He claps Tiernan on the back. “How’ve you been lad?”
Tiernan lights up like a little boy on Christmas, nearly bursting with pride. It’s then that I realize that this place, this school, was home to him, too.
“Excellent.” He gestures toward me. “Malachy, meet Ruby.”
Ruby. Ugh. I can’t get over the name.
I plaster on a smile and shake his hand.
“Pleased to meet you, love,” he says, leaning in to whisper. “Keenan’s told me everything. You two need anything at all, you let me know.” He stands and gestures to Tiernan. “And if this bloke doesn’t treat you well, you let me know.” He cuffs Tiernan good-naturedly. “I can still kick his muscled, full-grown arse.”
Tiernan snorts and ducks the blow.
“You think so, old man?” Tiernan’s already bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to go, and Malachy grimaces.
“Actually, probably not,” he says, and the two of us laugh.
“Got a class to teach, will see you later,” Malachy says. Tiernan waves, and opens the door for us to go inside.
“I don’t understand,” I say to him. “What makes it safer here? Why didn’t we just stay at the mansion? I mean, there’s those heavy gates and security…”
“And we likely would’ve been fine there, aye,” Tiernan says, as the door swings shut behind him. “But no one will think to look here, when doing a cursory investigation anyway. St. Albert’s is damn near its own little island, as it were.”
“Oh? How so?” I’m intrigued.
“Well, they’ve got their own staff, for one. Private schooling. All attendees board, and we have a full school board panel as well.” He goes on, explaining the hierarchical structure of the school’s staff.
“Ah. That really is like a little island, isn’t it?”
He smiles grimly. “’Twas the first place I felt truly safe and at home.”
My heart squeezes for him. I’m glad he’s brought me. I’m not sure I’d have been able to see every facet of Tiernan Hurston without this.
“Right, then. I love that for you.”
He holds my hand and squeezes me back.
When we enter the school, there’s a boy sitting in front of an office. He’s scowling, leaning forward with his arms on his knees. When we enter, he looks up, and his eyes go wide.
“You’re Tiernan Hurston, of the McCarthy Clan,” he says. The McCarthys are like celebrities here. I notice how all eyes come to Tiernan, and the boys that walk past whisper among themselves. The boy here before us has a shock of reddish brown hair and a freckled face. He’s rail thin but I can tell he’s got a will of iron. There’s a toughness about him I’d recognize a mile away.
“Aye,” Tiernan says. “And your name?”
“Deacon Shae,” the boy says with a note of pride in his voice.
“Pleased to meet you, Deacon,” Tiernan says. His gaze is stern, fixed on the boy, and Deacon squirms under Tiernan’s penetrating look. He crosses his arms on his chest and narrows his eyes. “Now, what has you outside the headmaster’s office?”
Deacon blushes to the roots of his hair.
“Aw, let him alone, Tiernan,” I whisper. “C’mon.”
Tiernan shakes his head at me, his eyes on the boy. “Tell me.”
The boy clears his throat, his cheeks bright pink. “I, um… may have lost my temper in Chem class.”
“Did you or didn’t you?” Yikes, Tiernan’s turned the full force of his stern gaze on him. My heart thumps a little. Can I be attracted to this side of him?
Oh, hell yes, I am.
Deacon sighs. “I did.”
“And what’d you do in your fit of temper?”
I’m as uncomfortable as Deacon is, poor lad, but Tiernan’s bent on making sure the boy’s chastised, it seems.
“I… broke a beaker or two, sir.”
Tiernan’s brows raise. “Which was it? One or two?”
The boy grimaces. “Three.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
“Speak plainly, Deacon. Tell the truth. Men sometimes lose their tempers, but a meek man will apologize and take the punishment he’s due.”
The boy grimaces again at the word punishment, when the headmaster opens his door. He’s about Malachy’s age, tall and strong, and I wonder if all the men related to the McCarthy clan are that way. Former fighters or the like.
“Ah, Tiernan!” They’re all pleased to see him, and it makes me happy to see. The headmaster’s a tall, large man with a thick gray beard and glasses. “Welcome home, son. And I see you’ve brought a guest?”
Tiernan shakes his hand. “Aye, sir, this is Ruby.”
“Pleased to meet you. Doran Clifford.” His eyes are sharp, his grip firm. “I’ll see you at supper, then?”
“Aye,” Tiernan says, turning to leave, as Clifford beckons the boy into his office.
“What will happen to him?” I ask Tiernan. I feel so badly for the boy.
“Well, he’ll be disciplined for his fit of temper, won’t he? I would know that dance fairly well. Had a temper myself. Damn near got expelled the first day I was here, but Keenan insisted I stay. Lachlan and Nolan helped me out quite a bit. Grateful they did. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without them.”
I hold his hand as he leads me about the campus. I’m honored that he’s brought me here, that he’s taken me into this place. But deep in my belly, I know something’s wrong. I tell myself it’s because I’m only playacting, that I’m here in disguise because I’m a wanted woman. That there’s only so long this can go on. I hate that I’m a wanted woman.
Even holding Tiernan’s hand, I can’t soothe the knot in my stomach or still the trembling in my hands.
Chapter 13
Tiernan
It feels odd being back here. I imagine it’s the way a soldier might feel returning home from battle. Everything looks the same. Hell, everything even feels the same. But… I’m not the same person I was back then. I’m hardly the man I was a week ago, now that I’ve got a charge here with me.
A charge. Fucking hell, the way my mind works sometimes… She isn’t a charge. She’s Aisling. My Aisling.
I show Aisling the campus and introduce her to everyone we meet up with. Every once in a while, I do an almost double-take, she looks so different than she did before. She’s polite and adorable, damn near fetching with her hair hanging down on her forehead as she bites her lip.
She asks questions, and I do my best to answer her, but my mind is elsewhere.
Will they find us here? Is she still being pursued?
After I’ve given her the full tour of the grounds, I take her back to the room we’re staying in. She unpacks, and I call Brady.
“Any update?”
“No, brother,” Brady says. “They’re still looking for her. Someone got ahold of Vivian, and she told them she hasn’t seen Aisling since that night of the fight.”
Which would likely corroborate the suspicion that she’s a suspect in Edmund Doyle’s disappearance.