Tiernan (Dangerous Doms 6)

“Y’alright, Tiernan?” Lachlan stands in the hallway, a cup of tea in one hand and a scone in the other.

I nod.

“Look like you’ve seen a ghost, brother.”

I shake my head, but he isn’t buying it.

“Outside,” he says, gesturing toward the front lawn I can see through the large window in the entryway. I shove my hands in my pocket and nod, following him out.

A cool breeze stirs the leaves in the tree by the garden in front of us, and behind us I can hear children laughing. I look over my shoulder. Two nannies are full time caretakers of the children who live here at the mansion. It’s almost like a goddamn village. All of the McCarthy brothers have children here of varying ages, Lachlan and Fiona the only ones that haven’t had children yet.

“She wants to wait until she’s out of grad school,” Lachlan says soberly, taking a large bite of scone as we trot down the stairs toward the garden.

“Aye, don’t blame her.” She married so young, she has a life ahead of her yet. She was barely college-age when she wed Lachlan, but anyone who knows the two of them knows they were meant to be together.

“I’m happy to wait as well. There’s a lifetime ahead of her yet, and when she has a child… well, you know. She’s still so young yet.”

“Tell me about it.” I blow out a breath. It wasn’t easy for me to see my sister get married so young, and I’d have likely protested if it were literally anyone but Lachlan. I trust him with my life, so I can trust him with my sister.

“As is Aisling,” Lachlan says, shooting me a sidelong look.

I nod. “Aye.” I want to hear what he has to say about this before I say anything else myself.

We sit on the large stone bench. Lachlan’s eyes dance as he sees the little ones in the distance playing tag, the corners of his lips twitching. “Odd not to see Maeve out there in the mix, no?”

I nod. “She’s upstairs with Aisling.”

His brows shoot up. “Is she, then?”

I nod. “Aye. Fiona, Maeve, and Caitlin.”

“Came to give her a proper Clan greeting, then. I’m surprised Megan and Aileen didn’t join in.”

I snort. “They said they didn’t want to overwhelm her.”

He grins. “Well, now, what on earth would make them think those two would be too much?”

I laugh out loud. Clan cousin Megan, wife to Carson, has a personality as large as the Irish Sea, and Aileen’s no pushover herself. Maeve and Caitlin are more temperate. I think they made a wise choice.

Lachlan sobers, his dark brown eyes concerned, his heavy brows coming together.

“How is she?”

“Worlds better, brother. Was strung out something awful when she got here, but Sebastian helped ease the symptoms. She’s nowhere near fully recovered, but she’s well on her way.”

He nods. “Good to hear.” He chews the rest of his scone methodically. “But you know just because she’s your charge for the time being doesn’t mean you’re locked in for life, don’t you?”

I sigh, scrubbing a hand across my brow. “Oh, aye, of course I know that,” I say as nonchalantly as I can, because it’s one thing knowing something in your head but not your heart. “Can’t help but want to protect her, though. You ought to know that.”

He nods soberly, takes a long pull from his mug, and sighs. “Tiernan, it’s precisely because I know that well myself that I thought it fair to remind you. It’s who you are, brother. You need someone to protect. To care for. Even if you weren’t born that way, and I’d bet a million quid you were, you spent your childhood protecting your siblings. That’s not something you shrug off lightly.”

“‘Tisn’t.” He isn’t wrong.

“But claiming a woman of the Clan is serious business.”

“Don’t I know it.”

He turns to face me. “Do you?”

I nod. “Why’d you think I had my reservations about you claiming my sister?”

He shrugs. “Touché.”

We sit in silence as the nannies gather up the children and usher them back inside the mansion.

“I knew Fiona was mine, though, Tiernan. I knew it for years before she was of age.”

He did, and I can’t deny this. Fiona and Lachlan were damn near fated to be together. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that.

“But Aisling… she’s got a fucking history.”

I nod. “I know.”

“And she’s a firecracker. Won’t take too kindly to your highhanded ways.”

“Ah, she’ll learn well enough.”

He laughs out loud. “I’d give good money to be a fly on the wall in that room right now. Wonder what the girls are telling her.”

I snort. “You and me both. But I trust them.”

He sighs. “One thing I’ll give you, if she ends up here as part of the Clan, she’ll have a ready-made family. And if I’ve ever met a girl that needed one, it’s Aisling.” He shakes his head immediately, as if regretting what he’s said. “Shouldn’t have said that.”