Free Savage Seduction: A Dire Wolves Mission (The Devil's Dires Book 3) by Ellis Leigh Page B

picked up on her irritation, he didn’t let on. In fact, his smile only grew. “Ah, I see. Well then. How about I take our new friend into the study for a drink while you get cleaned up. Dinner’s in twenty minutes.”
    The dismissal rankled, and Charmeine bristled in response. “I’m not hungry.”
    Finn growled softly, throwing her the type of warning she knew better than to ignore. “You will not be rude to my guest, Charmeine. Clean up and join us for dinner.”
    A louder growl broke the stare-down between Finn and Charmeine. She shot a look to Mammon, the source of the threatening rumble. He was definitely glaring and almost snarling, but not at her. No, his menace was directed solely at Finn. Perhaps the man felt the need to come to her rescue, not that she needed him to. Finn would never hurt her. His demands were just him being bossy as usual. Still, having backup was sort of nice.
    She looked back to Finn and raised her eyebrows. Waiting.
    “Please,” Finn said, gritting out the word with a stiff, plastic smile. “Get cleaned up and join us for dinner, please.”
    With a stiff curtsy and a glare, the likes of which most men would have cowered under, Charmeine flounced toward her room. Finn wanted to have dinner with the enemy? Fine. So be it. She’d join them as requested. But she’d come prepared.

9
    M ammon couldn’t tear his gaze away from Charmeine as she walked away. The woman had shocked him, which was not an easy feat. She’d been so angry, so fierce and proud as she stood there, covered in dirt and far more mussed than she’d been the first time he saw her. Impressive, really. The woman did not back down from a fight, and she certainly wasn’t the pampered princess he’d originally thought.
    “There’s a lot more to her than her ass,” Finn said, his voice deep and dark in a way that screamed protective. Mammon drank down his whiskey and shrugged.
    “It’s not her ass that caught my eye.” Which was mostly true. Her bravery and strength had definitely grabbed his attention, though Mammon couldn’t deny she had a biteable ass. The woman filled out a pair of denim like no other. Mercy .
    A quiet cough from Finn forced Mammon to refocus on the man beside him. That and the fact he knew Charmeine better than probably anyone else. Might as well take advantage. “Is she always so welcoming?”
    Finn chuckled. “Oh, goodness, no. This is quite unusual. Normally, she’s downright cranky.”
    Mammon blinked, speechless. Cranky? That wasn’t cranky?
    Meanwhile, Finn just smiled and nodded in the direction of the study. “How about we have those drinks now?”
    “You’re kidding, right?” Mammon asked as he followed Finn into the room he called a study. Looked sort of like a library to Mammon, but what did he know.
    “Slightly.” Finn grabbed Mammon’s glass and moved to the bar, refilling both. “Charmeine does have her moods, though. Fair warning.”
    Mammon settled on a cushy leather chair in the room, nodding his thanks when Finn returned his drink to him. He sipped the amber liquid slowly, taking in the room around him. Bookshelves ran from floor to the vaulted ceilings on three walls, only a few windows taking up real estate otherwise reserved for books. On the fourth wall, the entryway dominated the vertical space, leaving very little room for anything else. Little, but not none. To one side, a picture hung all alone, a long, brass fixture mounted over it to bathe the image in golden light. An oil painting of two adults and two children.
    “Your mate?” Mammon asked. The man did look an awful lot like Finn.
    “No, actually. Those are my parents.”
    Huh. Mammon hadn’t expected that answer. “So the children—”
    “Charmeine and me. That was done not long after she came to live with us.” Finn took a sip of his drink, staring at the painting with a small smile on his face. “Charmeine was so angry that day because she had to be dressed up. She wanted to play outside in