Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“I understand your concerns, Keenan,” I say as calmly as I can. “I really do. And I respect that—”
He scowls, his arms folded on his chest. “I very much doubt that.”
My temper rages even hotter. I keep my mouth in check with difficulty.
“And why on earth are you making that assumption?”
He shakes his head, a barely perceptible little display of disapproval. “Because not thirty seconds ago, Tully asked you to sit, and you haven’t listened at all.”
My jaw comes unhinged, as I swing my gaze from Tully to Keenan and back again. “Are you serious?”
Keenan doesn’t blink. “Very.”
I look to Tully for help, but he only shrugs. “Don’t tell me a lass like you’s been raised on the outskirts of the inner Clan, worked at our school, and don’t know the fucking rules, McKenna.”
My blood runs cold. I do know the rules, the ties that bind when a man of the Clan claims a woman. Have I unwittingly connected myself irrevocably to a ruthless mobster?
“I know plenty of Clan rules,” I say in self-defense.
Even pale and injured, Tully’s dark gaze and husky voice affect me, his tone brooking no argument, his very body language daring me to defy him. “Let’s hear them, lass.”
Damn it. Set myself up for that.
I need a primer or something. It’s something we discuss quite often at the school, the other women and me. I do my best to drag them from my memory, and wish I hadn’t bluffed right now.
“A man of the Clan, to be chief, needs to be heir to the throne and a married man.” That doesn’t affect us. Tully’s not the chief.
Tully nods. “Go on.”
I swallow hard. “He must consummate the marriage on the wedding night. Archaic rule, that,” I mutter, but neither of them are amused or ruffled.
“Yes. Go on.”
I blow out a breath. “When a man of the Clan… claims a woman, she…” this is where it gets a little more difficult to speak. Claiming is very serious indeed. “She becomes the epicenter of his universe, or so I’m told.”
I don’t want that. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t.
“Her every need, both physically and financially, is met. She… is taken care of in every possible way.”
“Aye. Any more?”
There are other rules, of course, but they involve things like hierarchy, heirs to the throne, and retribution when a Clan brother defies code.
“There are loads more,” I say loftily. “But none that affect us.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Keenan says sternly, his tone as imperative as the headmaster at school. No wonder the boys quake when they’re being lectured or disciplined. “There are loads of rules, McKenna. Code that’s written in stone, lass.”
“Stone!” I scoff, tossing my hand up in a futile attempt to refute his argument. “There are no stone laws, Keenan. You act as if Parliament itself rules the very ocean of Ballyhock.”
Tully’s lips thin, his voice hard when he says in a low, warning tone, “That’s enough, lass. You’ve gone far enough. You’ll not disrespect the Clan chief nor the Clan.”
I spin around to pierce Tully with a look of my own. “I’m no man of the Clan, Tully.”
He holds my gaze. “You’re damn lucky you’re not. Injury or not, I’d have whipped yer arse for mouthing off to the Chief a full five minutes ago.”
My pulse quickens. How dare he?
“And this is why we always split, Tully. This is why I can’t stay with a man like you, and you bloody well know it.” A gasket just blew off my temper, and steam flows through me with the force of a storm. “This. This right here, this domineering, tyrannical, imperious nature of yours!”
His eyes grow cold and narrowed. He reaches for his cup of tea and takes a long pull, as if he isn’t bothered in the least, and places it back on the saucer while he shakes his head.
“That’s where you’re wrong again, McKenna.”
“Excuse me?”
“You think that vocabulary you picked up at uni will save you now?” His tone is biting, and I flinch. “You, lass, are cantankerous and recalcitrant. Now who can play the big word game?”
Keenan chuckles. “Get to the point, Tully, or I will.”
He pushes himself to sitting up higher in bed, stifling a wince of pain. It might prick my conscience a little. Like, a little.
“You’ve been involved with a member of the Clan. You never should have played those tricks on me, lass. You were heading to my home. There are reasons I don’t take girls back to my home.”
Girls. The bastard!
I listen in stony silence, and shiver with the knowledge that he’s about to deliver news I likely don’t want to hear.
“Our enemies have spied you. You’re a target. You won’t leave the Clan, McKenna.” He sighs heavily, shaking his head. “This time you can’t run.”
Oh, really?
I get to my feet and stomp toward the door. “Watch me.”