“Knock it off, Dillon,” Vince warned. “Does Nolan know you’re back in town?”
Dillon smiled enigmatically. “I didn’t feel it was necessary to send out a text alert about my whereabouts. Besides, I’m part owner of this company, though I know that’s not common knowledge. I figured you might appreciate my taking an interest.”
“A little late for that, don’t you think?” Vince said under his breath. “You’re out of money, aren’t you?” he guessed. When Dillon laughed, Vince grabbed his checkbook, prepared to make Dillon go away in the same way he always did when he showed up to make trouble.
“Put your checkbook away, little brother,” Dillon said, surprising Vince with his hard tone. He looked up to find all semblance of Dillon’s casual flippant arrogance gone. Dillon leaned forward. “You can’t make me go away any more. Let’s just say, I’m ready to take an interest in my inheritance.”
Vince didn’t believe him for a second. There was something else driving Dillon and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with wanting to become a responsible member of society. Vince sneered with open derision. “Yeah? Since when?”
“Since now.”
“Convenient.”
“Isn’t it though? I was thinking the same thing. Actually, I was thinking, how fortuitous. Particularly when Granddad is on his last leg and somehow, you and Nolan managed to convince him to cut me out in the last will.”
Vince swore under his breath. “You’ve never had an interest in Buchanan Enterprises. We were just securing what we’d already built.”
“Bullshit. But no worries, little brother. I’ve found a way to rectify your misstep.” At that, Dillon rose and started for the door. “Oh, and before you ask…I know about the people you paid off to get the will changed. Sloppy work, I must say. I expected a finer layer of manipulation.”
“What are you going to do?” Vince demanded, standing as well.
Dillon stopped and turned, pinning Vince with the hottest of glares before his glacial smile left no room for misunderstanding. “Well, for starters…I’m going to fuck your delectable, sweet secretary. After that, maybe I’ll let her suck my cock clean.”
“Stay away from Penny,” Vince growled, his fists clenching. “If you so much as touch a hair on her head…”
“You’ll what?” Dillon taunted, daring Vince to throw down the gauntlet. When Vince simply glared in impotent anger, Dillon chuckled, “That’s what I thought” and let himself out.
***
Penny was a bundle of nerves as she watched the clock. Time passed at a snail’s pace as she awaited their arrival. Vince and Nolan had both seemed on edge when they’d tersely told her to go home and lock the penthouse door.
“And don’t open that damn door for anyone but me or Nolan,” Vince had added with a dark scowl.
Penny had nodded in understanding but in truth, she didn’t know what the hell was going on. Who was Dillon? Where did this brother come from? By chance she’d found an Internet article about the Buchanans and had found a reference to Dillon but the article had primarily focused on Nolan and Vince. She didn’t know who to ask without making things worse. She’d never seen Vince so shaken. What kind of man was their brother that he had both Vince and Nolan so rattled? Was he a bad man? Was he dangerous? She had to admit there was certainly something alluring about the man. He was the bad boy personified, the kind of man who rode a Harley and left a trail of women in his wake. She shuddered and shamefully squeezed her thighs together, berating herself for the tiny little kick in her heartrate at the thought of being at his mercy. She adored Vince and Nolan; she certainly didn’t need another Buchanan brother in her life, particularly one that was so…difficult.
The door burst open and Vince and Nolan strode in, their voices hard and raised.
“Why now? Someone had to have tipped him off about Granddad,” Nolan said, stopping briefly to pull Penny into his arms and kiss her soundly, almost hungrily. He released Penny and she was immediately taken into Vince’s tight embrace for a deep, almost desperate kiss. Penny’s knees weakened and Vince squeezed her bottom. He released her and they both walked away, picking up their conversation seamlessly. “Damn it. We were so close. Now, he’s never going to let it go. He’s going to want to become full share partner again.”
“Dillon’s going to ruin everything we’ve built,” Vince said, raking his hand through his hair. “There has to be something we can offer him that will appease his sense of justice. You and I both know he doesn’t care two shits about Buchanan Enterprises. We need to find out what his end game is and beat him to it.”
“Guys…what’s going on?” Penny asked, hearing too late the tremor in her voice and noticing the shake in her fingers. Her new little world was going topsy-turvy just when she was getting accustomed to the rhythm. She tucked her hands behind her back and followed the men into the kitchen where Vince was pouring glasses of red wine. “I’m a little freaked out right now. Is your brother a bad man?”
Nolan cast Vince a short look before accepting his glass. “He’s not bad as in, he’s a criminal or anything like that…”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Vince muttered before lifting his wine glass to inhale the sharp aroma of the vintage. “He’s a cold, selfish son-of-a-bitch who’s only ever cared about himself. He’s been a blight on this family since the day he turned eighteen and came into the majority of his inheritance. He’s been off doing whatever he does while we’ve been building Buchanan Enterprises to the level it is now.”
“So why is he coming around?”
“Because our Granddad recently cut him out of the will,” Nolan admitted, shooting Vince a dark look. “I knew he was going to find out. We should’ve went about this a different way.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Dillon only ever wants what he can’t have.”
Penny sipped her wine to calm her nerves. She’d never seen Vince or Nolan so agitated, not even when brokering multi-billion dollar deals for the corporation. In fact, they seemed to thrive on difficult situations in business, so it was disconcerting to see them act this way when their older brother showed up on the scene. “Maybe he’s changed?” she ventured but she was shot down with a derisive look.