Page 27 of The Irish Arrangement

I’m not heeling to you, either.

“Cara!” He growled outside the library. “Riley, where is she?”

The young cook I spotted—once when I dared to go into the kitchen for a snack—huffed. “I don’t know. I’m not her keeper.”

I raised my brows at her tone. He let her talk back?

“Where do you think she is?”

“Somewhere around here. For God’s sake, Dec. She didn’t run away.”

“Is she?—”

Riley groaned. “No. She’s here.”

I furrowed my brow, closing the book. Am I what? What was he going to ask her? I knew better than to think he cared about my wellbeing.

“Cara!” He tried the library next, shoving the door open so quickly that it hit the wall. His dark glare landed on me, and I tipped my chin up.

“Are you with child?”

I rolled my eyes and stood to put the book back on the shelf.

No hello. No greeting. Nothing. Just a demand whether I’d served my purpose yet.

“No,” I deadpanned.

“Are you tracking?—”

I crossed my arms. “Yes. My period is just finishing.” While it should have felt weird to discuss my body like this with him, I resisted a grimace at what I was telling him.

He’ll want to try again. And again. All to be told the same thing. I wouldn’t be giving him an heir, but with the deal we’d shook on in the church courtyard, he’d keep trying to impregnate me for the next five and a half months.

I should have said three months.

His face turned stony, rigid with disappointment and annoyance. “Then after dinner, we’ll try again.”

Fuck. I should’ve been prepared. He had told me what he needed from me, upfront and honest about making an heir with me.

He must have interpreted my smirk as an argument because he stalked closer, narrowing his eyes. “And we’ll keep trying until it works.”

11

DECLAN

Not pregnant.

I took my seat and breathed through the annoyance Cara’s answer gave me. I was more irritated than I was disappointed. Since I’d only fucked her that one time, I knew better than to get my hopes up too high. I wanted to assume that I could hit a streak of beginner’s luck with her. That we’d have a child after the first try, but even I knew how unlikely that would have been.

Now we have to try again.

After the troubling, long days I’d had, I was peeved that I couldn’t have a little bit of good news here. I didn’t intend to stay in the city like that, but business called. Duty waited. I couldn’t spend all my time here with my dick in her pussy. Dad expected me to bring him an heir, but the businesses the Sullivan name stood behind also required my leadership.

I glanced at Cara as she sat across from me. Stiff. Lips pursed. Eyes glittering with green rage. I didn’t know everything about my wife, but I was familiar with her sass and stubbornness. She was a fighter—especially against me—and I didn’t doubt that she wasn’t pleased that I’d returned. She wanted as little to do with me as possible. That was a given.

Too fucking bad. I’d be slamming into her cunt within the hour, but even that sounded like a chore. I was exhausted mentally and physically from all I had to do in a day and night of work. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her being prickly and defensive with me. I’d told her what I needed. I explained that she was only my wife to be knocked up.

Most times, the fight turned me on. Docile women didn’t do anything for me. Nothing at all. I wanted a challenge to overcome, a strong spirit to conquer. But not now. Not today.

---