Chapter Eleven

 

By the time Eilis and Megan reached The Wolfhound, they were laughing so hard they were holding each other up.

The bouncer at the door eyed them suspiciously. Eilis saw he was about to turn them away so she handed him her business card. He straightened immediately and opened the door to them, smiling brightly. He signaled to someone inside who intended to seat them at a table near the stage. Eilis didn’t see Kieran but she didn’t want to be near the spotlights in case he was still in the building. Eyeing a vacant table a bit further back, she told the waiter she’d rather sit there. He capitulated without question.

Being “someone” has its benefits.

When the waiter returned with their drinks, he asked if there was anything else he could do for her. “Yes, you can keep these coming,” she said, flipping him her credit card.

“It must be grand to be you, Ei.”

There was no jealousy in Megan. Eilis had worked hard to be where she was today. Now that she had a great career and was making good money, there was no reason why she couldn’t splash out occasionally. There was no one in her life to spend it on, and misering it in the bank brought her too close to being the miserable spinster she dreaded becoming. Megan and Seaneen were her outlets.

“Sometimes, Meg, it can be. Others . . .” She let the sentence run without completion, shrugging. “Tonight, it will be grand to be us.” She clinked her glass with Megan’s.

When the entertainment started Eilis let herself relax. The band on stage was very good. But someone had tipped them off there was a talent scout in the audience, because they were being overly dramatic and trying too hard to make a good impression. She paid them no attention. She just listened to the music and chatted with Megan between songs. She was on holiday, not working.

As the next band took its place on the stage, she felt prickling on the back of her neck. It was a feeling akin to being watched, but when she looked around she didn’t see anyone suspicious.

Maybe it was all the drink twisting in her full stomach making her ache there too. She rubbed it, hoping to ease the discomfort.

The look on her face must have startled Megan. “What’s wrong, Ei?”

“Nothing.”

“Doesn’t look like it from where I’m sitting.”

“What’s it look like from where you’re sitting?”

“Looks like pain, if you ask me.”

Eilis was shocked at her friend’s intuitiveness.

“When was the last time you saw me relaxed then? The music is good, the whiskey better, and the company the best. What more could a girl want?”

She was shocked when Megan pointed to a man in the corner of the pub. “That!”

Kieran sat on the other side of the room with his woman. She didn’t think he would still be here. She’d prayed he wouldn’t be. She had even gone so far as to look at every table as they were being seated, to be sure he wasn’t. Even that odd feeling she’d developed, the tingling in her belly when he was near, hadn’t been there — until just a moment ago. Had he left and come back, or had she misread the signs? Had the whiskey masked those feelings?

More importantly, had he seen her? She shrank back in her chair, hoping the shadows swallowed her.

Megan must have seen the look of dread she was sure was etched across her face. Indeed, that’s how she felt.

“Ei, what’s wrong?”

“That’s Kieran,” she whispered.

Megan spun her gaze toward the stage to take a better look at Kieran and her eyes grew wide.

“It’s nice to see we still have the same taste in men. We’re both attracted to the ones with the devilish good looks and two-timing personalities.”

“He’s not two-timing, Meg. I just met him, remember? There’s nothing between us except misplaced attraction.”

She looked at Kieran through the stage lights. He sat up quickly and gazed around the room with purpose, as if looking for someone. She sank deeper into the shadows. The woman he was with seemed to be oblivious to his diverted attention.

“Miss Kennedy,” whispered the man who’d assigned himself as her personal assistant tonight. “Can I refill your glasses?” The bottle of Jameson whiskey was already in his hand. She nodded without looking away from Kieran.

“Do you see that man over there?” she asked the waiter.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Tell your manager he has Ireland’s top blues guitarist in his pub and see if you can get him to perform.” She looked into the young man’s eyes. “And don’t,” she emphasized, “tell him who found him out.” She hoped the look she gave the man told him she’d have his job if he did. He agreed and watched the man go to another man she assumed was the manager. She’d noticed him earlier standing at the back of the room overseeing the goings-on in the pub.

There was a brief discussion, fingers pointing, then the manager stepped over to Kieran. She was thankful the manager didn’t motion towards her as he spoke to Kieran, but it was obvious he was confused. His woman pushed him out of his chair. He hesitantly stepped up to the stage when the other performers were done with their set.

“Ladies and gentlemen. The Wolfhound is honored to have one of Ireland’s greatest blues guitarists with us tonight,” the manager oozed dramatically. Eilis knew he had no idea who Kieran was, but because she’d mentioned him he took her word for it that Kieran was as good as he was now telling the audience. “Please put your hands together for Kieran Vaughan.” The audience applauded, though not enthusiastically. They had no idea who Kieran was either. But they would.

Eilis leaned over to Megan. “Yes, sometimes it’s very good to be me. Watch and listen.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Kieran had no idea who put him up to this, but he would get to the bottom of it, even if it took all night. Gráinne hadn’t left his side, so there was no way she could have arranged this.

The prickling on the back of his neck wouldn’t abate. He felt like he was being watched.

The tingle slipped down his neck and through his body like molten lava, heating him all over. He thought of Eilis as he rested the new guitar on his thighs. He knew Ger kept all of his guitars in tune, but he tested the strings anyway. When he was satisfied, he got comfortable, closed his eyes and began.

He chose an upbeat tune he hoped would help shake off what he was feeling. If John Lee Hooker’s energetic song “Boom Boom” didn’t do it, he didn’t know what could.

Unlike in The Little Man, the audience got to their feet and danced to the music. Their energy was infectious. But while he played, he couldn’t dispel the feeling of being watched. Instinct told him it was Eilis. As he played, he scanned the room. He couldn’t see her, but he was sure she was there.

How could she be? He hadn’t told her he was leaving Dublin. Hell, he hadn’t even told her he was leaving The Little Man last night. Not even Murph knew where he was. There was no way Eilis could have known either. But the sensation screamed through him, insisting she was here.

When the song finally ended, he was amazed at the eruption of applause that flowed around the room. Cries of “more, more” and whistles echoed around him. The breath caught in his chest as he looked over at Gráinne. She was on her feet with the rest of the crowd, clapping and whistling. He couldn’t keep the huge grin from creasing his face. Had she really arranged this for him?

The manager stepped back on stage, enthusiastically clapping himself, and moved up to the mike. “Isn’t he great folks? Let’s see if we can convince him to play another tune.” Kieran put up a single finger indicating just one more song.

The manager went back to sit beside Gráinne. Kieran thought of what to play next, then settled on “The Loner”, a sultry instrumental he had learned after hearing the late, great Gary Moore play it live. Moore’s version was twelve minutes long, but Kieran just played the first few.

He enlisted the help of the previous band to set the tempo and mood. He closed his eyes and imagined it was Eilis on his lap instead of the steel-stringed guitar.

He imagined his fingers playing across her body instead of the neck of the instrument — the sultry sound emanating from the instrument was her moan as he pleasured her. He imagined the reverberation from the guitar was her body vibrating against his in the throws of passion.

The music was the kind of slow rhythm of heightening sexual tension, steadily building arousal. The drum beat out an agonizingly slow pulse behind his guitar playing. The bassist matched the drummer’s beat as if they were two souls in mutual erotic joining. The synthesizer hung in the background, mimicking the tingling sensations of sensually fired desire. And the refrains from his guitar were the shared kisses forcing electric sensations pulsing through their passion-locked bodies that could only end in a star-blinding release.

When he stroked the strings for the final time, the wail of the guitar filtered through the room like the final gasp of the woman he fantasized was in his arms. The note echoed until there was nothing but silence filling the room, as if his imaginary lover’s climatic release still hung in the air.

He looked up and noticed couples all around the room joined together in embrace or holding hands. Even in the darkened room he saw a couple against the back wall of the pub, locked in embrace, kissing each other as if no one else existed.

The feelings washing over him now were similar to the ones he’d experienced last night in The Little Man Pub, but greater. He’d been asked to take the stage this time, rather than just playing and hoping someone was listening. He had thought last night was a fluke, but tonight . . . tonight gave him hope that maybe Eilis was right. He was good and The Little Man was no place to get noticed. Maybe he really did have talent. With her help, he was sure he could find the career he’d always dreamed of.

All of a sudden, the room erupted in applause and cheers. Gráinne stood at their table near the stage, whistling away and shaking her fists in the air in triumph.

He felt a grin stretch across his face again. He would call Eilis when he got home to talk about this contract thing after all. And while they were at it, he’d talk to her about the feelings he was having for her. Forget the bloke she was with last night.

When the stage lights came down and the houselights went back up, Kieran caught a flash of fiery red hair in the opposite corner of the room. He shaded his eyes to see through the glare from where he sat.

Eilis!

She was in the room. He’d known it in his soul, but how did she find him? His heart beat hard in his chest. It didn’t matter. He had to go to her, had to talk to her. He looked over at Gráinne. She’d have to make her own way home. He’d give her money for a taxi so she didn’t have to walk up the hill at this late hour, but he had to go to Eilis before it was too late.

He glanced back to where Eilis was sitting.

Gone!

He scanned the room and caught a flash of red slip through the door as she left the pub. He raced after her, through the attempted handshakes, the pats on the back, the requests for autographs. When he finally broke through the crowd and reached the sidewalk, she was nowhere in sight, as was the feeling of her presence flowing through him moments before. She was gone.

“Damn it!” he cursed aloud, slamming his palm against the door frame.

The new guitar was still in his other hand. Memories of what he’d done to his other guitar last night brought his emotions under control. This was a new feeling for him, this frustrated anger at having something special just out of his grasp. He needed to learn not to take it out on the one thing that had just earned him more applause in two songs than he’d had in a lifetime.

♥ ♥ ♥

Eilis and Megan raced away from McCurtain Street to the quay, where the Mini was parked. Eilis ignored the stares of the people they passed.

Kieran had discovered her in the audience. As long as the lights had been down, she was invisible and Kieran was on his own. Everything he got from the audience was of his own making. The only thing she’d done was to give him a push towards the stage by way of influencing the pub’s manager that Kieran was popular in Dublin. She hoped Kieran would get a taste of what his life could be like and like it enough to make something of his talent.

When they reached the car Eilis threw herself into the tiny red machine, gasping for air, and flipped the lock so Megan could get in.

Inhaling sharply, Megan looked over at her with breathless pain in her eyes. “Care to explain why I just ran down the street on a very full belly and a head full of the drink?”

“Kieran spotted me in the audience.”

“And?”

“And I didn’t want him to think I put the manager up to getting him on stage.”

“But you did.”

“That’s beside the point.”

The look Eilis gave Megan forced them both into their seatbacks, laughing like loons.

“Did you get a load of your man’s face when he saw you sitting in front of him?”

Indeed she had and burst into a new peal of laughter until tears streamed down her cheeks. It was either that or let herself start crying for real. Her heart squeezed when she thought of Kieran with that woman. She was so beautiful and there was no way Eilis could compete with her.

The two songs still rang in her heart. She knew Kieran had poured his heart and soul into them. The sound of the second song had coiled in her stomach. The music had reached deep inside her and made her feel what Kieran must have felt. She knew everyone else had reacted similarly.

It was his choice of songs confusing her. The first had been upbeat and meant to energize the group, but the second one . . . Even though the song was called “The Loner”, it was every bit as sensual and erotic as the man performing it. What confused her was how he hadn’t once looked at the woman he was with while he played.

Was it just the hope in her heart wishing the songs were for her? Was she letting her imagination run away with her? Most likely. Until the lights came up, he didn’t even know she was there.

She really should talk to Kieran. Perhaps she could clear the air if she did. Everything she was feeling for Kieran could be her overactive imagination, and a really long dry spell in her love life. Her sole purpose should be the contract.

But what of his confession yesterday on her steps? Was it lust speaking and not Kieran Vaughan?

When he’d seen her from the stage, the look on his face had frightened her. Panic had risen in her throat and cut off her breath. For a brief moment all she could do was stare at him, watching to see what he’d do. She’d felt like a startled caged bird, all nervous and fluttering her wings against the cage bars. It was when he had looked like he was going to pounce on her that she had bolted through the open door to save herself.

But from what?

She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of being accused of following him to Cork, or spying on him and his woman. For all she knew, he might accuse her of stalking him.

No, she couldn’t face that. She had to get away from him. Had she not promised these few days to be with Megan she would have hightailed it back to Dublin. Or Clare, or even Donegal, just to get away.

Now, with her breath coming easier, she turned to her friend. “Shall we call it a night then?”

Megan smiled wickedly, “Or continue this at home?”

“Sounds good to me! But we’ll have to walk home. I’m in no fit state to drive.”

“Come on, so. Grab your bag. I’ll race you home.”

“You’re on.”

Eilis leapt out of the car, locked it up and got her weekend bag out of the boot. Locking that too, she turned to Meg, winked and set off up the hill once more. Giggles followed close behind her.