“How dare you suggest such a thing! Personal autonomy is real, Tully, and don’t you forget it.”
He leans in, his eyes grave and voice threatening when he whispers, “Oh, aye, lass, And a good, solid thrashing is real, too. Don’t you forget it.”
My heart thumps in my chest. “You are a beast!”
He nods, as if I’ve just paid him the highest compliment. “Why, thank you.”
I roll my eyes, but he’s done with this discussion. He plucks the phone straight out of my hand. I get to my feet and try to get it from him, but he holds me off with his palm on my chest. I try to shove him away, to get to the phone, but I can’t reach him.
He’s all pleasantry and gentlemanly courtesy when he speaks into the phone. “Hello, there! It’s Tully. We met at the school holiday party, you remember?”
He grins as she speaks on the other line. “Oh, aye, ma’am. The very same.”
He listens. “I am.”
My God, what is she going on about?
“So sorry, but McKenna’s indisposed at the moment. I know she’s very eager to see you, but we have a few things we need to resolve before we can come visit again, alright?”
He grins as I fume and rail in silence. “Of course, I’ll take the most excellent care of her, I can assure you.” He chuckles, his eyes dancing, the bastard. “Oh, aye, she’s a spitfire, no question. I fully agree she needs a firm hand.” He gives me a wink.
The nerve!
He sobers. “I know it matters to you to see both McKenna and Mary, and I promise we’ll make that happen as soon as we can, ma’am. Aye. Ah, yes, of course I’ll tell her. Bye now.” He hangs up the phone, tosses it on the bed, and yanks me over to him by the hair.
I gasp as pain explodes along my scalp, but he only swallows my scream with a claiming kiss. He backpedals me until the bed hits the back of my legs. He pushes me back, and I bounce a little when my back hits the mattress, but a second later his body’s on top of me, pressing me into the mattress as he holds me in place. His fingers encircle my wrists and his mouth comes to my ear.
“Do I need to make you prisoner, McKenna?”
I shake my head, my body all kinds of aroused and confused. “Of course not.”
He smiles, as if he knows he’s won.
“You’ll come with me. Mary will, too. We’ll visit your mum as soon as it’s safe. But for now, I’m taking you back to Ballyhock.”
I don’t want to put others at risk. I don’t want to be too pigheaded to do what’s safe.
But I also will not be Tully’s lass.
* * *
Chapter 7
Tully
I don’t know if she has any idea how beautiful she is when she’s angry, or how badly I want to fuck her senseless when she’s riled up. School that feisty manner of hers until she buckles beneath me. Teach her submission.
I keep Mary ahead of me and McKenna in my grip as we head to the car that waits outside. I’ve got one arm around her lower back and her hand in mine, but I’m not watching her. My eyes take in every damn detail around us.
On the corner of the street’s a gang of blokes smoking weed, but they’re not the type that’ll cause an issue. I whip off my jacket and toss it over McKenna’s shoulders. She gives me a curious look. It isn’t that cold out, and she’s wearing a sweater of her own. Then her eyes go to the t-shirt pulled tight across my bicep, revealing McCarthy Clan ink. We walk by the blokes on the corner, and their loud laughter and catcalls die down.
I open the door to the ride that waits for us, and usher the girls in.
“What was that?” Mary asks. “Why did they go so quiet all of a sudden?”
McKenna smirks. “Because someone had to show off his McCarthy Clan tattoos.”
Mary’s eyes go to my biceps and she flushes pink. “Oh. I see.”
McKenna rolls her eyes. This lass will end up with my palm across her arse before the night is through. She looks secretly pleased, though, her lips tipping upward as she moves a little bit closer to me.
She packed a bag rapidly under my instruction, muttering the whole time, but I let it go. She doesn’t have to come willingly. She just has to come.
“Back to the mansion,” I tell our driver.
“Aye, sir.” He pulls out into the street.
I reach for McKenna’s knee and give her a gentle squeeze, aware that everyone on the block now, from the men on the corner to the few nearby are watching us. She leans in a little closer to me. Her eyes are focused ahead of us, far off in the distance, as if she’s worried about something. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that I just nearly tore her from her home and dragged her back to Ballyhock, and she also found out she’s got a sister. Both turns of events weigh heavily, I’d wager.