His Brothers Wife by Brynn Paulin Page B

of my cousins, I shoved the vodka into his hands then grimly turned toward the house.
    I, Channing James O’Connell, might be the most responsible member of my unashamedly flashy, wealthy and crass family, but I was about to behave completely out of character.
    You’re saving her life , I told myself. Yeah, I’m a real savior. All the best heroes swoop in and steal their brothers’ wives from beneath their noses.
    “Ready to go?” I asked Bree when I found her in the hallway, vacillating between going upstairs and going out to my car.
    She jumped, turning toward my voice. “He’s okay with it?” she asked in surprise.
    “Told you he wouldn’t mind. If you can’t trust your twin, who can you trust?”
    “He does call you Moses—the moral fiber of the family.”
    I frowned, not appreciating the comparison. Well, fuck Chad. I was about to free his slave and show her the promised land. “I guess that’s because I didn’t get into as much trouble as he did while we were growing up.” I glanced out the window, seeing Chad heading up the hill from the beach. Shit! “So, let’s go, okay?”
    “Let me just grab my purse.”
    “Hurry.” I tempered the urgency with a smile. As she went upstairs, I calmly went to the back door and slid the lock before Chad could get there. He’d have to go to the side door that led into the basement—hopefully, that would give me enough time to get my kidnap plan in place.
    Adrenaline flooded me, making me edgy as I waited for Bree. Hopefully, she wouldn’t notice some of her things were missing. I’d put them in my car earlier. Even more, I wished she’d hurry.
    When I didn’t hear the door rattling, I glanced out the kitchen window, nearest the hallway and saw Chad pissing in the bushes. He zipped up and headed back to the bonfire while I breathed a sigh.
    Scooping up the vodka bottle in one hand and a can in the other, he chugged some beer then took a swig of hard alcohol. Stupid fuck. Hell, he’d be as sick as anything tonight.
    When Bree finally came back down, I gave another quick glance out the window. All clear. I took her arm and ushered her from the house and out to the curved driveway where I’d parked my red BMW convertible. From here, we couldn’t see the beach, but we could hear the boisterous yells from the occupants—amazing since the sound of the lake drowned out everything else.
    “Storm’s coming,” I told her as I glanced up at the iron-gray clouds. We really needed to get moving before the rain forced everyone into the house.
    “Great. I hate storms.”
    And Chad probably had no patience for her fear. He loved thunderstorms and thought it was great good fun to drag people out on the porch to watch the lightning with him.
    “Why?” I asked to distract her. I opened the car door, holding her elbow as I helped her inside. Hell, her skin was so soft. I wanted to yank her into my arms right then. I squashed the feeling. This was my brother’s wife. I wasn’t kidnapping her to fuck her—much as I wanted to. No, I was putting her on a bus out of town and into a new life.
    “Our house was hit by lightning when I was a child,” she told me. “It caught fire and almost burned down.”
    “Hell, I’d hate storms too if that happened to me.” I closed her door and dashed around to my side of the car. She’d barely fastened her seatbelt when I started the engine and tore from the driveway.
    “Whoa!” She pressed a hand to the dash as she laughed. “Are we late for something?”
    “Nope.”
    “Okay.” She peered at me, apparently catching my mood as her smile faded. She clenched the armrest as fat raindrops spattered the windshield and I took a corner on two wheels. We had to get the hell outta Dodge. And I’d have plenty of explaining to do when I got back.
    “Channing, is there a reason we’re going so quickly?”
    I shifted gears as we rounded another corner and turned onto the divided highway that led into town. “Yes.”
    “And that