Page 27 of Dangerous

When the elevatordoors opened up at the penthouse floor in Marcus’ building, the nervous energy in my body was so intense I had to flex my shoulders and hands a few times before I knocked on the door. If she’d been hurt, he would have said something—I hoped. But then what could have happened to make my crazy-arse brother drive all the way to the suburbs to pick up my wife? And why had he been notified, and not me?

My looping thoughts were interrupted when Marcus opened the door. His face was as blank and unreadable as always.

“She okay?” I couldn’t stop the question from bubbling out. Fuck it, despite spending most of the car ride here reassuring myself, I needed to know. If not, that human trafficker wouldn’t be the last person I’d kill tonight.

“Yes.” Marcus stepped aside, and I walked into his well-lit flat with the view of London that would normally have made me take a few seconds to appreciate the grandness of it all. Today though, I looked around for Mira with no interest in anything else.

She was sitting by the kitchen island with an empty wine glass next to her and a stubborn, yet somewhat unsettled, expression on her pretty face.

A knot I hadn’t been aware of until then loosened in my stomach, and I drew in a quiet sigh of relief.

“Mira, go into the bedroom. Blaine and I need to talk.”

I frowned at the way my brother seemed to think it was okay to order my wife around, but Mira slid off her seat without protest and pattered out of the kitchen, disappearing around a corner. Shortly after, a door clicked shut.

Huh. Seemed even my obstinate wife found it best to obey Marcus without a fight. He tended to have that effect on people, but I could have sworn Mira got off on arguing just for the sake of it.

“What?” I was aware my tone was snappy, but I didn’t care. Tonight had been one long headache, and the way Marcus was eying me, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to get any better anytime soon.

“She says youchasedher through the house and threw her down on the floor. Is that true?”

I gaped at him for a moment, completely taken aback.

“Is that true?”

“Why the hell is she telling you about our business? Did you two exchange dirty details of our wedding night, as well?”

“If you ever scare her like that again, orhurther, you and I are going to have a problem. Mum would roll over in her grave if she knew you were treating a defenseless woman like this.” He hadn’t raised his voice, but there was an unmistakable note of warning in it.

“Scareher? That little tart doesn’t get scared, Marcus. I don’t know what the fuck she’s been telling you, but that is not what went down. And why the hell do you care, anyway? Last I checked, she was my unwanted bride, not yours. If you wanted in on this shit show, you really should have stepped up earlier—saved me the headache.”

“I picked her up a mile from your house. Dad’s put a tap on her phone to make sure the Clerys don’t fuck us over from the inside, and lucky for her, I’m the one who monitors it. She was apparently scared enough to risk the fallout of running off after your little encounter.”

“Run off?” I stared at him, partly shocked that she would be that stupid, and partly impressed that she’d somehow managed to get past the security. And pretty pissed with the night team for letting her outsmart them like that. “Sheran off?”

“Yes.”

“That little…” I stopped myself from finishing that sentence at the look of warning in Marcus’ eyes. “Look, I appreciate you not letting Dad find her, but you can spare me the lecture. She’s fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a pain in the arse of a wife to deal with.”

I stepped past him, not waiting for his acknowledgment, and yelled, “Mira!” loud enough to resonate through the flat and into the bedroom where she was currently hiding. I set my jaw at the burst of annoyance that rolled through me at the knowledge that she was hiding frommebehind the supposed shield of my brother’s protection. She wasn’t his to protect. Even if I resented the hell out of the job, it was mine, and my muscles itched with an instinctive urge to challenge Marcus for stepping in.

If I’d been drunk I might have given in, but my brain was clear enough to know that I wasn’t guaranteed a win in a fight against Marcus. He’d always been completely unpredictable, and I wasn’t in the mood to lose another showdown tonight. Bad enough my pint-sized spitfire of a wife had slapped me around a few hours ago, even if it was only verbally.

The door to Marcus’ bedroom creaked open, and Mira came round the corner, her face drawn with tension. She stopped before she got to the kitchen area and balled her fists up beside her hips. “What?”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from snapping at her challenging tone. If we were going to have another domestic, it wasn’t happening in front of my crazy brother. “We’re going home. Now.”

To my mild surprise, she didn’t argue. Instead, she went over to the counter where she’d left her coat and purse, picked both up, folded the coat over her arm, and then walked over to Marcus.

“Thank you,” she said softly, and then she raised up on her tiptoes and planted a light kiss on his cheek. “For your kindness.”

I wasn’t prepared for the wave of scalding jealousy that rushed through my veins and ended up in my chest in a molten pool of anger. Marcus. Of all people,Marcuswas the one she thanked—for hiskindness.If it had been one of the twins I could have accepted it, but Marcus? If I had a bad reputation, then he was the fucking anti-Christ, and yet here she was, seemingly completely at ease in his presence. And with his protection. While me… me, she treated like a bloody fiend.

I pushed the sensation down. I didn’t wanther,I just wanted to fuck her. Once I’d had my fill of her, this unbearable yearning that scratched at my insides like a thousand ants would pass, and I’d move on to greener pastures like I always did once a bird started to bore me. What did I care if she preferred my brother over me?

I held the door open for her, pretending like every cell in my body wasn’t seething, and when she walked through without a word, I closed it behind us, not bothering to say goodbye to Marcus.

I’d never had any beef with my brothers before, but as I drove out of the parking lot underneath Marcus’ fancy high-rise, dark resentment churned in my gut.

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