He grins. “Oh, she has her ways. Likely went and picked them up herself.”
I marvel at the brand new travel bag, but don’t have time to look at everything before he whisks me away.
The ride to the school doesn’t take very long, and the entire time I pepper him with questions.
“Is it a very strict school?”
He nods soberly. “Very.” Of course it is, I reason. They’re the training grounds for the McCarthy Clan, and the men of the Clan are fearsome, powerful, and brave.
“What was your favorite class?”
“Ealaíona comhraic.” Irish martial arts. Of course.
“Least favorite?”
A grimace. “French.”
For some reason, that strikes me as funny, and I giggle at that.
“Favorite teacher?”
“Malachy.”
“You call the teachers by the first name there?”
“Only him.”
I mull this over.
“Will I get to meet him?”
He frowns. “I hope so.”
When we arrive, a few other cars arrive as well. I look in astonishment to see how many came.
“Goodness, Tiernan. Keenan sent back up, did he?”
“Oh aye.”
I swallow hard. “They take protecting the ones in their charge extremely seriously, don’t they?”
Tiernan nods, but his eyes are a little wide. “Well, of course they do.”
It’s a given, then, for a man like him and so outside my realm of experience, I’m still trying to understand where I fit in here.
“Tiernan!” A tall woman with her hair in a long braid down her back gives him a big hug.
Tiernan’s face breaks into a grin. He bends to embrace her as she gives him a huge, motherly hug. “Oh, it’s good to see you, lad. And would you look at you, how big and manly you are now! Wouldn’t recognize you next to the scrawny lad who came here all those years ago. How long ago was it, anyway?”
Tiernan releases her and chuckles. “Been a while.”
“I’ll never forget the first day I met you,” she says. “Sent you to the headmaster’s office on day one, didn’t I?”
He chuckles. “Aye. Can’t remember why, but I’m sure ’twas something mouthy, no?”
She laughs. “Oh, no doubt.” She turns to face me. “And who’s your lovely companion?”
Lovely companion.
My cheeks flush.
We didn’t discuss my name beforehand. I look to him in a panic, unable to state my real name, but he takes it in stride.
“This is Ruby.”
Ruby? Bloody hell. Not sure I like that. I try not to react.
“So pleased to meet you, Ruby. I hope we can catch up sometime.”
She leaves, and Tiernan reaches for our bags. I take a small bag Maeve packed for me and sling it on my shoulder, but when I go to take one of our travel bags, he frowns and takes it right out of my hand.
Of course.
“Ruby?” I hiss.
“Pretty name.”
“It’s bloody awful.”
He smirks. “All I could imagine was your pretty red arse painted with my handprint, and it seemed immediately fitting. Christ, but it’s good to be back here,” he mutters as we walk around the back of the school. “We’ve simple quarters back here for staff and guests. They used to be nearly spartan, but Keenan decided to improve them a few years back.”
I look around at the rooms that look like simple hotels, sparsely furnished but neat and clean.
He opens the door and tosses our bags in.
“I’ll give you a tour.”
He looks around with pride, as he takes my hand, and I realize, this is the home that built him, that influenced the man he is today. He came from a broken home in Stone City, the poorest of all cities in Ireland. He’s told me before he thanks the McCarthys for raising him, and I know Fiona’s said the same.
The grounds are lovely, ensconced on all sides by flowers and greenery.
“You must have an outstanding landscaper.”
He grins. “We make the boys do it.”
Of course they do. I grin back.
I’ve never been to a place like this before. “Is it all boys?”
“Oh, aye.”
“Can’t let the ladies detract from your work, then?”
He snorts. “Something like.”
“Tiernan? That you, lad?”
A man some years older than Tiernan, tall and muscled with Irish ink on his neck and arms, ambles out, his hands in his pockets. His iron-gray hair is cut short, his jaw clean-shaven, his eyes as steely gray as his hair. His eyes twinkle, but there’s a hardness about him I don’t miss. He’s got a scar along his temple and one on his chin as well.
He claps Tiernan on the back. “How’ve you been lad?”
Tiernan lights up like a little boy on Christmas, nearly bursting with pride. It’s then that I realize that this place, this school, was home to him, too.
“Excellent.” He gestures toward me. “Malachy, meet Ruby.”
Ruby. Ugh. I can’t get over the name.
I plaster on a smile and shake his hand.
“Pleased to meet you, love,” he says, leaning in to whisper. “Keenan’s told me everything. You two need anything at all, you let me know.” He stands and gestures to Tiernan. “And if this bloke doesn’t treat you well, you let me know.” He cuffs Tiernan good-naturedly. “I can still kick his muscled, full-grown arse.”
Tiernan snorts and ducks the blow.
“You think so, old man?” Tiernan’s already bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to go, and Malachy grimaces.
“Actually, probably not,” he says, and the two of us laugh.
“Got a class to teach, will see you later,” Malachy says. Tiernan waves, and opens the door for us to go inside.
“I don’t understand,” I say to him. “What makes it safer here? Why didn’t we just stay at the mansion? I mean, there’s those heavy gates and security…”
“And we likely would’ve been fine there, aye,” Tiernan says, as the door swings shut behind him. “But no one will think to look here, when doing a cursory investigation anyway. St. Albert’s is damn near its own little island, as it were.”
“Oh? How so?” I’m intrigued.
“Well, they’ve got their own staff, for one. Private schooling. All attendees board, and we have a full school board panel as well.” He goes on, explaining the hierarchical structure of
