She’s doing it deliberately. Holing up with Fianna on the pretext of borrowing some clothes, when what she’s really doing is avoiding me.
That little stunt she pulled in the car, rubbing her breast against my arm, is going to get her nowhere because if she thinks that she can make this relationship real and blackmail me when we get back, she’s picked on the wrong person. We’re getting through Christmas and then, that’s it. I’ll never have to set eyes on Mary Chrysler again.
“Don’t be nervous, Emmett.” Granny Nina pinches my cheek hard; as a child I told myself that she’d stop doing it eventually, but she never has. And it still hurts. “Mary’s lovely. Your mom is already besotted with her.”
That’s what fucking worries me. She’ll get everyone on her side, and then I’ll be the bad guy when we call off the engagement.
“I know.” I keep my smile in place and remind myself that I’m supposed to be besotted too.
With food covering every available surface in the dining room and kitchen, Auntie Erin comes and stands beside me. Even after everything, I’ve always been her favorite nephew. “It’s not like you to be so nervous, Emmett.”
What’s with everyone thinking I’m nervous?
“It’s obvious that you and Mary are made for each other. I bet your mom is already counting down the days till she holds her first grandchild in her arms.”
Jesus fucking wept.
“It’ll be a while before that happens.”
I’m not even convincing myself with the enamored lover act. Get a grip, Emmett. Ten days of this and then you’re a free man again.
“Don’t keep her waiting too long. Life’s too short, you know.” Erin swallows, her eyes growing large with tears. “Anyway, I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”
Okay, what have I done now?
“Granny Mary’s engagement ring?”
She blinks away the tears and smiles at the room without making eye contact with any of the guests. It’s a skill. Auntie Erin would rather be alone in the kitchen with her thoughts than making small talk at a party.
I’d forgotten all about the engagement ring. “Mary chose the ring.”
“You forgot about it, didn’t you?” Erin knocks my ribs with her elbow. “Good luck explaining that to Granny in the morning when she’s sober.”
I smile, seeking Granny out with my eyes. She’s sitting at the far end of the dining table chatting to her neighbor Mrs. Kelly, a glass of whiskey in front of her. “I’ll just have to keep her glass full then.”
Just then, a strange kind of hush settles over the room, and Fianna walks in, closely followed by Mary.
My stomach twists, and my pulse instinctively starts racing when I see what she’s wearing. A red dress that clings to every curve, cinched in at the waist with a deep, black leather belt, and cut just low enough to reveal the swell of her breasts beneath a chunky black pendant. Her hair is down, long curls tumbling over her shoulders, and she’s wearing the kind of smoky makeup that makes her eyes look twice as large.
The dress shouldn’t work with that hair, but it does, and by the collective held breath, I’d guess that everyone else has noticed it does too.
Mary loiters in the doorway, her eyes roaming the room as if she’s looking for someone to rescue her when Erin’s elbow jabs me in the ribs a second time. “Go on then. Go claim your fiancée.”
My legs work of their own accord. They carry me across the kitchen until I find myself standing in front of Mary, who’s chewing her bottom lip and waiting for me to say something.
“You look…” My mouth is suddenly dry.
“I think stunning is the word you’re looking for,” Fianna whispers in my ear.
“Stunning,” I repeat, my tongue working on autopilot.
Mary’s face lights up with a smile. I mean, it literally lights up, changing her whole face, and man if her eyes haven’t gotten greener while she’s been getting ready. “Thank you.” She eyes me up and down, a tentative smile teasing one corner of her mouth. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
I’m wearing a Fair Isle sweater and navy pants. I wouldn’t be seen dead in these clothes in New York, but somehow, less than twenty-four hours of being home and I’m like a peacock displaying his feathers in his natural habitat.
She leans closer and kisses me on the cheek. I breathe in her perfume—Fianna’s perfume—and my lips try to follow hers like they’re afraid she’ll slip away when my back is turned. I hope that she doesn’t notice, but I can tell by the way she slants her eyes, that she did.
But before I can explain myself, my mom comes over and drags Mary away. “I want to introduce you to everyone, Mary. God only knows when my son will bring you back again.”
I watch them walk away, and man, that ass. Since when did Mary Chrysler from IT have an ass like that, and how the fuck did I never notice it before?
Because Mary Chrysler never wanted to be noticed. I answer my own question. Sonia didn’t even recognize her last night, and Sonia knows everyone in the building.
“Are you happy, Emmett?”
The voice catches me by surprise. Fianna is standing beside me wearing a long floaty dress, her blond hair tumbling over her shoulders like a golden halo giving her the appearance of a water sprite or wood fairy. It has always been the thing I love most about my cousin—she knows who she is.
“Why do you ask?”
She furrows her brow at my response. “Because Mary is the only woman you’ve ever brought home to meet the family.” She sucks in her bottom lip.
There’s more to come. “And?”
“And … I want to know everything about your future wife. Where did you meet? Was it love at first sight? Why didn’t you warn Auntie Sinead that she was coming?”
I hear the questions, and I know that these are not the answers Fianna is looking for. She’s an O’Hara. She senses that something is off kilter even if she hasn’t quite figured out what.
“We met at a party.” She doesn’t take her eyes off Mary like an artist protecting her creation. “Does love at first sight even exist? I didn’t even know myself until last night that Mary would come with me.”
“Why?” She turns her attention to me, and her eyes remind me so much of Oisin that my chest aches. “Did you scare her off meeting us?”
I laugh then, the relief tentatively sloping back into my shoulders. Relax, Emmett. We haven’t been caught out yet. When the party guests leave, I’ll find some time alone with Mary, and we can coordinate our stories before the holidays really begin.
“Would I do such a thing?”
“Well, we all know that you’re a Grinch who’s only here under protest.”
“Hey.” I raise my hands in mock surrender and realize that I need a drink if I’m going to get through all the inevitable interrogations tonight will bring. “I haven’t complained once.”
“I’m just so confused that Mary didn’t bring anything with her.” Bam! “Not even a toothbrush.”
“She’s been having problems with a neighbor in her apartment block. She didn’t want to go back for her stuff.”
“So, she’s been staying with you?”
Fuck, where’s the whiskey when I need it? “She hasn’t moved in, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Why not? Are you afraid of what your parents will say?” She smiles. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell them.”
My dad’s booming voice greets the latecomers, and a cold knot sinks in my stomach. “What’s he doing here?”
Fianna follows my gaze to a guy called Ronan Blackthorn who has just arrived with his parents. Our families have known each other for as long as I’ve been alive, but their son isn’t welcome in our house. He’s the bully who made Oisin’s life hell when he was at school.
My fists clench, and I’m about to walk over there and personally escort him out of our house when Fianna’s hand wraps around my arm. “Leave it, Emmett.”
“Why? What’s happened?”
“Nothing…” Her face gives her away. “He’s changed, is all.”
“People like Ronan Blackthorn never change.”
“Emmett, be nice.” My mom appears from nowhere like she overheard our conversation above the buzz of chatter that’s already spilling through the house. “We’ve all made our peace with him, and we need you to do the same. It’s Christmas.”
It might be Christmas, but the guy is still a fucking bully.
“Go find your beautiful fiancée and mingle.”
Mom wanders off. I’ve been told, and she’ll expect me to follow through.
“I need a drink,” I admit to Fianna. “Coming?”
My dad is popping champagne like soda. We grab a glass each and wander through to the dining room where Mary is chatting to more family friends, head tipped back, and her easy laughter reaching us from the doorway. She doesn’t smile at me that way, and I don’t know why that makes me feel so inadequate.
I’m the asshole who abducted her from the Christmas party for chrissakes.
Fianna grabs my arm and pulls me into the conversation which, I quickly realize, is about me and Mary. Of course it is. Why did I expect anything else?
“I’m surprised your granny hasn’t had something to say about the engagement ring.” The voice belongs to Maureen who runs a B&B in Avondale.
Mary stands beside me and links her arm through mine. I can feel her breast rubbing against my chest, and I clench my jaw, warning my cock to stay right where it is. “I wanted a simple ring,” she says. “Emmett did try to get me to change my mind.”
Her face is so close to mine that I can almost taste her lips.
Stop it! Concentrate. The ring is fast becoming a problem, and I need to nip it in the bud now.
“I gave up in the end.” I don’t even care that it makes me sound fucking weak, because her hair is brushing my shoulder, and all I can think about is how it would feel to have it wrapped around my fingers, pulling her head backwards and exposing her neck…
What am I now, a fucking vampire?
“You must be Mary.” I’m so caught up in a vision of Mary arching her spine and pressing her nipples into my mouth, that I don’t spot Ronan coming until he has somehow ensconced himself between Mary and Fianna. “I’ve heard all about you.”
He offers his hand for Mary to shake, and when she unfolds her arm from mine, pulls her into an embrace before she can prepare herself.
I can’t take my eyes off the meaty arms wrapped around my fiancée. He watches me from over Mary’s shoulder, holding onto her a beat too long for my benefit. I meet Fianna’s gaze, and she flashes me a warning with her eyes.
Not tonight, Emmett.
“Emmett.” He shakes my hand, grinning like he’s pleased to see me. This one is for Mary’s benefit. “I can’t believe you’re getting married.” He stands so that his arm is touching Mary’s.
“You’d better believe it. We’ll be getting married here on the estate.”
But he isn’t even listening. “Mary, let me introduce you to my mom. She’ll be wanting to make your wedding cake.”
I watch helplessly as he leads Mary away. She doesn’t even glance over her shoulder at me as I hear her say, “Your mom makes wedding cakes? We haven’t thought that far ahead yet, but I’m sure she can give us some ideas.”
I tune out of the rest of the conversation and make my way back to the kitchen as soon as I can without appearing rude. They’re nowhere to be seen.
My heart is hammering now. He’s doing this deliberately to wind me up, and if he dares to lay a finger on Mary, I’ll fucking kill him, I don’t care what my mom has to say about it after.
The twins tear past me on their way inside from the back garden, and I get a waft of perfume that sends my brain cells reeling.
I step outside onto the decking, which is new, and scan the people smoking on the outdoor sofas. They’re not there. But then I spot them towards the back of the seating area staring out across our land, the fairy lights twinkling intermittently across their backs.
They don’t hear me coming. I watch as Ronan’s arm snakes around Mary’s shoulders, and she tries to dodge the embrace, sidestepping away from him and pointing at the moon. A distraction. He tilts his head back to peer up at the silver crescent, and it takes all my willpower to not separate it from his neck.
“Can anyone join in or is this a private conversation?” Of all the corny lines, I had to throw that one into the mix…
“We were just admiring the moon.” Mary moves closer to me as if she can sense my simmering anger and is trying to diffuse the situation before it arises.
Ronan faces me squarely, biceps popping beneath his sweater. “Your fiancée is gorgeous, Emmett. Lucky bastard.”
I clench my fists as Fianna appears between us, standing way too close to Ronan for my liking. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” She addresses Ronan, whose lips smile all the way to meet hers.
