“I don’t think it matters what you want Grandma. It’s what you deserve that matters.” Zoe looked at her parents and Grandpa daring anyone to ...peak. They didn’t. They knew better than that. Zoe was in control, and Zoe would decide what was going to happen. Zoe had decided. “ Right Grandma, these switches are not going to go to waste.” Again Grandma put her hand to her mouth, but could not prevent the quite audible groan. “ Yes Grandma, exactly. Now, take your skirt off, and be quick about. My wife was in full flirt mode, putting her hands on their arms and laughing at something one or both of them had been saying, flouncing her hair with quick little head movements. I knew from my couple of hours with them two nights ago that the Irishmen were a lot of fun to be with, constantly cracking jokes and telling funny stories; and I was pretty sure that they had a red eye flight to somewhere east in the morning. Their laughing and talking and drinking went on for another forty-five. A rack held a variety of stretched canvases and she pulled one out and held it before her. The gray-white mat surface pulled at her and she placed it on the easel staring at it disconsolately. The taboret loaded with brushes stood invitingly beside the easel. In a way her hands itched to handle the brushes but the inspiration was lacking, her muse was busy elsewhere. A strange foreign mood had overcome her. Somehow the commission and The Court seemed very far away. She had a memory of her. Here standing before him is the most vulnerable woman he has ever come across. For all her toughness, she is obviously weak. He was ready to slam her down, cuff her and then haul her in. But now all he wants to do is hold her. He cannot explain it. Maybe it was what he saw or felt the first time he met her, maybe it is something else entirely. Regardless of what it is, the man feels now that he needs to protect her rather than arrest her. “Start from the beginning,” he says, taking her by the.