Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Her lips twitch despite her nerves. “Bianca White.”
“White.” Declan's eyebrows rise, but he keeps his expression neutral. “Welcome, love. Seamus is in the study with the others. He's in rare form, brother.”
“Grand,” I mutter.
Bianca pales, but I give her hand a little squeeze. “He's more bark than bite for people he loves. You don't want to be his enemy, but you're not.”
We follow him through the familiar halls, past the portraits of family and the heavy furniture that seemed so much bigger when I was a child. Bianca's eyes are wide, taking everything in, cataloging the details as she does. That historian brain of hers never stops.
The study doors are open, and voices come from within. People are in the kitchen and the dining hall.
Everyone looks when I walk in with Bianca. The silence is deafening.
But our focus zones in on Seamus, standing behind his desk, his arms crossed, looking every inch the head of his family. Cavin's by the window, silent and watchful, his hands pushed into his pockets. He gives me a look one might give an errant student facing a headmaster for punishment.
Lorcan is sprawled in one of the leather chairs, picking at his cuticles, but he sits up quickly when he sees the two of us coming in. “Right, then,” he mutters under his breath.
Cavin's wife, Erin, is perched on the edge of the desk, all sharp eyes and sharper tongue. “Oh my,” she says, never one to mince words. “So this is why you haven't come to dinner, even when Caitlin's made her famous roast?”
I scrub a hand across my brow. “Aye.”
“So.” Seamus's voice is low, his gaze moving from me to Bianca and back again. “You brought her.”
“Aye.” I keep my hand on the small of Bianca's back. “Wasn't safe to leave her.”
“Safe.” Cavin gives me a sharp look, pushes off the window, his movements controlled. But Cavin's a fighter, just like me, and I know this stance. He's holding himself back. “Because Crowning's fucking looking for her because you took her from him.”
“Cavin—” Declan starts, one hand up. The peacemaker. He doesn't like trouble in the family, but Cavin cuts him off with a look.
“No, we won't fucking dance around this.” Cavin's eyes fix on me. “You took Crowning's bride-to-be, and now we're in the firing line because you wouldn't keep your fucking cock in your pants.”
“Cavin,” Erin snaps. “My god. Read the room, will you?”
I feel Bianca stiffen beside me. I clench my hands into fists. “You watch your goddamn mouth.”
“Or what?” Cavin takes a step forward. “You'll start another war. Oh, wait, you already fucking did.”
“Shut it.”
He shoves me, and rage builds. I could wipe the floor with him in ten seconds flat, and he knows it.
Seamus's voice cuts through the tension like a blade. “Enough. Both of you, sit down.”
Cavin glares, but we all know better than to disobey Seamus.
Cavin's one of my best mates, but he's angry because I put his family in the line of fire.
“I had my reasons,” I say, my voice tight.
“Do any of those reasons have anything to do with our family's safety?” Cavin shoots back.
“I said enough,” Seamus says. “Sit the fuck down before I make you.”
Lorcan lets out a whistle, but I don't sit. Seamus looks at me in shock. Can't remember if I've ever disobeyed him like this.
“Ashland,” he says.
“I'm not sitting until Cavin apologizes to her.”
“Fuck,” Declan mutters. “He's serious.”
“Of course he's serious,” Erin says, sliding off the desk. She approaches Bianca with a look that makes me tense, but she speaks gently. “I’m sorry. This lot can be a bit much, but they’re more bark than bite.”
Cavin growls but doesn’t respond.
Bianca's voice is small but steady. “I'm fine.”
“Alright,” Erin says with a smile. “I respect that. Do you want to get some tea while the boys sort out their dick-measuring contest?”
“She stays with me,” I say immediately.
“Ashland.” Bianca touches my arm, and I look down at her. “It's okay. I could use some tea. And honestly”—she gives me a small smile—“a little bit of female conversation.”
I grumble.
“Let’s go,” Erin says. “Kyla and Bronwyn are in the kitchen. We'll come back in a bit, Ash.” She rolls her eyes when I reach for Bianca, then starts to lead her out. “They need the female touch in these meetings now.”
The moment they're out of his office, Seamus points to the chair across from his desk. “Sit. Now.”
I sit. Lorcan shifts in his chair, giving me a sympathetic look. It's not often he sees me on the end of the firing squad.
Declan smirks. He likes a good show. “How long you been obsessed with her?”
“Shut up, Declan.”
“I'm just saying it's very Beauty and the Beast of you. Very tortured hero.”
“Shut the fuck up before I break your fuckin’ nose.”
“You'll have to catch me first, brother.”