Tadhg was in the stall with Soxie when he heard the sound of a muscle car pull up, the driver had the nerve to spray gravel when they stopped and that instantly irritated the mare. He spent a moment calming her then stepped out to see what the commotion was. He had a feeling he knew who it was and he’d been waiting a moment to have words with the man, Chad. He kept it close to his chest as he walked out, a bored expression on his face.

He found Ivy standing in the barn aisle gripping a dressage whip like a weapon. Mutlu stood in her stall, snorting like a dragon. She looked like she was ready to stomp the fool in the parking lot, but Ivy looked scared.

Tadhg touched her shoulder softly and then gently pried the dressage whip from her hands. “It’s okay babe. I’m here” he said softly and then took the whip and went to lounge against the wall near Soxies’s stall. “He won’t do it again, I promise”

The mare hung her head out of the stall, wild blue eyes staring down the aisle as everyone waited for the disaster that was coming. Mutlu snorted at her herd mate, clearly conspiring to kill whatever it was that was making Ivy so nervous.

And then Chad came swaggering into the barn with a smirk on his face. He was so focused on Ivy that he seemed not to notice Tadhg or the two dragonesque Tekes even though Mutlu smashed one hoof against the stall door with a bang.

“Good morning, Genevieve. How are you doing today? Been to see your parents lately? I’ve heard you’ve still been a bad girl.”

The hateful words spewed from Chad’s face and Tadhg instantly wanted to smash it, and hard. Then, he decided to go on the low road. He stepped out in front of Ivy and faced Chad. “Do you have business here at the farm?” he asked cordially, but Ivy could see the muscles across his back tense and the loose fists. “Because unless you keep a civil tongue in your head you might discover this is not the best place for you to be.” And then the cattiness slipped out “ Did you leave your Nanny in the car?”

Chad glared at Tadhg. He was exceedingly pretty, this acidic young man, and outweighed Tadhg by twenty pounds of muscle. It was his mistake clearly did not see the threat. Tadhg was happy to let the boy be mistaken. The surprise was on his side

“Yeahhhh, I have business here at the farm.” His voice dripped sarcasm. “Ivy here has been an errant daughter, and I’m just trying to show her the error of her ways.” He turned back to the woman. “Your first mistake was spurning me, you ignorant twat, and your second was running away from your family. They are your best hope for a life worth living, and you’re too dumb to fucking see it.”

Tadhg stepped between them again. “I certainly hope you do not kiss your mother with that mouth. My mother raised me better, I’m sorry yours didn’t. I have just the thing to remind you about civility” he then stepped in and with his whole body decked him, just under his chin on his left side. The right hook took Chad off his feet and laid him out.

He went down with a thud and a small poof of dust. A small surprised whimper pushed out of him as he hit the barn aisle. Tadhg walked over to him and grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet to escort him out of the barn. The garbled protest came out of his piehole.

“The name you’ll want to give when you decide to file a report is Tadhg Barclay. Make sure you get it right” That was when the asshole took a swing at him. He telegraphed the swing so badly that Tadhg just stepped to the side and brought another right hook up to catch him in the chin for a second time, and followed it with a jab to the nose. The blood spurted and sprayed across his shirt.

“Tadhg Barclay. And No one speaks to my girl that way. Get off this farm and don’t come back and if her parents have an issue with her dating a Barclay they can take it up with me, personally.” He was pissed off more than he’d been in a very long time. “Take your sad excuse for a sports car and your sadder excuse for a personality and get the fudge out of here.” He shoved him and then booted him in the ass when he turned his back.

“fudge you!” He shouted “I’m gonna file a report. You’re going to jail. You don’t know who you’re fucking with!” he shouted on his way to the car. To emphasize his assholery he peeled out in the lot, spraying gravel everywhere and sending every horse in the barn on edge.

When he returned, Ivy still stood in the barn aisle. “Why do I freeze like this? I feel so helpless.
She focused on Tadhg. “Thank you for… that. Thank you.”

‘“No one gets to talk to you that way, ever. It was my pleasure to put him in his place. I guess it’s safe to say that your parents will know we’re dating. Ivy, You had trauma. Your brain and emotion ran into each other and you got stuck. It’s okay now.” He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s going to be okay.” After hugging her tightly he said “let’s get the horses settled, they want to know you’re okay too”

While she was looking in on the horses, Tadhg called his father for some advice. Of course, when he told him what happened he had to admit to dating Ivy Allerton. His dad was pleased as punch and told him to invite her to dinner. Then he said to admit nothing, don’t apologize for anything and to let him know if he needed council.

Ivy returned as he hung up “Dad wants you to come to dinner on Sunday. I called him for legal advice. Just in case.”

“Are you kidding? You humiliated him, and he couldn’t touch you. He’s not going to cop to that. Pretty sure you’re fine.” She sighed heavily. “So. Do you think it’s time to meet the parents?”

“Yes, it is time” he agreed as he walked to the office. He came back out of the office with the blanket off the couch and swathed Ivy in it.

“Let’s sit in the office for a bit till everything settles, then we can get back to it. You’re white as a sheet.” Ivy just nodded and headed to the office, trailing the blanket. “Gods she was adorable,” he thought to himself.

“Dinner at your parents can be a practice run, huh? Unless – “ She shrunk into herself a bit, and then straightened. “I can always go to see mine alone. I should probably go alone. But I have to go.” She said firmly

“You don’t have to go alone. I honestly don’t think you should. If they have such low regard as to air their family business with Chad, then they can deal with it while you have moral support. Trust me, I’m familiar with families that are so caught up in the appearances they forget to attend to the people that are in it.”

“Well, they consider Chad the son they never had. He’s practically a son-in-law to them. He’s a big-shot financier, so he’s right up their alley.” She snorted derisively after she spoke.

After a while, they got back to work and were more than a little surprised at the sound of tires on the drive again. Tadhg wasn’t up on a horse so he went out to see. Shit, it was the police.

“Afternoon,” he said, cordially, to the officer. “Can I help you?” He had an excellent poker face, it had won him more than a little money throughout his life and he had it on right this minute.

“Weeelll,” started the officer, “I had a man call in and say you assaulted him” He wasted no time getting to the meat of the issue. The guy that had called it in had been a jerk on the phone and a self-entitled twit in person. More than once, he’d subtly insulted Officer ___ who took the report.

“He came here and spewed filth and hatred at my girlfriend officer. I was afraid he was going to assault her so I took him down a peg. He swung at me and I swung back. I honestly don’t recall who swung first” he lied, “I just know when I came out to see what was going on, Ivy was nearly frozen in fear”

It was at that moment that Ivy walked out of the barn. She shook her head when she saw the cop. He tipped his hat to her, “Morning Ivy. Did you have a spot of trouble?”

“A Bit.” She smiled at the familiar law officer

“ Did the man, chad, make you feel threatened and in fear for your own safety?” the officer asked her with sincerity. Ivy could only nod slowly with wide eyes.

“Yes. The Jerk” Ivy gave a simple answer

“I see,” said the officer “Ordinarily calls like this come in with everyone still on the premises. I’m supposed to arrest both of y’all,” he said as if he was loath to do it. “Since this was a defense situation and the man verbally accosted Ms. Allerton first, I am inclined to let the ordeal go, that is unless Ms. Allerton would like to press charges against the other man for assault?” the officer raised an eyebrow as if he was half hoping she would.

“No, thank you.” Ivy found her voice, “I would just like the whole thing to be over.”

“Just so” the officer tipped his hat to both of them. “Then I’ll consider the case closed and say so when I write the report. You have a bit of time to change your mind.” He offered, again with the half hopeful tone. “You folks have a good afternoon.”

And with that, the officer hopped in the car and drove away.

Tadhg turned to Ivy and raised a shoulder. “I guess he wasn’t that humiliated” and then he laughed. “That’s the closest I’ve ever come to being arrested, believe it or not.” He’d never seen himself as the great protector. Most of his life he’s spent as a lady’s man, but he has a rule not to fight over a woman. He’d walked away from them before when times got out of hand. So much had changed, he wasn’t sure what kind of man he was anymore. Even at his worst, he was never one to shirk his emotions, nor was he afraid of them. There were very few people he’d defend with physical violence, and today Ivy became one of them. He was no longer Ronin Barclay, man about town, now he was Tadhg Barclay a good man with a good heart. He’d be sure everyone saw that, not just Ivy. It was a goal.

Ivy for her part was not surprised. She knew the kind of man he was.