I wrap my arm around Fiona’s neck and draw her closer to me.
“Protection’s worth a hefty price,” I tell him.
He eyes Fiona again, this time not bothering to mask the lust in his eyes. “Do all the McCarthy men have such young lasses in their keep?”
“Some do,” I tell him. “Some don’t.”
“And I’m guessing this one is clearly off the table.”
“Yes,” Tiernan and I say in unison. My grip on her tightens.
Calum swallows hard, then finally concedes with a nod. “Does she have any friends?”
Fiona’s eyes go wide, and she opens her mouth to speak but I tug the little chain that binds her to me. She clamps her mouth shut.
“I said that human negotiation was off the table,” Tiernan says with a sigh. He gets to his feet as if he’s about to leave. I follow suit. We face the door, as if we’re leaving, when Calum stops us.
“Alright, then. No women for trade.” He sighs. “Tell me what else you have to offer.”
As Tiernan outlines every option we have to trade, I sweep my eyes around the room. No one looks familiar, of course, but I’m noting something else. Fiona’s the only woman in the inner circle. All the other men are single, sitting around tables with pints and shots and glasses of whiskey. Why are there no women here?
“Alright, we have a deal,” Calum says. “As long as you can promise me you’ve nothing to do with O’Gregor scum, and I have your word you’re born and bred McCarthy stock, you have a deal.”
I shrug out of my suit coat and begin unbuttoning my dress shirt. Calum watches me, but Fiona’s gaze is just as keen. I shrug out of my shirt and fold it across my knees, flip my arm around, and bare my inked marks to him.
“This here shows I’m McCarthy stock. You know any man who’d bear this mark without proper affiliation would die a painful death.”
Calum looks on, and the man sitting next to him, who’s sat silently until now, nods.
“Oh, aye,” he says. “It’s the mark, isn’t it?” He whistles. “What’s your heritage, lad?”
I shrug my shirt back on as Fiona watches us in silence. “My father was cousin to Seamus McCarthy. When my parents died when I was just a baby, I was taken into the finishing school, raised to learn McCarthy Clan code.”
“Good men, those McCarthys,” Calum says. He raises his pint. “We’ll drink to them!”
We toast and drink, though the tension between us is thick. Moments after I finish a pint, a door to the back opens, and the lights dim. A hush goes over the crowd when a line of women walks on stage, clearly specifically here for our entertainment. Fiona’s mouth drops when she sees them, every one of them wearing nothing more than pretty tassels on their nipples.
Her eyes come to mine, and I hold her gaze. “Look at me,” I say quietly. She obeys.
“Come get a drink with me, Lach?” Tiernan says. I know he wants a word alone, when he jerks his chin toward the bar.
“Aye,” I say, though I’m reluctant to leave her. “Come,” I say, giving her a tug, but Calum speaks up.
“Ah, no women at the bar.” I look at him in surprise.
“Really? Feckin’ Middle Ages, is it?”
He grins. “In more ways than you know.”
“She’ll be fine for a minute,” Tiernan says, clearly eager to talk with me about whatever he needs to. “Keep watch on her the whole time.” He grimaces and shoots daggers at me. “And any bloke that doesn’t see the bite marks and hickies you left all over my sister is a fucking fool.”
I glare right back. “Bringing her in here unmarked would be a hell of a lot worse and you know it.”
I sigh and estimate the walk to the bar from the table.
Behind the women come a line of men, fully clothed in tuxes, dancing their way around the women. One comes our way, swinging a cane as if he’s conducting an orchestra. When he sees Fiona, he walks straight toward her, but before he’s within striking distance, I’m in her space beside her. He takes one look at me and keeps on walking by.
“Feckin’ hell,” I curse under my breath.
“Oh, my,” Fiona says. “I have to use the bathroom, Lachlan.” She shoots Calum a look. “I suppose you have bathrooms for women, do you? Or are they not allowed there either?”
“Fiona,” I say warningly, but Calum just throws his head back and laughs.
“Ah, the