9. Chapter 9
Rory
“You know, Elio, the contract states I must wed a Marino. It doesn’t specify which Marino.” I dropped my pointe shoe and it landed on the table, sending my fork clattering off my plate and onto Lorcan’s lap. Fern inhaled so sharply I was certain her eyeballs were going to end up in her lungs. Elio stared at Cal like he’d lost his mind. Lorcan, pretending not to notice the tension, laughed and held the fork up. I made a frantic grab for it and put it back on my plate.
Fern was breathing so harshly I wasn’t sure how she hadn’t passed out yet. I felt the blood drain from my face and my skin grew clammy. I reached for my wine glass with trembling fingers and took a large sip, keeping my eyes staunchly on the table in front of me.
“And exactly who did you have in mind, Cal?” Elio asked.
“It’s Callahan, actually,” Cal said, his words polite, his tone anything but. Elio turned to glare at me and I could read the accusations in his eyes. He thought that since Cal asked me to call him - well, Cal, that I was more familiar with him than I actually was. I hid behind another sip of wine so that I wouldn’t have to face him yet.
“Truthfully, I was thinking I’d prefer Rory instead. She does look just ravishing this evening,” Cal said, his eyes on me. Liquid spilled over the rim of my wine glass as I tried to put it back down and I immediately grabbed my napkin, trying to mop up the white table cloth, whispering a quick, “I’m sorry.”
I kept my eyes on the red stain, frantically dabbing at the pristine white table cloth, hoping against logic that the stain would suddenly disappear. Cal’s throat clearing grabbed my attention and when I glanced up, he smirked slightly and pushed Lorcan’s own wine glass over with one, very deliberate finger. My eyes popped wide, but the shock of his actions stopped my frantic cleaning attempts.
“Aurora is not a Marino,” Elio said angrily. “She is a Rossi.” He spit the name as if it were a curse. And despite the fact that he’d been treating me like a pariah for sixteen years, the words still hurt - a reminder that I was alone in the world, no family, only one friend and barely a handful of dreams for the future.
“But she’s been with you since she was barely one, right? She’s been your daughter since you married her mother. You said that this dinner was to properly meet our families. The Italian thing to do would’ve been to adopt her before her mother died. Quite sad, that. I’m sorry for your loss, mo solas.” The sincere condolences were the first I’d ever received and tears stung my eyes, my nose tingling.
I swallowed heavily, wringing my napkin between my hands. “Thank you,” I whispered, looking at the material twisted between my fingers. I twisted it more and more until it was impossible to twist any further, when a gentle pressure on the top of my foot made me look up at Cal. As soon as our eyes met, he spoke again.
“Yes, I think she would be a Marino by your customs. She’ll do just fine. Of course, I’ll not take an unwilling bride,” he said as he smiled gently in my direction. “Are you willing to fulfill the contract to complete the peace treaty?”
My eyes shot to my stepfamily and the pressure on my toes increased, immediately bringing my attention back to Cal. He raised an eyebrow and waited for my answer.
I stuttered for a response before saying too loudly, “I need to use the restroom. Excuse me!” I threw my napkin on the table and hightailed it to the restroom.
The door closed behind me and I collapsed against it, my heart pumping too fast and the breath in my lungs burning through my nostrils. I took slow, deep breaths and counted each one. When I reached twenty five, a light tap came from the other side of the door, vibrating the wood against my back.
“Occupied!” I called out.
“It’s Lorcan, dolly. We need to talk,” he said, his voice muffled through the door.
I cracked the door an inch, placing my foot against the bottom and preparing to brace my weight against it if he tried to force his way in. He didn’t though. Once the door was cracked, he took a step back and raised his hands in a placating manner, his eyes scanning my face.
“I imagine you’re probably a little shocked with what just happened. Are you okay?”
I sniffled and looked over his shoulder to be sure nobody was eavesdropping. “No, I’m not. I’m not a Marino, I can’t fulfill the contract and I’m not sure why he’d want to marry me anyway. I have nothing to offer him. Fern can give him status and…well that’s actually all I can think of, but that’s more than I have to offer.”
He chuckled at my inadvertent humor and raised an eyebrow. “Elio has been preaching to Cal for weeks about the fecking familytraditions the Italians follow. Cal has him neatly snared into admitting you’re a Marino by rights, even if not by name. Cal knows what he wants, and he’s wanted you since before the engagement party. He seems to be under the impression Elio is…inappropriate…in his…fatherly duties.” He seemed to struggle for a moment, picking his words carefully before continuing. “Cal doesn’t like that and he wants to…save you from that?” he finished in an unsure tone.
I looked between his eyes frantically before looking back in the direction of our table, even though I couldn”t see it from here. I swallowed heavily and whispered, “Fern and Elio will kill me if I say yes.”
The old man barely allowed his surprise to show, one gray eyebrow only twitching, before he smiled sweetly, the way I imagine a grandfather would. “You don’t have to worry about that, dolly. If I know Cal, you’ll be coming home with us and won’t be left without a guard or two of your own from now on.”
I frowned. “I would have guards?”
That seemed to give him pause. “Do you not have guards now?” His smooth brogue began to calm my frayed nerves.
I shook my head and wiped under my eyes. When I floundered at the mascara on my fingers, not knowing where to clean it off without moving from my position in front of the door, he pulled his pocket square out and offered it to me.
“Clean up, dolly, and we’ll go back to the table. I promise you, everything is going to be okay. You just have to trust Cal.”
I frowned. Trust Cal? I didn’t even know him. I looked warily at Lorcan before slowly closing the door between us and locking it.
I straightened my appearance, adjusted my dress back into position and made sure my hair was still presentable before opening the door. Lorcan leaned against the wall on the other side of the hallway and smiled again.
“Much better, dolly.” He offered me his arm and I gently rested my hand in the crook of his elbow while he led us back to the table. When Fern’s eyes spewed venom at me, I clutched Lorcan’s arm a little tighter. He pulled my chair out and helped me sit before taking his own seat.
I forced myself to sit straight and keep my chin up while I took a sip of wine. Fern was fuming at the table and some of my bravado fled as I thought about how they would react if I agreed to the marriage. I glanced back to Cal and then Lorcan. He gave me a small nod, just a slight lifting of his chin and I mustered up every ounce of courage I had.
“I’ll accept the proposal and will happily fulfill the contract. I’ll respect our marriage just as I would if it were borne of love and not responsibility. You do me an honor, Mr. Byrne,” I said honestly, because really, the man was shopping way below his price range with me.
Fern shoved herself to her feet and reached across Elio, slapping me across the face, her nails leaving a trail of fire over the stinging skin.
Before I even got my eyes to focus back on the table, Cal had one of Fern’s arms pinned behind her back, a steak knife from the table barely touching the curve of her jaw - the same place his fingers seemed so mesmerized with during our kiss.
Elio heaved his weight out of his own chair as several men I hadn’t noticed until now slid from the shadows, flanking Cal and keeping a watchful eye on the other dinner guests. Elio tried to approach Cal but one of the men stopped him with a hand to his chest.
“What do you think you’re-”
Cal interrupted Elio. “That will be the last time either of you will touch Aurora. Is that understood?”
“She’s my-”
“Daughter?” Cal interrupted again, sarcasm dripping from his voice and an eyebrow arched beautifully. “Perfect! Then the contract will be completed and the peace treaty can be signed as soon as we say ‘I do.’” The false happiness in his voice disappeared as his chipper smile dropped to something much more sinister. “I don’t like to repeat myself. You will never touch her again. Am I clear?” When he didn’t get a response, he poked the knife into Fern’s jaw and Elio immediately agreed.
“I’m glad we could come to a mutual agreement,” Cal said confidently. “I so look forward to joining the Marino family.” Honestly, I was shocked at this man’s ability to say something socially acceptable, but say it in a way that portrayed he meant the exact opposite.
He held a hand out to me and I hesitated for only a moment before I took it and let him pull me out of my chair and into his side. His arm slid around my back, his fingertips barely grazing my exposed skin. My nerve endings reacted just as they had before, my skin pebbling and quivering with tiny shivers of pleasure. He cupped my hip and turned me so that I was partially leaning into his side.
Fern’s eyes were blazing on his hand on my hip and it occurred to me that all the times I’d seen them interact, he’d never touched her like this. When she’d tried to initiate contact, he’d pulled away immediately. A new sense of satisfaction burned in my gut and I smirked a little in Fern”s direction as I pressed more of my weight into Cal”s side.
He turned without another word and began to lead us away from the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fern reach for something on the table before a heavy hand grabbed her wrist.
One of Cal’s men, a tall, well-built man with red hair and freckles, shook his head at Fern. “That would be a terrible move, Miss Marino. Perhaps we should take a step away from the table and head home now?”
Wow. So Cal shared his ability to be patronizingly polite with his men. Cal didn’t look back and led me to a car waiting in front of the doors. A man in an olive colored tweed suit with a flat cap on opened the door and Cal offered me his hand as I lowered myself in.
And then he leaned down, gathered the hem of my dress that was still hanging over the frame of the door and gently placed it around my feet in the floorboard before he walked around the back of the car and slid in next to me.