house, blasting the men and driving them back and away. Within seconds they were soaked and on their butts, sliding in the puddles on the walkway.
Cursing, Franco tried to rise, only to fall several times. Sevastyan never cracked a smile. He simply watched dispassionately from his vantage point at the window. Behind him, Flambé jumped up and rushed toward him. He didn’t turn around.
“Stop right there. I don’t want him to see you looking afraid or alarmed. Back away from the window.” He kept his voice low but commanding. “Now, Flambé.”
She came to an abrupt halt, one hand going to her throat defensively. “You don’t know him, Sevastyan. You haven’t done any research on him like I have. He’s vindictive. You’ve humiliated him in front of his men. He’ll never stop until he kills you.”
Her voice trembled and Sevastyan, in spite of his resolve to continue looking at Franco as if he were an ant, couldn’t help but turn to look at his woman. She was genuinely upset. She wasn’t a woman easily intimidated and yet Franco Matherson had really shaken her up. It wasn’t the fact that he’d struck her. She knew Sevastyan came from a family of criminals and yet she was that shaken.
“Baby.” He whispered the endearment softly.
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. He’s evil. He’s truly evil. I spent a great deal of time finding out as much as I could about him when the cops wouldn’t help me.” Even though she was so distressed, she still backed away from the window, keeping out of Franco’s line of vision. “There’s a subspecies of leopards, of shifters, the Arabians he and his brothers first went after to find wives. They bartered with the elders and tried to get them to give them several females. The elders told them it didn’t work that way, but Matherson became angry the way he does and, in the end, tried to take the females.”
Again, there was a mixture of truth and a lie. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was to call her on it. “I can see him doing that. He doesn’t like being thwarted in the least. If he can’t have his toy, he’d rather break it so no one else can have it.”
She nodded. “That’s exactly what he did. He and his brothers began a systematic hunt, and they used the natives to help them stamp out the Arabian leopards by putting bounties on the leopards, poisoning them, capturing them for zoos, killing them for various body parts and their pelts. That’s how vindictive they are.”
“You’re afraid he’ll come after me.”
She started to answer and then fell silent, studying his face. “You’re deliberately angering him. You sized him up in five seconds and you’re drawing his attention away from me and putting it onto you. On purpose.” That was an accusation. “Sevastyan. You can’t do that.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “I can do anything I want, Flambé. I’m very familiar with evil. I grew up surrounded by it. I know the kind of man he is. I recognized what he was immediately. I want his attention centered on me, not you. Still, it’s best if you stay close to me where I can protect you. Since you’ll be working for me anyway, and you don’t want to endanger your crew, that will work. We’ll get whatever you need sent here.”
She opened her mouth to protest.
“Your female is emerging anytime. You can’t have her breaking free in front of anyone either,” he pointed out, and turned back to the intercom and Matherson. He shut off the valve for the water. “I suggest you gentlemen leave my property immediately. I don’t want to have to tell you again.”
Matherson jerked his head toward the road and his two security people went with him, stalking down the walkway, looking more like wet, wretched hens than tough guys. Sevastyan didn’t believe it was over for a moment. Franco wouldn’t leave quietly. He wanted to show Sevastyan he wasn’t in the least afraid of him. He had a larger force of men hiding in the brush and there was no doubt that he would leave instructions to retaliate in some manner. When, was the question. Franco didn’t have a clue Sevastyan knew the men were out there.
Flambé threw herself into the wide chair again, drawing up her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs. “You shouldn’t have done that, Sevastyan. I can’t thank you enough, but you shouldn’t