“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’ll 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.