Page 51 of Violet

“Touch her in any way, defile her, and I’ll kill you. Do you understand me? I don’t care that you’re my friend. I’ll destroy you.”

I know my brother is serious. Dead serious. I know he’s protective over all of us, but I’ve never seen him so aggressive.

“Most important of all, Violet is allowed to be courted by others if she so chooses, and when she’s made her decision on a mate, you have to step back, Stephan.”

“You say that as if there’s no chance she’ll pick me,” Stephan says.

“Violet’s smart. She’s not going to put up with your bullshit,” he replies. “So let’s just say I’ll be very,verysurprised if this—whatever this is—gets past two dates.”

“Heath,” I start. I don’t understand where all this animosity is coming from. “He’s your friend.”

“You’re right. Two dates may be too much, actually.”

Scowling, Stephan steps toward him. “Hey, you know me. You know that when it comes to stuff like this, I don’t fuck around.”

“Yes, Idoknow you. And I know that fucking around is all you’ve been doing lately. I refuse to let you hurt my sister and mess up her chance at real happiness.”

A growl rumbles in Stephan’s chest, and suddenly his scent fills the room as his annoyance inflates. “Fuck you, Gardener. If you cared anything about your sister’s happiness, you’d let her make her own decisions, live her own life, without the pressures of what society says.”

Coming over to me, he takes my hand and places a light kiss on the back of it. My heart flutters. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, Princess.” Then with one more hard look at my brother, he storms out of the study, leaving me and Heath alone.

“Princess?” Heath asks me in the tense silence. “What the hell is that about?

I wince. What am I getting myself into?

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

Stephan

Ido another fifteen minutes of weights, and then I hit the treadmill in my apartment. I’m here until I can get my beach house livable, and it’s taking longer than expected. At this rate, it’ll be finished by the time I’m ready to leave Sabine and go back to Emporia.

Finally, when I decide that’s enough, I get off and head to my bathroom for a shower.

I could call Heath to set up the Violet date, but he’s a stubborn, cantankerous bastard these days. He’s just lucky I hadn’t socked him in front of Violet yesterday. He’d been pushing at my patience since I’d showed up at his doorstep.

And here I was trying to be respectable and do the right thing by his sister.

Well, thefakeright thing, but still. It counts.

Maybe I should have told him the truth.

No. He wouldn’t have allowed it, and things would be worse for Violet.

We’ll pull this off. I know it.

But first, I need to get the rumors working in our favor. And that means swallowing my pride and meeting with the battle-ax herself.

After getting dressed, I head out to the waiting car and get in.

“The Council Estate,” I tell the driver before he steps on the gas.

When we pull up to the massive building with a circle driveway and picturesque fountains, I get out and walk up the marble steps without even a second glance by security.

I find the battle-ax on the very top floor of the mansion, in her quarters above the stupid throne-like room. She’s barefoot, her silver hair down, and in the kitchen cooking like she’s some domestic goddess.

“Stephan. You came to visit? Or are you here with an ulterior motive?”

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