Page 23 of How to: Seduce Your Wife

“Un momento, Signore.”

Mia slipped momentarily into her native tongue, drawing courage from its familiarity. After a sweeping glance around the room, she tossed the phone onto the bed and ran for the bathroom. Dropping her towel, she whipped a thick, fluffy bathrobe off one of the bathroom shelves and wrapped it around herself. She tied the belt in a tight knot, securing her armor against the coming attack.

Quickly returning to the bedroom, she stared at the phone for several long seconds, gathering her nerve to pick it up again. How the hell had he managed to obtain her number? Only one way to findout.

“How the hell did you get this number?” she demanded.

"You'd be shocked at the sort of information I can—and will—find out about you once I've had more time to research.”

Outrage bubbled through her. The sheer audacity of thisidiota. “Is that a threat? No, wait. It’s a promise, right?”

To her surprise, he laughed. Not an evil, moustache twirling laugh, but one filled with genuine humor. Worse, it sounded almost exactly like Brand’s, sending a shiver running through her. “Yes and yes.”

“What can I do for you, Mr. Salvatore?” Her stomach tightened, as though anticipating a punch to thegut.

“Since I’m assuming we’re now brother- and sister-in-law, Ithink you can guess what I want.”

She didn’t need to guess. “To no longer be brother- and sister-in-law.” She didn’t bother phrasing it as a question.

“Exactly.” Soren spoke as though he were conducting a business deal that had gone slightly off the rails. He clearly planned to put this issue to bed, tonight.

“I think you need to discuss that with Brand.” She put a challenge in her tone, hoping to drive him off the phone. The tension in her stomach bled into her arms and legs. She had never enjoyed confrontations, and this was fast becoming as unpleasant as she could imagine.

A long, irritated sigh bled through the line. “I would if he were answering his phone.”

“Well, if I’d known it was you, Iwouldn’t have answered, either.” Mia could feel the earpiece of the phone tremoring against her ear, her hand betraying all her racing emotions.

“Is he there?” Soren didn’t bother to hide the hopefulness in his voice.

“Not exactly.” Mia mentally kicked herself for answering the question.

“Ah.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. It implied so much.Somuch. That their marriage wasn’t real. Wasn’t going to be real. That their wedding had absolutely nothing to do with romance and everything to do with practicality. That he married her not because he wanted a wife, but to provide Toni with a mother.

All of that knowledge buried within his one, telling “ah.” Of course he knew Brand could never really want her. He’d heard them at the ball, negotiating whether or not his brother could even bring himself to make love toher.

“You realize there’s nothing you can do about our marriage, right?” Did he hear the underlying uncertainty in her question? She’d bet good money—if she had any—that hedid.

“Ms. Starr, I’m not concerned about you. My apologies if that sounds harsh, but I don’t know you, and you’re not my family, sham marriage or not. Ido know my brother and his daughter, Toni. And I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.”

“From me?” she asked in disbelief.

“From you.” His voice turned to hardened steel.

An immediate protest tumbled off Mia’s lips. She would never deliberately hurt another, especially after all the injustices and failures she’d experienced. “But I haven’t done anything to them.”

“Yet. Nor will you.” A pregnant pause followed before he spoke again. “Listen, Toni is at a very vulnerable stage. And after what Brand’s wife pulled, he’s not much better off.”

“Vulnerable is not a word I’d ever use to describe Brand.”

“He’s my baby brother.”

“At some point, apparently when you weren’t looking, he grew up,” she argued. “I’m not trying to take advantage of him. He needs me, and I need him. Deal with it.” For all the bravado she put in her response, she felt her composure slipping.Don’t you darecry!

“I’ll give you points for impudence. Not that it changes anything. Tell me what it’ll cost for you to walk away from this marriage right this minute, and it’s yours. Ihave a blank check sitting here in front of me and an uncapped pen. Fifty grand? One hundred? Ican have annulment papers drawn up within the hour.”

“Cost?” Choked fury, long buried, finally found its way to the surface and she struggled to catch her breath sufficiently to respond. “Mr. Salvatore?”

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