Page 77 of An Irish Hope

That this woman gave him strength and joy.

And he didn’t care that Grady was seated opposite them, didn’t care they could be seen. He was glad to show her that he only wanted to be hers, and she be his.

“Well, I can see that I’m not needed here,” Grady said, laughter in his voice.

“No, you’re not.” Aisling’s eyes were fixed on Andy, shining like stars.

“Goodbye, Grady,” he murmured. Then angled his head to swoop in for another kiss. “Ash, I really think I—”

“Ahem.”

At the cleared throat he looked up. Then froze.

Oh no.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The glorious moments of just seconds ago smashed to smithereens at that voice. She pulled away, turned to face Miles. Tried to hide her throbbing lips.

“What are you doing here?” Andy’s voice held an edge she’d never heard before.

“What are you doing here, more like.” Miles smirked, his gaze taking them both in. “Not that I really need to ask. It’s pretty obvious.”

“Then if it’s so obvious you can go away,” she said.

“Yeah, except I can’t. Not in all good conscience. Because I seem to remember something in the handbook about not having affairs with the mentor-teachers, Aisling,” he sniped.

She stiffened, as a sick feeling creased her stomach. She lowered her hand, and Andy wrapped his around it. The feel of her hand in his added reassuring comfort.

“You know neither of us are married, don’t you?” she asked. “So I don’t think that it can be called an affair.”

“It’s the same thing. It’s just a matter of semantics.”

She was surprised he knew what that word meant.

“I think you’ll find that phrasing refers specifically to the mentor teachers directly responsible for the students they are supervising,” Andy said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Fear stole through her. Was Miles really going to try to cause trouble? She glanced at Andy. His eyes held peace.

She drew in a breath. That’s right. God, who had orchestrated their reunion, surely wouldn’t have been taken by surprise by this. And just as she’d had that earlier sense that Andy was supposed to be hers, so a troublemaker like Miles wouldn’t stop what God could do.

“In fact,” Miles continued, “we’ll have to see what the university has to say about this. And your school principal.”

“You really want to go there, Miles?” Andy asked softly.

Lord, what do we do? A thought flashed, and she bent for her bag, subtly drew out her phone. Found the voice memo app and pressed record.

“I just don’t think it’s right that you two sneak around when it’s against the school rules.”

“As I said before, I don’t believe our relationship breaks any school rules,” Andy said softly, while her heart sang at his use of the word “relationship.”

“Well, I disagree.”

“That is your prerogative.” Andy squeezed her hand again. “But it may be of interest to know we knew each other before this teaching stint.”

Aisling nodded. “He came to the hotel in Derryloughlin and we got to know each other there.” She smiled at Andy.