Taking Risk Series Read online

  Clearing my throat, I sit at the edge of the chair and meet his gaze. “Since we are on the topic of Amberlyn, I want to talk to you about something.”

  “Sure, what is it?” he asks, his eyebrows coming up before he shuts his laptop.

  “I asked her to marry me,” I say, and a small smile graces my da’s usually stern face.

  “I may have thought differently before, but after the way she has conducted herself, I can’t help but respect the girl. You were right, she is something, and I look forward to getting to know her.”

  “She is amazing,” I boast, my heart soaring for her. “But she is young, Da, only twenty. I know I have a deadline that will be up in three months, but surely you can give me some more time. Let us have a long engagement.”

  The smile drops so quickly, I almost don’t believe it was ever on his face. Shaking his head, he says, “No, Declan, I can’t do that. You have till October seventeenth to marry the girl or you’ll lose the distillery, and that’s final, son.”

  “But Da, I’m her first boyfriend. What if it doesn’t work out?”

  “Then you end it now,” he says with an annoyed look. “You have three months. Either marry her or let her go.”

  “I won’t let her go,” I say with a vengeance. “I love her.”

  “I guess we have a wedding to plan, then?” he says simply, looking down at his calendar. “October seventeenth a good day? It’s a Saturday. Be a nice enough time for a wedding, I guess.”

  Tears burn my eyes as I look at my legs. “Da, please, a year. Give me a year. Just to make sure she wants to marry me.”

  “If you aren’t sure yet, Declan, let her go. You are wasting your time. You need a wife.”

  “We’ve only dated two months, Da!” I protest, but he isn’t budging.

  “Do ya love her?”

  “I do, you know that! That’s why I want to give her more time to make sure she loves me and wants to be with me for the rest of her life.”

  “No, you either know or you don’t. Your ma and I met young, Declan, and look at us. I love her more now than I did then.”

  “But Da—”

  “No. Should we start planning a wedding or not?”

  Shaking my head, I know that if I tell him no then Amberlyn will have my arse. She wants this, but it worries me that she won’t ten years down the road. But what am I to do? I won’t let her go, and I know she won’t allow me to give up the distillery, nor do I want to. As much as I don’t want to rush her, I feel we have no other choice in the matter.

  Looking up at my father, I nod. “Yes, we will need to plan one.”

  Chapter 4

  Amberlyn

  I’m cold.

  Why am I cold?

  Blinking awake, I look to the right to see that Declan isn’t there like he is supposed to be. Like he was when I fell into blissful sleep. That was by far the best nap I’ve ever had. Not sure if it was the drugs or if it was falling asleep with Declan close to me, but it was damn well needed. But where is he now?

  “He went to talk to Ma and Da and then left. Hasn’t been back yet.”

  I look across the room to find Fiona sitting with her computer in her lap. She smiles at me as she closes the laptop and says, “Good morning, by the way.”

  I glance at the window and see that the sun is shining bright.

  “Jeez, what time is it?”

  “Nine. You were knocked out. Do you need anything?”

  I shake my head. “Damn. No, I’m fine.” I get up slowly, my chest sore as I push back the covers. Cringing a bit, I sit up and meet Fiona’s gaze. “I wonder why he left. Wait, what did he have to talk to your dad and mom for?”

  “Ask for your hand in marriage,” she says simply, leaning on her knees.

  “What for? I already said yes.”

  “Yeah, but he said it was done all wrong. Trying to right his wrongs.”

  I roll my eyes. “I don’t understand that, but okay,” I say, reaching for my phone to text him. I see that there is a text from him, saying to call him once I wake up. Rubbing my eyes, I look up at Fiona. “What did they say?”

  “They say you’re too young,” she says, and I look up from my phone.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, and I tend to agree,” she admits. “Are you sure, Amberlyn? You can say no. You don’t have to do this because of everything he is gonna lose.”

  “You’re right, I don’t, but I want to.”

  “You aren’t doing this because of everything with the distillery?”

  I shake my head. “No, not at all. It may rush us a bit, but I want to marry him because I love him. I believe with my whole heart that my mom sent him to me for a reason. He completes me, Fiona. I love him.”

  “It’s just mad is all. So quick and everything.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t see myself with anyone but him.”

  “’Cause he’s all you had. Hell, you ain’t even had him!”

  I smile. “True, but I will, and it will be perfect.”

  “Or it could go to hell and then you’ll be stuck in a sucky sex life.”

  I laugh as I roll my eyes. “I doubt that will happen, but I can guarantee you, we will have sex before we marry.”

  “Thank God.” Fiona decides with a shake of her head.

  “Yeah, just to make sure, but I know it will be great. We just get each other. On so many levels.”

  “I guess, I mean yous are cute and all sugary sweet for each other, but it just worries me is all.”

  “Why?”

  “I feel like you’ll regret it later.”

  “No, I won’t,” I say with all the conviction in my heart. “I know he is who I am supposed to marry, I just do. In my gut.”

  “I don’t know about that gut of yours. You not only dated Casey Burke, but then you blocked a shot for Declan. That gut gets you in trouble,” she says with a grin, but I set her with a look.

  “First, didn’t you date Casey?”

  “Oh, fuck off,” is her response and I laugh.

  “And if someone were about to shoot Kane, wouldn’t you try to save him?”

  She stops laughing for a moment and sends me a look. Slowly, she nods. “I would.”

  “Okay, and if Kane asked you to marry him, wouldn’t you?”

  “You’re making this a losing battle for me,” she says and I smile.

  “Because it is. I may be young, but I know what I’m doing.”

  “Okay,” she agrees. “I’ll be right beside you all the way through, then.”

  “Thanks, couldn’t do it without my maid of honor.”

  “Damn right, ya couldn’t!”

  Smiling, Fiona gets up and closes the distance between us. Wrapping an arm around my waist, she hugs me tightly to her and I lean my head to hers. In the short time since I met her, I feel as if I’ve known her my whole life. She is the sister I never had, and I couldn’t replace her if I tried. While I respect what she just did here, I’m pretty sure I would have been a little broken if she hadn’t agreed to stand beside me.

  “I love you, Fiona,” I whisper, and her arms tighten around me.

  “I love you, too,” she says softly. “I worry for ya, you know that.”

  “I do.”

  “That’s why I said something. It isn’t that I don’t believe in yous two, I do. I think yous two are made for each other, but it just makes me nervous. Getting married isn’t something to toy with, ya know?”

  “I do, but I also know that this kind of love doesn’t come around. Back in America, I never would have met someone like Declan. Someone who would love me without sex.”

  “Shit, ya usually wouldn’t get that here. Declan is one of a kind.”

  “And all mine,” I say with a grin.

  We don’t say anything for a moment as we hold on to each other. Within the next couple months, so much is gonna change. I’m going to move out, I’ll be a married woman, and I won’t have this time to just hug my cousin. It scares me, but then I think I’l