Kieran.
Ewan picks it up. “Kier. How was Chicago?” His eyes stay on mine, and I hear a thick Irish accent on the other line. The voice is deep, serious, and very male. “I see. I need to meet with you, mate. Tomorrow. It’s important.”
Tomorrow!
I back up, and the walls close in around me.
I have a choice. I have a choice.
But do I really? Back in Waterford, I risk Callum finding out about Sadie. Here, I’m just a guest, and if I want to live on my own, it will be hard. I checked rental prices on my phone this morning in bed and compared them to salaries nurses make. Not to mention the cost of preschool. With Kieran, I would live in a big house and never ever worry about money.
With Ewan…
My throat goes tight. There’s no option there. He doesn’t want me. To the point he might be lying about whether he can have kids. That means he’s shirking the possibility of being Sadie’s father.
The tension leaves my body, and it’s suddenly all clear. He’s been lying to me. Using me. Tellingmewhat I want to hear so I’d come to New York. Let him marry me off to a king to keep theQuinlansin the man’s good graces.
Then screwed me to fulfill some sort of sinful lust kink he has.
Ewan ends his call and looks at me. “Tomorrow. Eleven a.m.”
“Good. Can’t wait to meet my future husband.” I spin around and fly up the stairs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ewan
Iwakeupafterthe most horrible dream last night. The house had been on fire, and all I heard were Darcy’s and Sadie’s cries for help. But I never found them.
I know it’s my subconscious torturing me because I don’t want to hand Darcy over to Kieran. I want her for myself. A loop of my mother telling Darcy over and over that I can have children still rings in my head. The surgeon at the hospital was very clear about the extensive nerve damage I sustained. I didn’t lie when I said I’d skipped the specialist’s visits.
Being in any doctor’s office gave me nightmares. Memories of me carrying Norah into the waiting room for Ma still haunt me. I shake that off to focus on this new nightmare.
Griffin, who decided he’d brave Astoria’s parking and bought an Escalade, drives us to Kieran’s house, his arm slung on the steering wheel, looking very pleased with himself.
The O’Rourke compound includes a sprawling brick colonial with an architectural peaked roof surrounded by a ten-foot wrought-iron fence. Last I checked, the property was worth fourteen million dollars. Kieran took over the family’s estate when his parents became snowbirds, living in a condo in Long Island City half of the year and Arizona the other half. A team of two men dressed in dark suits and shades stands outside the main gate. Despite knowing exactly who I am, one of them gets on a radio before letting us in. The other comes to the SUV.
“Ewan.” Calder, Kieran’s fiercest bodyguard, shakes my hand through the window and sets his eyes on Darcy in the back seat. “Who’s thecailín?”
Calling her a girl reminds me how young she is, but overlooks her strength for dealing with this unusual situation so gracefully. “My niece. From Waterford.” I narrow my eyes at him to signal why we’re here.
Calder scoffs a laugh and then waves to his partner, Waylon, who hangs back. “Open the gate.” Calder pounds on the door. “Good luck.”
“That was comforting,” Griffin mutters. “Do you think he meant it?”
I wonder if not giving Kieran a heads-up was a colossal mistake. Darcy will wait with my brother while I speak to Kieran alone. Any hint of hostility, and I’m backing off. I’ve known Kieran my whole life. He needs a wife, and he’s not made a deal with any other family after Sabine refused him. I’m always grateful in a small way, since Kieran’s taste for rough sex has only gotten darker in recent years.
Christ, what am I doing?
Riordan, Kieran’s brother and underboss, comes to the courtyard to greet us, and I’m glad to see him. His cool demeanor is needed if Kieran loses his shit and Lachlan eggs him on tojust start slitting throats.
“Rior,” I say, having earned the casualness between us from decades of knowing each other, as well as the quality and loyal work my brothers and I do for the O’Rourke empire.
“Ewan.” His eyes sail over my shoulder and land right on Darcy. “Who’s this?”
“My niece, Darcy Quinlan, from back home in Waterford.”
“Why would you…” He stops and then wipes his mouth. “Are you sure you want to offeranotherwoman to my brother? She’s got a passport and might be a flight risk.”