on the streets of Dublin for my money. Back then, they paid good money to see young boys bareknuckle fighting.”
“I could see that, yes.”
“Malachy saved me from a hard life. Brought me to St. Albert’s. Convinced Seamus, the late Clan Chief, to bring me on as one of their own.”
“How old were you?”
“Just an infant when I was orphaned. They took me into St. Albert’s as soon as I was of age.”
“Wow. You were only a child, weren’t you?”
“Aye. And I needed a lot. Discipline. Leadership. Guidance and education.”
“Love,” she supplies.
A lump forms in my throat but I swallow it down. “Aye. As any lad does, doesn’t he? Love. But I’ve felt for years… hell, still feel like it’s not something freely given. I suppose it might be different if children are raised a certain way? Like if they know from birth they’re loved?”
She nods.
“But when you’re adopted into a family, so to speak, I think you sort of feel like it could be taken away, don’t you?”
She nods. “Yes. Yes, that’s exactly it. I didn’t even really know how to say it until you said it yourself. How do you know that?”
“You think I’m only good to throw back a Guinness or look menacingly at people who’ll threaten to hurt you?”
I gather her to my chest and kiss the top of her head. I can’t ever leave this woman. I can’t ever let her think that she’s somehow lost my love. If we’re in… we’re all in.
“Look at your locket, lass.”
She lifts her locket and holds it in the palm of her hand.
“Open it.”
She obeys, her willingness to do what I tell her making me ache for so much more.
“Who’s that sweet girl in the picture?”
She smiles, a corner of her lip tipping up. Her freckled cheeks are so adorable I can’t help but bend and kiss them.
“The old me,” she whispers.
“What would you tell the old you if you could go back and talk to her?”
“I’d tell her to hold on,” she whispers. “That better days were coming. That soon, she’d be more loved than she’d ever think possible.”
She lifts her face to mine, her eyes hold mine for a split second, then I bend my mouth to hers. I’m only an inch or so away, her sweet breath kissing my cheek. I grin at her. I want to own this mouth. I want to own every inch of her. She leans in to kiss me and I teasingly pull away again.
“Lachlan,” she whines. “Are you toying with me?”
“Hard to resist,” I say with a grin. I finally capture her mouth with mine, our kiss no longer gentle but intense. She moans into my mouth and I kiss her harder, bending her to me until she’s flat on the loveseat and I’m framed above her. She yields to me so beautifully, I melt into her. My eyes close and I’m drowning in her scent, in her soft body, in the essence of everything about her.
I groan with the effort of holding myself back when we come up for air, but I have to.
“Listen to me, Fiona,” I whisper in her ear. “I just spoke with Keenan. And tonight, I’m taking you with me. I have to align myself with local mafia for our safety and protection. Do you understand?”
She nods, though she eyes me warily. Her lips are parted, and she eyes me as if I’ve just hung the moon.
“I do,” she says. “You’re taking me with you?”
“I won’t leave you anywhere without my protection. I have to do this.”
She nods but doesn’t speak.
I swallow. I’m not sure how to explain what has to happen. I won’t hurt her, I fucking won’t.
“Are you scared to take me there?” she whispers.
I close my eyes before I answer, then shake my head. “No, lass. There’s not much I’m afraid of, but what scares me is what I have to do before we go.”
Panic flits across her features and she bites her lip. “Do you need to… take another woman? Or something? Pretend to have an escort?”
“Fuck no.”
Her brow furrows. “Then what?”
I swallow, cup her chin in my hand and make her hold my eyes. “I need to mark you.” Now that I’ve said it, firm conviction fills me and my voice is louder, more confident. “So that when I go in there with you, they know exactly who you belong to.”
She blinks but doesn’t speak for a moment, then whispers a breathy, “Alright, then. Let’s do it.”
I grin at her.