Page 55 of Steel Rain

Eoghan called his assistant, Malinda, to have another place setting sent up.

Her tired green eyes looked at me with slight irritation. She was a traditional red-haired Irish girl, with long curls down to her waist. She also wore a black sheath dress with practical shoes as she strode about the house, giving orders to the servants.

Which was how I came to sit across from Keith, marking time in a war that he didn’t know was coming. A war where Sinead Flanagan was the prize.

No, that wasn’t right. She wasn’t the prize. She was the battle, the arrows, the steel. She was the artillery, the mist, the blood. She was everything.

“I think I’m well within my rights,” Keith said, his hands crossed over his massive chest. “The agreement still stands.”

“Keith, she doesn’t want it.” Eoghan pinched the bridge of his nose, shutting his eyes in frustration.

“That’s irrelevant. I came to an agreement with her father years ago, and I mean for it to be honored,” Keith said with a cruel smirk on his lips. “So, are you going to enforce it? Or am I going to have to take my men and create my own little clan?”

Eoghan’s fists clenched. “Don’t threaten me, Bournes.”

“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.” Keith’s fist came down hard on the table and the glasses and plates clattered. “I have the most ruthless, hardened men in my ranks. So long as I breathe, they will follow me because we have shed blood while everyone has been here, sitting on their arses. I walk away and half your army will walk with me.”

The two men sat, squared up, no doubt contemplating their next moves like they were hovering over some kind of chess board.

So, that was Keith’s power. I knew he had been in New York City, fighting with the Italians. Battle breeds loyalty. Was this why they allowed Keith so much leeway?

“Why would you want to marry a woman who doesn’t want you?” Eoghan asked the pertinent question, and I wanted to fist bump with excitement.

Eoghandidn’twant him to have her as well? That practically made us best friends.

“That’s between me and her,” Keith said with a sinister little smile. One I didn’t trust.

“That’s fucking primeval,” I said over the rim of my glass before I slammed it down. The force of it made the cutlery clatter on the table.

But these men weren’t strangers to a display of temper. A bit of chest pounding barely made a difference to these people.

“Aye, primeval,coach,” Keith said my title with a sneer. “But it’sourway. You wouldn’t understand.”

Of course, I didn’t understand. I was sane.

The fact that any of them thought this was acceptable was absolutely psychotic. Snow White was right when she said that this life wasn’t good for women.

“And as patriarch of that family, I demand guardianship over Siobhan, too.” Keith’s declaration made Eoghan flinch.

While he might contemplate handing Sin over, it was obvious that the sister was a completely different matter. Why? I wasn’t sure. But all roads, to Eoghan, led back to Kira.

“That can be discussed some other time,” Eoghan said. “Afterthe wedding.”

Keith loudly sniffed in irritation, but ultimately backed down, spearing his food with his fork.

“How was the City?” Eoghan asked, taking a drink of his dry Vermouth.

“Big, crowded, concrete …” Keith said with a shrug.

“The Italians gave you no problems?” Eoghan’s question raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I felt like I was watching a trap being set.

“None,” Keith said, with a small smile. “Seems they learned their lesson.”

“How nice that they seem to have backed off their threats,” Eoghan said.

Couldn’t Keith hear the skepticism? The sound of Eoghan’s disbelief right under the heated surface?

It couldn’t have been more obvious if Eoghan had acid dripping from his mouth.

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