The Wedding Pact (The O'Malleys #2) (24 page)

“Promise me you’ll leave.” She rummaged around and found her panties. “We’ve already been gone too long.”

“So determined to see the back of me.”

She yanked on her dress and, even in his frustration, he made sure he zipped it up slowly so he didn’t damage the fabric. Carrigan turned around as soon as he was done. “Apparently I’m going to have to be the one who has enough common sense for both of us. You can’t be here. This can’t happen like this. Not where we could be caught.”

Her reasoning was sound, but that didn’t stop the bitterness on the back of his tongue. “Got it. I’m your dirty little secret.”

“Do you
want
a war?” She shook her head. “You know what, no. I’m not doing this. Not now and not like this. If you want to have a conversation like reasonable adults, call me later.”

She was right. He
knew
she was right. But that didn’t kill the urge to drag her back into his arms and kiss her until she stopped telling him all the reasons they were shitty for each other. He opened the closet door and motioned for her to precede him. “After you.”

“You…God, you drive me so crazy.” She grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him, moving away before he could do anything about it. Right into the hallway where two of her brothers stood, shock written across both their faces.

Well, fuck
.

Aiden grabbed her arm and the younger one grabbed
him
, slamming him against the wall. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” James didn’t fight back, just let the little shit shake him.

“Cillian, no!”

Aiden gave Carrigan a shake, too, and
that
set James’s temper off. He grabbed the kid and glared at the O’Malley heir. “You can be pissed at me all you want, but you hurt her and I’ll take your fucking hand off at the wrist.”

Aiden didn’t let her go, but he didn’t shake her again, either. “I think it’s time you left.”

Hell, James agreed with him. He caught Carrigan’s gaze.
Unfinished business, lovely
. She frowned, obviously worried her brother was going to take him out back and shoot him. “I think you’re right.” He shoved Cillian away and made a show of dusting off his shirt. “I’ll be seeing you around.” He turned and made it all of one step before Aiden’s voice stopped him.

“My sister might be ready to forget what you almost did to her, but I damn well haven’t. You fucking touch her again and it really will be war.”

*  *  *

Carrigan’s brothers dragged her back to the reception. Aiden stopped just inside the door, his grip on her arm tight enough to bruise. “You will go to the banquet table, sit your ass down, and smile like nothing’s wrong. You will give your planned toast. And then you will sit there like someone who isn’t a fucking traitor until it’s time to go home. After that, we’ll deal with this.”

She’d never feared her brother before, but she’d never seen him with another man’s murder in his eyes, or with that bone-deep disgust he turned on her. She’d fucked up, and they both knew it. Carrigan gave a jerky nod, and walked to the wedding party’s table on shaking legs. Teague sent her a questioning look, and she somehow managed to dredge up a smile for him. “The food looks great.”

The rest of the reception passed in a blur. Every time she looked up, she found Aiden or Cillian glaring at her, a physical reminder of the talk she had coming. She tried to dredge up some righteous indignation. Good lord, she tried. But there was nothing.

She’d been sleeping with the enemy.

Worse, she could still feel the imprint of his mouth on her skin, his hands on her body, his cock inside her. Even knowing the trouble that was coming, she still wanted James almost more than she wanted her next breath—which just proved she was too stupid to live.

They saw Teague and Callie off in a flurry of bubbles. Carrigan was an island of misery in the midst of all the joy, her glowering brothers flanking her as she walked to the waiting town car and they got in on either side of her. She barely had time to take a breath before Aiden started in. “What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. You? James fucking Halloran?
Seriously,
Carrigan? How fucking stupid can you be?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, staring straight ahead. “I’m not stupid.” They didn’t know James. They didn’t understand that what he and she shared was something she couldn’t make herself pass up. “You don’t understand.”

“No, I goddamn well don’t. He kidnapped you. Christ only knows what he did to you when you were in his house.”

Carrigan turned to glare at him. “Christ has nothing to do with it.
I
know what happened—and, more importantly, what didn’t happen—to me. And it’s a moot point now anyway.”

“No, it’s not a fucking moot point.” He pointed a finger out the side window. “That guy is the enemy. He might be someone you’re attracted to or whatever the fuck was going on back there, but he’s a Halloran. He’s not for you, and you damn well know it.”

Yeah, she did. Not too long ago, that forbidden aspect would have been enough to make James even more attractive to her.
Was that all this is? The lure of the untouchable?
She hunched lower in her seat, every instinct crying against that belief. It was different with James.
He
was different. Maybe she’d originally entertained thoughts of him because he was the one man her father would lose his shit over, but that had quickly morphed into something…genuine.

Aiden gripped her shoulder. “Look at me, Carrigan.”

She wanted to dig in her heels and shut her eyes like she had when they were kids and he pissed her off. But they weren’t kids anymore. They were adults, and she was facing real-life consequences. So she turned and met his gaze, doing her damnedest not to drop her eyes. Her brother’s face seemed to have acquired new lines in the last few hours, and every single one of them was because of her. “Aiden—”

“He is
not
for you. I’ll keep this from our father, because we both know what he’d do if he knew.”

Nothing good. Seamus’s potential reactions ranged from locking her in the attic for the rest of her life to marrying her off right away to the first man he could find that wasn’t an enemy of the O’Malleys. Nowhere on the list was him smiling, patting her on the head, and telling her that he just wanted her to be happy. Her happiness was, and always had been, secondary.

On her other side, she could practically feel Cillian seething. He shifted. “You can’t seriously be thinking of letting this go, Aiden. He defiled our sister.”

“Are you serious right now?” She turned and smacked him. “I’m a grown-ass woman, and no one defiled me.”

“Except that time he threw your ass into a trunk and
kidnapped
you. Since when are we so willing to forget
that
? Aiden, you have to tell Father.”

“I don’t have to do a damn thing—and neither do you.” The boy she’d grown up with, the one she’d played countless hours of imaginary games with, was gone, replaced by a cold son of a bitch that Carrigan would think twice before crossing. Apparently Cillian felt the same way, because he jerked back. Aiden looked at her, and then Cillian. “Neither one of you is going to do anything that might jeopardize the peace deals we have going. Not a single fucking thing, do you hear me? That means
you
keep your mouth shut.” He jerked his chin at Cillian. “And
you
keep the hell away from Halloran. We can fix this, but you’re going to do exactly what I say.”

She didn’t want to. She wanted to rail and scream and hit in protest. But it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. She was as trapped as she’d always been.
Damn you, James. Why did you have to come to the wedding? Things were going good.

And he’d been her dirty little secret.

She tried to smother the shame the thought brought. Today had more than proven that James wasn’t ever going to be accepted by her family. He wasn’t on the list. Hell, he was so far
off
the list, he was probably the last person in the world her father would allow her to marry.

She pressed a hand to her throat.
Oh God, where had that thought come from?
She liked how he made her feel, in bed and out, but that was a long way from considering a serious relationship—
any
relationship—with him.

“Promise me, Carrigan.” Aiden’s hand tightened on her arm. “Promise me that you’ll focus on our father’s list and leave Halloran alone.”

She didn’t have a choice. If she fought him on this, he’d throw her to the wolves. She cleared her throat. “I promise.” Even as the words settled in the space between them, she wasn’t sure if she was lying or not.

The town car pulled up in front of their home, saving her from this conversation. Cillian was out of the car before it stopped moving, slamming the door behind him and striding down the street. She had a feeling she knew where he was going, but there was nothing she could do about it. Carrigan could actually feel her siblings fracturing around her—from Aiden down to Keira—and she was partly to blame.

She followed Aiden out onto the shaded sidewalk, but apparently he wasn’t through with her. “Which one of the men is the top of your list?”

She wished she could pretend she misunderstood him. “I haven’t met them all.” When he just stared, she sighed. Really, there was no contest. “Dmitri Romanov.” He might be dangerous, but at least he was upfront about it.

“Call him.”

She jerked back. “Excuse me?”

“Call him. See him again. Get this fucking thing moving. The faster you’re married, the faster we can sweep this whole clusterfuck under the rug.”

And the faster the cage door would close behind her. She took a deep breath. “Aiden—”

“You’re being deliberately dense. That wasn’t a request, Carrigan. It was a fucking order.”

Glaring, she fished her cell phone out of her clutch and scrolled through her most recent calls. “This is bullshit.”

“You don’t get to play righteous fury right now. Stop stalling and call him.”

She was stalling, and for what? If it was two weeks or two days, her time had nearly run out. With a sigh, she called Dmitri, hoping he’d let it go to voice mail.

“Hello, Carrigan.”

Damn it.
She’d had such shitty luck today, and apparently it wasn’t going to change now. “Dmitri.” She held Aiden’s gaze while she spoke, part of her surprised that her voice was so even despite the inner turmoil she could barely breathe past. “I’d like to see you again.”

“Excellent. Are you free Tuesday? I had to make a trip back to New York to take care of some business, but I should be back in Boston by then.”

She didn’t ask what business he had to take care of personally. She didn’t want to know. “That would be wonderful. Dinner this time?”

“Of course. I’ll send my driver to pick you up at seven.”

High-handed
. She gritted her teeth and bit out the next words. “I look forward to seeing you.” She hung up and turned to Aiden. “Are you happy now?”

“Not even close. Don’t fuck this up, Carrigan. You have no idea what’s at stake.”

She would if he talked to her instead of stepping up like he was their father and she was his little minion. But that was how Seamus operated, so why would Aiden do anything differently? “You’re just like our father.” The words came out poisonous and low, and she instantly wanted to take them back.

He just stepped aside with a short nod. “I do what I have to in order to keep our family safe. You’d do well to remember that.” He turned on his heel and walked up the stairs and into the town house, leaving her staring after him.

She
was
doing what was best for the family. She hadn’t run like she’d considered. She hadn’t fought her father’s ridiculous list. The only thing she’d taken for herself in all these years was the occasional night of freedom.

And James
.

She pushed the thought away. She didn’t know what she was going to do about him, but her brother was right—there was no future there. Even if by some miracle he fell in love with her and she…Well, it was impossible. Her family would never give their blessing. His family wanted her dead. That wasn’t the material that happily ever after was made of.

Maybe it really would be best to cut things off now. It seemed like every hour she spent with him attached more strings to her heart. Too many more and he’d rip it out of her chest when he walked away.

Chapter Eighteen

C
illian didn’t have a destination in mind when he set out. All he wanted to do was escape the monster in his head. Seeing his sister touching a Halloran had sent him back to that dark street, to the sound of gunshots, to watching Devlin bleed out. It was a Halloran who gave the order that resulted in their little brother’s death, and she was
kissing
one.