Page 72 of Irish Betrayal

The job at Trinity had just been a way to meet women and eventually Mindy and then Blair through the summer STEM program.

That’s when his perspective had shifted. Sex with random women was great, especially the drunk ones he picked up at college bars, but it wasn’t everything.

He discovered that he had immense patience and a head for not only teaching but training young people. Some extremists considered what he did as grooming. He thought of his techniques as building a foundation, a family.

Yes, he was the head of that family. Absolutely. But his children understood that his voice, his opinion, was the only one that mattered. He was the leader, the king.

Their father, protector.

Blair had forgotten.

Peter would remind her. Soon.

thirty-four

DANIEL

It had been two weeks since he flew out of Tulsa and away from Blair. Daniel had been busy. So had Blair.

Video chats were few and far between. Mostly, they communicated by phone using her voice-to-text app.

She should be home in one week. Two at the most. He could live without her for that long, though it was torture. Blair never brought up the house he’d shown her the night they first got together, probably assuming he called off the purchase when she left him.

He hadn’t. The house was in both their names. The week after she’d left Dublin, he rented a flat because Jonathan and Mags were remodeling the twin townhouses, and he didn’t want to get in the way.

The interior of the house, or manor really, had yet to be touched, but he had two more greenhouses built next to the original. Blair’s mother, Catriona, had helped him with the design, unbeknownst to her husband, Coll.

Daniel had assured Cat that he planned on speaking to Coll the moment he worked out the details with Blair. At the time, he hadn’t realized that she wouldn’t change her mind and come back to him. Daniel put Coll out of his mind, not able to think of a good way to say that they’d only been in a relationship for one day and that he’d bought them a house and that they may or may not even be together.

He’d taken the coward's way out but planned on rectifying that soon. Two nights ago, Saoirse Kennedy held a grand opening event for her new real estate business location, which he and his family attended.

He video chatted with Blair before he went, excited to tell her about their house. She answered on the third ring, and it was clear from her surroundings that she was in one of the school’s labs.

“Hey, Blair. You look stunning as ever. I’ve always loved you best with dirty cheeks.” She huffed and swiped at her face, making him laugh.

“You ass. I didn’t have anything on me, did I?”

“You do now though,” he grinned and winked at her.

She must have noticed his tuxedo because her eyes winged up. “My, my, my, Mr. O’Faolain. You’re looking handsome. Big plans?”

“Saoirse Kennedy’s thing. Wish you were here to be my date. They have that new swanky office, but I really think she’s having the party to celebrate Sutton becoming a partner at Kennedy Daniels.”

“That’s so amazing for Sutton. She has always been so sweet. Not nearly so mouthy as her mother,” Blair said, laughing. “It’s been ages since Sutton had lunch with the girls and me. I’ll have to call and congratulate her when I get home. Next Thursday.”

“What?” Daniel shouted. He almost sent his phone flying across the room when he threw his arms up. “You’re sure? Thursday? I’ll send the jet for you and pick you up at the airport.”

“I already bought my ticket and no worries about the expense, because you are ridiculous and do things like put money in my bank account—how did you get that information, by the way? I did splurge and buy a first-class ticket. I also got one of the latest flights out Wednesday evening so that I can sleep the whole way. I should land between nine and ten Thursday morning.”

“I’ve been dreading you telling me that you were going to be another two weeks. I can’t wait to tell Mom. She has a million samples for you to go over.”

“Samples? What?”

Daniel tried not to smile, but it was no use. “Do you not remember the night I took your virginity?”

Blair’s mouth popped open, and she looked toward someone who wasn’t on the screen. “Sorry, Dr. Bartel, Daniel was raised in the wild.”

He watched in amusement as she glared at him from her red face, walking a distance from her professor. Sometimes, Blair would forget that other people could hear their conversation because she couldn’t.