“Oh God,” Carolina muttered, making Linda laugh again. Glancing up at Seamus, Carolina said, “What’re you doing here?”

“Looking for you, love.”

Linda didn’t think she was capable of swooning, but the heated look the sexy Irishman gave her friend was positively swoon-worthy.

He nodded to her. “Mrs. McCarthy. Nice to see you again.”

“Since you and my friend are apparently an item, you should probably call me Linda to keep me from feeling too ancient.”

The comment was met with a scowl from Carolina and a wide grin from Seamus, who slid into the booth next to Carolina, forcing her to move over to let him in. Carolina’s face was bright red, and she radiated discomfort, whereas Seamus seemed relaxed and at ease with taking their relationship public.

“So she’s been talking about me, aye?”

“That she has.”

He leaned forward, green eyes twinkling. “What’d she say? Anything good?”

Linda couldn’t help but laugh, even though she knew Carolina wouldn’t appreciate it. “I’ll never tell.”

“Darn.” He slipped an arm around Caro, oblivious to the attention they were attracting from nearby tables, kissed the top of her head and drew her in close to him. “I missed you last night.” To Linda, he said, “Had to spend the night on the mainland because of a meeting this morning. I couldn’t talk her into coming with me.”

Caro nudged his ribs with her elbow.

“What? Did I or did I not try to convince you to come with me so we wouldn’t have to sleep apart?”

“And that is my cue to leave,” Linda said, putting a twenty on the table as she stood.

“You don’t have to go,” Carolina said desperately as it seemed to dawn on her that without Linda there to block the prying eyes of the other diners, the word would be all over town about her and Seamus before the hour was up.

“I have to get to the grocery store. Adam is home, and the family is coming for dinner. Got to run, but you think about what I said, do you hear me?”

Carolina grumbled something in reply that Linda couldn’t make out.

“You know,” Linda said, as a deliciously evil idea came to her. “You two should join us for dinner tonight. Joe and Janey will be there, along with the rest of the family.”

As Carolina’s eyes went wide with dismay, Seamus said, “We’d love to. What time?”

“Six thirty,” Linda said, avoiding Carolina’s glare on her way to the door. “See you then!”

“I hope she didn’t leave on my account,” Seamus said when they were alone.

“Of course she did. If you’re going to start prattling on about our sleeping arrangements, she’s not going to hang around for that.”

“Seemed like you might’ve already mentioned our sleeping arrangements before I got here.”