The Devil's Good Intentions (27 page)

“
That would translate into over-bearing guard dog of a brother” Angel managed to say between gapes of laughter.

“
Darling, try not to scare away the poor lamb before we have sunk our teeth into her” Alex grinned as he lightly tapped his wife on her behind.

Katherine was now laughing along with them which he took as a good sign. Her laughter still rung as music to his ears and he felt a sense of pride as his brothers automatically accepted her into the family.

“
Come now Dear, let Angel and I give you a tour of the estate while the boys drawl on about politics, horses and God knows what else!” Rachel prompted as she tried to pull Kat out of his hold.

She looked up at him with an amused expression and cocked her eyebrow at him. He knew she was far from asking his permission to go along, she was more amused that he didn’t want to relinquish his hold on her.

“
Fine, but don’t you ladies go too far.” He replied as he reluctantly let her go.

“
And stay out of trouble!” Alex called after them as they laughed and disappeared out of the room.

Simon let out a sigh and shook his head, Charles grinned towards the door and Alex looked upon him with much amusement written on his face.

“
Come, sit down” Charles prompted them as he directed them to the seating area.

“
Out with it” Salvador said in a bored tone as he took on their amused stares.

“
By God Charles, you weren’t kidding! She’s as innocent as a lamb!” Alex burst out.

“
And a beauty to boot! Don’t you think we have our hands full enough with Rachel and Angel to look after?” Simon piped in.

“
Would you have me annul the marriage based on the fact that she’s beautiful?” Salvador asked with great amusement.

“
Bodyguards” Charles piped in. “I’ve been thinking about this recently and it’s the only way. We have three gems that we need to look after now and we can’t be everywhere at once.”

“
We are their bodyguards” Alex pitched in with irritation.

“
Yes, but say we are on business and all three decide they want to go shopping?” Charles responded.

“
They each have their own bodyguard already. They will each take their own bodyguard along with them and that will keep them safe.” Alex replied.

“
I don’t think it’s enough” Charles mumbled.

“
Did something happen?” Salvador asked Charles.

“
In fact, yes. The other day Rachel was in town at the dress makers. When she left, she decided she wanted to stroll in the park. Three gentlemen approached and struck up a conversation with her. John tried to end the conversation and hull her away, but they trailed after them and continued to pursue conversation with Rachel. John couldn’t engage himself in a fight because that would leave Rachel vulnerable so he could do nothing but keep her shielded from them the best he could and lock her securely in the carriage when they reached it. But even then, they could have over thrown him and Rachel would have been at their mercy.”

Salvador could feel the blood boiling inside of him. The thought of Rachel being exposed to a situation like that did not sit well with him. She too was a beautiful woman and guys were always advancing on her and Angel whenever they were in public. The only times the men would stay away was when they were with one of the brotherhood.

“
Did they threaten John or try to hurt Rachel?” Simon gritted out between his clenched teeth.

“
No. They were very lucky; but it just goes to show that one bodyguard to each woman is simply not enough.” Charles responded.

“
Same thing happened to Angel once. I was livid when Tyler relayed the event to me and refused to let her leave the estate without me. Believe me, it was not an easy time.” Alex piped in.

“
I remember that. Angel threatened to leave you if you didn’t let her out of her prison.” Simon recalled.

“
Yes. I gave in reluctantly but I never feel right when she goes out until she’s back at home where she’s safe.”

“
Now there are three of them.” Salvador mumbled as he tried to not envision the same thing happening to his Katherine.

Unlike Alex, he would have never given in to Angel’s threats and would have most likely built that tower as quickly as possible and locked her in it. He would not let anything happen to Katherine - ever.

“
We’ll figure something out. In the meantime, tell us how married life is treating you” Alex said with a mischievous grin.

Alex and he had had this conversation some time ago about married life. Alex was freshly married and Salvador teased him at every turn about how he had become domesticated. Now it was Alex’s turn to tease him.

“
Katherine has turned out to be everything I wanted in a wife…and more. I have to admit that I rather agree with married life and her as my bride.”

He was not ashamed to admit it. They all knew about his past because they all shared a similar one.

“
Charles filled us in on how you found her. Was she really secluded by herself for two years with not a cent to her name the whole time?” Simon asked.

“
Indeed. Kat has had a rough life. She’s strong willed and incredibly independent because of it. Unlike most women, she feels uncomfortable with being spoiled and attended to and she has no regard for her own safety. She’s naive to the evil nature of most people and incredibly innocent. Rather than add up my fortune in her head and think of ways to spend it when I introduced myself to her, she asked me to leave her in her current state and give her more time. I give her a gift and she scolds me…before thanking me for the thought. She’s perfect.”

“
Yes it sounds like it. I can definitely see her independence being your most favoured asset of hers.” Simon chuckled out.

Salvador grinned as visions of his wife tied to the bed and at his absolute mercy passed through his mind.

“
There’s that wolf again.” Charles burst out laughing as the others joined him.

“
What’s so funny?” They heard from the door as Ed and Peter approached them.

“
Salvador!” Alex bellowed out as he wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hands.

All three men stood up to greet their two other brothers. There was a lot of back slapping and shaking of hands as congratulations were poured out.

When they were all finally seated again they caught each other up on what was happening in their lives and made plans for future business and social arrangements, one of which was a ball that neither one could avoid. Lord Pennington was one of the biggest real estate holders in Oxford and to decline an invitation of his was bad for business, but none of the brothers particularly liked the man.

Lord Pennington was as crooked as any thief in Oxford. He owned many shady gambling establishments in London, whorehouses and ran a smuggling operation that he employed Captain Sebastian Lloyd who was one of the slimiest pirates in the seven seas. The brotherhood also ran a smuggling operation that mainly consisted of whiskey and fine silks from India; however Pennington’s operation dealt mainly with slavery and Opium. The brotherhood had humoured him over the years not only because Pennington owned half of Oxford but because it kept Captain Lloyd from pirating their ships.

The brotherhood hated the idea of their women being ogled by such filth during these balls and with Katherine as their newest family member, they were even more nervous. There were many great beauties in Oxford and surrounding towns, however their woman held erotic beauty and spirited personalities that always gained them as preferable. Salvador cringed at the thought of the town’s reaction to Katherine and contemplated leaving all three women behind for this one.

They discussed the pros and cons of that and in the end decided to bring them, however they would never leave their sides.

Some would say that they were taking their protective habits to the extreme, but the brotherhood didn’t care. Other gentlemen looked at their women as a challenge and knowing that they were so well protected and virtually untouchable made them an even more exciting target. They often spoke about up-rooting and moving to a smaller town with a small port. Oxford was not safe anymore – Pennington saw to that. When they were growing up, the town was relatively small and the “bad area” of town consisted of local drunks and thieves. Now it consisted of smugglers, prostitutes, whorehouses, pirates, thieves and murderers. Oxford had tripled in size since they were kids and was no longer a safe town to raise a family. When it was just the brothers they viewed the town as an opportunist settlement, however now that three of them were married and the other brothers on the lookout for their own wives, they knew the time was coming closer to leave.

Simon suggested purchasing a grand piece of land in an undeveloped area, possibly in Scotland or near to the border. They would build an estate that would house all of them with each having their own wing for living quarters and then build smaller houses on the land and bring in servants. They all liked that idea and were diligently keeping their eyes open for a plot of land that would suite their purpose. Of course the ladies had no idea that this planning was going on and would not find out until they officially walked through the threshold.

When the ladies arrived back at the study, Ed and Peter reacted the same way to Katherine as Simon had. Peter, being the rake that he was, bent low over Katherine’s wrist and kissed her knuckles, giving her a devastatingly handsome grin. To Salvador’s surprise and pleasure she merely cocked her eyebrow at him with a lopsided grin rather than blush and giggle like most females would. Angel and Rachel had the same reaction as Katherine which only confirmed to the men that they were on the right track with their choice in women. Ed had looked at her curiously and recalled meeting Katherine while negotiating land with her Father. She didn’t remember him and was thoroughly embarrassed for it. Ed simply laughed and reassured her that he wouldn’t throw her in the dungeon for it.

They ate an early dinner as was the ritual for their get-togethers so that they could retire to the game room and enjoy the remainder of the evening there. What Katherine was not aware of, was that the party would spend the night at the estate that the dinner was being hosted and would disperse usually late afternoon the following day. This occurred once a week and they rotated hosts. They truly were a close knit family and Salvador was excited at the thought of all of them living under one roof. He had packed Katherine’s clothes earlier that day and stowed it in the carriage as to not spoil the surprise. For all her worrying, she appeared to be getting along just fine with everyone. In fact, if he was an outsider looking in he would assume she had been part of their family for years. As Charles teased Angel, Katherine and Rachel rose to her defence with mock horror. Salvador leaned back in his chair and admired the scene. He was happy – content even. All they needed now were wives for Peter, Ed and Simon and a few babies to bounce around on their knees – then the picture would be perfect.

Simon was also tied to a betrothal contract, however his bride to be was a horrid spoiled girl that Simon and the rest of the family wanted nothing to do with. Simon and his brothers were desperately seeking a profitable replacement for him to offer to the bride’s greedy Father. She was becoming of age in less than a year and unless Simon found a suitable replacement, he was bound to honour the contract. This terrified all of them, especially since Simon had regretfully vowed that if he had to marry her, he would not poison the brotherhood with her presence – which meant they would no longer see him.

Ed had set his sights on a maiden three years prior and she broke his heart in the end. He had a hard time trusting his heart to any females that weren’t part of his family since then, making his search a little more difficult. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to trust a woman with his heart but knew that when the time came to it, he – like his brothers – would give his heart entirely to her. So there could be no mistakes. Peter was a bit more complicated. He was a rake by nature and never met a woman that could hold his attention for more than three months, even at that his attention wandered. He would never marry a woman just for the sake of marrying and when he did, it would be for love and she would need to poses something none of those others did - he just couldn’t figure out what that was.

“
What in the blazes would convince you that that was a good idea? You could have broken your neck!” Simon’s bellow cut through his thoughts.