Read Online Her Tender Tyrant by Elizabeth Lennox - Free Book Online Page A

show her how it is really done.
    Damn it!
    He was still hard as a rock and thoughts of going out through the fields to find the woman he was starting to think of as “his” floated through his mind.
    His cell phone rang and he cursed as he saw who was calling. “I’m being nice and considerate!” Marcus snapped, not bothering with a greeting. It was the third time one of his siblings had called to check in on him and he was still reeling from his earlier confrontation with Juliette.
    Adriana wasn’t believing him. “Tell me one nice thing you’ve done for Juliette today.”
    Marcus was stumped. While his brothers had just ordered him to be nice, not believing that he would, his sister was demanding proof? And of course he couldn’t provide any proof.
    “I helped her with breakfast the other morning,” he thought, lying through his teeth. He hadn’t helped do anything except make her coffee and steam her milk again.
    Adriana seemed delighted with that news though and Marcus breathed a sigh of relief. For half a second. “What did you make her?”
    Marcus thought about lying again. “And tell me the truth,” she ordered, reading him even through the air waves.
    Marcus couldn’t help but laugh. Adriana was a tough cookie. She had to be, growing up with four brothers. She was normally one step ahead of all of them. “I made her coffee.”
    Adriana snorted. “That’s nothing.”
    “With mom’s fancy espresso machine.”
    There was silence for a long moment. “Okay, that was really nice of you. Even I can’t figure out that stupid contraption.”
    Marcus laughed again. “Well, with your feeble, female mind…”
    “Watch it!” her sister warned ominously. “If I thought for a moment that you really thought that way, I’d come kick your butt. Thankfully, you’re a sweet guy, just trying to hide all of that sweetness under a gruff exterior that is skin deep.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I don’t think my competition would agree with you.”
    “Your competition is stupid. You’re brilliant. There’s a difference.”
    “If you say so. I think I’ll stick with my bastard reputation and leave it at that.”
    “Well, you’re never going to win Juliette if you keep on thinking that way. What nice thing are you going to do for her today? And making coffee doesn’t count.”
    Marcus rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the leather chair. “I have no idea. What would it take for you to leave me alone? Or better yet, let me hang out with your kids for a while? I’ll be extremely nice to anyone you want if you’ll let Ella and Zane come stay with me for their next school break.”
    “No way. You teach Zane bad things and give Ella horrible advice on men.”
    “I do not. Besides, she doesn’t believe a thing I say.”
    “Of course she doesn’t. She knows you’re full of it. And you’re trying to change the subject. What are you going to do that’s nice for Juliette? Something that would make Mom proud?”
    Marcus couldn’t think of a thing. Or at least, he couldn’t think of anything he could say to his sister. Or more specifically, he couldn’t tell her all the nice things he’d like to do to Juliette without her slapping him.
    He had to chuckle at some of the ideas that popped into his mind.
    “You’re being bad, aren’t you?” Adriana grumbled.
    Which only made Marcus laugh out loud. “I’m never bad.”
    He heard her say something under her breath that sounded vaguely like “Part of the problem,” but he prompted her with, “Why don’t you give me some ideas on how I can be nice to the lovely lady that Mom has become so protective of? I’ll text you as I do each one.”
    She considered that promise for a moment. “Deal,” she said finally.
    Marcus knew by the joy in her agreement that he was in deep trouble. “Now wait a minute, Adriana,” he started to say.
    “Nope,” she interrupted. “You set the terms, I accepted. A deal is a deal. I’ll text you the list of