Page 23 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

There was a quick pause. “To be clear, Fox will kill Ambrose or the other way around?”

I snorted in amusement. “Do you really have to ask?”

“No, but it’s a valid question.”

“Can you do it or not?” I asked in frustration.

“Fine, but you owe me big time for this.”

“Yeah,” I laughed. “Right after I take down Ambrose and his army, I’ll do whatever you need.”

That would take years, if I was lucky. Getting this close to him so fast was pure luck. Either that, or he was setting me up to take a big hit. I still wasn’t sure, but I had to hope that his daughter being involved would somehow help me out.

“I’ll send them out immediately.”

“Thanks, Cash. Oh, and tell Lock to cut the fucking ponytail. He looks like a GQ model.”

“You tell him to cut it off.”

10

JADE

Margaret stood behind me and fixed my veil. “Are you sure you want to do this, honey?”

I didn’t have a choice. My mother’s life depended on it. And after everything that had happened, any refusal on my part would only end badly for me. “It’ll be fine.”

She took me by the arms and spun me around. “Is he a good man?”

I thought hard about that, the way he took care of me and protected me. “I don’t think he’s a bad man.”

“That’s not the same thing,” she said sadly. “If only you would talk to your father—”

“This is his decision,” I said, cutting her off. “Trust me, this is for the best.”

And it really was. All the other men my father had been hoping to marry me off to were ten times worse. I shuddered to think of what they would do to me in the privacy of their homes.

“Well, is there anything you need to know before you go into this?”

I quirked an eyebrow at her in the mirror. “Really? You want to have the sex talk with me now?”

She blushed furiously and busied herself with arranging my dress. “I just didn’t want you to be…unsure of anything.”

“Margaret, I hate to tell you this, but I lost my virginity a long time ago.”

She slapped her hands over her ears and pretended she couldn’t hear me. “I don’t need to know about anything. Lord, if my mother could hear me now,” she muttered to herself. She finished fixing the back of the dress and then came to stand behind me, pressing her hands on my shoulder. “Your mother would be so happy if she were here.”

I clasped my hand over hers and squeezed. “Maybe she knows what’s happening.”

She nodded, but I could tell she was on the verge of tears. There was something I needed to talk about with Margaret, and this was hardly the time, but I had no idea what would happen after I was married. Spinning around, I took both her hands in mine.

“Margaret, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

I took a deep breath and walked over to my purse, pulling out a card. Handing it over, I watched as she studied it.

“I don’t understand.”

---