“I’m through trying to be reasonable. Thanks for dinner. It was interesting.”

“You’ll want a jacket against the rain.”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t be foolish.” He’d already taken one of his own off a peg. “You’ll just get that pretty blouse wet and chill your skin.”

She snatched it from him before he could help her into it. “Fine. I’ll get it back to you.”

“Bring it with you, if you think of it, when you come to paint in the morning. I’ll be walking by.”

“I may not be there.” She shoved her arms into the soft worn denim, stood with the sleeve flopping past her fingertips. “Good night.”

“I’ll walk you to the car.” Even as she started to object, he took her arm and led her out of the kitchen and down the hall.

“You’ll just get wet,” she protested when they reached the front door.

“I don’t mind the rain.” When they reached the car, he wisely swallowed a grin. “It’s the wrong side, darling, unless you’re wanting me to drive you home.”

She merely scowled and shifted direction so that she veered toward the right-side drive.

Measuring her mood, he opted to kiss her hand rather than her mouth when he’d opened the car door for her. “Dream within a dream,” he murmured. “Poe had some lovely lines on that. You’ll dream of me tonight, Shannon, and I of you.”

“No, I won’t.” She said it firmly as she slammed the door. After shoving up the sleeves of his jacket, she backed out of the drive and headed up the rain-washed road.

The man had to have a screw loose somewhere, she decided. It was the only explanation. Her only choice was to give him absolutely no encouragement from this point on.

No more cozy dinners in the kitchen, no music and laughter in the pub, no easy conversations or staggering kisses in the fields.

Damn it, she’d miss it. All of it. She pulled up in Brianna’s drive and set the brake. He’d gone and stirred up feelings and desires she hadn’t known she was capable of, then left her with no other option but to squelch them.

Pinheaded idiot, she thought, slamming her door before racing toward the house.

Shannon fought off a scowl as she opened the door and found Brianna beaming smiles down the hallway.

“Oh, good, he lent you a jacket. I didn’t think of it till after you’d left. Did you have a nice time then?”

Shannon opened her mouth, surprised when the usual platitudes simply weren’t there. “The man is insane.”

Brianna blinked. “Murphy?”

“Who else? I’m telling you, he’s got something corked around in his head. There’s no reasoning with him.”

In a move so natural neither of them noticed, Brianna took Shannon’s hand and began to lead her back toward the kitchen. “Did you have a quarrel?”

“A quarrel? No, I wouldn’t say that. You can’t quarrel with insanity.”

“Hey, Shannon.” When the kitchen door opened, Gray glanced up, pausing with a huge spoon of trifle half way to a bowl. “How was dinner? Got any room for trifle? Brie makes the world’s best.”