Page 14 of Dark Succession
Teague gave her a look that was almost sheepish. “Sorry. Old habit.”
There seemed to be a lot of those to go around. “I could be a vegetarian. You just ordered me a steak.”
“One—you’re not. The catering menu for our announcement the other night had both red meat and fish on it, so I figured it was safe to assume you had some input on that. Two—I ordered the steak and the salmon. You can have which one sounds best.” He said it so calmly, as if it was perfectly normal for a man to order for a woman he barely knew.
“Whether your deductions are correct or not—and they are—doesn’t matter. I make my own decisions.” The words came out harsher than she intended, but there’d been too many big decisions made without consulting her lately. That wasn’t Teague’s fault, though. She started to apologize, but he beat her there.
“You’re right. I’m being an overbearing ass. I’m sorry.”
She picked up her wine to cover her smile. She liked that he was willing to admit he might have made a mistake. Most of the men she knew would have glossed over it and changed the subject. They might not have ordered for her again in the future, but they wouldn’t have been sowilling to apologize. “Thank you for calling James. We accomplished what I came here for.”
“Maybe you did, but I’m nowhere near satisfied.”
The way he said the last word warmed things low in her stomach. “Teague—”
“We have to get to know each other at some point—might as well start now.”
The logic was seriously flawed, but she found herself taking another sip of wine all the same. Shehadjoked with Micah about finding out all the O’Malley secrets during dinner. “What would you like to know?”
“Everything.”
She froze, her glass halfway to her lips. The warmth in her stomach burned hotter. “That’s a bit much for a single dinner, don’t you think?”
“Where wouldyoulike to start?”
She had no idea. If she was smart, she’d make polite conversation through dinner and get out of here as quickly as she could. This man wasn’t anything like what she’d expected, and that made him dangerous. But she found herself asking, “Do you like being an O’Malley?”
He looked away and took a long drink from his glass. “Do you always go straight for the throat? You could have eased me in with something simple like my favorite color.”
It was the kind of meaningless question she should have asked. This man might be her only ally, and she should be worrying about keeping him in her corner instead of trying to figure out the way his mind worked. But sheneededto know. So she waited, swirling her wine and watching him wrestle through her question.
Teague finally sighed. “No. I hate it. I’d burn the damndynasty to the ground if I thought it’d free my siblings, but that’s not an option.”
She went still, unable to believe he’d just told her that. It was the kind of information that someone sinister could easily use against him. If she wanted to hurt the O’Malleys, cozying up to a son who hated them was a good way to go about it. “Ah.”
“You wanted to go in with the big guns, you get big answers.” He gave a humorless smile. “And it’s not new information. All you’d have to do is ask around to realize that my father and I see things differently.”
“You hate it that much?” She could barely wrap her mind around it. Callie didn’t like some of the things that being a Sheridan necessitated, but shelovedother aspects of it. To her thought process, you dealt with the bad in order to do the most good. Their world was all about balance.
“Look at us, angel. We’re little more than strangers and we’re going to be married inside of four weeks. And that’s the least of my problems—no offense.”
“None taken.” Didn’t she feel exactly the same way? He seemed like a decent enough man, but he was still one that she’d known for a grand total of a single day. The difference between them was that she’d willingly do this and worse to tip the Sheridans onto the right side of the law. “I just can’t imagine hating my family.” As soon as the words were out, she wanted to take them back. It was too personal, toomuch, to admit to this man.
“I don’t. Not really.” He stared into his whiskey. “I just hate the things they do in the name of power.”
“I see.” And, strangely enough, she did. “There’s always good and bad, all mixed together.”
“Exactly.” He finally looked at her, pinning her in place with his gaze. “Though I’ll admit there’s more good to this situation than I would have expected.”
Desire rose up in a tidal wave that had shivers working their way through her body.Good lord, the man knew how to turn a conversation into something else entirely with a single look. She reached for her wine again, only to find the glass empty.Keep it together, Callie. You know how to flirt.
Yes, she did. But this wasn’t harmless flirting. Nothing about Teague was harmless. He saw too much. He was an O’Malley. And, perhaps most importantly, he was going to be her husband in a very short time.
He seemed to realize her mind was going a million miles a second, because he sat back, breaking the moment. “Now I have a question for you.”
“Yes?” She put as much nonchalance into her tone as she possibly could. The candlelight played along his cheekbones and jaw, the shadows dancing over his skin, following a path her fingers itched to trace. What was wrong with her? She should be focusing on what their next move was, not on how intimate it was to sit this close to him.
“Would you have actually married Brendan if someone hadn’t done you the favor of offing him?”
