Tully: A Dark Irish Mafia Romance: Dangerous Doms

by Henry, Jane

  “You get on her other side,” I tell Boner, waving my pistol at him. “You keep your fucking eye on her and if she gets hurt on your watch, you’re a dead man.”

  He looks like he wants to tell me to fuck off, but he nods anyway. “Of course I’ll fucking watch her,” he says. “What do you think I am, a twat?”

  “Don’t make me answer that.”

  Love him like he’s my brother, but he’s a wild one.

  We head to the library first, and quickly sweep it. No one anywhere to be seen.

  “What happened?” I ask as we head upstairs to sweep the rest of the house.

  “Went to the interrogation room with one of them,” he says. “Lachlan caught him in the garage. Thought he was a spy, but it was a fucking set-up.”

  “Why didn’t I see him when you all came out?”

  Boner’s eyes swing to McKenna. He doesn’t answer.

  The interrogation went that far, then. The body’s already been disposed of.

  “As soon as we finished questioning him, we realized the door was locked from the outside. Someone overrode our security system and disabled the inside locks.”

  “Mother of God.”

  “Aye.”

  We fall silent at the top of the stairs, quiet an absolute must now. Christ, how I wish I had a safe place for McKenna.

  “You do exactly what I fucking say,” I whisper. “Never been more important to follow my instructions, McKenna.”

  She nods her agreement.

  We sweep the entire first floor, from the meeting rooms to the dining room, the kitchen and the reception rooms. No one, not even a single servant, is here. It’s eerie. I’ve never seen this home vacant like this.

  Same with the second floor. We make it to the third floor, when McKenna freezes.

  “What is it, lass?” I whisper as softly as I can in her ear. She points wordlessly. All the doors are shut except one that’s slightly ajar. The utility closet.

  Boner nods to me, and the two of us go, creeping silently toward the closet. The carpeted floor beneath our feet makes our steps noiseless as we close the distance.

  “On three,” I mouth. I hold up one finger. Two. Three. Boner kicks open the door. McKenna screams and I’m ready to shoot, but there’s no one there. The window’s open, though. I look out to see if anyone has a death sentence and tried to climb out of a three story window, when McKenna screams. “Tully! Watch out!”

  I swing around to see someone coming at me from the shadows. McKenna screams and shoots her gun. Pain radiates in my shoulder as I fall to the ground and Boner shoots my assailant dead.

  “Oh my God, oh my God,” McKenna falls to the floor. “I’m so sorry. Tully. Tully, are you okay?”

  I’m losing blood, pain blooming in my shoulder.

  “Didn’t know you were still that angry about that spanking I gave you,” I say, forcing a grin that probably looks more like a grimace.

  Boner chuckles, kneels beside me, and speaks in a calming tone to McKenna. “He’ll be fine. He’s got nine lives like a fucking cat and I think he’s got one left. Maybe even two.” Still, the poor lass is crying quietly.

  “Where are your glasses, McKenna?” I ask her.

  “Lost them somewhere downstairs,” she says. “It’s why I shot you, couldn’t see properly, damn it. I can’t believe I shot you. I just wanted to stop him from hurting you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Just a graze,” I say, as my world goes fuzzy and hazy all at once.

  “He’ll be fine, lass,” Boner repeats, but he can’t hide the way his brows knit in concern. “We’ll get him to the clan doctor fast as we can. Alright?”

  She nods. “Alright,” she says. She holds my hand. “I don’t care what happens after this, Tully. I’m not leaving you. No matter how mean you get.”

  I snort. I don’t do long-term relationships, and I used to think I sure as fuck don’t do pretty little doe-eyed schoolteachers. I’m still not even sure if it’s a good idea. I don’t care if her family’s affiliated with the mob, she isn’t made of stern enough stuff for the likes of us.

  I hold her hand as I get to my feet.

  “Get back down,” she says sternly. “You can’t move when you’re injured like this.”

  “Not gonna bloody well wait for them to take me away on a stretcher.”

  “No,” Boner says. “But you’ll stay there til we get Sebastian to look after you.”

  “Says who?” I counter.

  “Says both of us,” McKenna replies. She huddles down beside me and holds my hand in her lap.

  “I’m so sorry,” she says, her face downcast. A lone tear rolls down one cheek. I hate to see her so troubled.

  “It’s par for the course, lass. You’ve seen enough of me to know I’m scarred all over.”

  Boner grimaces and puts his hands over his ears. “Lalalalalala! Don’t want to hear about your fucking scarred body. Jesus.”

  McKenna smiles. “I especially love that one above your right buttock.”

  Boner throws his head back and groans. I laugh, but it makes everything fucking hurt.

  “You know what they say about shooting a man,” Boner says, with a teasing grin.

  McKenna narrows her eyes but doesn’t respond.

  “In some cultures that’s grounds for marriage.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Boner, I’m a teacher of history, and that’s utter shite.”

  He snorts. “You haven’t read the right kind of history.”

  My head swarms, and I feel like I’m going to pass out. I won’t fucking let myself wimp out like that. But her voice sounds hollow and his distant as well. I close my eyes, just to rest a bit, as the world fades.

  * * *

  Chapter 4

  McKenna

  I can’t believe I’m doing this.

  I shouldn’t be here.

  I have papers to grade and lessons to prepare and two cats to feed, but instead I’m in the McCarthy family mansion, my eyesight blurry from not having my glasses, holding Tully’s hand while the Clan doctor inspects him.

  Because I shot him.

  I shouldn’t even be here. I know better than to get roped into anything with a man of the Clan.

  I saw what my mother went through, how she fretted her life away wondering if her husband would come home, if every call he took or mission he accomplished would be the last, and I decided long ago I’d never be with a man of the Clan.

  For one, they’re too highhanded. All “do this” and “do that.”

  For another, they are criminals. I didn’t know it until I was around twelve, though I always suspected they were somehow above the law. They’re ruthless killers, savage even.

  And then I met Tully.

  Le. Sigh.

  I watch over Tully as the men of the Clan come in and out. I know most of them by now. Keenan, the eldest, Clan leader who took over when his father Seamus was killed years ago. Cormac, Keenan’s younger brother, the co-leader of the Clan. A few others I know by name, but not personally. Lachlan, one of the younger ones, a handsome, strapping man, gives me a grin.

  “Heard you shot him,” he says. “Well played, lass.”

  He looks sorry when I grimace, and pats my shoulder awkwardly. “Now, now, don’t worry about it, McKenna,” he says. “We all fuck up now and again, don’t we?”

  I groan.

  Maeve is the only one who brings me any consolation at all. The Clan matriarch and mother to the leaders, she understands my plight and gives me exactly what I need: sympathy and understanding, but the honest truth as well.

  Maeve sits next to Tully when I take the tray of food from the staff. I turn back to see him swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

  “You stay put!” I tell him sternly, shaking my head in his direction. “For the love of God, Tully, you’ve got stitches.”

  He rolls his eyes. “In my arm, lass, not my damn feet.”

  “Stay.”

  He grumbles but swings his legs back over. “I’l
l tell you what, the only reason I’m letting you get away with bossing me around is first, because Maeve is here and I try to act the gentleman in her presence, and second, because I’ve got an injured arm.” He swings his hand at me menacingly.

  I flush pink at the implication and don’t look at Maeve, but she only laughs her pretty laugh.

  I love everything about her. She’s wearing a simple pair of trousers and a soft white sweater, her red hair sprinkled with gray in a whimsical knot at the back of her head. Her eyes sparkle and dance. When she talks to you, it’s like you're the only person in her universe. She delights in being with her boys and the “grans” as she calls them.

  “Now, Tully,” she says, patting his arm gently. “Any man of the Clan would give anything to have as attentive a nurse as McKenna.”

  “Attentive,” he mutters with disdain, but his eyes twinkle as he takes the tray of food and nestles it on the table beside him. “She barely lets me wipe my own arse.”

  I flush hotter. “Really, Tully, you’re incredibly uncouth.”

  “Unwhat?”

  Maeve laughs out loud and gets to her feet. “Now, the two of you keep off each other’s backs for a bit, will you? I can’t mediate for now, since I promised Caitlin she and Keenan could go out to dinner and I’d watch the children.”

  “Ah, right, it’s their anniversary, isn’t it?”

  “Aye,” she says with a sad smile. I’ve heard from the others that the day of their wedding was the day she lost her husband, the late Seamus McCarthy. “Now, behave yourself, Tully, or I’ll send Keenan up to you.”

  “Someone called me?” Keenan stands in the doorway, towering over Maeve. He’s got gray around his temples and beard and his mother’s beautiful green eyes. He hasn’t been up to see Tully yet today. I feel myself grow still in his presence. Will he make me leave?

  “Mind if I have a word, Tully?”

  Tully swallows a bite of bread. “Course not, boss. Can McKenna stay?”

  “Aye. Shut the door behind you, will you, Mam?”

  The door clicks shut. Tully jerks his chin at the chair beside his bed, and I sit beside him.

  “Eat, McKenna,” he says. “There’s dinner for the both of us.”

  I haven’t left his side all day, and I’m starving. I gratefully tuck into the hearty stew and bread from the kitchen, while I listen to Keenan.

  “What happened while I’ve been out? Those Scots should know better than to come here.” Tully takes a vicious bite of bread, as if he’s remembering his enemies that infiltrated the safety of the Clan’s grounds.

  Keenan frowns.

  “I’m not so sure ‘twas the Scots that came here, though I’m not sure it wasn’t.”

  His brows shoot upward. “No shite?”

  Keenan sighs and scrubs a hand across his brow. “Aye. We got word from Lachlan that there was trouble with the Scots. He’d gotten a message from a friend of his, an acquaintance in Stone City. But before we could pursue the lead, we fell under attack.”

  “How?”

  “Seems one of our men slept with one of their women. Kin, I mean. She took his phone, got his access point.”

  Tully’s eyes narrow. “Boner?”

  I swallow the chunk of bread I’m chewing with a gulp. Tully’s intimidating when he looks like that.

  “Aye.”

  “’Twas one of their women, you say?”

  “Aye. She granted them access to the grounds and they came at once.”

  “But why?”

  He shakes his head. “We don’t know what they were after. They didn’t say.”

  “What did they set fire to?”

  “Trellis at the garden and the greenhouse. And they had every plan to set this place on fire as well. They wanted us all unable to get out.” Keenan smirks. “Damn good thing you weren’t paying attention last night, eh?”

  Tully shrugs, and sighs. “Aye, I suppose. Bloody shame they managed to get you all in that one room. We have to make sure something like that can’t happen again and find out how they got past security.”

  “On it.”

  Tully scowls. “And I did the same thing as Boner back in the day, you remember?”

  “Aye,” Keenan says sternly. “And he got the same as you did.”

  I’m not sure what he’s referring to, but Tully winces so I’m guessing they’re referencing a punishment or something similar. I cringe myself. It reinforces to me how brutal these men can be.

  “What now?” Tully asks.

  Keenan frowns when he looks at me. “For starters, McKenna can’t return to school.”

  “What!” I’m on my feet. There’s no way I’m leaving my job.

  “Settle down, lass,” Tully says sternly. When I don’t move, his voice deepens. “Have a seat, McKenna.” I don’t listen, though. I have things to say and I won’t be bossed around by these highhanded men just because they’re mafia.

  “I understand your concerns, Keenan,” I say as calmly as I can. “I really do. And I respect that—”

  He scowls, his arms folded on his chest. “I very much doubt that.”

  My temper rages even hotter. I keep my mouth in check with difficulty.

  “And why on earth are you making that assumption?”

  He shakes his head, a barely perceptible little display of disapproval. “Because not thirty seconds ago, Tully asked you to sit, and you haven’t listened at all.”

  My jaw comes unhinged, as I swing my gaze from Tully to Keenan and back again. “Are you serious?”

  Keenan doesn’t blink. “Very.”

  I look to Tully for help, but he only shrugs. “Don’t tell me a lass like you’s been raised on the outskirts of the inner Clan, worked at our school, and don’t know the fucking rules, McKenna.”

  My blood runs cold. I do know the rules, the ties that bind when a man of the Clan claims a woman. Have I unwittingly connected myself irrevocably to a ruthless mobster?

  “I know plenty of Clan rules,” I say in self-defense.

  Even pale and injured, Tully’s dark gaze and husky voice affect me, his tone brooking no argument, his very body language daring me to defy him. “Let’s hear them, lass.”

  Damn it. Set myself up for that.

  I need a primer or something. It’s something we discuss quite often at the school, the other women and me. I do my best to drag them from my memory, and wish I hadn’t bluffed right now.

  “A man of the Clan, to be chief, needs to be heir to the throne and a married man.” That doesn’t affect us. Tully’s not the chief.

  Tully nods. “Go on.”

  I swallow hard. “He must consummate the marriage on the wedding night. Archaic rule, that,” I mutter, but neither of them are amused or ruffled.

  “Yes. Go on.”

  I blow out a breath. “When a man of the Clan… claims a woman, she…” this is where it gets a little more difficult to speak. Claiming is very serious indeed. “She becomes the epicenter of his universe, or so I’m told.”

  I don’t want that. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t.

  “Her every need, both physically and financially, is met. She… is taken care of in every possible way.”

  “Aye. Any more?”

  There are other rules, of course, but they involve things like hierarchy, heirs to the throne, and retribution when a Clan brother defies code.

  “There are loads more,” I say loftily. “But none that affect us.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Keenan says sternly, his tone as imperative as the headmaster at school. No wonder the boys quake when they’re being lectured or disciplined. “There are loads of rules, McKenna. Code that’s written in stone, lass.”

  “Stone!” I scoff, tossing my hand up in a futile attempt to refute his argument. “There are no stone laws, Keenan. You act as if Parliament itself rules the very ocean of Ballyhock.”

  Tully’s lips thin, his voice hard when he says in a low, warning tone, “That’s enough, lass. You’ve gone far e
nough. You’ll not disrespect the Clan chief nor the Clan.”

  I spin around to pierce Tully with a look of my own. “I’m no man of the Clan, Tully.”

  He holds my gaze. “You’re damn lucky you’re not. Injury or not, I’d have whipped yer arse for mouthing off to the Chief a full five minutes ago.”

  My pulse quickens. How dare he?

  “And this is why we always split, Tully. This is why I can’t stay with a man like you, and you bloody well know it.” A gasket just blew off my temper, and steam flows through me with the force of a storm. “This. This right here, this domineering, tyrannical, imperious nature of yours!”

  His eyes grow cold and narrowed. He reaches for his cup of tea and takes a long pull, as if he isn’t bothered in the least, and places it back on the saucer while he shakes his head.

  “That’s where you’re wrong again, McKenna.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You think that vocabulary you picked up at uni will save you now?” His tone is biting, and I flinch. “You, lass, are cantankerous and recalcitrant. Now who can play the big word game?”

  Keenan chuckles. “Get to the point, Tully, or I will.”

  He pushes himself to sitting up higher in bed, stifling a wince of pain. It might prick my conscience a little. Like, a little.

  “You’ve been involved with a member of the Clan. You never should have played those tricks on me, lass. You were heading to my home. There are reasons I don’t take girls back to my home.”

  Girls. The bastard!

  I listen in stony silence, and shiver with the knowledge that he’s about to deliver news I likely don’t want to hear.

  “Our enemies have spied you. You’re a target. You won’t leave the Clan, McKenna.” He sighs heavily, shaking his head. “This time you can’t run.”

  Oh, really?

  I get to my feet and stomp toward the door. “Watch me.”

  I open the door and slam it behind me, half expecting one of them to follow, but they don’t. Will they stop me? Will anyone?

  I can’t believe he thinks I’ll just leave my job and become one of the women of the Clan, just like that. As if I don’t have principles and expectations, goals and needs.