Dangerous Innocence (Five-Leaf-Clover)

Seamus looked up from his coffee as I entered the kitchenette in our warehouse in the harbor. An important shipment of guns was going back to Ireland and a cargo container full of drugs would arrive today. Plenty to do, but my mind was elsewhere—namely the fiery redhead.

I grabbed a mug of coffee for myself. After only two hours of sleep, this definitely wouldn’t be my last dose of caffeine for the day.

“Is the cargo ship on time?” I asked.

“Looks like it.”

I nodded then glanced at the clock. Seven. The cargo wouldn’t arrive until eleven a.m. or even later. That gave me some time. Seamus and my men could take care of everything until then, and I could pay Gulliver a visit.

“I need to head out once more.”

Seamus set down his mug and narrowed his eyes. “Is this about the girl?”

“You’re spending too much time in my personal business.”

“Only if your personal business is part of a personal vendetta that’ll get me and you in trouble.”

“I won’t get in trouble and neither will you.”

“Killeen means trouble, Lorcan. If you miss home, find something else to remind you.”

“Enough,” I growled. Ten years ago, Seamus had left our homeland to come to New York with me. He missed Ireland as much as I did, maybe even more, but he stayed out of loyalty. He and I had been friends for as long as I could remember, in many regards we were as close as brothers, or in the case of my brothers, even closer. I patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I can handle a Killeen.”

I downed the rest of my coffee. “Call me if there’s trouble with the shipment. I’ll make sure to be back in time to unload.”

Seamus gave me a disgruntled nod. I ignored his antics and stalked out of the kitchen. It was still deserted. The guys would come in time for the shipment, without a doubt, but last night I wasn’t the only one who’d gone to bed late. Olly was celebrating the birth of his third son and my crew was already shitfaced when I’d left just before midnight. I had meeting so I wasn’t able to join them for long, though if I was being honest my evening had been far more entertaining than I’d anticipated.

I got into my old Land Rover Defender and headed for Gulliver’s home. I had no doubt he’d agree to my proposal—he knew me well enough to know my proposals were usually disguised orders. Aislinn’s mother was far away, and I had a feeling Aislinn was too proud to ask her for help.

Just thinking about Aislinn’s reaction brought a smile to my face. It would be worth whatever trouble she caused in the future.

As expected, the light was already on in Gulliver’s kitchen. I knocked on the window. Gulliver was at the stove, waiting for the water in his kettle to boil. He turned with a reproachful expression, which morphed to shock when he spotted me. He came over to the window and opened it. “Lorcan. Has anything happened? Did Aislinn cause trouble?”

One corner of my mouth tipped up. She caused many things, mainly in my dirty mind and my pants, none of which were Gulliver’s business. “How about you let me in so we can discuss why I’m here?”

Gulliver nodded. Worry clouded his face. “Of course, of course.”

The kettle let out an earsplitting screech. Gulliver jumped and cried out, his hand gripping the cross around his neck.

“You’re jumpy this fine morning,” I drawled, nodding in the direction of the front door and headed straight toward it. This was going to be fun.

Aislinn

I felt inexplicably hungover when I trudged toward the kitchen the next morning. After I’d shaken off Gulliver, I fell into bed at 4:30 and slept like a stone. My encounter with Lorcan Devaney had obviously been too much for my mind—and body.

I expected to have nightmares, but they never came, which had me worrying for my sanity. If a night with a man like Lorcan didn’t have any negative impact on me, maybe I had a psychotic streak. Without money for therapy, I’d never find out.

I froze in the doorway of the kitchen. A shiver ran through me, then my body flushed hot-red as Lorcan’s dark, amused eyes and Gulliver’s angry gaze settled on me. I quickly clutched my bathrobe closed, even though I wasn’t scantily dressed beneath. In fact, I was in sweat pants and an old Duran Duran T-shirt from my mum—but for some reason I needed another barrier between myself and the scrutiny of both men—especially Lorcan.

My eyes darted between the latter and my uncle. “What is he doing here?” I blurted.

Gulliver looked about ready to cross himself and fall to his knees before Lorcan to ask for forgiveness for my rudeness. With anyone else, I would have kicked myself for being so rude—Mum had raised me to be hospitable after all—but not with Lorcan however. Last night’s embarrassment was still too fresh and while part of it was my fault, the rest was clearly on him.

“Yesterday you were more approachable,” Lorcan drawled. Maybe it was only my imagination but he made the last word sound so dirty. My cheeks exploded with heat. The memory of him throwing money at me didn’t help either.

“Aislinn isn’t a morning person. Don’t mind her. She’s usually a good girl,” Gulliver droned. I couldn’t tell if he noticed the innuendo in Lorcan’s words. My uncle was obviously quite adept at lying too, considering he didn’t know me well enough to say that I wasn’t a morning person.

“Good girl indeed,” Lorcan said, his smile becoming wolfish.

If my face wasn’t already on fire, that would have done it. Clearing my throat, I asked, “Should I leave?”

“No, we have business to discuss,” Gulliver said.

After last night, I had no intention of ever doing business with Lorcan again. If it wouldn’t have raised so many questions, I’d drop his money right before him.

“Okay? What kind of business?”

Lorcan’s lips twitched at the wariness in my tone. He obviously found amusement in my discomfort. Few people evoked my annoyance, but Lorcan Devaney, despite the short time I’d known him, made it to the top of my list.

“The Killeens and Devaneys have a certain history.”

My gaze flitted to my uncle. His voice carried deep regret and more than a little reproach, as if I was personally responsible for whatever had gone on between our families.

“More than that,” Lorcan said. “And they could have been even closer if not for your mother’s flightiness.”

I frowned. “What does my mother have to do with anything?”

Lorcan smiled, but Uncle Gulliver looked ready to blow a gasket. “Why don’t you enlighten your niece, Gulliver?”

“Your mother was engaged to Lorcan’s uncle. It was a bond that was looked very kindly upon by the Irish community considering our families’ blood-lines.”

Mum didn’t have contact with her big family, except for a quirky aunt up in Belfast. She had never been very forthcoming as to why she’d broken off contact, but Imogen and I always assumed it had something to do with us being born out of wedlock when Mum was still a teenager.

“Mum was engaged to a Devaney?”

Gulliver sent me a warning look.

“Indeed,” Lorcan said. A dimple appeared in his right cheek as the corner of his mouth tipped up. “But she chose to get herself pregnant by one of our soldiers, hoping this would cause my uncle to break off the engagement.”

“But the Devaneys insisted on the bond. Your mother ran off, and when we eventually found her, she had not just given birth to your sister Imogen, she was also pregnant with you. That was too much. Simon was furious and so your mother fled back to Dublin.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “I still don’t understand why you’re telling me all this.”

“Your family has been indebted to us ever since. We graciously let your mother find a new life in Dublin, despite the shame she brought down on my uncle. We knew there would come a time when your family could make up for the breach of contract.”

I was starting to get a really bad feeling about this.

“Lorcan informed me that he and his family have decided on the compensation they require to erase our debt.”

“Does this have something to do with Imogen?”

“Not quite,” Lorcan said with a predatory smile.

I glanced at Gulliver.

He cleared his throat. “Lorcan as agreed to accept your hand in marriage.”

I blinked then burst out laughing. Neither Gulliver nor Lorcan added any more clarification, and slowly my laughter died away as well. “You’re kidding, right?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Lorcan said.

Gulliver’s expression was imploring. “It’s a very gracious offer.”

“It’s not. It’s my life. I have absolutely no intention to marry right now, and certainly not—”

I didn’t get the chance to finish because Uncle Gulliver had jumped up from the bench, grabbed my elbow, and dragged me out into the hallway, murmuring “Excuse us,” in Lorcan’s direction. He closed the kitchen door before he faced me with a furious glare. “I warned you not to attract the attention of certain people. But you wouldn’t listen.”

“You introduced me to him in church!”

“But that’s not the only time you met him, right?”

I flushed, worried about what exactly Lorcan had told Gulliver. I was still trying to get the images from last night out of my head. “We met in Sodom.”

“Indeed, and meeting you twice was obviously enough for Lorcan to decide you’d be perfect as his wife.”

“I won’t marry,” I muttered. My body might not have hated Lorcan’s touch, but I didn’t want to be involved with a man like him. Mum had made the right choice running off, even if it now came to bite me in the ass.

“You really think that’s still your decision?”

“Of course it is! I’ll have to say yes for a marriage to be valid.”

“In our circles the bond before a priest is enough. There’s no need for a ceremony.”

I blinked. “But both parties have to agree.”

“You’ll say yes, Aislinn, won’t you?” Lorcan drawled.

Both Gulliver and I jumped. We hadn’t noticed Lorcan opening the door and standing in the doorway. His shoulders were so broad they almost brushed the doorframe, especially when he crossed his arms and made his biceps bulge.

“Let me have a word with your niece,” Lorcan said in a pleasant tone I didn’t buy for one second. His eyes weren’t kind at all. I wasn’t sure how much he’d heard, but it had obviously pissed him off. His voice sent another shiver down my back. I couldn’t explain why my body reacted so strongly to this man. I’d never felt such an attraction to anyone like this before.

“Of course,” Gulliver said, turning on his heel with another warning glance in my direction before he disappeared into his office.

“Did you tell my uncle about the auction?” Maybe that was why he was so eager to get rid of me.

“I didn’t go into detail about our encounter, just told him I made sure you didn’t get in trouble.”

“You bought me at an auction.”

“And made sure you stayed out of trouble.”

I couldn’t believe him. “Will you tell my uncle what really happened?”

“I’ll tell your uncle whatever I see fit. He answers to me, not the other way around.”

“He’ll find out about the auction.”

“Most likely, yes, but what happened between us, remains our sweet secret, right?”

“What kind of game is this?” I growled.

Lorcan’s smile became harsh. “I’m not playing. I don’t have time for games.”

“Then why do you want to marry me? It doesn’t make sense. Are you mad because you didn’t get what you wanted last night?”

He stalked closer, but I stood my ground despite the spike in my heartrate at his proximity. “I got what I wanted,” he murmured, his gaze lingering on my lips. “I even got things I never knew I wanted.”

“If you want your money back, no problem. I don’t want it anyway. Never wanted it in the first place. I can get it from my room.” Lorcan grabbed my forearm, stopping me from leaving.

“I don’t want the money. I have enough of it. I want you.”

“Why? Because you want to sleep with me?”

He laughed. “If I only wanted to fuck you, sweet Aislinn, then I’d only fuck you and be done with it. No. My father has been looking for a bride for me for a while but none of the women he suggested ever quite left the impression you did. You see, I’m thirty so it’s time for a bond with a good Irish woman.”

I gritted my teeth at the sound of his mockery. “I’m not good.”

“Oh, Aislinn, that’s where we have to disagree. I have a feeling you’re a very good girl.”

My cheeks flushed with heat. How could he make those few words sound so dirty? “You can’t expect me to marry you,” I said.

“Your mother insulted my family by running off. That isn’t a small transgression. Not to mention that your father stole a considerable amount of money shortly before he disappeared. Your mother has been indebted to us ever since. She struggles to keep up with our interest rates every month. It would be a real shame if she can’t pay off that debt.”

Mum was indebted to the Devaneys? That explained why she could never make ends meet. “My father left us. If he stole money, that’s not our fault. As far as I’m concerned, you can chase and punish him.”

“The poor sod’s no longer available for punishment by my hands, at least. By our standards, that makes it your problem. We have waited a long time for our debt to be paid in full. We won’t grant your mother another moratorium. It’s time for payment. I don’t have to tell you how much interest has accumulated by now. I fear you’d have to spend many nights in the Doom Loop to earn it back.”

“I told you it was a misunderstanding. I have absolutely no intention of selling my body, not even to get your clan off our backs.” My mind whirred with Lorcan’s comments about my father. Did that mean he’d died? Was he killed? I didn’t know the man, could hardly remember him. I never fantasized about a happy father-daughter-reunion, I was too much of a realist for that, but somehow the possibility of never getting to ask a few questions or give him a piece of my mind bothered me.

Lorcan clucked his tongue and brushed a strand of my hair away from my face with one of his big, callused hands. “My father is old and wants to see redemption served before he meets his creator.”

“Is that why Imogen disappeared?”

A strange smile played across his lips. “I could gather information about your sister for you as a wedding gift.”

I stared at him, shaking my head. I wasn’t sure what game he was really playing. The only thing I was certain of was that it was dangerous.

Lorcan gripped my hand and kissed my knuckles. Then, he tugged me toward him so I collided with his strong chest. My body leaned into him before my mind took over and I stepped back. “Don’t make your decision yet. You have until tonight. I expect you and Gulliver to visit me at the docks by seven to tell me your decision.”

I didn’t need until tonight, but I knew better than to offend Lorcan Devaney by not taking the offered time. I wouldn’t marry him. I wouldn’t throw away my life, and marrying a man like him would end all my dreams. Not that I had been making any progress toward opening my own restaurant one day. My plans of putting away money from working in the bar had always been thwarted by unexpected bills Mum couldn’t pay. Now I understood why.

Shortly after Lorcan left, Gulliver rounded in on me again. I told him about the meeting and the color drained from his face. “The docks?”

“Yes,” I said.

“You have to agree to his marriage proposal.”

I gaped. “You can’t be serious. I’m nineteen. I’m not ready to marry, and definitely not a mobster. I always made sure to stay out of trouble. I won’t marry into it.”

“If you wanted to stay out of trouble, you shouldn’t have followed Imogen down her godless path, and certainly not into the Doom Loop. Now it’s too late.”

“Nothing’s too late. I’ll just say no.”

“You can’t say no to a man like Lorcan Devaney. Don’t you understand?”

“What can he do?”

“The Devaneys know where your mother lives. They know where I live.”

Uncle Gulliver was following his own agenda, and it wasn’t in sync with mine. “You’re worried about yourself.”

“I’m the most likely to survive. The Devaneys work closely with the IRA and that lot would never tolerate them killing off priests, but your mother and you aren’t protected like that.”

“You’re just trying to scare me. Why do you care so much if I marry Devaney?”

“You should be scared, Aislinn. If you aren’t yet, it’s my duty as your uncle to change that.”