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CONNOR
Saoirse looks much more like the woman I remember now—but even so, I can’t deny that she’s still beautiful to me. In a knee-length, spaghetti-strap dress of some floaty material today, with dangling gold earrings and her red hair swept up on top of her head, fresh-faced and natural, she’s still as lovely as a newly bloomed flower. She looks more delicate than she had last night, pristine and elegant, but I find myself drawn to her anyway. Last night she’d looked like a woman who could go toe to toe with me in the bedroom, but now she looks like exactly what she is—an innocent virgin waiting for me to defile her.
Andfuckdo I want to defile her in every possible way.
I keep my cool, though, slouching down in a chair between the two of them as if I couldn’t give a single fuck about what they’d been talking about before I walked up, even though Iknowit was me. Graham looks like he’s ready to rip my heart out through my nose. Saoirse won’t even look at me, probably because she’s afraid her darling father will see what I did to her last night written all over her pretty face.
It’s not the only thing I’d like to have all over her face.
My cock twitches in my jeans at the thought, and I have a sudden, filthy vision of her on her knees under the table, sucking me off at my command while I eat my breakfast. Her mouth there for my pleasure, her hands on my thighs, her lips and tongue busily trying to please me, to coax me to orgasm while I ignore her.
The pretty princess, kneeling for me.
God, I’ve got to stop thinking like this.I’m half-erect already, to the point where it would be obvious if I stood up, and that’s hardly what I want my potential future father-in-law seeing. I grit my teeth, pointedly looking away from Saoirse and directly at Graham as I tell him what I came to say.
“I’m considering what you offered me last night,” I tell him coolly. “I’m considering itseriously. But I need to talk to my men. This affects them too—if I leave London, I’ll need to set things up properly to make sure that everything I’ve built doesn’t crumble, or worse, get taken over by thugs and men more lawless than we are. Believe it or not, there’s a fair few,” I say wryly, but Graham doesn’t so much as crack a smile.
“I’ll come with you then, to this meeting,” Graham says, and I frown.
“It’s not necessary—”
“I wasn’t asking.” His voice is cold and harsh. “If this meeting involves a future where you’re back in Boston, I want to be there. This future involves me, my daughter, and the relationship my family has always had with yours. I won’t be left in the dark while you carry on your machinations here.”
“Oh, like I was?” I raise an eyebrow at him, and I hear Saoirse’s soft intake of breath. “You seem to have been carrying on plenty ofmachinationsinvolving me without my actually being present.”
Graham’s jaw clenches. “I’ll remind you, lad,” he says tightly. “I could take my daughter and fly back to Boston anytime I please, and then your brother’s life will be forfeit. He’ll be buried next to your father in the family plot in a matter of days, and you can stay here and reign over your paltry city.”
It’s my turn to grit my teeth. I want very badly to grab Graham by his collar and sock him in the jaw, for my family’s sake. His job was to be my father’s right hand, his guidance, and my brother’s, and he’s failed at both. Whether it was through their own obstinacy and stubbornness or not, I can place at least some of the blame on him, and I’m more than happy to.
“Fine,” I grind out. “You can come along. But don’t speak unless necessary. My men know me as William Davies, and I’ll have to tell them the truth of that identity—but I’ll do that on my own, as I choose to. I’ll not have you revealing it before I’m ready. Is that understood?”
Graham nods, apparently mollified by my agreement. “That’s up to you how to handle that, lad,” he says, and I nod.
“I’m coming too,” Saoirse blurts out, and my gaze swivels to her.
“You arenot,” I tell her firmly, and I see two points of red appear instantly on her cheekbones, her chin rising haughtily as she stares me down.
“I am.” Her voice is cool and collected as if we were discussing a dinner menu rather than taking her to a meeting with my gang. “If my father can say this affects us, and that be a valid reason, then it’s a valid reason for my going as well. I’ve been to meetings of the Kings at times, I—”
“This isn’t the formal table you’re used to,” I snap, glaring at her. “It’s not a place for women.”
Saoirse doesn’t flinch. “Do you know what part I played in your brother’s punishment when the judgment was handed down?” she asks coolly, and I blink at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“He was punished, according to the old traditions, for breaking his vow to me and dishonoring my family. My father administered the lashes with the belt, of course, but the punishment for signing a contract he did not honor—”
She trails off, and I stare at her, feeling a rush of horror at the thought of it. I know the old ways of the Kings very well and seeing Saoirse look at me now unflinchingly, I wonder how much she really has changed since I knew her.
“I held that iron rod steady while your brother was forced to grab the red-hot end with his lying fingers,” she says, her voice low and sharp. “I smelled his burning flesh, and I didn’t faint, or hesitate, or do anything other than play my part. So I think I can manage being present at yourmeetingwithout getting the vapors, Connor McGregor.”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.“Fine,” I snap, pushing back the chair. I feel as if I’m vibrating with anger, particularly thinking about the torturous punishment inflicted on my brother, and I don’t want to sit there a moment longer. “Come along if you want. But keep silent, along with your father. This ismyplace you’ll be visiting, and I won’t tolerate the two of you trying to take it over with your schemes. Be silent unless there’s a reason to speak.”
Graham looks as if he’d like to see me dead—along with every other McGregor, apparently—but I ignore him. Saoirse still has those high spots of anger on her face, but she nods coolly.
“Take your own car,” I bite out. “I’ll be on the bike alone.”
I almost think I see a flash of disappointment in her face, though she’d never admit it. I turn on my heel, heading out into the open air just outside the hotel, and I suck in a breath.
