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actually say that.” She shook her head. “I’m beginning to suspect you’re only pretending to hail from Erin’s Isle.”
    He grinned mischievously. “Around here we like to make quite a deal out of being Irish. Perhaps we’ve come to overdo it a bit.”
    “Aye. A bonnie wee bit,” she said under her breath.
    “Well turned, Katie,” Ian said. “Well turned.”
    Well turned, indeed. There was intelligence under that stubborn mask. She would be a joy to know, if only she’d give him the opportunity.
    “There’s Archer’s place.” Tavish motioned with his head directly in front of them.
    Katie turned forward again, eyeing the white, two-story home with dark blue trim and a gabled roof, sitting in the midst of a neat and orderly yard. The Archer home was by far the nicest in the area. No rough plank walls and river-rock chimneys for the wealthy Joseph Archer. He owned the largest home, the most fertile fields. He alone had the means of hiring servants to see to the keeping of his house. Tavish tried very hard not to envy the man but didn’t always succeed.
    Ian pulled the wagon up in front of the barn. Almost the next moment their youngest brother, Finbarr, stepped out and glanced up at them. The lad had worked for Archer these past three years. During that time, he’d grown from a scrawny, timid boy to a quietly confident young lad of sixteen. If for no other reason than that, Tavish had long since decided not to hate Joseph Archer.
    “Is Joseph about?” Ian asked.
    Finbarr nodded and motioned to the barn behind him.
    “Tell him we’ve come with something he’s been looking for.”
    The boy’s eyes shifted immediately to Katie, curiosity clear on his face. She fidgeted under the scrutiny. She’d best grow accustomed to that. The entire town would be wondering about her.
    “He is an O’Connor, I daresay.” She sounded more irritated by the realization than anything else.
    “The youngest of us,” Tavish said.
    “Aye, but that one knows how to hold his tongue, something I hadn’t thought was an O’Connor trait.”
    Ian, who’d begun climbing down from his perch on the wagon, stopped midway and smiled across at her. “I’ve a feeling you’re going to get on quite well with my wife, Biddy.”
    Tavish hoped that proved true. A friendship between the two meant he’d see more of this intriguing Katie Macauley.
    Joseph Archer emerged from his barn, walking with determined step toward the wagon. Ian greeted him a few paces away. “Good day to you, Joseph.”
    “That’s Joseph Archer?” Katie asked Tavish in a low whisper. She sounded both surprised and unhappy with the thought.
    “Aye. Joseph Archer he is.”
    Her expression pulled tight with surprise. “He’s younger than I expected.”
    “How old did you think he’d be?”
    “Nearly ancient.”
    Just what in his letters had made her think that? Tavish wondered.
    Ian and Joseph approached the wagon. Katie kept herself quite still, studying her employer, a look of dissatisfaction written all over her face.
    Joseph looked up at her. “I’m told you are my missing housekeeper. I expected you over a week ago.”
    Tavish bristled a bit on her behalf at the scolding tone Joseph had used.
    “I know I’m late, sir, but it’s not my fault. I missed a train back a piece, and that threw off the whole schedule. Before I knew what I was about, I found myself later and later and standing quite alone in a station a full week after I might have expected to be retrieved.” She took a quick breath and finished her explanation. “I have managed to get myself here, though, and I hope you’ll not be holding it against me that I did so a week after my time.”
    Joseph’s face shifted from neutrality to surprise to near annoyance as she spoke. He looked over at Ian. “She’s Irish.”
    Ah. There was the reason for Joseph’s obvious disapproval.
    “As a shamrock,” Ian replied.
    Joseph shook his head adamantly. “She can’t stay. You’ll have to