Her eyes heat but she nods. “Aye. Yes, sir. Of course, sir.”
Her compliance spurs me on. I never know if she’s telling me the truth, but right now, I’ve got a compliant little kitten on my hands. I’ll use that to my advantage.
“Let’s go.”Chapter 10SheenaI came here for answers. I came here to spy, to find what the McCarthy clan has done so I could bring them down. But now… oh, God. I’d convinced myself that I hated them. But right now, they hold the safety and wellbeing of the only people in the world who matter to me in their hands.
And Nolan… the way he talks to me, touches me, commands me… I’m losing my grip on my self-control. It isn’t just because I enjoy it, the response is far more instinctual. My body’s alive with the masterful way he touches me, my mind consumed with thoughts of what he’ll do next. It’s hard to remain detached when someone orchestrates things the way he does.
I woke confused but determined. I would do my best to take care of my siblings, to do my job and stay strong. But one pull of his fingers through my hair, and I melt.
I wear the borrowed clothing and take a quick look at myself in a mirror by his bedroom dresser before we go. My cheeks are flushed, my eyes bright, my bright red hair is a mass of tangles I tamed with a quick bun at the nape of my neck. Damn, there’s no help for it.
I gave him the truth just now. I knew that Cian was involved with drugs, and I suspected the O’Gregors were behind it. I know they’re involved in Stone City, but I wouldn’t have gone so far as to say they “own it.” I have as little to do with the city as I can.
Rumor has it I slept with the O’Gregor’s chief, but it’s only partially correct. I slept with the captain, next in command to the chief, and it’s because of him I know the McCarthys are responsible for my father’s death and my family’s ruin.
“You’re lovely,” he says, with sincerity, as we get ready to go downstairs.
I’m a bit taken aback. Does he really think so?
“Oh, I’ll do,” I say, and I’m not fishing for compliments. “I’m wearing borrowed clothing, I have no makeup, and my hair’s got a mind of its own.”
He laces his fingers through mine and smiles at me, his handsome face breaking into a grin and those mesmerizing green eyes of his making my belly swoop. “You’ll do?” he says incredulously. “You drive me crazy, lass, and I haven’t forgotten our purpose here. But I mean it when I say you’re stunning, Sheena.” He laughs. “Sometimes I wish you weren’t. Would make my job easier.”
“Your job of tying me up and punishing me? Ack, seems you do that job just fine.”
“With pleasure,” he says.
I’ll give him this. He might be my enemy, but he knows how to compliment a girl. I’m a good judge of truth and lies; it’s the nature of the beast in my job. And for some reason I can’t quite fathom, when Nolan tells me I’m beautiful I know deep down he’s not just telling me to placate me.
I don’t know how to take it. I can’t quite process his compliment, so I drop the subject.
As we head downstairs, he asks me about my family, and I tell him the basics. Nothing that’ll give too much away. How my mother was a teen when she had me, how she fell in love with my father and gave birth to us three oldest. I say little about my father except to mention he’s deceased, and how his death contributed to my mother’s downward spiral.
It isn’t until we’re halfway down the landing on the way to the dining room that I realize with surprise that I haven’t been doing what I set out here to do. I’ve observed nothing, my head’s so in the clouds with his touch, his compliment, the sound of his voice as he talks to me. I’m supposed to be noting every detail.
When we reach the landing, Cormac stands waiting for us, his large, hulking frame dwarfing the picture windows in their entryway. He doesn’t trust me, and hell, I don’t blame him. I’m here as their captive. He knows my purpose is to bring them ruin.
I know he notes my hand in Nolan’s by the way his gaze locks on our entwined fingers. Cormac might even be trying to scare me, standing all badass and intimidating as he stares up at us. And hell, it’s working a little. He’s massively huge and muscular, like the Irish version of the Hulk or something.
“Good morning,” I say to him as pleasantly as I can. I won’t let these men intimidate me. I won’t.