“I’m no hero, Aoife, just a golf golden boy,” I replied dryly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me?—”
“You can’t save Ballybeg.” Cillian put his hand on my arm to stop me from walking away.
I leveled him with a warning glance. “If you want to keep that hand, you’ll take it off my body.”
There was only one way to treat a bully: you had to show him who the bigger dog was in the fight.
He did as I asked, but didn’t step away. “I have this deal nailed, and when I buy that land of hers, you’ll?—”
“How will you buy the land?” I drawled lazily.
“She can’t afford the taxes.”
“But I can.” I smiled. “I can afford to not only pay her taxes, which I have. You should check with the revenue office. In fact, asshole, I can afford to pay taxes for the whole village.”
He went pale as if he couldn’t believe what I’d said.
“Why would you pay Dee’s taxes?” Aoife looked at me, confused.
Now was a good time as any to make the announcement, I thought, since I’d now found a ring to propose to her with. “Because she’s going to be my wife very soon, Aoife.”
Her expression fractured, surprise slipping through the cracks.
“You’re going to marry her?” Cillian looked just asdazed as his ditzy woman. “Why the feck would you marry that bitch?”
“Now, why would you speak of my future wife like that, Cillian, unless you want me to shove my shoe up your ass?”
He stiffened. “I can make this work without her farm,” he declared belligerently.
“I don’t think so,” I remarked and then got into his face. “It was in poor taste to go after your own village, O’Farrell. Really poor taste.”
He scoffed. “What can I say? Some of us have ambition.”
“Is that what you call it?” I arched an eyebrow. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks a hell of a lot like screwing people over.”
His smile faltered for a fraction of a second before he spread his arms wide as if he were making a statement. “It’s called business. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand plenty,” I drawled, enjoying the moment. “And if you did as well, you’d know to stay the hell away from Ballybeg.”
Cillian laughed outright at that, the sound grating on my nerves. “And what are you going to do, golf me into submission?”
“I’m giving you fair warning that once this deal falls apart, which it will, I’ll make sure your reputation is completely ruined.”
Cillian’s smirk faltered.
I pressed on. “You think you’re untouchable, butI’ve got money and contacts,arsehole—and by the time I’m done, you won’t be able to sell a patch of grass to a man with a goat.”
On that note, feeling rather pleased with myself, I walked into the jewelry store and bought my future wife’s engagement ring and some other jewelry that I knew would look amazing on her.
CHAPTER 35
Dee
Ballybeg was a mad place on the best of days, but this? This was something else entirely.
The pub was the unofficial headquarters forJax’s Plan,and this morning, it looked like the Gallagher barn after a storm.
Tables were shoved together and covered in papers, laptops, and cups of tea. Mrs. Nolan was barking orders at Seamus, who was struggling to untangle a mess of wires for the sound system.
