“Is it true what Shay said earlier today? That my bride is a right little dinger?”
“He shouldn’t say such things to you.” I scowl.
“Please. We both know that Shay could never hold his tongue. Especially when it comes to pretty girls. I just want your impression of her to see if he’s pulling my chain.”
“Shay isn’t lying. The lass is very beautiful.”
“Beautiful, huh? Not exactly a word I’d ever think I’d hear come out of your mouth.”
“Doesn’t make it any less true. But she’ll never fit in with us,” I state poignantly.
“How so?”
“She’s… well, boss, she’s not like the women you usually surround yourself with.”
“You mean she’s not a whore. No surprise there.” He scoffs, taking another pull of his drink.
“No, boss. It’s more than that. She’s…” I struggle to find a word that does justice to the woman I met this morning. “Sophisticated.”
“As opposed to the illiterate brutes we are? Is that what you’re saying?” He levels me with a stare.
“I’ve spoken out of turn.”
“You’ve hardly spoken at all. Right now, all that I know of my bride is my brother’s pornographic remarks of what a knockout she is and you telling me that she’s a stuck-up snob.”
“I didn’t say that,” I quickly rectify. “I don’t think she looks down on us. I just think she has been… sheltered. She looks like someone who has spent most of childhood with her nose inside a book rather than being tainted by her upbringing.”
“I very much doubt she isn’t aware of how her father paid for such books.” He scoffs again, this time with a repulsed edge to his voice.
“That’s not what I meant either.”
“Then what is it then? Is she a sexpot like Shay proclaimed, or is she a shy, virginal bookworm?”
“No, not that.” Fuck, why can’t I find the right words? “Not shy. Just… cautious.”
“Cautious is good. I can deal with that. And she should be.”
A frown crests my lips, uncomfortable with how my cousin was able to coax out of me my own impression of his future wife.
Shay wasn’t bullshitting when he told Tiernan that Rosa was stunning to look at. I, for one, have never seen her equal. However, I’ve always known that true beauty is never skin deep. There was something in her gaze that told me she was so much more than the designer clothes she was wearing, or the immaculate hair and makeup. Like the true cartel princess that she is, I’m sure she’s been used to the high-life for most of her life, but it was the elegant poised way she conducted herself in front of us that gave me pause. Rosa didn’t seem fearful about meeting Shay and me, which is saying something since who knows what lies her brother fed her about us. Nothing good, that much I know.
However, what bothered me most about Rosa was that there was resolve in her spine. Almost like she was unbothered by her fate since she had forged a plan on how to see it through.
And a woman with a plan is never a good thing.
If I thought her a threat to Tiernan’s life, I would have let Shay slit her throat right there and then. But I didn’t get that feeling from her, though. Her whole demeanor screamed determination of a different variety, not murder, hence why she’s still breathing.
When Alejandro returns, I go instantly rigid and push all notions of his sister away from my mind.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather go back to the hotel and check on Rosa,” he announces, pretending to flick imaginary lint off his shoulder.
“Fair enough. Colin will see you get there.”
“Is this your way of telling me I need a bodyguard while I’m here?” Alejandro asks, his features a blank, unreadable canvas.
“This is my way of lending you my best man to make sure you don’t get lost in my town. I would expect the same care if I ever decide to visit Mexico.”
This takes Alejandro aback, inflicting a crack in his stoic demeanor.
“Do you have plans to come to Mexico in the future?” he asks, his tone both incredulous as well as suspicious.
“I don’t see why not? My wife’s home is my home, is it not? I’m sure, from time to time, she would want to visit her brothers and see her family.”
“I have to say you’ve surprised me, Kelly.”
“And why is that?”
“Most men wouldn’t like to leave their turf to enter enemy territory willingly,” Alejandro connotes plainly.
“But we’re no longer enemies now, right?”
“Not after tomorrow, no.”
In other words, only when Rosa officially becomes a Kelly will our feud be laid to rest.
“On that, at least, we are in agreement. Colin will show you out,” Tiernan dismisses, not even bothering to look Alejandro in the eye.
I start to follow the man in question back downstairs when he surprises me by halting his step and turning around to face Tiernan once more.
“She’s not like us, Kelly.”
“Who isn’t?”
“Rosa. She may be used to this life we lead and might even be a little bit jaded by it, thinking the way we do business is the norm, but she’s held on to something that we made men have no room for in our lives.”
“And what’s that?” Tiernan retorts with practiced boredom, his gaze fixed on the stage below.
“She still sees the good in people. Even when they don’t deserve it.”
Tiernan shifts his attention back to the cartel prince after that loaded statement.
“Are you telling me this because you think I’ll steal the noble attribute away from her?”
“I know you will,” Alejandro proclaims in a somber tone. “All I ask is that you ease Rosa into her misery. Let her hold on to that pure part of her heart a little while longer, if you can.”
“I’m not a monster, Alejandro,” Tiernan rebukes with an offended snarl.
“We’re all monsters, Kelly. I’m just alerting you to the fact that my sister is used to one breed of evil. It will take her some time to get accustomed to yours.”