Read Beneath an Irish Sky (Choc Lit) for Free Online Page B

sentence without expletives. Definite progress. ‘So where will you go when you get out?’
    Luke sighed. ‘What d’you care?’
    ‘I’m guessing you won’t be going back to your uncles. Is there someone else …’
    ‘Jesus!’ Luke slammed his hands on the arms of the chair. ‘What’s it to you?’
    That was more like the Luke he’d come to know. He’d have to choose his words carefully. ‘Luke, whatever you think, I do care what happens to you. We should try to get to know each other a bit better.’ He hesitated, knowing he was about to say something that could change his life and the lives of everyone dear to him. ‘Come home with me.’
    It was out now. No taking it back.
    From the corner of his eye, he saw Luke’s head turn towards him.
    ‘Why would I want to do that?’
    ‘I don’t suppose you
would
want to,’ Jack replied, avoiding eye contact. ‘But what’s your alternative? You need looking after. You can’t manage on your own yet.’ He’d made it sound like some kind of business proposal. Sign here. Agree to all terms and conditions.
    ‘You don’t want me.’
    That was the truth, but Jack would never say it. He knew what rejection felt like and whatever the temptation, he wouldn’t punish Annie through her son. ‘Until you’re fit,’ he said. ‘After that, do what you like.’ Take it or leave it. The final offer.
    ‘I don’t think so.’
    Well, he’d tried. Hadn’t he?
    He’s my brother!
Matt’s voice was inside his head, like a reproach. He’d want to know everything Jack had said. Would probably criticise him for sounding too cold. He had to try again, for Matt. Jack took a photo from his wallet, holding it out to Luke.
    ‘Matt,’ he said. ‘Your half-brother. He’s twenty-five. Your mother took him everywhere with her – told him Irish stories, taught him Irish songs, which he’ll still sing on drunken St Patrick’s nights. He loved Annie. She was his mother for a year. The only one he remembers. He wants to meet you.’
    Before Luke could respond, the nurse reappeared with a wheelchair. ‘Time for your scan, Luke.’
    Jack moved to help him get up. Luke’s body stiffened, so Jack left it to the nurse. He held the door as she wheeled the chair out. ‘Just think about it,’ he said, but Luke left the room without looking at him.
    Emer’s phone alarm beeped at five minutes to one. Lunch time. And possibly Jack Stewart time. He might have forgotten her line to him yesterday about being in the hospital cafeteria, but she’d be there just in case. Last night, she’d admitted to herself she found Jack attractive.
Don’t lie to your hormones.
One of Maeve’s favourite sayings.
    As usual, the lifts were packed to the gunnels with nurses, doctors and relatives. It was as bad as Grafton Street on a Saturday night. When the third lift arrived full, Emer gave up and took the stairs.
    Clattering her way down to the first floor, she glanced at her watch. Almost ten after. In her experience, men didn’t hang around long if they thought they’d been stood up. Still, she’d have a chance to see Jack another day, with Luke …
    ‘Emer!’
    She smiled when she spotted Jack, hovering outside the cafeteria. A brownie point to him for waiting. Now why hadn’t she remembered to brush her hair? Even in a ponytail, her curls needed a lot of strict attention or they’d spring free, up and round her head like a wispy red halo. Still, perhaps the special-occasion amber drop earrings she’d spent five minutes looking for this morning would distract him.
    She greeted him with a smile and said, ‘Let’s go in. I’m starving.’ She could check the state of her hair in the glass of the food counter.
    Jack hesitated, his expression uncertain. Emer felt a small stab of disappointment. Perhaps she’d jumped the gun and he wasn’t staying for lunch after all. She should know better by now than to build castles in the air …
    ‘It’s really crowded in there. Is there somewhere