Swiftly, before he can say another word, I cut him off.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Graham.” I eye him coolly. “I have no intention of holding with traditions I disagree with, and your place as the spokesperson for the Irish King is one that I certainly intend to do away with.”
Graham’s eyes widen, and he nearly blusters as he speaks. “I—you can’t possibly mean—”
“What I mean,” I continue sharply, “is that of course you will hold a place of respect, as you have always done and will continue to do. I recognize your role in helping me regain this seat. But my right hand and the man I trust above all others is here—” I gesture to Jacob, “—and I will not be your mouthpiece as others have been. I will rule with my own voice, and my own decisions. It is not whatyouexpect fromme, but whatIexpect fromyou,Graham O’Sullivan. I will change the traditions of the Kings as I see fit, to be in step with a new and more modern age.” I take a step closer to him, hands firmly in my pockets as I glare down at the slightly shorter man, nowfullyintending to intimidate him. “You have been the one who called the shots—or tried to—for two Kings now, and it has not gone well for either of them. I will not make the mistakes of my father and brother. I know you thought that by bringing me home to marry your daughter, you would rule through me as you tried to do with them—but I will not allow that. Not by a long shot.”
“You’ve married her,” Graham snaps. “You are bound tomyhouse now. You have agreed to an alliance with me—”
“No, I have agreed to strengthen the claim of my future heirs by ensuring their bloodline is that of two powerful Irish families, and thereby my own claim,” I say harshly. “Youare bound to the McGregors now. We are the more powerful family, and Saoirse is no longer under your control or at the beck and call of your whim. She is my wife now.Mine. She will bear my heirs. She is loyal tome.”
I watch Graham’s face turn slightly pale, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows, and I can see him questioning every choice he made to bring me back here.
“Neither of the McGregor brothers are as pliant as you expected us to be,” I say with a small smile. “Now, should we get back to shooting?”
—
The apartment rented for us downtown is gorgeous, on one of the top floors of a condo building near the harbor, with great views of the water from the balcony off of the living room. Saoirse lets out a soft sound of appreciation as I unlock the front door and we step into the modern-style foyer, a blown-glass wall separating it from the sleek kitchen filled with glossy new black appliances and gleaming fixtures.
“This is more my style than the estate, if I’m being honest,” I mutter as we walk in. Everything about the apartment is clean and modern, done in light neutral colors, with gleaming hardwood covered in plush rugs and bare walls waiting for tasteful decoration. It’s already furnished, the high vaulted ceilings with exposed beams giving it all a airy feel, and I let out a breath. It’s a sight nicer than my flat in London, and while I still feel homesick for that place where I’d rebuilt myself from the ground up, this feels good too.
“Why go back, then?” Saoirse asks, poking around the kitchen. “Oh, this pantry ishuge!”
“You know why.” I glance sideways at her, vaguely amused at her excitement over the large kitchen. “Do you even know how to cook?”
“A little,” she says defensively. “I asked our cook to give me lessons every now and then. I could hardly have known we’d be on our own for a bit before moving to the estate. Which—you still didn’t answer my question.”
“The McGregor King lives on the family estate.” I shrug. “It’s that simple. All the other, lesser Kings have their own properties and family homes. How would it look if I lived in a condo downtown, while my family home was left unoccupied?”
“I thought you didn’t care how things looked.” Saoirse raises an eyebrow at me. “I thought you were all about doing things your own way.”
She has me there, and it irritates me. “I have more important things to focus on changing than where we live, Saoirse. And after all, you’ve grown up your whole life in luxury, with staff and maids and a cook. You really want to give it all up to cook your own dinner in our harbor front condo, like an ordinary married couple?”
Saoirse shrugs, her elbows on the quartz countertop. “I told you, Connor, the money itself isn’t all that important to me. I was never crazy about shopping and jewelry and fancy dresses the way my mother is. I have those things, because it’s expected, but I could do without it. I care about what I can use the money and influencefor. I care about trying to make some kind of life for myself that matters to me.” She pauses, her green eyes meeting mine, and for just a second I see something there that almost looks like a flicker of respect. “Like you did,” she says softly.
I know she means it as an olive branch, her telling me something that she likes about me, even admires, but it just makes me seethe inside. “You took me away from that life that I made, that mattered to me,” I snap. “You came and dragged me back here.”
Saoirse pushes herself off the counter, and I can see her eyes starting to snap with a similar anger.We just can’t stop sparking off one another.We’re like flint on rock, our banter turning angry, turning into a fight, every time. But those sparks turn into a different kind of fire, too, and often as not it ends with me inside of her.
I’m going to have to put a stop to that, eventually.
“Ididn’t drag you back here,” she says coolly. “My father and I offered you an opportunity to save your brother’s life. Which, I will remind you, is no fault of mine either. Liam chose to break his vow to me. He chose to get himself in this situation, andIhelped to find a way to keep him from being shot like a dog, like your father was.”
The mention of my father makes me see red. I stalk towards her, eyes narrowed, expecting her to flinch back. But she doesn’t, holding her ground as she glares right back at me, her delicate chin tilted up in that show of defiance that I know so well.
“Don’t speak of my father like that,” I growl, my hands fisting as I glare down at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” Saoirse raises an eyebrow, seemingly entirely unafraid of my rage. “Your father made a stupid decision to overreach. Liam made a stupid decision to marry for love. And you—”
“Your father is very close to making the samestupiddecision,” I snarl. “Do you know what he said to me today? How he came to me telling me what heexpectedof me, as if he were the King and not I? He’s overstepping too, and if I didn’t have a measure of respect for him and a distaste for unnecessary bloodshed, maybe I would have him on his knees in the pavement too, waiting to take a bullet.”
Thatmakes Saoirse go pale. “You wouldn’t,” she whispers. “He’s done nothing wrong. Hesavedyour brother by proxy, by coming to find you. We could have stayed here, and you would never have known. Liam would be dead by now, and you’d still be in London, thinking both your father and brother were alive while they lay rotting in the dirt.”
My fists clench at the thought, mostly because she’sright—I wouldn’t have known, not for a long time. Not unless I’d decided to look for them again.
“He didn’t give a shit about Liam,” I hiss. “He came to find me, bringing you as payment, because he wanted power. Power that he tried to exercise today. He doesn’t care about my brother’s life. He cares about keeping his own ass in the seat that the O’Sullivans have held for decades now. So don’t pretend it was some noble mission that the two of you went on—”
“And what’s wrong with wanting power?” Saoirse bursts out. “You want it too, don’t lie. You like the idea of leading the Kings. You could have come back, grabbed your brother and bailed, but you stayed to take it over, to marry me, because deep down youdowant to lead. You want to see your family’s legacy stand—”