My hands curl into fists. “And if I don’tfinda wife?”
He leans back. “I’m not asking you to go out tonight and scrounge up a wife from the streets.”
“I should hope not,” Darragh says, wiping his brow.
Funny, that’s exactly where I found Scarlett. Now if I had to marry someone…
God, this is wrong. Illegal, really. I should run. Then, I might never see Scarlett again. But she’s a student. I can’t have her. Still, I’d like to see how she’s doing. I picked her up off the ground. She was homeless. I’d like to know if she’s all right.
“We’ll find someone perfect for him. We’ve wanted him to settle down, too,” my brother piles on.
Darragh!
“Dr. Ford, I’m not even dating anyone at the moment,” I say. “What is the deadline to find a wife so I can be hired full-time?”
Bradley’s nose twitches. “This semester is a probation period. If you’re not married by the last day of class, I will not be able to offer you a full-time contract for the next semester.”
And not having a stable job means I might not get partial custody of my son.
Married. By the end of the semester. Darragh looks like he’s already thinking of women to set me up with, I bet.
My brother stands up and shakes Bradley’s hand. “We appreciate you giving Cormac the opportunity.”
“Yes, I look forward to being a part of the faculty.” I manage to smile and reach out to shake his hand too, even though I’m thinking:Really? WTF?
“Watch your email for HR forms and lesson plan details.” Bradley shakes my hand with a firm grip.
The weight of it feels like chains. Drowning me with impossible demands.
“Sure,” I say, not wanting to sound ungrateful.
When we step into the hallway, Darragh looks at me like a proud parent. “That went well. You got the job.”
Yay! No. I want to scream.
Instead, I nod. “Thanks for pushing me.”
Right off a cliff.
Chapter 12
Cormac
Darragh walks beside me through the faculty hallway with a look of reverence for a place he’ll miss. He stops to glance at the sidelight glass in a lecture theatre. As I descend into my own chaos, my new employment requirement twisting me inside out, I stop to let Darragh have a moment.
It’s not always about me.
Smiling, he strolls away from the door, but I stop him.
“You could have made your early warning more specific,” I snap. Too fast. Too raw. “I mean…”
“I was afraid you’d jump out of the car.” He meets my glare with one of his. “It’s not a terrible thing to be married.”
“A forced marriage would be.”
Darragh leans forward. “You’re thirty-three. You have a son. And you deserve to be happy.”
“You think I’ll find someone to marry me in a few months?” I scoff, teeth grinding. “What should I do? Put out a job posting?”