Page 31 of Wretched Heart
“It’s a temporary arrangement. Just long enough to take control of the mill and do what needs to be done.”
Mace tilts his head as if looking at me from a slightly different perspective will help him see where my head is at. “A wife, however temporary, causes more problems than it solves. It’s why none of us have ever gone down this path. We agreed.”
“We never anticipated something like this. It’s a means to an end, that’s all.”
“But to what end?” Mace demands. “You might get an immediate seat on the board, but she gets rights to your affairs too. And unless we make sure the prenup’s watertight, we could end up losing more than we gain.”
I force my jaw to unclench. There isn’t a muscle in my body that hasn’t been tensed to its limits since I publicly claimed Maddison Corbyn as mine. “Then we get Reid to work with our lawyers to make it watertight. If Barrett wanted the company dead in the water, it means we have to keep it alive, even if we don’t know why yet. We don’t havea choice here, Mace. If we have to wait until we’ve persuaded both Hugo and Maddie to sell to us, the paper mill will have gone under by then. And Hugo’s spiteful and twisted enough to let that happen. He’s thinking with his dick.”
Mace drops his feet to the floor and rests his elbows on the table as he leans in. “He’s not the only one.”
I swallow the curse and control my temper. “I know what I’m doing.”
The sound of his fingers drumming against the table irritates me more than it should. As does his stare. “It’s just business, right?”
Putting my last conversation with Maddie to the back of my mind, I hold his gaze. The pads of my fingers tingle at the memory of playing with her nipple. And that tingle erupts into a burning need as it travels lower through my body. “Yes.”
“OK, then,” Mace says as if he’s in complete agreement. I know it’s some maneuver to catch me out, I just can’t see the trap yet. “Let’s say marrying Maddie is a good strategy.” His fingers stop drumming so he can count off items on his list. “We get inside the company, we go over everything in forensic detail, and we figure out Barrett’s motives. We neutralize Hugo by whatever means necessary, and we complete the original takeover. You get divorced, pay off Maddie, and we make the mill viable again before putting in new management and moving on. Correct?”
“That’s the sum of it, yes.”
Mace shrugs. “In which case, it doesn’t really matter which of us marries Maddie.”
The air thickens between us. Fuck my brother, but he’s got me. I can’t argue without confirming that I am thinking with my nowsoftening dick.
Mace’s eyes flicker with delight. He’s enjoying this game. “I think we can discount Ash given his pathological aversion to women, so my personal choice would be Reid. They get on well, but not too well,” he says with an obvious jab at me. “The whole point is that we don’t overcomplicate things, or lose sight of the end game. And they’re the same age. It makes sense.”
“No,” I say before I’ve even formulated my counter argument. I play with my cuffs, which gives me time to think. “You and I know that Reid’s a long way from being able to assert himself in the boardroom. He’s not going to be the one to put Hugo in his place. And besides, whoever marries Maddie gets to serve Barrett a second dose of humiliation. Reid’s the only one of us who doesn’t already have a target on his back. Let’s not put one on him now.”
Mace shrugs. “You’re right, it can’t be Reid,” he says, but the fucker smirks. “I guess that leaves me and you. And given the vein that’s popping out of your temple, I’d say your volatility around Maddie immediately makes you a strong no.”
Rationally, I know this is just Mace testing me. There’s no way he’d marry Maddie. No matter how much we wrap it up as a business arrangement, there will need to be some element of playacting to sell the idea to key players until we achieve our aims. I could call his bluff, but I’m currently fighting the impulse to leap over the table and wipe that smug expression off his face for simply suggesting he take her from me.
Mace is well aware of the buttons he’s pushing when he adds, “And I don’t mind taking one for the team.”
As I stand up, Mace gets up too, bracing himself for my reaction. We might love each other, but we’re not averse to using our fists to settle arguments. I’m too busy planninghow to get over the table without making myself vulnerable that I don’t notice the figure in the doorway.
“If you want to marry me, you’re going to have to ask me first, Mason,” Maddie says as she stalks into the room. She doesn’t acknowledge me. Her piercing gaze is focused solely on Mace.
My brother gives a good performance of looking unfazed, but his hands remain fisted as he slips them into his pockets. “Do I have to get down on bended knee?” he asks. He’s wrongly assumed that he’s the cat and she’s the mouse. I almost feel sorry for him.
When Maddie reaches him, she keeps moving forward. He towers over her and could easily stand his ground, but that would mean letting her press her body against his, which is what she intends. For my own sanity, I’m relieved he has the good sense to move back a step.
Maddie smiles. “My preferred position is naked in the shower. How does that sound?” she purrs.
Her voice is like a knife twisting in my gut. I can only imagine what effect it has on Mace, but it’s enough to have him stepping back some more until Maddie has him backed against a desk. It would be my desk.
“I was thinking it would be in our lawyer’s office,” Mace says as he attempts to assert some control.
“That’s a shame. I was hoping for something more intimate,” Maddie suggests as she traces a finger down the lapel of his suit jacket.
I’m not sure who she’s making more uncomfortable, the brother she’s taunting or… the other brother she’s taunting. There’s only so long I can contain my anger as her hand travels downwards.
Mace swallows hard when she hooks a finger in his belt.
“Tell me, are you as bigas your brother?”
“Not when I’m as unaroused as I am now,” Mace says, almost choking out his reply.
