Dirty Beautiful Rich Part Five by Eva Devon Page B

your fate to a predetermined mind set? I never thought you to be one for doom and gloom Julie Doyle.”
               “You’ve known me for about two minutes.”
                  “And yet, I feel I know you very well. You know that people can change and deserve love. ” Fion gestured out toward the main street. “That man, who showed up outside this club tonight? He wants to change. If not, he would have stayed in Asia. And if he was a total nutter, he wouldn’t have left gracefully.”
                  Fion had a point.
                  He poured out the last of the champagne. “What your man needs is a good therapist or grief counselor or something.”
                  She frowned. “Why grief counselor?”
                  “Because your fella is Damian Fitzgerald.”
                  Julie gaped. “How do you know?”
                  Fion rolled his eyes. “Please, love. Everyone in Ireland knows who Damian Fitzgerald is. He’s in the gossip mags all the time.”
                  “You read the gossip mags?”
                  Fion waggled his brows again. “With pride.”
                  She eyed the last of her champagne and considered putting it down but then she thought of her mom and how she’d say, ‘In for a penny, in for a pound ’ .
                  You only lived once after all.
                  She swallowed it and for the first time in weeks she felt light. A chat with Fion, free of judgments and too much backstory, had lifted her spirits.
                  She stood then nearly keeled over.
                  Fion reached out and caught her arm. “Steady there, love. You’re clearly not in an Irish drinking class.”
                  She laughed. “No. Not yet.”
                  “It’s all right to stay in the shallow end of the pool, you know?”
                  “What? Plunge in, I say!”
                  “Julie Doyle, you’re drunk.”
                  “I am, aren’t I?”
                  Fion took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “And you’re absolutely adorable.”
                  For one brief moment, she feared he might kiss her, making their new friendship extremely awkward.
                  Instead he lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. “Right then, let’s get you back to your friends, you drunkard.”
                  She let Fion guide her and she grinned the entire way.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 2
                  It was quite possible that Damian was only good company for his grandmother’s dogs. After Julie had left him standing with his guts in his hands, he’d been very tempted to find the nearest bar and get totally pissed. He hadn’t. One because it almost certainly would have ended up in the papers and two because well, he just didn’t get pissed these days. Lack of control didn’t look good on Fitzgerald men.
                  He strode down the hall, the smell of coffee drawing him like a siren’s song.
                  The castle seemed different. Usually, when he came home, he had to force himself to block out certain memories and images so that he could enjoy his beautiful birthright. For some reason, this morning it hadn’t been the case.
                  He’d made the three hour drive from Dublin to Castle Clare with nothing but clouds and starlight over head and he’d felt a strange sort of peace settle over him.
                  Julie had finally acknowledged what no one had dared to do before.
                  He wasn’t okay .
                  Okay was such banal word and yet it was perfect. Something deep inside him was a seething mess of pain and when