Page 5 of Poison and Wine

“She’s almost twenty-one.”

“And you’re fifty.”

“Forty-five,” he countered.

“You’re more than old enough to be her father, you pervert.”

Seamus laughed. “I’m giving her to you, aren’t I?” He gave me a pointed look. “While I’m fully capable of satisfying a woman that young, I’m too old to raise one.”

I chuckled. “Is that right?”

“Aye, I need one that’s been properly broken in. A lovely widow who has raised her children and wants to focus solely on spoiling me.”

“Best of luck finding that,” I snorted.

Dare rattled his knuckles on the table. Jerking his chin at the photographs, he said, “Come on. Give us a look at our future sister-in-law.” I tossed the photographs across the table at him. Kellan and Quinn leaned over to get a look as well.

“Fecking hell,” Dare muttered at the bikini picture. “You’re a lucky bastard, Callum.”

“Whatever,” I chuckled.

“She’s a corker,” Quinn grunted. With a shake of his head, he added, “What a waste of a body to be a nun.”

“She’s very beautiful,” Kellan added with a shy smile. Leave it to him not to sexualize my future wife but instead focus on her beauty.

Turning my attention back to Seamus, I asked, “The pictures leave me with even more questions.”

“Such as?”

“Why the hell would a beautiful and sexy young woman want to become a nun?”

“From the intel I’ve gathered, she was escaping from an arranged marriage with a sadistic pedophile.”

The mood in the room shifted at the mention of Caterina’s fiancé. As the heaviness permeated the table, I knew what each one of my brothers was feeling. But there was one of them more effected than the others. My attention shifted from Seamus over to Kellan whose jaw clenched.

In my father’s regime, the clan believed a husband had the right to treat his wife and daughters in any way he saw fit without any interference. They were his property. I’m sure it was the same in the Neretti family.

That archaic and bullshit ideal was one of the first fucking things to go when I took over. I might be a cold-hearted killer, but I would never be someone who physically or sexually abused women. Neither would my brothers. Any man who thought he could take a hand up against a woman was dealt with. Painfully.

Clearing my throat, I tried to ease the tension in the room. “While I’m sure as hell not like her former fiancée, do you really think this runaway bride is going to want to stick around to be my wife?”

He grimaced. “Not entirely.”

With a growl, I swept out of my chair. “Dammit, Seamus. This has fucking disaster written all over it!”

“It doesn’t have to be. Unlike her fiancée, you’re young and handsome. While you can be an ornery bastard sometimes, you’re not a sadist.”

“High praise indeed,” I muttered.

“In the end, you can give her the worldly things she possibly misses outside of the religious order.”

“Or is it maybe more possible she’ll resent the hell out of me for taking her away from a life devoted to God?”

“You can always negotiate to make sure it’s worth her while. Perhaps in five or ten years' time when our position is more stable, she can go back to the order.”

“If she's married to me for any length of time, she won’t be a virgin,” I countered.

“Don’t worry. The order allows you to re-devote your life to chastity.”

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