“It made parts of me I don’t like very hard,” I add. “And it made other parts very careful. Last night—she got the careful. She has to get that side or she doesn’t get me.”
He stares at me like he’s trying to decide if he can afford to be proud. That, too, is a bill men like him keep in a separate ledger.
“Fine,” he says at last. “You’re committed. So am I. Here’s the plan, plain as dirt so you can’t pretend you misheard later.” He ticks it off on his fingers. “If Don Marco needles you, you smile with your eyes and not your teeth and you let me answer the insult. When it’s time to speak, you say: I intend to marry your daughter. Then you shut your mouth and let the men who think they run things pretend they do. You don’t win the night with clever. You win it by being impossible to move.”
“Good,” I say. “That’s exactly how it will go.”
“And if he tries to turn it into a pissing contest?”
“I don’t piss,” I say.
Tiernan huffs, half-amused despite himself. “You heard the man. He’s housebroken.”
Rafferty points the pen at him. “You forget how to be invisible around her and I’ll send you to Colorado.”
Tiernan’s grin fades at the same time I reply, “No, you won’t.”
“No,” Rafferty says, and for a second he looks shame-faced. “I won’t.”
Roisin slips back in without knocking and sets a small velvet pouch on the blotter. “From Maeve for the engagement ring,” she says. “Dark silver, low profile for the band. Ogham cut inside with the Shannon name. But the diamond is two carats and princess cut. We’ll check your size tonight when you stop pretending you know ring math, and I’ll get yours from her after.”
“Bless the woman,” Rafferty mutters. He looks at me. “Anything else?”
There’s a secret part of me—small, ugly, honest—that enjoys every second of this. Being seen with her. Being caught. The way discovery forces a shape on something I would have chosen anyway. Claim isn’t a word I like in other men’s mouths. In mine, tonight, it feels like a vow that puts my body between hersand anything with a pulse that wants to take her from me now that I’ve tasted her.
“You’ll have to get the wedding band from Nan. And I’m not gonna be the one to make that call. Since she’s moved to Salem, she’s become more and more like an old witch.”
Fuck, my sister is right, and I didn’t even think of it.
“It’s okay.” I bluff. “Nan loves a good story, and this one’ll give her all the gossip points with her sewing circle, or whatever they’re calling themselves.”
“Yeah,” Roisin doesn’t even bother hiding her laugh. “Good luck with that. She’s more likely to kill you for tarnishing a nun than anything else.”
“Well, you’ll have to call her.” Rafferty grunts. “We all know she’ll insist you drive up there, but you’ll need to call first. Do you have anything else for me?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Two more things.”
Rafferty waits.
“One,” I tell him, “if any of our boys—or theirs—makes a joke about damaged goods, you correct it. Out loud. In the room. She’s mine, and she’ll be the Shannon queen. No disrespect stands, and if correction comes from me it’ll mean they lose their tongue and their eyes.”
His expression doesn’t change. “Done.”
“Two,” I say, “you let me be the one who tells her what we’re doing before you send a messenger to her father.”
“Christ,” he says. “You really mean to marry her.”
“I mean to claim her as mine,” I say, and that’s the only thing that matters. “And I’ll rot in hell for depriving heaven of an angel, but I don’t give a damn anymore.”
He bows his head, just enough for the crucifix to be the tallest thing in the room again. “God help us all,” he says.
“Maybe He will,” I answer, and this time Tiernan doesn’t smirk. He just opens the door.
“Go shower,” Rafferty says, weary in a way he’ll never admit to a doctor. “Put on the suit that makes you look like you came by this honest. And for the love of every saint you think you aren’t afraid of, don’t let her father catch you praying again.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I tell him, and step into the hall.
Tiernan falls in beside me, steps a half behind like he’s learned I’m more likely to stop if someone leaves me room to move. “You sure?” he asks quietly. “About all of it?”
