Page 214 of A Vicious Love

“Yes, sir.”

Munitiy again.

Sienna’s lips pressed together. She was trying very hard to hide amusement.

“I own men who own pieces of that grid,” I said.

“You do,” Reeves agreed. “Those men enjoy remaining out of inquiry courts. Manipulating an estate weather pattern for personal irritation would be traceable.”

“Only if done poorly.”

“Your name tends to make poorly unnecessary. People look harder.”

Sienna’s eyes flicked between us. “You were seriously considering this.”

“I was preparing options.”

“You were preparing to ruin my family retreat with rain.”

“Only the first week.”

“Three weeks,” Reeves said.

I looked at him again.

He looked back calmly. “You said three weeks.”

“Confidentially.”

“Miss Bellemere asked.”

“I did.” Sienna folded her arms, which did devastating things to the neckline of that dress. “And I’m against it.”

“Noted.”

Her brows lifted. “You’re listening to me?”.

Slowly, Sienna lowered her arms. Her suspicion came back. I hated that I had made obedience from me so strange it startled her.

“Yes,” I said.

The color in her cheeks deepened. Her arms folded lightly across herself, and that only made the fabric pull tighter across her chest.

I looked at the storm.

Self-preservation, apparently, had entered my skill set very late. I dragged smoke into my lungs until the thought lost a little heat.

A little.

Reeves moved around the kitchen, unpacking the dinner sent from the main house. An activity above him. He was monitoring me and not admitting to it.

Sienna drifted toward the kitchen, lowering her voice as if the lounge had walls between us.

It did not.

Open plan. Beautifully useless for secrets. The storm covered their voices enough that a better man might have given them privacy.

I was not a better man.