Kieran chokes on his drink, and Ciara’s red lips twitch, but from the fire in her eyes, it seems she’s only getting started.
“Oh, and don’t ever call me princess again.”
“How aboutTine Bheag?”
“Are you making shit up now?”
I swallow a laugh. “It’s an old Gaelic word. I suggest you look it up.”
“Now you’re giving me homework too? How…low class of you.”
Brennan smothers a laugh with a cough at her words, and even Callum winces slightly, his eyes flicking to me as he waits for my reaction. But his shoulders relax when my face breaks out into a grin.
God, she’s fun.
“You’ll forgive me for not being offended. Seeing as you’re the one being married intomyfamily.”
Ciara cocks a brow, flicking her blonde hair over hershoulder. “Don’t flatter yourself. This isn’t a marriage. It’s a hostile takeover.”
I run my finger around the rim of my glass, trying to hold in my laughter. “Hostile or not, it’s still a binding contract. Once the contracts are signed, there’s no backing out. But your family gets my protection and my name, and I getyou.”
She stiffens before snatching up her wine glass and taking a sip. “I’m not a pawn or some prize for you to collect.”
“No. You’re a queen, which makes you ten times more dangerous on the board. But don’t forget, sweetheart, that I’m the one moving the pieces.”
She sets her glass down on the table and turns her body in her seat to face me properly.
I can’t help but glance down at her chest, my mouth watering as I eye the swell of her breasts.
When she leans forward, offering me an even better view as well as a waft of her sweet perfume, it takes everything in me not to reach down and palm my length through my pants.
“You can pretend to be in charge all you want,” she whispers, drawing my attention back to her plump lips. “But let’s be clear about one thing.”
“What’s that?” My voice comes out a little hoarse.
“I don’t take orders from anyone, andespeciallynot from you.”
It’s cute how intimidating she thinks she’s being. Doesn’t she realize who she’s talking to?
“Is that right?” I lean back against the cold, red leather of the booth and rest my forearm on the table.
“I’ll marry you to save what’s left of my family, but that doesn’t mean I’ll obey you like some docile little trophy wife. I’ll do things my way.”
Fuck. Hearing her speak the wordswifeandobeyis doing very dangerous things to me.
“See, that’s the part where we’re going to have a problem,”I lean forward just enough to make her breath catch. “Because if we’re doing this, there are rules that will need to be followed.”
“I’m not following your rules.”
“You haven’t heard them yet. You might find youlikethem.”
Ciara’s throat bobs, which has my lips pulling up into a smile.
She can fight me all she wants, but she can’t hide how her body reacts to me.
“Rule number one,” I murmur. “When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it without question.”
Her nostrils flare as anger flashes in her eyes. “Are you serious?”
