by Jane Henry
Someone’s on me, hitting me about the head, but I shove them off and strike back, when we roll, my head hits the floor, and the world dims.
Bright lights. Beeps. And so much fucking pain.
I try to open my eyelids but they’re too heavy. I try to lift my hand but it’s made of lead. I try to open my mouth but my lids are sealed shut.
And then she’s here.
The pain lessens when I feel her hand at my temple. I can hear her soft, pretty voice, though I can’t open my eyes to see her.
“You’re alright,” Fiona says in my ear, her warm presence like balm to my soul. “You’re going to be alright. Now open those stubborn eyes of yours and look to me, will you?”
I try, but they’re too heavy. I sink back into sleep.
Her voice comes to me in the quiet, reading.
Poetry, I think. Her voice is so pretty. I tell myself to ask her to do it again when I’m lucid.
Beeps and sounds, whirs of a machine and conversation.
After what seems like ages, I finally open my eyes. Fiona’s sitting beside me looking at her phone, but she jumps to her feet when she feels me looking at her. “Lachlan. My God, Lachlan. Sebastian!”
“Don’t be sounding the fucking alarm,” I mutter. My mouth feels odd, like my tongue’s too swollen. It’s dry from disuse, and it takes effort to talk. “I’m fucking fine.”
“You bloody well are not,” she says with that flare of temper I’ve come to love about her, even as she drives me mad. “You lost so much goddamn blood, and the filthy bugger tore a hole right through your shoulder.”
I reach a hand out tentatively to my bandaged shoulder.
“How’d he get in?”
“Had a code, didn’t he?” she asks with an eyeroll. “Seems they doubled up guards in some places so when the guards were brought in, the new men went under the radar.
“Bloody hell.”
“Oh, it’s been a bloody hell alright,” she mutters.
“Tell me everything. Who’s hurt?”
“All of the people of importance are fine,” she says with flashing eyes. “The assailants most emphatically are not. I don’t know what has happened to them, but I know for a fact that they’ve been summarily dealt with. Keenan’s put Nolan in charge of security for now, and it’s been a mess getting people back up in place. The girls have all been pretty much grounded here on the premises.”
“Wow.”
She smiles. “Seriously. Megan was attacked the day you were, by one of the guards who was dumb enough to attack her in front of her fucking husband, so that, as you can imagine, didn’t go over too well.”
“Shite.”
“Absolutely,” she affirms, nodding. “She was brought home safe, and the man who attacked her obviously wasn’t, but good riddance.”
She lifts a bottle beside her and takes a long sip. “And now,” she says. “Keenan is confident they’ve put an end to the threat against us. And we made sure you’re safe.”
“I’m bloody safe,” I mutter. “Just want to get out of this fucking bed and go back to normal.”
“Of course you do,” she says softly, placing a hand on my arm. “And I want that, too. But we aren’t going to go against doctor’s orders.”
I smile. The muscles in my face even hurt. “Oh really?”
“Oh, really,” she says, clearly enjoying her role as head nurse, or whatever the fuck she fancies herself. “I love you, and you’re not going to put yourself in danger anymore.”
I push myself up to sitting with effort. “Might be hard for me to move or talk,” I say. “But I’ll be better soon, and I’d like to remind you who wears the pants around here.”
I give her what I hope is a stern look, but I’m not sure I’m very threatening, as she bends her head to mine so our foreheads touch. “There he is,” she says softly. “My bossy man. God, it feels good to have you back.”
She hugs me and lays her head on my chest, and I kiss the top of her head.
“I love you, Fiona.”
“And I love you.” It’s getting easier to talk now, as if her very presence has thawed me from ice. “Marry me, lass.”
Her head snaps up and her eyes go wide. “Marry you?” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “Is that a question?”
“Aye, of course it is,” I say, shaking my head. I’m definitely feeling better now. “Fiona Hurston, I have loved you for as long as I’ve known you. I want you by my side, and I want you to bear my name, my ring, my children. You’re my everything. You’re my entire fucking world.”
She grins, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You’re my entire fucking world.”
I take her necklace and give it a little tug. “I’ll get you a ring to match this, soon as I get out of this goddamn bed.”
The door swings open and Sebastian enters. “You’re not getting out of this goddamn bed for days,” he begins, but I shake my head.
“You know me better than that, doc.”
He shakes his head. “Fine. Up to your room and let your nurse take care of you and I’ll let you go now, under the one condition that you allow me to come up and check on you twice a day.”
“Deal.”
An hour later, I’m settled into our room with Fiona. She takes to her role with ease, helping me in bed and getting me food sent up from the kitchen while filling me in. I’ll get the rest of the story from Keenan later.
“So Calum promised safety and protection, but Byrne was behind all of this,” she says, pouring water into the electric kettle before she plugs it in. “And Calum was fooled, as were we all.” She goes on and on about switching identities and the hidden agenda of the madman that wreaked havoc on us.
“Bloody hell,” I mutter. “Could’ve been so much fucking worse if you hadn’t caught on.”
She waves her hand at me and shakes her head. “I only pieced together what I’d seen, really,” she says. “The rest sort of fell into place.”
“I don’t care what you think, you’re bloody brilliant,” I tell her. Honest to God, we missed the signs right under our noses.
She raises a brow at me coyly. “Perhaps because you were distracted by other things?”
“Oh?” I ask, feigning ignorance. “Like what?”
“Like the stunning beauty of your future wife,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“I certainly haven’t forgotten that rolling your eyes at me will get your pretty little arse whipped.” My cock jerks.
She climbs into bed beside me and lifts the blanket, snuggling right up to me. I’m thankful this bed is so much bigger than the hospital bed.
She lifts my t-shirt and grazes her hand over my chest, careful not to hurt where I’m sore. She drags her thumbnail over one nipple, and I hiss in a breath, my cock aching.
“Fiona,” I warn hoarsely.
“What?” She gives me an innocent stare, peels the covers back, then positions herself right between my legs. She kisses my hard length straight through my pants, and I groan.
“May I?” she asks, her fingers on the clasp.
Jesus, Hell. Where did she learn that? She’s never asked permission before.
“Of course,” I say on a hoarse whisper.
I watch as she unfastens my trousers and retrieves my swollen cock. She kisses the side, then runs her tongue along the length, suckling a droplet of pre-cum like it’s goddamn candy. She moans, cups my bollox, then continues to suck my cock.
My head drops back on the pillow and I moan. It feels so fucking good, I can’t think beyond the next stroke of her tongue.
“I missed you so much,” she says, before she drags her tongue along my shaft. “So much.”
“And I missed you,” I whisper. “Bloody hell, woman. How long’s it been? Am I Rip Van Winkle?”
“Long enough,” is all she says.
A knock comes at the door and I tuck myself away with reluctance.
“Later,” she whispers.
“Do not answer the door unless you bloody
well know who it is,” I order, as she heads for the door.
“We’ve sorted the guard, Lach,” she says over her shoulder. She squeals when she looks through the peephole. “It’s Tiernan!”
She yanks the door open, and Tiernan comes in. He looks exhausted.
“You alright, brother?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m alright. How about you?”
“I’m fine,” I say, sitting up in bed.
He rolls his eyes. “Went to see your bloody friend,” he says to Fiona.
She furrows her brow. “Aisling? Why would you see her?”
“She decided she needed to come home for a visit. I suspect she’s worried about you. Got her last night.”
“Thank you,” Fiona says.
“Got a question for you, Tiernan.”
He looks to me. I swallow hard.
“I’d like your sister’s hand in marriage. Would you grant your blessing?” She has no father, so it’s only right.
He’s gone from sober to angry to sober again.
“Of course I would,” he says. “Any fool could see you two maniacs were meant for each other.”
“I like how you run your mouth when I’m laid up in bed and can’t kick your arse, eh?”
“Oh,” he says with a shrug. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to try to anyway.”
“Soon,” I promise.
“You’ll have to ask Keenan, too, of course,” he says.
“Oh aye.”
“On it!” Fiona announces from the kitchen where she’s putting on the kettle.
“On what?”
“Asking Keenan’s permission,” she hollers. “When you were unconscious, I practically pinned him to the wall in the dining room and said, ‘I don’t know what his obligation is to you, but you’re not keeping us apart.’ At which point he assured me that not only would he not, but he never had.” She comes in with a tray of cups and a pot of tea. “And so, he’s given his blessing.”
“As do I,” Tiernan says. “And Nolan and I have already discussed it as well.”
“As have we.”
“You did not,” Fiona says in astonishment. Her jaw drops. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“Not yet,” I tell her. I drink the strong, bracingly hot tea, and smile. “Thank fuck.”
“Let’s do it today,” she says. “We’ve waited this long. I don’t want to wait another bloody day.”
I blink. “What about your… dress and things?”
She waves a hand. “Oh, whatever. I’ll find something real quick. I don’t care about the dress.”
“And the party?’
“You know I hate parties.”
“What about the children with those little baskets of… I don’t know, flower petals or something?”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t want any to-do, Lachlan. I want your ring on my finger and your name. I want to know that every member of the Clan knows I belong to you. I don’t want pomp and circumstance. I want you.”
“He’s bloody fucking pomp and circumstance,” Tiernan mutters, then he laughs out loud when I piston myself out of the bed and deck his arm.
“Jesus,” he says. “Relax. And yes, I’d be honored to be your witness.”
And so I manage to get out of bed and amble to my living room while Fiona makes the arrangements. I can hardly believe this is happening. She’s home. And soon, she’ll be mine.
Chapter 23
Fiona
I don’t quite get my way. What I want to do is marry Lachlan right here, right now, but he makes me wait until he’s more stable on his feet and he and his brothers have made absolutely sure that the Clan fortress is once more secure.
I knew when I heard he was injured—no, I knew before then, the day the bomb went off and I thought I lost him—that Lachlan and I are meant to be together. No matter the hardship. No matter how difficult things are between us. No matter the risks, the rewards will always, always prevail.
On a chilly day in early October, Lachlan and I take our vows in perhaps the smallest wedding ever known to the McCarthy Clan. I don’t want a big to-do. I wear a simple white dress loaned to me from Cormac’s Aileen, a little satin thing that’s casual enough I could wear it to dinner if I wanted to. Father Finn’s summoned to perform the ceremony, and the dining room in the mansion’s arranged for us to take our vows inside, for the wind’s blowing and rain falls hard out the window.
“It’s good luck,” Maeve says when she comes to congratulate us in the receiving line. Her eyes grow misty as she tucks a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “It rained on the day I got married, and just look at the blessings I’ve got. These sons of mine, all those sweet babes to call me Granny, and the women who’ve all become my daughters.” She leans in and kisses my cheek.
“I’m so pleased you two are together,” she says with pride. “When Keenan brought Lachlan home…” her voice trails off and she swallows hard. “I thought the boy needed a mam. He was so angry, you see. Angry at the world.” She smiles. “’Twasn’t a mam he needed, lass. He needed you.”
I’m not sure that any one human can fully restore another. In many ways, perhaps that restoration lies within. But I do know that sometimes, on a day you least expect it, people walk into your life and change it forever. I hated my home in Stone City, but I’ll never forget it. For it was there, in the dark dankness of that hovel, when I was wounded and broken yet still clinging to shards of innocence, that I met Lachlan McCarthy. And my world was never the same.
I watch Maeve embrace Lachlan, but the very next minute, I’m lifted straight into the air by Keenan, who gives me a brotherly hug that takes my breath away.
“Congratulations, Fiona,” he says, putting me down and kissing my cheek. “You’ll do well by each other.”
“Oh, aye,” Cormac says, shoving past Keenan to give me a hug of his own. “Come here.” The big bear of a man hugs me so tight, my heart melts. They love me, all of them, in their own special way.
Nolan shoves Cormac out of the way. He takes my hand and places it in Lachlan’s. He leans in and kisses my cheek. “I’m so proud of who you’ve become,” Nolan says. “And it’s my honor to see where you’ll go from here.” He winks, then says in a stage whisper for all to hear. “And if he hurts you, I will personally see to his painful, bloody, and very permanent demise.”
I laugh out loud. “Thank you.”
Sheena’s crying like a mad woman when she reaches me, and later she blames the hormones. “What hormones?” I ask her. She says with a sheepish smile that she’s expecting again. We hold each other for long moments, neither of us able to find words to express how far we’ve come. How changed things are. How grateful we are to be loved by a family like this.
But it’s Tiernan who pauses to stand in front of me, who holds both my hands in his, and gives me a look so tender, tears spring to my eyes.
“You look beautiful,” he says. “And I’m so proud of you.” He leans in and kisses my cheek, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Thanks for everything, Tiernan. Everything.” And I know he knows I don’t just mean what he’s done in recent months or even years, but the way he protected me when I was a child, defended me when I was defenseless, with his fierce, loyal protection. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without you.” I know I wouldn’t.
“Love you, sister,” he says, in rare sentimental moment. Then he looks to Lachlan. “And even though I love this bastard, I’ll fight Nolan for the chance to end him if he hurts you.”
Lachlan grins at him. “I won’t hurt her, brother. You have my word.”
“Maybe a little hurting?” Aisling suggests. “Like, the good kind. And honest to God, Fiona, are any of these men single?”
Epilogue
Lachlan
“I’ve decided to do distance learning,” Fiona announces, sitting at the dining room table in our flat, thoughtfully chewing the end of a pencil. I’m sitting on the loveseat, watching her apply to school.
&n
bsp; “Don’t pout, Lachlan, it doesn’t become you,” she says with a haughty air. I push myself up from the loveseat and stalk over to her. Her eyes widen, then quickly flit to the left, then right.
“I’m not pouting. The men of the Clan don’t pout, we brood.”
“Well, don’t brood, love, I’m only applying to school. You’re acting like I’ve just joined a convent.”
“Bloody hell,” I mutter. “Not sure I’m a fan of distance anything.”
“Distance learning means I stay here,” she says, with one of those fetching grins that make me want to kiss her senseless. “Right here. After what happened, and you guys took all those insane safety measures to be sure this place is safe, I think I’m most comfortable just staying right here.” She rolls her eyes when I reach her. “Not that you’ll let me get anything done.”
We decided to temporarily forego a honeymoon while I got our guard secured. Keenan’s appointed me head of the guard, and it’s a job I’ve taken seriously. But we took our vows two months ago, Christmas is coming, and I have a surprise for her.
“Well, in that case, I approve.” I knead her shoulders and she sighs in contentment. I wait until her eyes close before I take the envelope out of my pocket and slide it on the table in front of her. I begin to wonder if she’ll ever open her eyes and see her surprise, so I finally bend and bite her neck, which makes her squeal. Her eyes flutter open.
“Exactly what I mean,” she says. “I’ll be online doing a class and all of a sudden I—oh. Lachlan, what is this?”
“Bit of a wedding gift,” I say, suckling the sweet skin I just bit. “And Christmas gift,” I say, licking her collarbone until she shivers. “Open it.”
She reaches with trembling fingers to the white envelope and slides it open.
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “Seriously? You’re taking me to Paris? I’ve always wanted to go. How did you know?”
“Had a little help,” I admit with a shrug. “I don’t care much where we go, as long as you’re with me.”
