Roman-2(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(8)

But I want her, have for nigh seven years now.

And what I want I get, end of story.

But first things first. I have to doctor my poor baby and get her back into fighting fettle, and also get her brother off our backs long enough to seduce my little virgin.

Yes, she is as pure as the day I’d left her, and a bloody good thing, or I’m not sure I could have faced her without wringing her neck. Strange, but true: I have a mad possessive streak when it comes to that woman, and the thought of another man touching what I truly consider mine drives me insane.

But she’s completely pure and untouched, and so she gets to live for what I have planned.

“Just get me the bloody number for that quack shrink. Oh, and Brody? Not a word to my sister.”

“You think I’m going anywhere near that female after the shit she pulled last week?” he asks, making me chuckle heartily.

My younger sister is a force to be reckoned with, and she’s apparently decided that she wants Brody James, my VP. I could almost pity the poor fool for assuming he can escape the little vixen’s clutches, but, as with all things in life, a big brother will do what he must to give his baby sister her heart’s desire.

I’ve decided to give her Brody. He just doesn’t know it yet.

“Don’t be a baby, James. Now get me what I need and either go for it with Camille or sit back and wait for her to steamroll you. Now goodbye, I have a woman to nurse.”

First, though, I need to get my bird, something that’s proving difficult now that I know exactly what her life entails. She’s up to her neck in debt, is working herself to death, and has the mothering instincts of a feral cat.

And she’s bloody stubborn.

Even after she’d agreed to let me stay and help I’d watched her mind start racing a mile a minute with doubts and suspicions. I knew she would eventually get to that place where she’d come to her senses and kick my arse to the curb.

I can’t allow that yet, so I did the only sensible thing and crushed two mild sedatives into her orange juice. Now she’s fast asleep in her rickety bed and oblivious to my plans.

First of which had been getting her brother sat down and in the loop as far as my tolerances are concerned. I’d let him know in no uncertain terms that if he so much as raised his voice to my woman again, I’d ship him off so fast his head would spin.

Sure, I feel bad for him, and ironically, I want to help him, even knowing I’m shite with kids—this one reminds me of myself not too long ago—but I can’t have him harming my baby a moment longer.

He’d agreed, somewhat fearfully, because the kid’s smart enough to know when he’s outgunned, and I’d sent him off to school with the hope that he’d stay in line long enough for me to trick Ashley into loving me.

Now I just have to convince my dick that seducing a woman in her condition isn’t the way to go. You’d think the sight of her unkempt hair and runny nose would turn me off the whole arousal thing.

But no. Apparently my dick doesn’t care if she’s half dead; he still wants her.

“Wake up, Ash,” I whisper, running a hand over her fevered brow long enough to pull her from her restless slumber. “You need to eat something and take your medicine, love.”

Her marvelous gray eyes flutter open and she smiles sweetly, her groggy muddle not worn off yet. I know she’d be glaring daggers at me otherwise.

“Lucian?”

Ah, the smile slips immediately, replaced by a scowl when her mind clears and she remembers that we are indeed no longer teenage friends, and that I’ve strong armed my way back into her life.

“You need to eat and get dressed, love. I’ve made an appointment with a new therapist, and she wants to see us about Benjamin’s case today.”

It’s unfair of me to use her love for her brother, I know, but, as I really have no other angle to use at this point—her flight the other night has convinced me that plain seduction won’t work—I have to use what’s at my disposal.

I run three companies and oversee my own charity. I haven’t reached where I am by playing fair yet, so using the only weakness she has is my only choice right now.

“Therapist? But he has—”

“The doctor we’re going to see specializes in these sorts of cases. You know, with children from broken homes.”

Bloody awkward having to phrase it that way, but it beats my initial assessment of ‘being abandoned by your loser father’.

“Luc—”

“Right then. Eat your soup and have a bath, love. I’ll be back to help you with your medicine in twenty minutes.”

I leave before the sight of her unclothed body can unleash the animal prowling beneath my skin. Forgive me, but when that sheet slipped, revealing her large breasts capped by peachy pink nipples, I’d gotten hard.