded, a resigned look on her face that made Kieran want to kiss her senseless, and disappeared toward the exit.

It took a while to work their way toward the café.  To his great surprise, Matt would accept nothing more than a smoothie.

“Come on,” Kieran coaxed, seeing the hunger in the boy’s eyes, even hearing the protesting rumble as Matt’s stomach loudly voiced agreement.  “Growing boys need to eat.”  But no matter what he said, Matt politely refused.

Sensing that he was making Matt uncomfortable, he changed the subject.  He would have to pick his battles, he realized, with both mother and son.  “So, you liked the demo?”

The tactic worked.  Matt’s eyes brightened.  “Yeah.”

“Think you might want to sign up?”

The brightness faded just as quickly.  “Nah.  It was cool to watch, though.”

“Not interested?” Kieran prodded, but he had a feeling lack of interest wasn’t the problem.  He’d seen looks like that before, knew when someone wanted something badly.  Matt simply shrugged with feigned disinterest.

“If it’s a question of money, don’t worry about it,” Kieran told him.  “We’ll work something out.”  He had no intention of taking any money.  As far as he was concerned, Faith and Matt were already part of his family.

Matt bristled.  “It’s not.”  He eyed Kieran warily.  “And don’t go talking to my mom about it, either,” he said, a warning edge to his voice.  Kieran lifted an eyebrow.  So.  It was like that, was it?

“Okay,” Kieran agreed, drawing the word out slowly, but met Matt’s glare.  The boy showing pride was one thing – Kieran could respect that – but there would be no question of who was in charge.  Matt held Kieran’s gaze longer than most men – it was a testament to the kid’s character – but eventually he did lower his eyes.  Quietly releasing an exhale of relief, Kieran relaxed.

It lasted for all of a minute.  “Maybe you and I can work out a deal,” Kieran offered. 

“What kind of deal?”

“Well...”  Kieran’s mind was whizzing through ideas, discarding them almost as quickly as they came to him.  “The kid my brother hired to do mowing and stuff around some of the properties up for sale isn’t working out.  You saw the state your place was in.  You interested?”

“Maybe,” Matt hedged.

“You proved you know what you’re doing yesterday,” Kieran continued.  “You’d be doing us a favor and putting a couple of bucks in your pocket.”

“How much?”

“Minimum,” Kieran said casually, making it up as he went along.  “But there are benefits.”

“What benefits?”

“One free class a month.” 

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

“Any class?”

“Yeah.”

The kid was thinking about it, he could tell.  Kieran kept quiet, let him work it out.  “And if I don’t want to take a class?”

Kieran shrugged.  “Then don’t.  But you’d be missing a great opportunity.”

Matt looked down into the now-empty glass, considering it.  “I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Good.  But if you’re interested, your mom’s got to give her permission.”

Matt nodded in agreement.  “I’ll talk to her about it tonight.”

S
everal hours later, Kieran took Matt home.  With a quick “Hey, mom” in greeting, Matt made a beeline for the kitchen.  Kieran had trouble making it past the living room.  Dressed in well-worn, torn jeans and an oversized raggedy shirt, Faith stood before him, hair escaping the confines of her ponytail, dollops of paint adorning her arms, her legs, and her face.  He felt a twinge deep in his chest; it was such an adorable image.  The unease he’d witnessed at
BodyWorks
was gone.  Clearly she was much more comfortable in her own environment.  He could work with that. 

“Painting, then, are you?” he said, unable to completely hide the smile that tugged at his lips.

“That’s one of the things I like about you,” Faith said, shooting him a smile of her own and a teasing glance.  “Your exceptionally keen grasp of the obvious.”