Free [BAD 07] - Silent Truth by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

lips.
    Now he’d make some headway.
    That smile of hers and those eyes. He had seen them somewhere before, dammit.
    “What the hell are you doing here?” A familiar male voice boomed from Hunter’s left, shattering the moment.
    He turned his head to see a man whose height mirrored Hunter’s, with a lighter build and the same shade of blond hair. His brother.
    An icon in the Chicago corporate landscape, the high-profile Thornton-Payne heir whom Hunter would like to see any time other than right now.

Chapter Five

    Long story, Todd.” Hunter shook hands with his brother, surprised to see him at the Wentworth event. Hugging amounted to a public display of affection. His family would be appalled.
    “Haven’t seen you in what? Eight months?” Todd finished shaking, then turned to Abbie. “And you are?”
    “Abbie.” Hunter jumped in before Todd could blow his anonymity with this woman by giving his last name. “This is Todd. Todd, this is Abbie.”
    “Nice to meet you.” Her smile had vanished along with the relaxed air in the few seconds since Todd arrived. She gave Hunter’s brother the same assessing sweep, made some internal judgment she didn’t share, and took a step away. “Sounds like you two have some catching up to do and I have to find someone.” She finished the sentence, then turned and scurried into the crowd.
    Dammit to hell. Hunter wasn’t through with her.
    “Who was that?” Todd asked. “Don’t think I’ve seen her around.”
    “All I know is her name. I don’t think this is her usual social circle.” Talk about blowing him off without a second thought. He hadn’t been hitting on her. Not really.
    Abbie didn’t fit his requirements for a night in the sack, mainly because his criteria didn’t demand much. A sex kitten brimming with self-importance offered just enough challenge to keep an evening sporting for twopeople with zero emotional investment.
    Or as Abbie had aptly put it—no harm, no foul.
    No heart.
    And none of the women Hunter spent a few hours burning off energy with expected to hear from him again. He couldn’t say the nights were memorable, but he didn’t make any promises or leave anyone in tears.
    Abbie looked like a woman who bubbled with emotion.
    He bet she’d be a memorable night.
    But she’d expect a second date, phone calls, and more.
    How had he strayed this far off his mental target of figuring out how he knew her and why she was here? Remembering Todd, Hunter started to ask how the move to Chicago was going when he realized his brother had forgotten him as well.
    Todd stared with longing at something or someone.
    Hunter followed Todd’s line of sight to Pia, his brother’s ex-wife.
    Engrossed in a conversation with two other women, Pia was just as stunning as she’d been on the cover of Cosmopolitan when Todd first showed Hunter a picture of his new squeeze three years back. Pia still wore a size two, even after giving birth to her and Todd’s little boy eighteen months ago.
    She erupted in laughter at something her friend said and glanced over in time to meet Hunter’s gaze, which she returned with undisguised hostility.
    Hunter took in Todd’s pained expression, the look of a man who had been royally screwed, literally and then figuratively.
    Todd and Pia had married after a whirlwind affair,because they had supposedly fallen “in love at first sight.”
    What a crock.
    The baby showed up seven months after the wedding.
    Another woman with an agenda, and like all the others, Pia lacked a conscience and a soul. The only thing he’d say in her favor was that she never fought Todd for full custody.
    Hunter cleared his throat and Todd swung around with too bright a smile, working to hide where his mind had drifted. “What are you doing here? You hate these things.”
    Tell me about it. “Doing a favor for a friend.”
    “Must be some friend.”
    “Something like that.” Hunter appreciated how his brother never whined about Hunter not calling to