The Wedding Pact (The O'Malleys #2) (36 page)

I can actually get a job—use my degree in communications and journalism for something I’m passionate about. I can have a real life
.

Really, there was only one destination for her.

She walked down to the corner, her heels crunching over the newly fallen snow, and hailed a cab. She rattled off the address to the one place she’d sworn up and down that she’d never go back to. The Halloran house.
James
. Her nerves kicked into high gear as the cab entered Southie and finally pulled to a stop in front of the place where she almost spent her last day on earth. There was something ironic about coming here on the day her family declared her dead to them. She paid the cabbie and started for the front door.

What if he doesn’t want you anymore now that you’re not an O’Malley?

Her stride hitched, but she readjusted her grip on her bag and kept going. If he didn’t want her, then she’d find something else. Yes, the Hallorans were just as perfectly suited for the plan she’d always dreamed of as the O’Malleys were, but if he turned her away, she could just as easily offer that to the Sheridans. Teague would see the value of going as legit as possible and earning more power
that
way. She hoped.

She ignored the potential of James trampling all over her broken heart if he rejected her. The temptation to turn around and run was almost overwhelming, but she made it to the front door and rang the bell.

James himself answered, freezing at the sight of her. She froze, too, not sure what to say.
Hi, I’m now homeless and broke and so desperately in love with you that if you turn me away, I think it might shatter something in me irreparably.

“Lovely?” He still didn’t move.

“I’m so sorry. For everything. I finally told my family where to shove their ambitions.” As she babbled, she unzipped her bag and dug out the album. “They’ve declared me as dead as my little brother.” A hysterical laugh bubbled up. “Here’s the album, so I guess there’s no reason for you to keep stalking me…except that I love you. God, James, I love you so much it makes my head spin. But if you don’t want me—”

That’s as far as she got before he swept the offered album aside and dragged her into his arms. “Stop talking.” He kissed her. “If you think for a second I’m going to let you walk out of my life, you’re fucking crazy. You’re mine, Carrigan. Mine and mine alone.”

“Oh.”

James laughed. “Oh? That’s the best you’ve got?”

“I’m not rich anymore. Or an O’Malley.” For some reason, it was vitally important he understand that had changed.

“As if I give two shits about either of those things. I want
you
—the woman.” He pushed the hair back from her face. “I was coming for you, lovely. I wasn’t going to let Dmitri take you, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let your father ship you off with someone else.”

Her heartbeat picked up. “I walked out on my own.”

“And that’s just another reason I love you. You’re strong and you don’t need a man to lean on.” He cupped her face. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t lean on me. It has nothing to do with need and everything to do with me wanting to be the man who’s by your side every step of the way.
Your
man, Carrigan O’Malley.”

He kissed her, taking her mouth as if he already knew her answer. Carrigan fisted her hands in the front of his shirt, pulling him closer yet. Things with James might have started off in the strangest way possible, but he’d been solid every step of the way. He was the only person in her life who put
her
first for the woman she was, rather than the assets she could bring to the negotiating table.

That’s why she was here, in his arms, loving him like crazy.

He pulled back enough to say, “And I fully intend of making an honest woman of you the first chance I get so the entire world knows we belong to each other.”

Belonged to each other. She liked that. She liked that a lot. “Good God, was that a proposal?”

He grinned and pulled her into the house, never letting go of her. “Not yet. Just making my intentions clear. When I propose you’re going to damn well know it.”

I love this man so much it hurts
.

But there were still things they needed to talk about. She squeezed his hands as she took a tiny step back. “Dmitri’s gone. It won’t be for good.”

“Let him come. We’ve faced down threats before, and we will again.” He stopped. “Your father might not be willing to believe he got into bed with the enemy, but your brothers aren’t stupid. They won’t take this sitting down any more than I will.”

She wasn’t so sure, but she also wasn’t willing to argue about it. There was time for plotting and scheming in the future. Right now she had the man she loved and the freedom she’d spent her entire life craving. But first…“Your brother?”

“Gone.” There was no mistaking the way he meant. Gone the same way Devlin was gone.

“Oh, James.” She stepped back into his arms and hugged him tight. “I’m sorry. I know he was an evil little bastard, but I’m still sorry.”

“Me too. I wish things could have been different, but they weren’t. I’m just glad…I’m just glad I wasn’t the one to kill him.”

That would have broken something in him beyond repair. She hugged him tighter. “And the girls?”

“Safe.” He stroked a hand down her back. “What would you say if I told you I was serious about that nonprofit we talked about? I can’t save them all, but I can save some of them, and you could help with that. Hell, I don’t know if I can do it without you. These women deserve their freedom.”

She framed his face with her hands. “I’d say yes.”
I’m going to have it all—the man, the dream, the life I was always too scared to let myself want
. She smiled, her mind already whirling with plans. The Hallorans didn’t have the same reputation in the elite circles of Boston that the O’Malleys did, but that wouldn’t make a difference in the long run. James could be charming when he wanted to, and
she
knew how to navigate that part of society. Once she got the foundation set up for the nonprofit, they’d have those people eating out of the palms of their hands.

Even better, they’d be doing some serious good in the world while they built their power base.

A year ago, if someone had asked her where she’d end up if she ever got her freedom, she never would have said in Halloran territory, a stone’s throw from the part of Boston she’d fought so hard to escape. But it wasn’t the same thing at all. She was choosing this life—choosing James and everything that came with him. It made all the difference in the world. “You, James Halloran, are a good man. I love the shit out of you, and I’d happily share the rest of my life.” She grinned. “You know, when you get around to proposing.”

“Lovely, the world isn’t going to know what hit it.”

Also by Katee Robert

The O’Malleys Series

The Marriage Contract

Come Undone Series

Wrong Bed, Right Guy

Chasing Mrs. Right

Two Wrongs, One Right

Seducing Mr. Right

Out of Uniform Series

In Bed with Mr. Wrong

His to Keep

Falling for His Best Friend

His Lover to Protect

Serve Series

Mistaken by Fate

Betting on Fate

Protecting Fate

Sanctify Series

The High Priestess

Queen of Swords

Queen of Wands

Other Novels

Seducing the Bridesmaid

Meeting His Match

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Katee Hird

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. 

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