Shannon turned to follow, and saw Murphy.

He’d been sitting near the low fire all along, watching her while he eased a quiet tune out of a concertina. Looking at her had fuddled his mind again, slowed his tongue, so he was glad he’d had time to gather his wits before Gray led her to his table.

“Are you entertaining us tonight, Murphy?” Brianna asked as she sat.

“Myself mostly.” He was grateful his fingers didn’t fumble like his brain when Gray nudged Shannon into a chair. All he could see for a heartbeat of time were her eyes, pale and clear and wary. “Hello, Shannon.”

“Murphy.” There’d been no gracious way to avoid taking the chair Gray had pulled out for her—the one that put her nearly elbow to elbow with Murphy. She felt foolish that it would matter. “Where’d you learn to play?”

“Oh, I picked it up here and there.”

“Murphy has a natural talent for instruments,” Brianna said proudly. “He can play anything you hand him.”

“Really?” His long fingers certainly seemed clever enough, and skilled enough, on the complicated buttons of the small box. Still, she thought he must know the tune well as he never glanced down at what he was doing. He only stared at her. “A musical farmer,” she murmured.

“Do you like music?” he asked her.

“Sure. Who doesn’t like music?”

He paused long enough to pick up his pint, sip. He supposed he’d have to get used to his throat going dry whenever she was close. “Is there a tune you’d like to hear?”

She lifted a shoulder, let it fall casually. But she was sorry he’d stopped playing. “I don’t know much about Irish music.”

Gray leaned forward. “Don’t ask for ‘Danny Boy,’ ” he warned in a whisper.

Murphy grinned at him. “Once a Yank,” he said lightly and ordered himself to relax again. “A name like Shannon Bodine, and you don’t know Irish music?”

“I’ve always been more into Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin.”

With his eyes on hers and a grin at the corners of his mouth he started a new tune. The grin widened when she laughed.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ on a mini accordion.”

“ ’Tis a concertina.” He glanced over at a shout. “Ah, there’s my man.”

Young Liam Sweeney scrambled across the room and climbed into Murphy’s lap. He aimed a soulful look. “Candy.”

“You want your mum to scrape the skin off me again?” But Murphy looked over, noted that Maggie had stopped at the bar. He reached into his pocket and took out a wrapped lemon drop. “Pop it in quick, before she sees us.”

It was obviously an old routine. Shannon watched Liam cuddle closer to Murphy, his tongue caught between his tiny teeth as he dealt with the wrapping.

“So, it’s family night out, is it?” Maggie crossed over, laid her hands on the back of Brianna’s chair. “Where’s the baby?”