Page 27 of Resisting Rory

I shake my head sadly. “Liking you has never been the issue, Rory.” Although I’ve always been wary of him, I have found him to be charming and sexy at times. It’s what he represents I disapprove of. “Your family, what you do, it scares me.”

“Technically, I’m the family accountant, if that makes it less scary.”

“Accountant?” I scoff, assuming that’s some sort of euphemism for bookie or money launderer. “Can you tell me, hand on heart, that you sit in an office all day and crunch numbers, that you’ve never beaten someone up, or worse?”

He takes a deep breath and scrubs a hand over his face. “No, I can’t tell you that.”

“I thought not.”

Rory reaches over and takes my hand.

“Look, sweetheart, I know you’re having trouble accepting our situation, but it is what it is and there’s nothing I either of us can do to change it.”

I consider baiting him with the possibility I could go to the police and tell them I’ve been coerced into marrying him because of an incident I witnessed. Imagining how Rory would react to that, I decide not to disturb that particular hornet’s nest.

“Okay, I guess I’ll have to live with it.” A thought crosses my mind, something I hadn’t considered about my new status as mob wife. “Shit! I’m going to have to tell my mother I’m married.”

“Aye,” Rory agrees, “I suppose you will. Do you want to call her?”

Though I am tempted to break the news to my mother that I’ve married a man she’s never even heard of over the phone, I can’t do it. We don’t see each other as often as we’d like, but my mother and I have a good relationship.

“I’d rather tell her face to face. Can we go see her sometime?”

“Okay,” Rory agrees easily. “We can do it today, if you like.”

“Today?”

“No time like the present.”

I’m taken aback by his enthusiasm for the idea. He looks at me, expectation etched on his face, as I try to decide whether to take him up on the offer.

It’s so sudden. I need time to think of a story to tell my mother. Then I realize the longer I leave it, the worse it will be. If I wait three months to break the news, she’s going to wonder why I tried to hide it for so long.

“Okay, I’d like that.”

“Good. We can visit your mom and then go shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“Aye, you’ll need a new dress for Andrew’s birthday dinner.”

I wave a hand dismissively. “No, it’s fine. I have something at home that will do.”

Rory shakes his head, an indulgent smile playing on his lips. “No offense, sweetheart, but I’ve seen your idea of a party dress. Take it from me, you need something new.”

I could waste energy being offended that he thinks my clothes aren’t good enough, but he’s right. My wardrobe largely consists of work wear. Having seen how Libby and Sorcha dress, even on a day-to-day basis, I know nothing I possess is going to measure up.

“I assume you’re buying.”

“Of course. You’re my wife. I want to spoil you.”

“Well, okay,” I tell him. “Just this once I want to let you.”

“Right, then.” Rory gets up from the bed, his movement less stiff than it was. “You grab a shower and I’ll rustle up some breakfast. I’d like to get to Canterbury by ten, so we have plenty of time to visit with your mom before we hit the clothes stores.”

There’s no point in pretending I’m surprised he knows where my mother lives. Though I’m sure he’s dug into my background, it would be a simple case of asking Libby about my family. She knows my mother raised me by herself and that she moved to Kent after I left school and she had no need to work there anymore.

I get up and walk to the bathroom, not caring that I’m completely naked. Rory’s seen my body from several different angles now, so shyness is unnecessary.

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