Her Three Liberators [The Hot Millionaires #6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

“There’s nothing mysterious about me,” she said, her magnetic eyes levelled on his face as she spoke in a breathless whisper. “I’m just a loopy Brit who never grew out of the horsy stage.”

He twirled one of her wayward curls round his forefinger. “That much is obvious. But why are you still here in Virginia, Steffi Darwin, and why has trouble followed right along with you?”

She swallowed. “We don’t know that it has.”

“No,” he said, his knuckles brushing her shoulder as his eyes drilled into hers and he continued to play with her hair. “But you suspect it, don’t you?”

She dropped her gaze, finding something to engage her attention on the spotless floor of the barn. It gave Jonny a brief preview of just what an obedient little sub she would be if he and his brothers could persuade her to play their sorts of games. And they would. They had to. Suddenly, the desire to have her doing whatever he damned well asked of her was compelling. Spanking that cute butt of hers came high up on his agenda. Jonny leaned in closer, his breath peppering her face as he waited for her to respond.

“Yes,” she conceded with transparent reluctance. “Possibly.”

“Then tell me who he is.”

“Not now. Tomorrow. I’ll tell you and your brothers all about it tomorrow.”

Why wait? Did she need time to concoct a convincing story? Jonny didn’t press her, intuitively knowing it wouldn’t get him anywhere. Steffi wouldn’t respond to being bullied or threatened. He gazed at her with what was probably an unholy light in his eye, giving her due warning that she had every reason in the world to look upon him as dangerous. He half expected her to duck beneath his arms, turn tail, and run.

She was obviously made of sterner stuff and stood her ground, her eyes flaring with awareness. The silence intensified, simmering with the type of turbulent heat that only sexual anticipation could generate.

“That’s good,” he said, finally releasing her hair. “We can wait until tomorrow because you’re going to be spending a lot of time with the three of us for the foreseeable future.”

She opened her eyes very wide. “Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s what Daniel wants.”

She gasped. “He didn’t say that!”

Jonny flashed a confident smile. “Yeah, he did.”

“He doesn’t know his own mind.” She shook her head, her expression disgusted. “The drugs are making him addled.”

“He seems perfectly lucid to me.”

“He’s having a good day.”

Jonny chuckled. “So am I. It’s improving by the minute.”

“Why does Daniel want you to spend time with me?”

“He thinks you need to have some fun.”

She snorted. “And you guys are the ones to supply it, I suppose?”

“We don’t usually get any complaints.”

She placed her hands on her slim hips and glared at him. “Have you any idea how arrogant that sounds?”

Jonny dealt her a smug grin. “Just telling it like it is.”

He lowered his head until his lips almost touched her forehead. She appeared to be frozen to the spot and didn’t move a muscle. He wasn’t sure that she even breathed. Problem was, she didn’t lift her head and invite his kiss, either. Damned woman wasn’t giving him any encouragement—which was all the encouragement a man like Jonny required. He didn’t take well to rejection, mainly because he’d never encountered any before.

“My brothers and I are tasked with liberating you,” he said, dropping a featherlight kiss almost chastely on her forehead. Jonny briefly wondered if he’d lost his mind. He didn’t do chaste. Ever.

“Liberating me from what?” she asked so quietly he could barely hear her.

“From your inhibitions.” His lips worked the way down the side of her face and he breathed the words against her ear.

“I don’t have any.”

“Daniel disagrees.”

“Daniel’s an interfering control freak.”

“You can’t tell him that.” He nibbled her earlobe, eliciting a soft groan for his trouble. “He’s sick.”

“The hell I can’t! Daniel doesn’t like being treated like an invalid and so I don’t look upon him as one.”

Jonny let out a deep, throaty chuckle. “I can see why he’s taken to you.”

“I don’t like you, Jonny,” she said, seeming to snap out of the trance she’d fallen into, “and have no intention of allowing you to liberate me, as you so quaintly describe your task.”

“Why don’t you like me?” he asked, pretending to be hurt. “Everyone likes me.”

“I’m not everybody.”

“You have to like me,” he said, not taking her seriously. “Daniel’s orders.”

“Daniel will have had a change of heart by the time I’ve finished with him tomorrow.” She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself as much as him. She must know that Daniel was notorious for not changing his mind once he’d made it up. “And to answer your question, you’re suspicious of everyone, arrogant as hell, and used to getting your own way. Well, you might as well know that you won’t be getting anything from me, especially not your way.”

“Is that right?” When she nodded emphatically, Jonny flashed a raffish grin. “Word of warning, sweetheart, don’t say things like that to me. They sound suspiciously like a challenge and I never back down from challenges. Nor do I ever fail when I take one on.”

“I was right about you. Arrogant to your toe nails.”

“Besides, you have no idea how persuasive I can be when there’s something I want.”

“And I have no intention of finding out.” Steffi tilted her chin defiantly. “Besides, you don’t want me. You’re just doing what Daniel, in his misguided wisdom, told you to do.”

She actually appeared to mean it. Jonny recovered quickly from the shock and decided that firm action was required. He pulled her from the wall, and with a strangled oath she fell straight into his arms.

“What the hell…”

She struggled but would never escape unless he allowed her to. He would, of course, if she continued to protest. He wasn’t in the business of forcing himself on unwilling women. Her breasts collided firmly with his chest and he could sense the fight draining out of her. Working with that advantage, he dropped his head, gazing directly into clear hazel eyes that gave her away. She wasn’t nearly as immune to him as she would have him believe, which explained her over-the-top protestations. Even if her eyes hadn’t betrayed her, the pulse beating wildly out of control at the base of her throat told him all he needed to know.

Empowered, Jonny captured her lips, kissing her bruisingly as raw carnality ripped through his bloodstream. He’d kissed her to make a point but almost regretted his impulse action. Almost, because already the situation was slipping beyond his control and he wanted her so much it was slowly killing him. He’d arrived here today fully in control of himself and his life. Now he had to deal with the knowledge that his father was terminally ill and try to keep the attraction he felt toward this wildly unconventional Brit under control.

Give me something easy to do, Daniel, like finding a solution to world peace, or a cure for AIDS
.

Her lips remained passive beneath his for a heartbeat. Before he could decide whether or not she really did want him to quit, she expelled a wistful little sigh and returned his kiss with all the determination of an Olympic athlete out to nab the gold medal. Passion radiated from her in waves as her lips parted beneath his. Daniel was right about her. She was one hot babe who had no idea of her own sensuality. Jonny and his brothers were duty bound to put her right on that front.

He took immediate advantage, his tongue working its way into her mouth where it felt right at home. He deepened the kiss, exploring the contours of her mouth with exacting attention to detail, his hands roaming across her back and sliding down to cup her butt as he did so.

He ground his erection into her stomach as he held her closer, his mind alive with possibilities. Before he could put any of them into action, Steffi abruptly stopped returning his kiss and closed her mouth so fast that she almost bit the tip of his damned tongue off.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“This is,” she said, refusing to look at him. “It’s absolutely wrong.”

“If felt pretty damned right to me.”

“That’s because you weren’t thinking with your brain.”

He cocked a brow, taking a risk on being deemed arrogant again. “And you were?”

“You distracted me for a while, I’ll admit that, but that’s all you are, Jonny, a distraction.” She turned away from him and folded her arms tightly beneath her breasts. “I don’t want you and your brothers doling out attentions to the charity case just to please Daddy. You can forget all about it and go back to Ms. Standish.”

Once again he elevated a brow. “Jealous, babe?”

“Not in the least.”

Before Jonny could think what to say next, she turned toward the door and escaped.

“Damn it!” he muttered, following after her but keeping his distance. “This absolutely shouldn’t be so damned complicated.”

“What did you hope to gain from it?” Steffi placed her hands on her hips and glowered at Daniel. “You’ve humiliated me by making it look like I’m incapable of making my own friends.”

“Oh dear, I’ve upset you.”

“And then some.” Steffi slumped into a chair and expelled a long breath. “I’m not one of the commodities you enjoy trading.”

“You weren’t supposed to find out.”

“And that would have made it better how?”

“Steffi, my dear, I really didn’t mean to—”

“Besides, if you wanted to make your sons’ behaviour look more spontaneous, you should have given Jonny more specific orders.”

He elevated a brow. “Jonny told you?”

Steffi blushed when she recalled the precise nature of that revelation, something she’d spent too much time doing already during the course of a largely sleepless night. “Oh yes, he told me, all right.” She crossed her fingers behind her back. “And made it very plain just how averse he was to the whole idea.” She’d never lied to Daniel before, but he deserved it this time for his arbitrary behaviour. Besides, Jonny might not have actually
said
that he wasn’t particularly impressed by her, but he probably thought it. She was definitely not his type. “He doesn’t dally with the hired help.”

“Ouch, I probably deserved that.”

“No question.”

Daniel scrutinised her face. Goodness only knew what he saw there—how much of her true self it gave away. She’d been trying to ignore that damned kiss she’d been too enthusiastic to participate in but couldn’t seem to put it out of her mind.

“I thought I’d trained my eldest son to be more subtle than that.”

Steffi grunted. “I doubt if he knows how to spell the word.”

“Steffi, forgive me, the last thing I intended was to embarrass you.” He reached for her hand and held it. “I’m a meddling old fool, and if you really don’t want to play with my sons, then I’ll call them off.”

“No, don’t do that. I can fight my own battles.”

“Against those three, when they’ve made up their minds there’s something they want?” Daniel shook his head. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“They don’t want me, that’s the whole point.”

Daniel elevated a brow. “Sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then this ought to be interesting.”

“What do you mean?” Steffi narrowed her eyes at him. “What aren’t you telling me and why do I get the feeling that I’ve just played straight into your hands?”

“Oh, let’s just say that I understand my sons better than they think I do and their interest in you is not entirely a result of my meddling.”

“You’re wrong, Daniel. Absolutely wrong.” Steffi glanced down at her uniform of well-worn jeans and an ancient sweatshirt. “They date supermodels, not scruffy individuals like me who wouldn’t know Versace from Velcro.”

“None of their liaisons with models last. Why do you suppose that is?”

“I have no idea and care even less.” Steffi grabbed her notepad. “Right, what’s on the agenda today?”

“I have the bloodsuckers coming this morning.”

“Your doctors? I didn’t know.”

“Another sort of bloodsucker this time. The ones who go by the name of lawyers.”

“Do you need me to fetch any files?”

“No, it’s all set up. I won’t need you this morning, so why don’t you go for a ride and try to forgive me for my meddling?” He glanced out of the window at paddocks bathed in bright spring sunshine. “I’d give half the time I have left to be able to come with you on a day like today.”

It was so seldom that Daniel voiced any complaints that Steffi was consumed with guilt for railing against him. She bent to kiss his cheek and hurried toward the door before he could see the tears that had sprung to her eyes.

“I’ll ride hard enough for both of us,” she promised him. “And bring you a full account when I return.”

Steffi headed for the stables, wondering if she’d only made matters worse by making her displeasure at Daniel’s interference apparent to him. Something told her he’d still find a way to meddle. She knew she was right when she rounded the corner and saw four horses saddled, ready to go out, and three large Malones leaning casually against the railings, waiting for her.