Free Her Kind of Trouble (Harlequin Superromance) by Sarah Mayberry Page A

skimmer pole against the pergola and made his way to the front door, his bare feet almost silent on the polished floor. He could see a slim silhouette through the frosted glass, and he frowned as he reached for the handle. He wasn’t expecting anyone, definitely not a female anyone. Whoever it was, he really hoped she wasn’t about to interfere with his plans for the rest of his one free evening of the week—pizza, the footy on TV and then maybe a movie. The perfect antidote to an afternoon of screaming, raucous children and his mother’s endless questions regarding Lola and the baby.
    “You are a flaming hypocrite of the highest order, Seth Anderson. In fact, I don’t think I have met a more sanctimonious asshole in my entire life.”
    The words flew at him the moment he opened the door, and a heartbeat later something solid thunked him in the chest. He looked down to see Vivian’s hand drawing back before the heel of her hand smacked into his sternum a second time, the power behind the blow enough to force him back a step.
    “How dare you bad-mouth me to your brother? How dare you even imagine that you have a clue as to who I am or what I’m capable of, you judgmental, self-righteous prick?”
    He blinked rapidly, scrambling to catch up. Vivian was clearly angry about something. Really angry, if the way she was snarling at him meant anything. Then his brain kicked in and he understood that his brother—or more likely Jodie—had shared his concerns regarding Vivian’s suitability for guardianship with her.
    Awesome.
    “You have no idea how lucky you are that I’m a girl and no one ever taught me to punch properly, Anderson, because your nose would be a pancake right now if I had my way.”
    He caught her hand as she took a third shot at his chest, a little surprised at how hard he had to work to keep her at bay. Apparently rage bestowed unnatural powers on a woman. Who knew?
    “Listen—”
    “No, you listen. You don’t know me. Just because you once had the privilege of being inside my body for a few minutes—something that would never have happened unless I was very drunk and very stoned, by the way—does not mean that you get to pass judgment on me. No freaking way. You have no idea who I am or how I live my life or what my values are. You know nothing about me. Nothing. And yet you dared to try to cut me out of my nephews’ lives. Do you have any idea how freaking evil that is?”
    Her blue-green eyes were bright with fury, her body rigid as she fought him for control of her arm. Her jaw-length hair swung around her face, the ruler-straight fringe ruffled by her exertions.
    “Look, I have no idea what Jodie told you, but I think you might be overreacting,” he said. “Ow.”
    Pain bit into his shin. She’d kicked him. Shock made him loosen his grip on her arm and she wrenched it free, taking a step backward so that she was out of his reach.
    “Don’t you dare tell me I’m overreacting, you snake in the grass. You told Jason I would make a shitty guardian to Sam and Max. You said I was unreliable and a bad role model.”
    “I asked Jason a few questions, that’s all. Appointing guardians is a serious business. I wanted to make sure they understood what they were signing up for.”
    Truthfully, he didn’t have great recall of the conversation he’d had with Jason. He’d been so worked up over Lola, so worried about what would happen once the baby came, hearing his brother was relying on Vivian to put Max and Sam first had pushed about a million different buttons for him.
    Buttons that maybe had more to do with his situation with Lola than they did with Vivian and his brother’s kids—something that was far clearer to him now than it had been then.
    “And did you think to use that same scrupulous microscope to examine your own life, Seth? Did you take the time to consider if a man who knocks up his casual girlfriend and runs a bar is the kind of guy you’d want looking after your kids? A