by Henry, Jane
I blink in surprise at the clock. I have less than an hour.
I fly out of bed and head to the shower, then realize I don’t have my things with me. I turn around to look at him. He’s propped up in bed with his arm behind his head, and he’s looking at me with something like wonder in his eyes.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he says with a shrug. “I just like watching you get ready.”
I stare down at myself, dwarfed in one of his clean white tees.
“And you like when I wear your shirt?”
He grins. “Oh, aye. Fucking adorable.”
“Hey, aren’t you coming with me? You have to get ready, too.”
He yawns. “Babe, I take about three minutes to get ready.” He glances at the clock. “Breakfast’s served downstairs in the main hall in about thirty minutes. Think you’ll be ready by then?”
A chance to eat breakfast with the others? To see the inside of the McCarthy family mansion?
“Um, hello? Yes!”
He grins.
“Then hurry, so we don’t run out of time.”
I take a quick, utilitarian shower, trying to keep my excitement in check over the luxurious soaps and lotions. The scent of honeysuckle and warm vanilla permeates the small room, and I want to stay here for hours, immersed in the billows of steam and scents.
I don’t really want to get used to this kind of luxury, though. It’ll be harder to go back to my simple life after this, but I know I’m not here forever. I can’t be. It isn’t even Tully’s home here at the mansion.
We dress in silence, and it seems he’s preoccupied, because his brow is furrowed as he tugs on a pair of trousers and a shirt with a collar on it.
“Oh, my,” I say teasingly, giving him an unabashed once over. “You shine up nice, now don’t you, sir?”
He tugs at the collar. “Goddamn collar,” he mutters. “I suppose I do.” He looks at himself in the mirror. “You think those blokes at the school will take me seriously?”
I come up behind him and run my hands over his shoulders, massaging, and his face softens a little. The top of my head comes just to his shoulder in the mirror. He catches my gaze, and I stick my tongue out at him.
“Of course they will,” I say, flexing my hands on his arms. “How could they not? You’re a high-ranking member of the Clan, which they all aspire to, you know.”
Every boy there dreams of being where he is, a respected member of the McCarthy Clan. Some won’t make it. Some will be cut from the ranks before they graduate, and still others will leave to pursue other endeavors.
Some of the boys will follow, though, joining the ranks of Clan member siblings and cousins as official members of the Clan. I wonder who. I wonder what the landscape will look like then. Will Tully be an older, wiser man of the Clan? Will they come to him for advice?
Will he be alone?
He takes my hand and I take my bag, then he glances at his watch.
“We need to leave in about half an hour to get us there on time.”
“Noted.” I nod. He reaches for my schoolbag and slings it over his shoulder. I don’t bother to tell him I’ll carry it this time. It isn’t a matter of can. He likes doing this for me. So I let him.
As soon as we leave the quiet and privacy of our room, the interior of the mansion seems as if it springs to life. Staff dust picture frames and tables in hallways, someone runs a Hoover along the stairs, the large entryway door opens and Tiernan steps in, in running clothes, his dark red hair damp with sweat.
“What’s the story, there, McKenna?” he hollers up the stairs. “You coming with us to school today?”
“Aye,” I say, a warm, sort of pleasant feeling filling me.
“She’s coming but we’ll take a separate car,” Tully says, and Tiernan nods.
Tully holds my hand a little tighter. Can he know how lonely I’ve been, how good it is to be in this place? I don’t want him to know. I feel as if he did, he could somehow use this against me to finagle what he wants. But even as I think that, I’m ashamed of thinking of such a thing.
A door down the hallway opens, and Fiona and Lachlan step out. She smiles and waves, and he nods and smiles as well.
“No baby today?” I ask, curious how it all works here. Do they all take shifts with the little ones, then?
“Oh, he’s with the nanny for now, until Maeve comes up. She loves to be with the nanny when the little ones are about.” She sighs. “I go back to work today.”
For some reason, her answer surprises me. I half expected the women of the Clan to be housewives or something.
“Tully?” I ask quietly, when Lachlan and Fiona go down the stairs before us.
“Mm?”
“Do the women of the Clan work, then?”
He grins. “Some do, and some stay home with the little ones. Maeve and Caitlin are the ones who like to stay, but Aileen’s got a job performing in the town centre of an evening, Nolan’s Sheena’s a reporter, Megan’s a nurse. You know Faidha as well.”
Well, then.
I mull this over as we walk down the carpeted stairs and he leads me to the dining room. My stomach churns with hunger at the smell of bacon, eggs, and freshly-baked scones. When was the last time I ate? I feel a rush of heat on my cheeks as I recall our late-night snack after Tully and I sated our need for each other.
“Tuck in, lass,” Tully says, handing me a plate at the head of the buffet line before heaping food onto a plate for himself.
I stare in wonder at the assortment of food before me. Steaming, plump sausages, crispy bacon, fried eggs with broiled tomatoes alongside large platters of golden, crumbly pastries and churns of sweet, creamy butter. Pitchers of cream sit beside teacups, and staff wanders around filling cups with steaming tea or coffee.
“This is amazing,” I whisper to Tully. “A girl could fatten up here, couldn’t she?”
He gives me a raucous wink. “Go ahead, lass, fill ‘er up. I’ll help you work it off, won’t I?” He gives me a little peck on the cheek, and I feel my face flush with embarrassment. Did anyone hear? But he’s already walked ahead to find us a seat at the table, and certainly no one seems the wiser.
With a little smile, I grin at his back and plop another scone onto my plate.
* * *
Chapter 9
Tully
Nearly all the men of the Clan at one point or another have spent time at St. Albert’s. When I was a young lad, they were only just opening their doors. Malachy, now the headmaster, was assistant principal, and the expert instructor in the Irish martial arts. I learned everything I know from him, and most of us consider him a bit of a father figure.
“Hello there, Tully,” he says, his hands shoved into his pockets, standing on the front step of the school as we exit the car and head up the stone steps. We’ve arrived before the boys, for the teachers need to set things up for the day, but it’s an unusually warm autumn day, so the doors to the school are open.
“Malachy,” I say with a smile. “I’m pseudo-teacher for the day, looks like?”
“Welcome, Tully,” he says with a smile. “You’ve cleaned up some, haven’t you?” He gives me a playful fake jab, and I easily deflect and hold up my hands in surrender.
“Don’t ask me to take on my sensei,” I tell him with a laugh. I lower my voice. “Don’t make me kick the headmaster’s arse.”
He bellows out a laugh and holds his hand up in surrender.
“Oh, aye, Tiernan’s taught me that lesson, hasn’t he?”
Tiernan, one of the youngest members of the Clan, is our prized fighter and a teacher at St. Albert’s, experienced the Irish martial arts. Highly respected among both students and staff, Tiernan’s one of the best fighters Ireland’s ever known.
“I bet he has,” I say with a chuckle, as McKenna comes up behind me.
“Seems you won’t be needing further bodyguards today, hmm?” Malachy teases, and she blushes pink.
“Suppose not.” When she grins, sh
e’s got the most adorable little dimple in her cheek.
The bell rings, and we go off to class. Honestly, if I wasn’t here with McKenna, I’d rather do literally anything else than go back in the classroom. Book learning was never my thing, and though I’ve a solid education from St. Albert’s, I feel I’ve learned more under Keenan and his late father Seamus’s tutelage than anyone else.
I feel eyes on both of us as we walk toward her class. The first bell signals there’s fifteen more minutes before the students will assemble, but I can already feel their eyes on me.
She shakes her head when I take her hand. “Now, Tully,” she says in a low voice. “You’re here as Clan bodyguard, which is already calling enough attention to us.” She gives me what she probably thinks is a stern look. But I’m not one of her students. “You are not my boyfriend here.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Are not!”
“Oh, but I am.”
She groans. “Tullyyyy.”
I give her a discreet pinch to the arse as we head into the classroom, which makes her squeal and flush even harder. I lean in and whisper in her ear. “Now, are you my girl, or I do need to pull you into that cloakroom and remind you who you belong to?”
“Tully!”
“Say it.”
She squirms and wriggles as I hold her to me, smelling faintly of roses.
“Tully,” she whispers.
“Say it.”
She closes her eyes and sighs, her lips twitching. “I’m yours. Now let go of me before someone sees!”
I send her to her desk with a teasing smack. She grumbles and mumbles to herself, but looks secretly pleased, her lips turned up and a little flush to her cheeks.
If I’m to sit in on these classes and re-learn the ins and outs of World Fucking History, I’ll enjoy myself in the process. In this case, that means mentally stripping her and imagining how gorgeous she’d look strewn across her desk as I fucked her.
The bell rings, and she waits primly in the door, every fucking schoolboy’s fantasy come true. Though she dresses modestly, I know every curve and valley beneath those clothes. I know what makes teacher blush.
The boys are less rowdy than usual as they tumble into the classroom, and I suppose it has something to do with rumors that I’ve come to pay the school a visit. The men of the Clan are revered at St. Albert’s. Every one of the boys that go here do so with the goal of being in this position one day.
I watch as McKenna smiles at the boys as they enter the room. Some give me furtive glances, while others smile shyly. I don’t smile, I don’t wave, but sit at the back of the class with my arms crossed over my chest. I’m not here to fuck around. I’m here to protect McKenna.
Class begins, and I’m quickly enamored with her. She hands out papers and speaks with confidence, easily talking about the impact of World War II to everyday people and the rise of Hitler.
“Who can offer their answers for last night’s homework assignment?”
One boy in the back raises his hand, and she calls on him. I watch as she smiles and nods, then turns back to the board and writes down notes for the boys to take. One lad a few rows up pokes the back of his mate, who turns around, glares, then catches my eye and blanches.
“Shut up,” he hisses, turning back around. Good. None of them better misbehave in her class.
McKenna turns back around and continues a lively class discussion, and I watch as she commands the class. I love watching her teach. Her eyes are alight as she moves up and down the aisles, her passion shining clean through.
Who knew that was hot? I can’t wait to get my hands on her. There’s something about the way she speaks, the way she handles these topics with ease, that shows me she’s bloody brilliant.
And she’s mine.
All mine.
The class goes on without a hitch, until the last five minutes. McKenna turns back to the board, and I’m distracted by sudden movement outside the window. It catches the attention of a few boys near the windows as well. I watch, not moving, as McKenna turns back around and faces the class.
What the bloody hell was that?
I look again, and this time, I get to my feet. Now I’ve got McKenna’s attention and the rest of the class’, as I head to the window. All I can see now are the bushes outside the window and the paved pathway that takes the students to the eating hall. McKenna’s voice wavers, and when I look at her she tips her head to the side.
I give one gentle shake of my head, and she resumes teaching. The boys are distracted, though, as I’m standing in the back of the class. I catch a few furtive glances, but thankfully a quick scowl makes them divert their attention back to the front of the room.
There’s a sudden boom outside the window.
Fuck!
Smoke billows into the air, and I spring into action. In seconds, I’ve got McKenna pinned to the floor beneath me as I shout to the students. “Hit the ground! Cover!”
There’s a sudden scramble as chairs and desks squeak out of the way and books and bags hit the floor. She’s fully pinned beneath me.
“Tully! What is it?” McKenna says. “Let me up! I need to make sure my students are safe!”
But my goal is to protect her.
We’re breathing heavily, and I’m listening when a second explosion comes on the heel of the first. I can hear the sound of classroom doors opening and closing, and we try to get our bearings. Goddammit, I have to get to my feet and see what’s going on.
“Stay here,” I growl, pointing beneath her desk. “You take cover under the bloody desk, and I’ll make sure your students are fine.”
She opens her mouth to protest, but she finally actually bloody listens to me for once. She nods.
I get to my feet, gun drawn, and make my way to the window. I see nothing, but teachers are pouring out of the building. Jesus, we need to go over fucking safety protocols for times like this. I see billows of smoke but that’s it. Literally nothing else. No assailants, no weapons. What the bloody hell was that?
“You stay right here,” I bark at the class, as I open a side door that leads straight to the path outside the windows, when I see someone hiding in the hedges right outside the window. I pretend I don’t see anything at all, and watch as Malachy sends teachers back in, and patrols around the perimeter of the school.
I catch Tiernan’s attention ahead of me. His gaze meets mine, and I jerk my chin. In seconds, he’s by my side, weapon drawn. I hold up three fingers to him.
One. Two. Three.
In unison, we point our weapons at where I see someone in hiding.
“Out!”
For long seconds, there’s no movement, and I cock my gun.
“Out!”
Two sheepish students emerge from the bushes. Bloody hell.
“Explain yourselves,” I growl, barely containing the desire to grab the two of them by the backs of the neck and shake the hell out of them, when Tiernan kicks his foot at an empty shell on the ground.
“Smoke bombs.”
They both speak at once.
“He made me!”
“It was a dare!”
“He didn’t bloody say he was going to actually use them!”
Tiernan’s face is a mask of fury that matches mine. The boys’ eyes quickly go to our weapons. In any other school, we’d lose our bloody jobs for packing weapons, and most especially drawing them in front of students, but not at St. Albert’s. We’re expected to be armed, as we instruct the next generation of Clan members.
I stalk over to the largest lad and take him by the arm, hauling him over to Tiernan. They need their bloody arses kicked. To think, I thought these prank-pulling teens were someone come to harm my girl. “Take them to the headmaster.”
We dismiss everyone back to class, and I leave the two fucking lads to be dealt with by Tiernan and Malachy.
I go back in the class to find them all exactly as I left them.
“All good. Class dismissed,” I tell them.
McKenna gets out from under the desk, watches the boys leave silently, and when I get her, I open up my arms. She comes in gratefully for a hug.
“What the hell was that?”
I fill her in. She shakes her head. “Stupid boys pulling stupid pranks.”
I blow out a breath. “Can’t say I didn’t do the same bloody things when I was a lad.”
“Tully, you didn’t!”
She makes me laugh. “Learned my lesson, though, didn’t I?”
I lean in and give her a kiss before the second bell rings. I take my position at the back. I thought I’d be bored here, that I’d rather be doing a million other tasks as a member of the Clan’s inner circle, but I love watching McKenna. She comes alive when she teaches, her gorgeous eyes dancing with excitement and enthusiasm. I could listen to her voice and watch her teach all day long and not grow tired of it.
We eat lunch together in the dining hall, joining Faidha and Tiernan.
“Thought they’d pulled a prank,” Tiernan says in a low voice as we eat.
“Aye?”
He chuckles. “Overheard one tell the other he didn’t know you were here today, or he never would’ve done it. Thought you’d nearly made one shite his trousers.”
The girls laugh, and I can’t help but smirk myself. “Little bastard,” I mutter.
“Tully!” McKenna’s shaking her head at my reproachfully, but her eyes are twinkling.
“True,” I mutter. “But we were all little bastards, weren’t we?”
Tiernan grimaces. “Sure as hell were.”
“Were?” Faidha teases.
The rest of the day goes by without a hitch, and we finally wrap things up, prepared to go back.
“You ready to go home, lass?” I ask, as she packs up her things.
She bites her lip. “Wellll…”
“What is it?”
“I may have to swing by mom’s today,” she says. “I want to feel her out, plan on bringing Mary here this week.”
I nod. “Fair enough. I’ve got a good bit of work to do this evening, but could spend a little time at your mum’s.”
A shadow crosses her face, and I give her a curious look.