Page 78 of Irish Betrayal

The bright red Jeep Rubicon had all the bells and whistles and then some. She’d enjoyed driving one so much while she was in America that he wanted her to have one when she got home. They also had a very nice memory of the back cargo space he wouldn’t mind reenacting.

She had planned to go straight to Scotland to see her parents and brother, but he convinced her to come to Ireland first, and they would go to Scotland together tomorrow. He desperately needed one night alone with her. Once they were under her father’s roof, Daniel knew he wouldn’t have the luxury.

Far from it, knowing Coll Barr.

Daniel wasn’t looking forward to a Barr interrogation, but he’d do anything for Blair. Plus, Barr could never say no to his wife or his daughter, and they would surely step in eventually. He hoped he wasn’t too bruised to enjoy the moment.

Daniel felt his phone buzz in his pocket and switched the daisy bouquet, Blair’s favorite flower and her middle name, to his left hand. He fished out his phone. Jonathan was calling.

“Hey bro, what’s up?”

“Blair hasn’t answered Mags’ text in the three minutes since she sent it, and I was nominated to call you and find out if you two can meet for dinner tomorrow night. Eze and Nasir are in town.”

Daniel grinned, knowing how impatient Mags could be. “Blair will be disappointed, but we’re going to Scotland first thing. I’m at the airport now waiting for her. She’s pretty impatient to get to Scotland and see her parents, but I’ll ask just in case.”

“Barr’s going to kick your ass when he finds out that you already bought you and Blair a house without even a ring on her finger yet,” Jonathan teased.

Daniel winced. He wasn’t averse to buying a ring and doing the whole down on one knee thing, but he and Blair were new. Really new, and Blair was a methodical decision maker. Everything had a place and a time.

Blair did nothing, and he meant nothing, by the seat of her pants. She was a planner even when it came to weeding a garden. She would stand at the perimeter and survey the plot as a general would a battlefield.

Military precision—that was Blair Barr. Which meant his proposal would need to be just right, perhaps during a vacation to visit famous gardens all over the world. Catriona could help him plan that.

He answered Jonathan with the truth. “Oh, there’ll be a ring but not yet.” What he didn’t add was that when the time came, Daniel knew the exact ring he would be sliding onto Blair’s finger.

One simple, thin gold band.

Blair’s hands spent eighty percent of any given day buried deep in soil. Any ring she wore daily would need to be practical but lovely.

Classic. Like her.

Daniel checked his watch for the eighth time at least. He had watched many people enter the baggage area. Blair had yet to make her entrance, and with her bold red, curly hair and green eyes, she was hard to miss.

He texted her again.

Daniel: Hey babe, where are you?

Another twenty minutes went by. Daniel was beginning to feel his first pangs of unease, slowly morphing into panic after another thirty minutes passed.

Staring at his phone screen, he finally dialed Katy Stanton. She answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Daniel. Do you have my favorite plant pathologist in your arms?”

He cringed, knowing he was going to sound like a total overreactor. “Actually, no. The last time we texted was when she left your place. She hasn’t shown up yet. I’ve been waiting at the airport. She did plan on making her flight, right?”

There was a beat of silence before she responded. “Of course. Blair didn’t stop speaking about seeing you again, Dan. She was practically glowing with excitement. She left our Muskogee property with plenty of time to spare. Do you want me to call Linda Bartel and make sure nothing happened at school to hold her up?”

A zing of panic ripped through his body. “Hold off, Katy. I’m going to go to the United Airlines counter and see if they can tell me whether or not she made the flight. I’ll keep you informed.” He hung up, which was rude as fuck, but he didn’t care.

The queue wasn’t long, thank Almighty, and within fifteen minutes he was able to ask an airline employee about Blair.

“I’m sorry, sir, but we aren’t allowed to give that information to non-family members.” The woman was kind but final.

“If I call one of her family members and they call, would you give them the information?”

“I’m sorry, but no. We aren’t allowed to give out that information without proper identification and in person. If you think something might have happened to this person, you should call the authorities immediately. They will get access to our flight records.”

Daniel deflated at the news, though he understood. “Thank you, ma’am.”