Small Town Duke_A Modern Aristocracy Billionaire Romance by Sara Forbes

Author:Sara Forbes [Forbes, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sara Forbes
Published: 2019-04-21T23:00:00+00:00

17

SHANNON

Nuala voiced no objections to Danny coming over after dinner, so he’s here now. He’s wearing a navy-blue button-down shirt for a change which does wondrous things to his eyes. It’s a fine evening and we’re sitting out in the back garden on two plastic chairsunder the huge beech tree. I want to take him up to the bedroom, but for Nuala’s sake, we’re doing the chaste date thing—for a while anyway.

“Danny, there’s so much I don’t know about your life,” I admit.

He’s quiet for a long moment just staring into my eyes. “I want to tell you.”

“Let’s start with Cliona. I mean, what’s going on there?”

He sinks back against the chair. “Nothing. She’s just a friend. A good friend.” His voice rings with the truth.

“And Lorcan? Why are you so attentive to him? I mean, I know he’s a lovey child and everything, but..”

“My participation in his life seems excessive to you?” he supplies.

I exhale, glad that he’s said it, not me, because it sounds so mean-spirited. “Yes.”

He scratches his jaw, a nervous tic. “It’s not excessive. It’s barely even adequate…after what I’ve done.” He bows his head. Then he lifts it up again. “This could change everything—it will change everything—but it must be said.”

Dread creeps into my heart.

“Lorcan is…Lorcan is the son of Owen Callaghan.”

“Lorcan’s a Callaghan?”

Even as I blurt it, Lorcan’s cheeky little face comes into my mind and apart from him being obviously Cliona’s offspring, he does look similar to Seamus and Niall.

“Well, that’s…not a bad thing, is it?”

Danny’s face, however, is clouded over.

“But wait, who’s Owen? I remember a Seamus, a Niall and an Enda. I don’t think Owen was in MacAuleys.”

“No, he wouldn’t have been,” Danny says morosely.

“A teetotaler?”

“Dead. Dead these six years.”

“Oh.” My hand flies to my cheek. “Oh, poor Lorcan.”

Danny’s sweating. He rubs his temples. “Yes, poor Lorcan,” he whispers, rising from the chair and placing his hand against the trunk of the tree. Then, as if deciding it’s not a good spot, he walks to the well, and leans on the wall in front of it.

“What is it, Danny?”

He spins around. “You asked if I ever had anything to do with Cliona and yes, I did. Eight years ago, it started. I was twenty-three and she was twenty-one. I fancied that we were in love.”

I swallow. It’s painful to hear, but eight years is a long time ago. I nod for him to continue.

“We went out for two years and I was thinking of popping the question. I had the ring bought and the day planned and everything. But then Owen Callaghan came to town. Stole her away from me.”

“Wow, you can’t have been pleased.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” He shakes his head. “I went over there… I only meant to punch him in his pretty face, to put his acting career out of action for a while, but what happened was...”

He can’t seem to continue. I wait.

Danny's voice rises. “I came over and demanded a fight, like a stupid cowboy. We went outside to Ginnitty’s field.

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