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His brother held up a hand to cut off Maddux as he pushed to his feet, his gaze narrowed. “Look, you do whatever you need to do with Cole’s daughter. Play your little cat-and-mouse game with her. Get her out of your goddamn system if that’s the issue and then get your fucking head on straight and finish what Theodore started.”
Hunter stormed out of the room, and Maddux exhaled a deep breath and rubbed a hand along his jaw, his gaze shifting to his sister, who was looking at him thoughtfully.
“Care to add anything to that?” he asked wryly.
“Sure.” A small smile touched her lips. “I trust you and whatever you decide and how you decide to do it, Maddy,” she said, surprisingly him with her support after his brother’s tirade. “You’ve always taken care of us. From the day that Mom and Dad died, when you were only eighteen and Hunter and I were even younger, you’ve done everything in your power to keep us safe and protected. And you’ve worked your ass off to build a great life for all three of us,” she added, indicating with a wave of her hand the warehouse he’d built into a luxurious building and apartments for each of them, and the billion-dollar security firm on the second level that provided anything and everything they could ever want or desire. “I know you want vengeance for our parents as much as Hunter and I do, and I also know that you will make Theodore Cole pay. The timeline has just been altered a bit. It’s already been fourteen years. What’s another few weeks?”
The tight, uncomfortable knot in his chest eased. “Thank you.” He was grateful for those words and her understanding, despite the unexpected way things had played out.
She stepped up to him and placed a warm, affectionate hand on his forearm. “You’re a good, honorable man, Maddy. If Arabella is as innocent of her father’s wrongdoings as you claim, then please don’t hurt her,” she said, and he knew his sister wasn’t referring to physical discomfort, but mental and emotional suffering. “I saw the attraction and awareness between the two of you back in the kitchen when Hunter and I arrived, which tells me she’s more vulnerable in this situation than you might think or believe. It’s already going to be painful enough for her when she watches her father’s ugly and public downfall. She doesn’t need to have her own heart shattered, too.”
His sister had always been so intuitive. So tender and caring. A gentle soul . . . just like their mother. The fact that she held no resentment against Arabella just on the basis of being Theodore’s daughter—unlike Hunter—said everything about her compassionate character.
But keeping Arabella here at his penthouse had nothing to do with forming an attachment or intimate emotions with her. Yes, he wanted her. Desired her. And whatever happened between them would just be about sex and pleasure, nothing more. He wasn’t capable of anything beyond that. Especially with the daughter of his enemy.
“As for Hunter, he’ll cool off and come around,” Tempest said, an impish smile making an appearance now that all the serious conversation was off the table. “I think part of his anger and frustration toward this situation is because he met someone last night at the ball, took her back to his apartment for the night, and woke up having been ghosted. I’m sure he’s feeling doubly betrayed.”
Maddux winced at her choice of words but got her point. “He actually told you he had a one-night stand with someone who attended the ball?”
She nodded, her eyes bright with amusement. “Yes. On the way up here in the elevator. He was already in a mood and irritated enough about being stood up that he obviously needed to get it off his chest.”
Maddux arched a brow, finding that bit of information about his brother interesting. “Since when does Hunter actually want more than a one and done with a woman?”
“Since last night, apparently,” Tempest said cheekily. “Hunter only knows her first name, nothing else, though he said she accidentally left a bracelet behind that must have fallen off her wrist. He found it on the floor, and he’s determined to track the woman down and find her. Sounds like a classic Cinderella fairy tale, doesn’t it? Maybe she’s the one.” She sounded excited by the prospect.
Maddux rolled his eyes at his sister’s starry-eyed, romantic notion. “Umm, no. Sorry to burst your bubble, but knowing Hunter, I’m more inclined to believe that she was a freak in the sheets and he wants a repeat.” He and his brother were cut from the same cloth that way . . . dominant and completely alpha, in the boardroom and the bedroom.
“You are so crude, Maddy,” she said, though she was laughing. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we? I’ve never seen Hunter so twisted up about a woman before, so I’d like to believe it’s more than just her being a good lay.”
“And what about you, baby sister?” he asked, focusing on her love life for a change. “Did you find your Prince Charming at last night’s fairy-tale ball?”
A telling blush swept across her light complexion, and she averted her gaze to stare out th
e office windows. “No. I wasn’t looking.”
He smirked. “Just because you weren’t looking doesn’t mean you didn’t get swept off your feet.”
She glanced back at him, her look adorably pointed. “My feet remained firmly planted on the ground all evening long. And unlike you and Hunter, I didn’t bring anyone back up to my apartment last night.”
“Fair enough,” he said, taking the hint to let the subject drop. “By the way, I have a favor to ask.”
“Okay.”
“Arabella only has her ball gown from last night,” he said, not sure how his sister was going to react to the personal request that involved a woman who was still more a foe than a friend at this point. “Could she borrow something to wear until her clothing gets here this afternoon?”
“What?” Tempest gave him a feigned guileless, wide-eyed look. “You mean you don’t want her prancing around your apartment all day long in your T-shirt and nothing else?”
Given the choice, he’d want Arabella naked all day long, but he kept that comment to himself. “Sarcasm doesn’t become you, sister,” he teased, though he couldn’t blame her for her cheeky remark. “Yes or no?”
“Of course she can borrow something to wear,” she said, more gracious now. “I’ll bring up a pair of leggings and a blouse.”
“Thank you.”
He walked his sister back to the penthouse elevator, surprised to find the kitchen completely clean and Arabella nowhere in sight. He waited for Tempest to head down to her apartment and return with the clothing he’d requested, and once she’d done so and was gone again, he locked out the elevator to his floor so there would be no other random visits.
He wasn’t sure where Arabella was or what she was doing, but they had unfinished business to attend to that his brother and sister had interrupted a short while ago, and Maddux had every intention of seeing just how far his sweet, virginal captive was willing to go now that they were completely alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
