Kissing Maggie Silver by Sheila Claydon Read Free Book Online

an unpaid babysitter; let Ruairi think what he liked. Soon none of it would matter because she was going to find a job a long way away; somewhere where teachers were desperately needed; somewhere that would be such a challenge she wouldn’t have time to think about anything else. Not that she had started looking yet, but she would. She would start tomorrow.
    She pushed her chair back as everyone else started to search for bags and jackets. She was going to leave now before Ruairi had a chance to speak to her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him walking across the room towards her and she had no intention of letting him break down her defenses again. She was going to forget how he had rekindled her childhood crush and concentrate on her plans for a new life. Hurriedly she made her way to where her parents were standing and gave them both a hug.
    “Enjoy the cruise,” she said. “And don’t worry about June and the children. I’ll look after them, and Mark will let you know the minute the baby arrives.”
    “Maybe it will be late,” her Mother said hopefully.
    Mrs . O’Connor heard the wistful remark and laughed. “Not a chance of that from the look of her. This is one time you’re going to have to let your family manage all by themselves, Cathy, my dear. Now off you go and forget about everything. Ruairi and I will be around for most of the time you’re away, so we can always lend a helping hand if necessary.”
     
    * * *
     
    While everyone else congregated on the pavement so they could wave her parents off in the taxi that had arrived to take them to the airport, Maggie slipped back inside the restaurant and asked the receptionist to order her a taxi to take her home. Then she visited the cloakroom; anything to keep her as far away from Ruairi as possible.
    She had just finished washing her hands when Mrs . O’Connor appeared. “Oh there you are Maggie. Ruairi sent me to find you because our taxi has just arrived.”
    Maggie forced a smile as she gave her a hug. “It’s been a great evening hasn’t it? Thank you so much for helping us give Mum and Dad such a wonderful send off. Tell Ruairi goodbye will you, and I’ll call you in a day or so to arrange another lunch unless you’d rather do something else. Maybe you’d like to go shopping or something.”
    Mrs . O’Connor returned her hug with a laugh. “No! No! You don’t understand my dear. The taxi is for the three of us. As we are all travelling in more or less the same direction it seemed a waste to pay for two taxis, so Ruairi cancelled yours.”
    Maggie was so taken aback that she didn’t immediately reply and by the time she found her voice Mrs . O’Connor was already disappearing through the door. Without any other choice, Maggie followed her, fury building inside her at the sheer effrontery of Ruairi’s behavior. It certainly hadn’t taken him long to start to treat her just the same as everyone else.
    When they reached the pavement , he was waiting, holding open the door of the taxi. She let him help his mother in before she turned on him.
    “I can’t believe you’ve just cancelled my taxi,” she said, keeping her voice as level as she could. “How dare you assume I’m just going home. You could at least have taken the trouble to ask me about my plans…I could be going anywhere. I might even have a date.”
    “But you’re not and you haven’t,” his voice was infuriatingly calm. “You told the receptionist where you were going Maggie. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”
    He made it sound so reasonable and, to her chagrin, Maggie did now remember giving her address to the girl behind the desk. She also knew the taxi would pass her front door on its way to the hotel. She wasn’t about to let him off the hook though.
    “But how do you know I haven’t changed my mind?” she challenged, suspecting she sounded like a brat but beyond caring.
    “Have you?” Ruairi asked. “Because if you have then you can take