Page 103 of Seducing the Knave

Roderick shrugged and grinned. This one was barely bothered by anything Max said, no matter how disrespectful or crude. Roderick took just about everything in stride. The only exceptions being anything that threatened his wife, Emma, and their children. Or Caillie.

“Our apologies,” the earl said graciously. “But considering recent events, we agreed it seemed an appropriate time to break a few rules.”

Max glanced between his two oldest brothers as they continued across the lengthy room—one fair and almost painfully refined, the other dark with a devil-may-care attitude. So different in appearance and manner, yet they presented a rather impenetrable front when they managed to agree on a purpose.

Max almost wished his last brother, Beynon, was present as well. He could always count on the Welshman to put up some resistance no matter the scenario. Even when he agreed with their brothers’ intentions, Beynon seemed compelled to take a contrary stance, and he’d at least seemed to understand Max’s insistence on boundaries even if he didn’t fully agree with Max’s lifestyle.

But instead of having a potential ally, it was to be two against one. Max had faced far worse odds and come up the winner.

Stepping around the sofa, Roderick took a seat and extended a hand for the bottle.

Max passed it off with a slight scowl as he watched Colin take up a position in front of the fireplace, his spine straight and hands clasped behind his back.

Roderick took a long swig before handing the bottle back. Catching Max’s gaze, he asked pointedly, “Everything all right?”

“Right as rain, bruv,” Max drawled.

“That Rook fellow’s been dealt with?”

A bit more than slightly annoyed that Roderick felt the need to question him on this, Max asked, “Ye doubt me ability to handle me enemies?”

It was Colin who replied, his tone pointed and steady. “We don’t doubt your abilities, but you’ll forgive us if we question your intentions to be forthright in such matters.”

Max couldn’t exactly be offended by that. “If I’d told either of ye me plan to let Gill take Caillie, would ye’ve let me go through with it?”

“Not a bloody chance,” Roderick answered darkly at the same time Colin stated, “Absolutely not.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell ye.”

“It was a damned risky plan,” Roderick retorted. “You never should have put our sister in danger.”

Max narrowed his gaze now, anger overriding any leeway he’d allowed his brothers. “D’ye both honestly think I’d risk a single hair on the chit’s head? Me men have been planted in Gill’s operation fer years and I’ve personally been tailing the arse from the day I returned to town. I knew every bloody detail of his plans. Nothing would’ve happened to Caillie. I let ye both in out of courtesy. Be grateful, bruvs, ’cause I sure as hell didn’t need yer help to see this fucking thing to the end.”

“And using our sister as bait was the only way to accomplish that?” Roderick challenged.

“Not the only, but the best,” Max answered. “Gill’s prior attacks have all been ordered from a distance. Keeping himself free of the action had been his priority for years. Once I heard he’d learned of Caillie’s existence, I knew that would end. He’d be compelled to personally witness his revenge.”

“Why?” the earl asked pointedly.

Max shrugged and took a long draw from the gin bottle before replying. “Poetic justice. He believes I took away someone he loved, so he’d take the same from me.”

There was a long pause as Roderick stared back at him, obviously considering what he said. Max typically avoided such stares from this brother, whose strength of intuition rivaled his own.

But tonight, he didn’t bother averting his gaze. It seemed better for Roderick to understand that Caillie was never truly in any danger during her abduction.

He realized his mistake when Roderick noted, “That’s why he stayed with Lady Elvina.”

Max frowned. “What the fuck’re ye talking about?”

His brothers shared a quick, knowing glance before Roderick replied confidently, “He’d believed that if you were forced to choose...you’d choose her.”

Max snorted and tipped the bottle to his lips to avoid answering. He was suddenly realizing how frustratingly annoying brothers could be, not to mention how much more fun it was to be the tormentor than the tormented.

“What would he have done to her if you’d shown up?” Roderick asked. “Or if he’d been with Cailleach when you’d arrived?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Max retorted, though he knew from the start that Elle would be in the most danger and it nearly tore him up with fear until he’d gotten Carver’s message that the rescue had been a success, “’cause there’s no way in hell I was gonna give ’im what he wanted. Instead, he got a one-way passage on a ship bound for Australia. Gill Rook won’t be a problem anymore.”

“So, the ends justify the means?” Colin asked.

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