“We’re not talking about me.” He gave her a half smile. “But it was wonderful.”
“Good.” Even if her life was falling apart around her, at least one of her siblings was genuinely happy. She leaned back. “Did you come to offer me congratulations? Father has me set to be engaged before the end of the year.”
His expression grew thunderous. “That’s less than a month.”
“Well, you know I’m twenty-eight. My value is only diminishing with time. And let’s not even talk about my eggs.” The flippant comment struck something deep inside her. She wasn’t sure she even wanted children, but if she ever decided that she did, she didn’t want to bring them into a world where their sole purpose was to be pawns in a game not of their choosing.
Like she was.
Like all her siblings were.
Teague sighed and put his arm around her shoulders. “Say the word and we’ll fight him over it. We’ll get you and the girls out of here.” We being he and his new wife, Callie. “You can be free. Make your own choices. This isn’t all there is to life. He isn’t God, no matter what our father likes to think.”
The worst part was Carrigan knew he meant it. He’d ship her and the others off and willingly take the heat. And, good lord, there’d be heat. Their father wouldn’t take the loss of prime marriage material lying down. He might be pleased that Teague consented to marry the Sheridan heir—even if no one was happy that they snuck off to the courthouse without telling anyone—but that wouldn’t mean he’d so much as pause before he razed them and their territory to the ground for crossing him.
She couldn’t let him take the risk. Not for her.
“You know what happens if you do that, Teague. You and Callie end up dead, and he hunts us down, drags us back, and then I marry some man on his list anyway.”
His smile was bitter. “You don’t have much faith in me.”
“I have all the faith in the world in you. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you take the fall for me. I make my own choices.” Between death by marriage and death by convent. Not much of a choice when she looked at it like that—especially since it looked like her father was no longer willing to consider the convent as a choice—but she wasn’t about to let someone else fight for her.
Not when she knew they’d lose.
She’d already lost too much to power games and war. They all had. She wasn’t willing to lose anyone else. “Promise me, Teague. Promise that you won’t do anything to piss him off.”
“Carrigan…” Teague sighed. “What can I do? If I can’t get you out of here, and I can’t save you from this, what the fuck can I do?”
There was nothing to do, but if she told him that, it would crush him. The only thing Teague had wanted more than getting out of this life was to get her and their other sisters out as well. That he hadn’t been able to do either killed him. Seeing her walk down the aisle, delivered to a man he knew she didn’t love, would deliver a wound that would fester over the years. He knew she wouldn’t have chosen this path for herself. He knew she wanted out as much as he did.
And she knew the cost was too high to risk their father’s wrath.
“The same thing you’ve always done. Be there for me.” She dropped her head onto his shoulder. He was as solid as a rock. He always had been. The contact centered her, and it must have done the same thing for him, too, since he relaxed a little.
“That seems like a cowardly choice.”
There had to be some way she could get through to him. “My choice, Teague. Please don’t take it away from me. I’ve already had that happen one too many times.” A low blow, but Carrigan wasn’t above hitting him where it hurt in order to keep him safe. He had a chance at happiness. She might be a selfish bitch, but even she wasn’t selfish enough to take that away from him.
He hissed out a breath, the barb striking true. “Damn it.”
Needing to change the subject and put them back on more familiar—and safe—ground, she said, “How goes the wedding planning?” Both their parents and Callie’s father refused to acknowledge that their marriage was legitimate until they did things “right.” Carrigan found it darkly amusing that there was no end to the sins her father could commit and still sleep at night, but seeing one of his children married without an actual wedding was one he couldn’t live with. But then, she’d always known he had skewed priorities—and that wasn’t even getting into their mother. She took their courthouse marriage as a personal insult, and as a result she was determined to plan the largest and most extravagant affair she could to make up for it.