Read Online Her Three Liberators [The Hot Millionaires #6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Zara Chase - Free Book Online

you mean. The stud had to be wound up after Marius went.” Steffi sighed. “Richard had sold his prime asset and could no longer compete. Besides, his heart wasn’t in it, and he kind of drifted into playing poker for a time, blaming me for the downturn in his circumstances.”
    “So how is he putting potential clients off on this side of the pond?” Jonny asked.
    “I’ve no idea. He has no contacts here, which is why it never occurred to me that it could be him. How would he know which mares Marius was due to cover?”
    “Technology,” Harry said. “I’m betting he’s hacked into the stud’s systems somehow.”
    “He wouldn’t know how.” Steffi shook her head emphatically. “He’s not clever enough.”
    “Perhaps not, but there are plenty of people for hire who are.”
    “I never thought of that.” Steffi plucked at her lower lip. “I suppose it’s possible. I can’t think of anyone else with a grudge to bear. I kinda thought it might have been one of Daniel’s business rivals.”
    “Unlikely.”
    “I’m gonna head back and see if I can trace the hacker, if he exists,” Harry said, the light in his eye indicating that he relished the challenge.
    Jonny’s cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and had a brief conversation, obviously with Daniel.
    “I’m needed in the meeting with the lawyers,” he said to Harry. “I’ll come back with you.”
    Before Steffi could say that she’d come, too, both men had mounted up and cantered away. She was left alone with Brad, his hand still resting possessively on her shoulder.

Chapter Six
     
    “We ought to get back as well.”
    Steffi tried to stand up, but both of Brad’s hands were now on her shoulders, not exerting any pressure but preventing her from moving without making it into some kind of big deal. She didn’t try to fight him off, instead subsiding back into her place against the rock.
    “What’s the rush?”
    “Daniel might need me.”
    “Daniel’s with his lawyers and Jonny. Besides, he has plenty of people to look after him.”
    “Even so.”
    She glanced over her shoulder at him, her face clouded with uncertainty. Brad suspected that she was experiencing insecurities about her position at Porlock and needed to feel…well, needed. That was hardly surprising given Daniel’s condition and the problems with Marius, to say nothing of the arrival of the three of them. He’d been told more than once that they could be pretty intimidating when they hunted as a pack. He’d be the first to admit that they were so comfortable with one another that they could come across as overpowering. They had never felt any need to compete for Daniel’s attention because he treated them equally. He had encouraged each of them to aspire to perfection in whatever they undertook, imbuing them with the confidence to succeed.
    Brad was perfectly willing to put that facet of his makeup to good use and overpower Ms. Darwin with a campaign of coercive charm. But he needed to gain her trust first.
    “Relax, sweetheart. Your shoulders have got more knots in them than a maritime museum.”
    He sank his fingers firmly into her flesh and kneaded. She resisted him at first and he could tell she was poised for flight. Brad hadn’t believed Jonny when he ruefully admitted that he hadn’t gotten far with her the night before. He and Harry had laughed themselves silly over their sophisticated brother’s rare lapse, both convinced that they’d be more successful.
    He should have known better. Jonny was usually right about most things, and already Brad could tell that he’d been spot-on when he said she needed careful nurturing. Daniel, the wily old fox, must have picked up on her deep-seated inhibitions, too, accounting for his bizarre requirement for them to seduce her. Something or someone had screwed with her head, and she was now unwilling to place her faith in any human being, preferring the company of equines. As Jonny had so succinctly put it, it