Hot Under His Collar - Andie J. Christopher Page 0,47
It wasn’t like she would want him to give up being a priest for her. She came from money and had a lifestyle to maintain. It was clear from whom she was dating that she didn’t want a defrocked priest/househusband hanging around her apartment with nothing to do but service her sexually. She needed—deserved—more than that.
“Nothing’s going to happen.” He hoped he sounded more sure about that than he actually was.
“If you want, I will deal with her going forward.” That idea stabbed Patrick in the heart. He was at peace—sort of—with the idea that he’d never be able to touch Sasha. He’d never kiss her, never know for sure that her skin was like velvet, or know the sounds she made when she came. But he wasn’t okay with never seeing her again.
“It’s okay. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“See that it doesn’t,” Sister Cortona said before sweeping out of his office with what he could have sworn was a flick of her habit. She looked at him imperiously over her shoulder as she reached the door. “Oh. The bishop called, and he wants to have a chat with you in the next few weeks. I can guarantee that it won’t be as pleasant as the one you had with Sasha last night.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
IT WAS NEVER A great thing to get called to the bishop’s office. Like being called in to see the principal, there was an outside chance that he would win an award, but it was more likely that he was in trouble for something.
Sort of inevitable, really, given that Patrick put a priority on welcoming people that the Church had done its level best to alienate over the millennia. Until now, he’d maybe been in a honeymoon period with the diocese. They were just happy to have him at first. But he knew that the leash would eventually tighten.
Patrick did not like the bishop. He was an ambitious man who’d become a priest with the express purpose of elevating himself to the College of Cardinals and eventually becoming the Pope.
Bishop Rafferty didn’t say this out loud, but it was widely known all the same. And his ambition ruled everything that was in his domain. Politically, if he thought that something that Patrick was doing at St. Bart’s would ultimately help him climb higher, he would support it. Any whiff of scandal, and Rafferty would stomp it out with his expensive Italian ankle boots.
As soon as the bishop’s secretary ushered Patrick into Rafferty’s lavishly furnished office and Patrick saw the smile on the other man’s face, he knew he was in trouble.
Rafferty got up from his desk and patted Patrick on his back so hard that it jangled his insides. “Patrick, my boy.”
Patrick stepped back and shook the bishop’s hand when it was offered. “You asked to see me?”
Since this was his boss, something inside Patrick wanted to keep things as professional as possible. It was hard, given that their relationship was spiritual as well as professional, but Patrick would do his best. Bishop Rafferty cared more about his political aspirations than the spiritual well-being of his flock, and Patrick would never make the grave mistake of forgetting that.
Patrick’s tone knocked the bishop off his game a little, but it only flashed across his face for a moment when he realized that Patrick was not going to play this game. He motioned toward a chair, and his tone when he said, “Yes, sit,” was clipped.
“We have a problem,” the bishop said, going right in, “with the pre-K program.”
Relief washed through Patrick. This was a budgetary issue. The pre-K program had provided nothing but positive publicity for the diocese, so maybe the bishop was going to lend his support to saving it. “Well, we’re doing a fundraising bake sale next week. I know it doesn’t sound like much—”
“That’s not what I called you for.” Rafferty sighed, leaned back, and laced his fingers together over his stomach. “You didn’t tell me that the teacher was married to another woman.”
Patrick said nothing. He’d known that eventually someone conservative in the diocese might find out that Jemma was technically in violation of the completely archaic “morals clause” in her contract, but a lot of parishes declined to enforce that stupid rule.
When Rafferty realized that Patrick wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of squirming, he continued. “I just think that we need to be very careful and considerate here. I know the Holy Father occasionally strays from the Church’s teachings in public statements,