“Can’t have you do that, lassie,” Tate says, shaking his head. But there’s doubt in his eyes, and I know why. I know that I can help, that I can use what knowledge I’ve gained to help us prepare for whatever’s coming. But Tate’s pride and protectiveness will threaten to stop me.
I’ll have to circumvent him.
“She’s safe here with me,” Tate says to Keenan. “But aye, I know what we have to do. We’ll need your priest.”
Now that gets my attention.
What? What is he planning, what is he doing?
I blink. “Your priest?”
Tate works his jaw. “Keenan, I’ll need a word alone with Fran.”
“Of course.” Keenan points to the door, where a uniformed member of staff waits for us and escorts us into an office. Tate shuts and locks the door.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell him, hating how things have transpired in such a terrible way. “I never meant to—”
He captures my mouth in a branding kiss, his hand grasping my neck. My pulse quickens, even as I melt against him. The kiss is brief, but my head spins.
“What is it?” I ask when he pulls away and I get a look into his stormy eyes.
“You’ll have to marry me.”
Blink. Blink.
“What?”
“You have to marry me, Fran. There’s no way around it,” he says, and there’s nothing but urgency in his gaze. “I know we can’t do this the right way…”
“Like… falling in love?” I ask, stung by the immediacy of this, the permanence. I immediately regret my words, but thankfully he isn’t put off. Goddamn these Cowen men. So bloody insistent.
“Och, there’s no doubt that I love you,” he says, pushing me up against the wall. He pins me in place, framing me with his large frame, his shoulders dwarfing mine. He gives me a grim smile, lifts my chin and gives me a gentler kiss. “And I know you love me. What I mean is, we can’t do things right properly like Mum would want, or the girls. No ring, no dress.”
“Why the rush?” I’d have liked a courtship, I won’t lie, but I know I’ve fucked up so heartily that I’ve pushed us into a corner.
“Because the Aitkens are in play. They’ve been trying to bring my Clan down since the very beginning. My father owes the Welsh money as well, so they’re no friends of ours.” Something pained crosses his gaze for a moment, but he blinks it away. He sighs, then bends to kiss my forehead, his lips tender and insistent. “Bringing you here was a power play. Aye, I’m friends with Keenan, but he could’ve told me anything I needed to know over the phone. But being here makes our enemies feel my Clan is splintered. They won’t know we’re on to them.” He bends and brushes his lips across my cheeks. “But now, Fran? Now they’ll know, if you belong to me, they can’t touch you.”
“Who? Who will know?” I ask, my heart hammering in my chest.
“Anyone.”
There’s a knock at the door. Everything happens so quickly. Tate opens the door to find Keenan standing in front of us, a man I don’t know wearing a collar beside him.
“Well, that was fast,” I mutter.
“Parsonage is right next door to here,” Tate explains. “Thank you, Father.”
“Anything for you boys,” the priest says. “I’m a good friend of your mother’s.”
Tate smiles as he tugs me further back in the room. Keenan calls for his mum, who comes bearing a bouquet of flowers she’s gathered.
“Plucked them right quick from my garden,” Maeve says with a smile. “A bride ought to at least have her bouquet.”
I gather the flowers to my chest, still damp with rain, and inhale their cleansing fragrance as the priest takes his place in front of us.
We say our vows in a rush, repeating word after word from the priest. I don’t even have time to think about things, it happens that fast, but I know this is the next step for safety, not just for me but for all of us.
I don’t know what they’ll do next, what any of us will do.
I’m not usually one to blindly follow orders, but it’s the only chance I have right now. I’ve fucked up enough for a lifetime, so I figure the least I can do is make sure that I don’t now.
I tell myself it’s a temporary thing, as we take pictures of us and Keenan gives orders that Fiona send them to Paisley and Islan, and they blast them all over social media. This is what we have to do right now to keep us safe, to keep everyone safe.
There’s no time for so much as a post-vow kiss as we’re whisked away to one of the private rooms. Tate tugs me to him for a quick embrace with his left hand, while with his right he’s on the phone with Leith.