Their Virgin Mistress (Masters of Ménage #7)(49)

He liked the idea of calling Tori "our wife." It sounded right.



       
         
       
        

"I don't give a damn what they say. I'm Rory Thurston-Hughes and I don't follow society. Society can follow me, and if they choose not to, they can go to hell. I'm not living my life by their rules anymore. We'll set our own."

Damn, Callum was suddenly proud of his brother. They'd all suffered in the last several years. It was past time to come out from under Yasmin's dark cloud and back into the light. "Besides, we're marrying a publicist. Tori can spin the whole thing. She's good at that. We'll be honoring her Bezakistani heritage."

"She's from Texas," Oliver pointed out stubbornly.

"Well, then, she can shoot anyone who thinks to soil our reputations." Callum couldn't help but grin. He felt lighter than he had in years. "We're going to do something completely crazy and it's going to work. She's not going to be able to resist the three of us."

"Correction: the two of you," Oliver said. "I won't be a part of this. I've hurt her enough already. I won't make a mockery of her."

Naturally Oliver had to be the one to put a damper on things. Callum got between his brother and the door. "Then you'll work against us?"

Oliver's eyes met his. "No. I'll stand by you if you decide to go through with this insanity."

"You know you want her, too, Ollie," Rory pointed out, his voice low and coaxing.

"I do, but I'm smart enough to know I shouldn't want her and I care enough about her to know she damn well shouldn't want me. I hope she doesn't refuse you because of anything I've done. I should have known better than to lose my head tonight." He sidestepped Callum and made it to the door. "Try to take care of her. She really does get into trouble."

And he was gone, closing the door behind him quietly.

Callum stared after Oliver for a moment. "I don't know how he'll handle it. Do you really think he'll manage all right having Tori for a sister-in-law?"

"Absolutely not. It's going to drive him mad, and we'll rub his nose in the fact that we're making love to her at every opportunity." A look of satisfaction crossed Rory's face.

He agreed with Rory's assessment. Oliver wouldn't be able to hold out forever. All it had taken was one adrenaline-fueled event, and he'd forgotten to don a condom. What was he going to do when he could hear her moan all night, then had to sit across the breakfast table from her the next morning?

"I thought you believed in the gentle method of repairing his ego," Callum challenged.

"Well, we've seen how effective that approach was." Rory poured himself another glass. "He'll come around. We'll let him in when he does and pray Tori doesn't take another umbrella to his arse." 

"And if he doesn't come around?"

"Then we move on with our lives and we make sure our wife is as happy as we possibly can. I've tried to force him to see that what happened with Yasmin wasn't his fault, but he's insisting on this self-flagellation. He'll have to realize the truth himself. He's right about her getting into trouble though. We'll need to keep an eye on her. I hate to think what could have happened if Oliver hadn't followed her home tonight."

The thought chilled Callum to the bone, but he had other questions. "She took a cab and Oliver was following her. He thinks it was about the jewelry. But why would someone wait outside this building on the off chance that a woman wearing enormously expensive jewels might happen by?"

Rory thought for a moment. "It's an exclusive building."

"But it's filled with contract workers. They're more likely to be carrying briefcases and laptops than wearing jewels. Most of the tenants in this building are single men, and that's reason enough to get her out of here." He didn't like the thought that the attempted armed robbery wasn't random.

"We won't let her wander about at night by herself anymore."

He needed to get his investigator on Thea. He wouldn't put it past her to try to eliminate the competition. "And if this has something to do with Thea? Should I be close to Tori while that psychotic bitch is still after me?"

"You're not pushing her away now. We'll protect her if the need arises. Now think fast because we're going to be on her doorstep in a few hours. We must have a plan to stop her from both quitting and leaving."

Callum meandered to the window as the ideas flowed. He and Rory spent the hours before dawn plotting and planning-and it was all for naught.

When they knocked on her door at seven a.m., she was already gone.