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"Yes, at me."
Lena sat up straighter. "What’s going on here, Aidan? Is this a joke?"
He shrugged. "If you think my becoming a dad is a joke."
She sniffed. "Don’t guilt trip me, boy. Go and play with your father but tell him the second it hits ten PM, that work stops. No excuses. Remember?"
"How could I forget?" he questioned wryly.
"What happens at ten?" I asked the woman beside me—Aoife.
"It’s when the guys turn their phones off. No business until after brunch on the 26th."
My brows rose, but I said, "Thanks."
She smiled at me. "Don’t worry about it. Lena will calm down. She’s probably still in shock."
"I’m not pregnant," I muttered, aware mother and son were sniping at each other.
"Aidan clearly wants her to think you are," was Aoife’s dry retort. "God knows why but these men are wily." She chuckled. "Method to every madness."
That had me frowning as I turned back to Aidan when his arm slid around my shoulder. He turned me into him and kissed me sedately on the lips.
A glint was back in his eye, cold and hard, which made his soft kiss all the more powerful. "Be good."
I blinked. "What can I do here?"
He smirked at me. "That’s exactly what I’m asking myself." Sniggering, I watched as he clambered to his feet. "Okay, ladies, I’ll see you back at dinner."
"There’s a golf cart waiting outside for you to take to the summer house," Lena told him. "Your da sent it over to save your knee. Why you won’t just use a goddamn cane I’ll never know."
"Not this again," Aidan sniped as he limped off, letting me realize that when I’d spoken with him about his leg, I wasn’t the first to get in his face about it.
Lena pinned me with her stare the second the French doors that led to a very lovely patio area slammed to a close. "Don’t you care that he’s hobbling around like that?"
"I do. We’ve already argued about it," I confirmed, well aware that I had to find my footing here.
Fast.
Lena wasn’t any scarier than the guy who’d infiltrated my apartment and I’d managed to hold him off with a mop and a coffee table book. How much worse could this be?
"Argue a lot, do you?"
"Lena," Aoife chided. "You’ve got to give her a chance."
"I don’t have to do anything." Lena sniffed. "He brings a girl to my doorstep and—"
I didn’t want to start on a lie. "Lena, I’m not a girl, and I’m not pregnant. I don’t know why Aidan said that. I don’t want to lie to you though, because I’m going to be a part of your son’s life for a long time, and eventually, you’re going to realize that I’m not pregnant," I said wryly.
Lena pursed her lips. "Remind me to clip his ear again?"
I winced. "He was just trying to protect me."
"No, he was trying to manipulate me into twisting his da’s arm to the idea of another non-arranged marriage." She grunted. "Only my Eoghan was a good boy."
Inessa, the youngest wife here, murmured, "I can promise you he isn’t a good boy, Lena." Her mother-in-law cackled, surprising me. Inessa shot me a smile. "Let’s not lie to ourselves, hmm?"
"It was good to see Aidan smile though, wasn’t it?" Aoife prompted.
