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defense of our country. I’m Terence Baltimore.”
    Yep,
the name went with the house.
    “Likewise
- though I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you.”
    My
mother’s face reddened as I left out the part where she’d had no opportunity to
give me any information, but I kept my gaze on him as I switched easily between
discourtesy and charm.
    “Guess
all the dinner conversation is going to have to center on you, then.”
    He
smiled tightly and turned to look off into a room on my right - from my initial
glance, it seemed to be a library.
    “Let
me introduce you to my daughter first. Annabelle!”
    He
didn’t quite raise his voice, but the call had a familiar element of command to
it.
    Guess
he’s got that as well.
    There
was something else that tugged at me, but I couldn’t identify it as I turned to
meet the unexpected addition to our party. Maybe that was what family had
meant.
    Then
I saw her.
    For
one split second, all my emotions exploded at once.
    Time
froze and every fight-or-flight instinct sent adrenaline surging through me.
    Fuck,
no.
    I
wanted to scream. I wanted to yell and shout and rage.
    Three
years ago, I would have done just that. I would have cursed the place down and
stormed out.
    Of
all the people…all the places…how the fuck did my screw-up mother manage to
mess my life up again?!
    For
one second, I just stared at the face that had played through my mind dozens of
times in the dankest, darkest places. The face I had finally decided to hit up
later tonight - apologize, explain, all the million-and-one things I couldn’t
possibly do here. Or at all. That face was now forbidden to me in every way,
shape or form.
    From
the flicker that crossed her face, I could guess she was experiencing her own
range of emotions.
    Not
quite forgotten then. That’s nice.
    But
I recovered in an instant, quicker than she managed, and my usual armor came
down - nothing like false, arrogant charm to protect you.
    My
smile widened and I met her eyes full-on, the challenge second nature to me.
    “This
is—”
    I
cut him off.
    “Ohh,
we’ve met.”
    I
shot them both a glance before walking over towards her. Fuck me, but I
couldn’t help the seductive saunter of the movement.
    “We
were at school together, for a year. About…three years ago? Four?”
    Her
face had closed off it’s parade of emotions now, but I could see the attractive
redness on her freckled cheeks, the red-gold hair coiled tightly at the top of
her head when it really should be tumbling free around her shoulders. And those
wide, deep-green eyes - with a bright, outraged disgust in them that was
reserved solely for me.
    Oh
yes, I’m the devil here. And something in me can’t stop digging deeper…
    “Bella,
it’s so good to see you again.”
    Before
she could do anything to stop it, I’d swept her hand up to my lips, bowing
lightly over the top of it while I brushed just the faintest impression across
the back. My powerful gaze met hers as I came back up and she snatched her hand
away from me, glaring back. I knew they couldn’t see our expressions, but I
could almost feel her father’s frown at her rudeness and let the corner of my
mouth curve in a smile at the small one-up on her.
    Why
the hell am I doing this?!
    But
I knew why. I was angry as hell, and while I may no longer have the crazed,
explosive reactions, that violent response was still beating hard under all of
this. And the Navy had taught me something far more dangerous in the
controlled, disciplined attack of cold rage. As for Bella…well, she was just in
the blast zone. And such an easy target.
    I
turned, ignoring her impotent anger without another glance.
    “Shall
we go on to dinner? I believe I’ve kept you all waiting.”
    I
didn’t bother to apologize, but no one seemed to notice as Terence latched onto
that as a good idea and escorted my mother out of the room. She gave me a
suspicious glance as they walked past, my unpredictable behavior instinctively
setting off