"That's plum!" Sam growled. "A mistake I'll never repeat! Going to bed with you was the worst mistake of my life! How was I supposed to know you're a depraved imposter? In fact, I bet you'd hump anything with two X chromosomes!"
"Well, all's fair in love and war," Nic snarled, his gray eyes smoking, his hands clenched into fists. Sam could almost see steam coming out his nostrils. "And this, my scheming jade, is war!"
Gregor placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, fearing Nic might attack the lovely, red-faced blonde. She looked too innocent to be the scheming cheat that he'd heard. In fact, Gregor didn't believe it.
Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Alex's arrested expression, his slightly hunched shoulders. Gregor shook his head. Something was rotten in Dodge, and he would bet it had to do with his brother's inane practical jokes.
Rubbing a hand over his eyes, Gregor turned back to Nic and Sam. He couldn't help but watch the feuding couple in fascination, stunned to see his elder brother carry on this way in front of an audience. Nic was a cold, hard man, given little to public displays; his anger was generally hidden from his foes. When he struck, he struck silent and deadly, his aim quick and devastatingly accurate. Tonight Nic was impassioned, fairly shrieking, which meant this female Paranormalbuster had grabbed him by the heart—or lower.
"I'm not surprised it's war!" Sam retorted.
"Definitely war, and you were the spoils," Nic repeated, throwing off Gregor's arm.
"Why, you stupid, sabotaging stooge! Someday you're going to regret the way you treated me. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life. Why, I bet you don't even know when the Fourth of July is!" Then Sam turned and marched off, not bothering to waste time with good-byes.
The three brothers and the Prince watched the angry blonde storm off, the guests parting before her like the Red Sea for Moses. Nobody but nobody wanted to mess with this Paranormalbuster.
"The Fourth of July?" Nic said after a moment, his temper beginning to cool. His respect for Sam had grown. She had taken an impossible, mortifying situation and not only faced it with sheer determination and a rigid backbone, but she had also left on her own terms. She was one in a million, and he wanted her. But… "Isn't the Fourth of July on the fourth of July?"
His cousin the Prince could barely nod, shaking as hard as he was with silent laughter.
The Young, the Dead and the Practical Joker
Carefully studying his elder brother's face, Alex frowned; Nic still hadn't taken his eyes off the doorway where Samantha Hammett exited. Although he was a prankster and usually more interested in stirring up trouble than paying attention to deeper emotions, Alex had seen the flash of regret cross his eldest brother's usually stoic features. Nic never regretted anything. But then, Alex had never been around Nic and a female who generated such blistering heat. The air around the two had fairly sizzled with sexual attraction. Obviously his brother wanted her with an intensity that was shocking. Alex could even smell Nic's need, making guilt creep up on him again.
At first, sabotaging Paranormalbustin' Pest Pursuers Inc. had seemed like a fine prank, creating confusion among the enemy. Alex had even anticipated their retaliatory strikes. However, it had taken three sabotaging strikes before they'd retaliated, and Alex had been thrown off. When they struck, it had been with brutal efficiency, leaving Alex in a big, smelly mess. Literally. Nic had been gloriously furious, almost as furious as Alex at the time, since Alex had temporarily forgotten his part in the feud.
No, Nic would never have approved of his actions. He despised cheaters, liars and any who played dirty. Corruption and sabotage were words which brought out the fighting side of Alex's brother, and so after her retaliation, Samantha Hammett hadn't stood a chance.
Only now, after the damage was done to both parties, Alex recognized the intense attraction between the two. Which was unfortunate. Nic wasn't getting any younger, and he needed to take a mate and have kids. This female, as unlikely a choice as she was, was the only one who had managed to stir Nic's deepest emotions. Which meant that Alex had kicked his elder brother in the teeth by playing his stupid tricks.
Shaking his head at his folly, Alex knew his big brother was going to be very angry with him when his part in the war between their two pest-punting companies was revealed. And Alex valued his hide. Still, as a Strakhov, fraternal honor weighed heavy on his shoulders—along with a healthy dose of fear. Yes, Nic was formidable when irritated. When angered he was a great, bad beast. And yet, Alex had no choice: Strakhov honor was at stake. He was doomed, and he tapped his big brother on the shoulder.
"Nic, I need to speak with you."
Nic glanced at his youngest brother, noting the tightening of Alex's features, smelling the faint whiff of fear. "Yes?" he asked cautiously. Whenever Alex wore this look of contrition, he just knew he wasn't going to like what the kid had to say.
"Outside," Alex suggested.
The two brothers walked outside together. The eyes of most of the women in the room followed their progress with predatory interest, but the two Strakhovs were lost in their thoughts and remained unaware. Beneath a large maple they halted, and Alex began his rather reluctant admission.
"You know how I hate to lose… ? And you know how I always love a good practical joke, even sometimes when they aren't that practical?" he began.
Nic stared at his baby brother, his expression almost as shadowed as the outdoor lighting. No, Nic mused darkly, he wasn't going to like this at all.
"I thought it would be funny to sort of set up the competition for a fall or two—or three or four," Alex went on, feeling like a young pup who'd peed on the rug.
"What did you do?" Nic asked, getting an inkling of what his brother was about to say. Rage began pounding in his temples.
"Um, the Hammetts didn't start the Bustin' war. I did. I'm the one who sabotaged them first. And it took three incidents before they took action to get back at us," Alex explained, guilt written all over his attractive face. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Funny, you know?"
"A good idea? Funny? Boiling you in oil is a good idea! Hanging you from the rafters by your thumbs is a good idea! Starting a war with another monster-removal company—that's contemptible! Where is your honor?" Nic shouted, wanting to knock his little brother into the dirt and stomp him to dust.
Nic felt horrible. The deception, his deeds, his words—he was suddenly regretting deeply all that had happened, and even sooner than Sam had expected. She hadn't been truly guilty of anything except trying to promote and protect her business against a competition that was unethical, ruthless and corrupt. No wonder she had used the tactics she had! No wonder she disliked Monsters-R-Us so thoroughly, and the Strakhov brothers. Some bad eggs had pushed the hard-boiled Buster into a corner, and she had fought back the only way she could.
Glaring at his brother, Nic felt his admiration for Sam grow again. She was truly a force with which to be reckoned. Her Beethoven, those trolls… Leaving him and his brothers in the shit… At the time Nic had been enraged beyond belief, but looking back he suddenly found her method of sabotage creative, intelligent and ingenious; he could only approve. Not to mention the way Sam made love: with all her heart and passion.
"Robho! How she must hate me," he muttered.
Alex was watching his brother carefully, feeling guilty and foolish and, he hated to admit, a bit fainthearted. After their parents had died in a fire, Nic had been the father figure. He was the presence always looking over the brothers' shoulders, the one to dole out praise or discipline. The discipline, Alex had often felt, was dished out unfairly, as he'd had an advanced sense of humor.