tousled, confused, annoyed, and good enough to devour whole. Hell, he wanted her like there was no tomorrow!
“I hope you’re satisfied,” she said, not looking at him.
“Not nearly, but I’m working on it.”
“It’s a good job Porlock’s so large. I shouldn’t have any trouble avoiding the three of you until you decide to leave.”
Brad rested one shoulder against her rock and sent her a scorching gaze. “Baby, just so you know, none of us will force you into anything you don’t want to do.”
“How kind,” she said with a sarcastic smile.
“Even so, I guarantee that before the week’s out you’ll come to us, and if you ask nicely enough,” he said, winking at her, “we just might give you what you need.”
She opened her mouth to speak but only managed an outraged splutter. She treated him to a blistering glower and tried again. “You really are a piece of work,” she said scathingly. “My advice is not to hold your breath.”
She whistled to Hamlet, mounted up, and cantered away before he managed to catch his own horse. Brad watched her go, envy flowing through his veins. Envy for Hamlet, that is, because he was precisely where Brad most wanted to be—held firmly between Steffi’s toned thighs.
* * * *
Steffi rode back to Porlock in a towering rage, her anger directed more toward herself than Brad. She’d known as soon as the other two left them alone that he’d try it on. She’d thought she’d been ready for him and was immune to his charm. So, what did she do? Kissed him right back like a grateful virgin noticed by an attractive man for the first time. Geez, she was a screwball!
She took Hamlet back to the yard and then slammed her way into the house without even bothering to check on Marius. That had to be a first. She had stuff to do for Daniel but didn’t want to intrude on his meeting if it was still going on or bump into any of his sons until her volatile temper had cooled.
How could she have been such an idiot as to let Brad get under her skin? It was bad enough that she’d allowed Jonny as close as she had. She compared the two of them in her mind, looking for faults to justify her determination not to like them. Damn it, she couldn’t find a single one.
“There must be something,” she said aloud. “No one’s that perfect.”
Brad’s eyes were a lighter shade of blue than Jonny’s. He had vertical laughter lines at the side of his mouth and the cutest damned cleft that she’d ever seen in a man’s chin. But that was no reason to fall victim to his reptilian charm. Okay, so he was clever, he made her laugh, and didn’t take himself too seriously. None of the brothers appeared to. Had she not known that Daniel had ordered them to play with her, she might have been tempted to let herself go for once. But she did know and was damned if she’d be treated like a charity case in need of a mercy fuck.
Even if she was.
The internal phone in her bedroom rang. Assuming it was Daniel in need of her, she picked it up.
“We’ve got something that might interest you,” Harry’s voice said.
Yeah, I’ve noticed.
“I’ll be right down.”
She pulled a brush through her tangled hair and tied it back, noticing from her reflection that her lips looked red and swollen from Brad’s kiss.
“Damn, that’s all I need.”
She dabbed on a spot of lip gloss in a futile attempt to hide the evidence and went down to Daniel’s old office on the ground floor.
“One crack about my swollen lips,” she muttered in a mutinous undertone, “and I’ll really let them have it.”
Harry was camped out in front of Daniel’s computer screens. The other two brothers were also there, making it feel as though the walls of the spacious room were closing in on her. There just wasn’t enough space, even in such a huge house as this, for three such hulking, great bodies in one room. It felt as though they were putting pressure on her, even though none of them were within