“Now, don’t get your knickers in a knot over this. I’ve told you, we’ve got it.”
She nods. “That’s not really what I’m worried about. I mean, I am… I want all of this put to rest. All of it. But I also… well, you told me you’ll claim me next. And I’m not sure what that will bring.”
I reach for her hand and lace her fingers through my own. “Aye, I know it. But you said you trust me, remember?”
“And I do, Tiernan. So so much.”
“Then just trust me with this. We’re going to work this out first. We’ll makes sure you’re safe and no one will come for you.”
“Or you.” Her eyes flash.
My lips twitch. “Or me.”
“I mean it, Tiernan, it’s bloody awful that someone could blame you for his death, when all you did was defend me.”
I roll my eyes. “You don’t think I’ve been accused of such things before? Honest to God, Ais, I’m fucking Irish mob.”
Her lips twitch. “Well, aye, that y'are, eh?”
I take her hand and lead her to the door. “Let’s go downstairs. We’ll talk about this later.”
It’ll help if she can talk to the other girls again as well. We head downstairs, and though I know we’ve much to do to make sure that the trouble that followed us is over, I’m confident that we’ll manage it. We aren’t alone. We’ve got the power, strength, and connections of the entire McCarthy clan behind us.
The downstairs is dimly lit. The babies have been tucked in for the night, and a certain peace settles in around us. There’s a light on in the kitchen, though it’s closed for the night, and the main receiving rooms are cast into darkness.
“It’s beautiful,” Aisling murmurs.
“What is, love?”
She sighs and nestles her head against my shoulder. “The peace in this home. Dozens of people in bed, the house clean and at rest. It’s a little bit like a dream?’
I love this about her, how much she adores the simplest things in life like this. I kiss her cheek.
“You’re beautiful. And this home will be much richer for having you in it, you know.”
She looks at me sheepishly. “You say the most romantic things when you’re not being all chest-beating-alpha male.”
I shrug. “I can say romantic things then, too.”
She giggles. “Oh, can you? Let’s hear them.”
I snap my fingers and in my deepest register, point to the floor. “Woman. Here. Now.”
She shivers. “Oooh. That’ll do.”
We join the others in the meeting room. Keenan sits at his desk, nodding soberly when we enter. Nolan and Cormac are here, but that’s it.
“No Lachlan?” Aisling whispers in my ear. I shake my head. Lachlan’s got a woman to take care of tonight, and the top three are McCarthy blood, direct heirs to the line of Seamus McCarthy. “We’ve a hierarchy,” I explain quietly. “These are the three most inner circle.” Keenan calls this group when we need the utmost in privacy. “And Fiona needs Lachlan tonight, doesn’t she?”
She nods.
“Y’alright, Aisling?” Keenan asks with concern, every bit the McCarthy patriarch with his brows drawn together. I swear his role as Chief has aged him.
She nods. “Oh, aye. I’m good. You?”
His eyes twinkle. “I’m very good, thanks, lass. And you, Tiernan? Y’alright?”
“Yes, sir.” I sit beside Nolan, and Aisling sits beside me.
Nolan fairly beams at me.
“You’ve done well, lad,” Nolan says with a smile. “Damn proud of you.”
“Goddamn right about that,” Cormac says with a nod, his brows drawn together in concern. “I’m sorry we didn’t know about the dangers at the school.”
Keenan blows out a breath. “It’s my fault. I’m the one that bloody sent them there, when they would’ve been safer staying right here.”
Aisling shakes her head, “Now, there’s no point of playing that game, is there? Where everyone has regrets and the like. If we’re going to play that game, I could take the blame myself for even being responsible for this coming on McCarthy family territory?” She looks at me with a smile. “But Tiernan will have my arse if I go there again.”
“Bloody well will,” I say with a scowl.
Keenan smiles. “Aye, lass, it’s a fair point.”
“Better, then, for us to focus on where we are,” Aisling says. Christ, but I love this woman. She’s in the midst of some of the most powerful men in Ireland and yet she leads them in this. I can’t fucking wait to put a ring on her finger.
“Let’s hear the update, Keenan?”
He nods. “Aye. So what I can tell you so far is this. Had a meeting with Brady. Vivian and Clifford have been apprehended, of course, everything they’ve done.”
“Still can’t bloody believe she did that,” Aisling mutters sorrowfully.
“Aye. I can’t either,” Keenan says. “I’ve got men that were in pretty deeply with her girls, and it’s a fucking shame.”
Aisling sighs. “Aye.”
Keenan frowns. “The problem is, you’re not off the hook, Ais.”
I feel my belly tighten, and I sit up straighter.
“What do you mean?”
“Brady has it on record now, that Aisling was acting in self-defense. We were able to run the reel at the school, and we’ve got Vivian admitting as much as well.”
“Aye,” Aisling says. “That was smart.”
Keenan blows out a breath. “But the Prime Minister isn’t buying it, and you know he’s powerful. The good news is, hardly anyone knew that the girl you brought to the school was the same girl who worked for Vivian, Tiernan. So they don’t know she’s here.”
“Doesn’t matter, though, does it, if the Prime Minister’s determined to take her down?”
Keenan shakes his head. “We have clout, boys, but you know he’s got connections as well.”
We do. Deep ones.
“So what do we do, then? Run?” I hate the fucking thought. I’ve never run from a threat in my life, and I don’t fucking want to start now.
Keenan nods thoughtfully. “So far we’ve managed to find the threat against us. Through Aisling’s tactics, we’ve removed any implication that a McCarthy was responsible for the death. But now we need to remove any threat against Aisling. I’m afraid even if the courts rule in her favor, and both Brady and Walsh are absolutely certain they can make that happen… well, it doesn’t eliminate the threat against her personally.”
“Jesus,” Nolan mutters. “All he’d have to do is hire a hitman, eh?”
“Aye.”
I hold her hand tighter, her fingers woven into mine, like the tapestry of my life. Right here, nearly all that matters is the people in this room and my siblings. My brothers of the Clan, and the woman I’ll make my wife.
“Got an idea,” Aisling says. Her eyes shine like beacons in the dark, and I swear to Christ it makes my dick hard. She’s so fucking brilliant.
Keenan nods, giving her permission to speak.