I wanted the man, and I knew he wanted me.
He left me sitting on his bed and went into the bathroom.
He came back out. “Come on, beautiful. I’m running you a bath.”
I didn’t have a bathtub. I took the room with the shower cabinet so guests would have nicer bathrooms.
“What?”
“I think you need to rest, relax, take a bath, and then a nap.”
I raised both eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“First, bath. Then, breakfast. Then a nap. I doubt you’ve been sleeping well.”
It was disconcerting how good it felt to be taken care of.
No one did this for me.
I was the one who ran baths and told people I’d do their work for them so they could rest. But I was so tired—so very exhausted—and maybe that was why my eyes filled with tears again.
“Ah, darlin’.” Jax sat next to me and pulled me back into his arms. “I promise, Dee, I’m going to make this better.”
He couldn’t, I knew that, but it didn’t matter; I liked that he at least wanted to. Ballybeg looked at me to fix this—and I didn’t know how to any longer. I had lostagain. I had lost Maggie and my parents, and now I was going to lose my home, my village, and everything that mattered to me.
CHAPTER 14
Jax
Dee Gallagher didn’t cry.
I was pretty sure she’d consider it a cardinal sin to shed a single tear where anyone could see, and she’d probably set herself on fire before admitting she needed help.
So, when I saw the tears in her eyes, every protective instinct inside me screamed to take care ofmy womanlike I was some fucking caveman. And when it came to Dee, I did feel like a possessive alpha male that I didn’t recognize.
I wanted to put my fist through Big Gil and Cillian O’Farrell’s face for hurting Dee, for making hercry.
She was one of the strongest women I knew, and I couldn’t stand her sorrow—I just couldn’t.
I held her as she sobbed her heart out on my bed. It killed me not to be able to justfixthis problem for her, but I vowed that I would. Cillian O’Farrell would ruethe day he caused my Dee pain. Big Gil…well, he didn’t give a shit about Dee or anyone else. He’d only respond to more money or a better offer.
I stroked her back.
“I’m losing…everything,” she wept.
Damn it!
What was a man to do when he saw his strong woman break down like this?
My first and only instinct was to go on my knees and promise her that nobody and nothing would ever cause her pain again.
Yeah, tall order, considering life didn’t work that way, and even more importantly,Ididn’twork that way. I wasn’t this man who protected and coddled a woman. And Dee wasn’t the kind who’d just accept a coddle without kneeing me in the balls, except when she was devastated, as she was now.
I felt the prick of tears in my eyes in response to her anguish.
Fuck me!
I’d gone ahead and fallen in love with Deirdre Gallagher, pub owner and gorgeous red-headed Wildcat of Ballybeg.
