Betrayed by Melody Anne Page A

touched his arm lightly. This was a change in the way she was playing things. She was now letting him know she was available if he wanted to ask her out on a date.
    He said nothing else as he moved to the elevator. It was best to let her know he was neither interested nor available. Maybe a few weeks ago, and a few months ago for sure, he would have flirted a bit, seen if she piqued his interest at all. But since he’d kissed McKenzie Beaumont not only once but on four separate occasions now, other women held no appeal at all for him.
    He wanted only one woman in his bed. And within the next few days, that’s exactly where he was going to have her. He hoped like hell his hormones would then simmer down to more manageable levels and he would stop acting like a damn teenager. Why did the term blue balls keep occurring to him?
    It was a short elevator ride to the eighth floor, and then Byron went around the corner to Bill’s office. He would honestly love to know what Bill did all day — maybe the old man just played solitaire on his computer. Whatever made him happy was all that mattered, and if sitting in a downtown office was what he wanted to do, then Byron would continue letting Bill think the rent hadn’t gone up in four years and that he was paying fair market value on the space. He would never know that the brothers had made a deal with the manager of the building and that they were the ones ensuring that the old fellow stayed where he wanted to be.
    When Bill looked up, Byron could have no doubt he was on the man’s naughty list — the old man was positively glowering at him. Okay, he probably deserved it for the many things he did do wrong on a daily basis. So he would take the verbal abuse and hopefully act humble enough to leave on Bill’s good side.
    He decided to wait and see what Bill would say before he spoke. He didn’t have to wait long.
    “What in the hell are you doing playing games with a fine woman like McKenzie Beaumont?” Bill asked gruffly, glaring at Byron from behind his desk.
    “It’s good to see you as well, Bill,” Byron said as he moved forward and took a seat in the chair facing Bill.
    “Don’t you patronize me, boy. I helped to raise you, in case you don’t remember,” Bill grumbled, and the words Byron had heard for his entire adult life made him smile.
    He’d never said he loved anyone out loud — that brand of silence ran in the Knight family — but without a doubt, he had love for this man — this gruff, grumpy man who was probably the only reason Byron had any humanity left in him at all.
    “I’d never think of doing such a thing, Bill,” he said. He was trying not to smile too wide, or Bill would think he was laughing at him, and that was not the case at all.
    Bill looked at him suspiciously for several moments before he spoke again. “I asked you a question, Byron. Don’t think you can smile up at me and make me forget why I called you here.”
    “What have you heard?” Byron certainly wasn’t going to spill his guts if the man didn’t know anything more than a rumor or two.
    “Your brother told me how you went after this nice young woman who is the reason he met Jewell, and that he’s worried you’re going to hurt her. I’ve met McKenzie, and I agree with Blake. She’s a beautiful young woman and she doesn’t deserve to be harassed by the likes of you,” Bill said, his glare not flickering.
    “I’m not harassing her,” Byron said. There was no one else he would actually defend himself to. Usually, if someone spoke to him this way — and it didn’t happen often — he would simply get up and walk away. He would never treat Bill with disrespect like that, though. He’d take whatever the man had to dish out.
    Besides, he was in a little shock at wondering how in the world McKenzie had managed to bedazzle someone as savvy as Bill. The woman had run a flipping bordello for damns sake. She certainly wasn’t a saint, and he wouldn’t describe her as a