Lucien(63)

Ben gave him a pitying look. “She will. It’s the way of the chick flick.”



“Care to place a bet on that?”



“On her leaving you?”



Luc nodded.



“You’ll lose,” Ben told him in a certain voice.



Not likely given how well Luc knew his wife. “Name your terms.”



Ben tapped his pen against the table. “If I’m right, then Elise comes to work for me as my personal assistant and you pay her salary.”



Luc paused more for effect than anything else. As he counted to ten, he wondered how long it would take Ben to figure out he’d been played. Because he didn’t doubt for a minute that after the shock of what Luc was about to say wore off that Ben would figure it out. And hopefully before Ben did the one thing that Luc knew he didn’t want to do. Hurt Elise and ruin Luc’s chance at a real future. “And if I’m right, I keep Elise and you have to hire Eleanor as your personal assistant. For a minimum of twelve months.”





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN




Ben stared at Luc and wondered if he’d lost his frickin’ mind. Did he have any idea what would happen if he hired Eleanor as his personal assistant. For twelve months. Good God, not even a blind, deaf saint who’d lost his sense of touch and smell could withstand that sort of torture.



No, he couldn’t do it. Well, he could, but… he damn sure shouldn’t knowing how Luc was about his sisters. And if Eleanor wound up being Ben’s personal assistant, then there’d be hell to pay considering Luc and his tendency to be an overprotective growly bear of a brother who threatened death and dismemberment to anyone who dared defile his precious sisters. And if Ben had to spend twelve months with Eleanor, there’d definitely be some de-filing activities on her list of job duties. Especially if Ben suddenly had unspoken permission to indulge in a few explicitly detailed fantasies that’d been plaguing his sorry ass since Eleanor had caught him staring at her entirely too curvaceous body ensconced in a skimpy bikini during that summer of adolescent hell. Hell? Yeah right, the summer of wood was more like it.



No. Hell no. He couldn’t do it.



Luc chuckled and Ben belatedly realized he must have spoken aloud.



“Then I guess you’ll just have to let it go,” Luc said.



Let it go? Ha, yeah right, like that was gonna happen. Ben ran a hand through his hair and ordered himself to suck it up and take one for the team. “Nice try, but I’m not giving up my bro-code pin that easily. But, damn Luc, twelve months? Your twin could drive a saint to a padded cell strapped in an I-Love-Me jacket within a day. And I’m not a saint. Not even close. Hell, you’d be talking me back from the ledge daily—if not hourly. Make it three months.”



Luc smirked. “Six months. Take it or leave it.”



“I’ll take it, but you’re gonna lose.” So help me, God, Luc better lose. Ben heaved a sigh of resignation. “When do we do this?”



“No time like the present.” Luc stood up and went to the door. He opened it and called for Elise.



“Yes, Lucien, what is it?”



“Come on in, darlin’. Ben has something he wants to tell you.”



Elise sat down and Ben moved from his chair to perch on the edge of the table next to her. He started to speak then stopped. How should he play this? He wracked his brain for clues from the chick flick manual and decided to just wing it.



“You’re looking lovely today, Elise.”



“Why thank, you Ben. You’re looking quite the handsome thing yourself today. I do like a man who isn’t afraid to wear purple.”



Score one for the home team, Ben thought to himself as he murmured his thanks and smoothed a hand down the front of his lavender dress shirt. No wonder he was such a sucker for the fairy tale princesses. They knew how to take a compliment and showed true appreciation for the fine art of being a man in today’s crazy mixed up chick flick world. It was enough to make him feel protective and all alpha-like.



Ben started to continue with the schmoozing campaign to get Elise on his side, when two brain cells fired in his demented mind and he had a thought.



Luc was protective and alpha-like with Elise. Just as protective and alpha-like as he was with his sisters. Never in all the years that they’d known each other had Luc ever wagered anything that had to do with his sisters or their welfare. And he sure as hell had never put any of his sisters in a potential situation where there was the remote possibility that they may be defiled. Repeatedly. And with much vigor.



Oh God, Ben groaned to himself. He played me and I walked right into it.