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She takes a tentative step forward and heads up the steps, and the fucker is lucky she shrugs him off. Still, he’ll pay for the four seconds he touched her. Nobody touches my wife-to-be but me… at least, they don’t without my permission.
She reaches me but doesn’t look up. I give her a minute, but nothing. Reaching out, I gently grip her chin and tip her face up to mine. She has streaks down her face where she’s been crying, and my heart tightens. If someone has hurt her, I’ll rip out their fucking throat.
“Cara, what’s wrong?” Her beautiful honey-coloured eyes land on mine, but they are dull, filled with sadness. She gives me a weak smile and shakes her head.
“Nothing’s wrong, I’m just tired.”
I sigh, disappointed in her response. “Let’s not start this off by lying to one another, princess. Now, how about we try that again? Why have you been crying?”
“It’s a big change, Finn. I’m leaving everything behind. Look, can we talk tomorrow? I’m really tired.” Her tone is clipped, her attitude coming to the surface.
I’ll give her tonight to get herself together, but if she thinks she can lie to me, she’s in for a surprise. I smile and wrap my arm around her shoulders, guiding her inside. “Okay, let me give a quick tour of the main parts of the house and then I’ll show you to your room.”
I close the front door, then show her the sitting room and kitchen, grabbing her a bottle of water on our way out before heading upstairs.
When we get the second floor, I stop directly outside my open bedroom door. She goes to enter, but I place a hand on her shoulder, stopping her before she walks across the threshold.
I point to the closed door directly opposite mine. “That is your room.”
She looks at me, then back at the closed door, confusion filling her beautiful face. “I don’t understand…”
“Cara, you’re being forced to marry me, but I won’t force you to sleep in my bed until the day I call you my wife. If you choose to sleep in my bed tonight, then you stay there, but I figured you’d probably want your own space until the wedding.”
I stand close, waiting for her to make a decision, hoping it will be the open door but already knowing it won’t be.
“Thank you.” A genuine smile falls across her face before she turns and heads into her own bedroom, closing the door behind her.
I stand, my hands either side of her door, breathing in the scent of strawberries left in her wake. I may have known she would choose her own room, but it doesn’t quell any of the disappointment I feel coursing through me. I take a deep breath and head down to my office. I need a drink.
Chapter 2
He surprised me by giving me my own room. I’d figured forcing me into marrying him, he’d want me in his bed right away.
Shaking off the surprise, I look around the room he’s given me. The walls are painted a warm cream colour, there is a white dresser on the right hand side of the room, with a velvet baby pink chair next to it, facing the bed.
The bed is a large king-size, wooden white frame, and it’s positioned neatly between two large windows that overlook the main road.
I glance to my right. There are two open doors––one leads in a large closet that appears to be empty, and the other leads into the bathroom. The sink unit is in my line of sight, and I can see the counter is white but the shell is dark wood. I think I can almost see a large walk-in shower in the reflection of the mirror over the sink unit, but it doesn’t appear big enough for a bath, and I’m little disappointed by it.
I make my way over to the bed and take a seat. I’m exhausted from travelling and all the crying. I told Finn it was because I was leaving everything behind, but that was a lie. I’m happy to be leaving Ireland. I’m even surprisingly happy being forced to marry Finn, although I wish that he actually wanted to marry me, and I wish he didn’t feel like he was being forced into it because of the baby.
I kick off my boots but leave my jacket on, too tired to try and take it off, and climb up onto the bed, curling into myself. It’s only then that I notice the flowers on the bedside table. Orange roses. I smile, and then I see another vase on the dresser, full of pink peonies. My two favourite flowers. I have no idea if he knew or if it’s by accident, but even so, having a vase of each calms me a little, and I fall asleep feeling a little better than I did ten minutes ago.
* * *
I stretch my arms above my head and groan. My body feels surprisingly good, despite the travelling I’ve done in the last couple of days. I open my eyes and take in the room, the light shining through the curtains giving the bedroom a warm glow. I sit up, realising I’m no longer wearing my jacket, but I do have a blanket covering me. Turning, I see my phone is on the bedside table and my jacket is placed over the chair.
Clearly, Finn was in here last night. I’m surprised that I slept through him removing my jacket and covering me, but I’m annoyed he thinks he can just come in here when I’m sleeping.
Grabbing my phone to check the time, I notice I have several missed calls from Da and José. I shudder just thinking about him. I’m grateful Seamus got me out of there, and I know how much he risked to do it, even if he says he didn’t.
There are several text messages from them both too, but I ignore those and open the ones from Seamus.
Seamus
Hey, kid, glad you got there safe. Hope the flight was okay.
Are you still mad at me?
