Read Online Invincible by Joan Johnston - Free Book Online

to spend the weekend here, Max. Why the sudden change in plans?”
    She would have done better kissing him again, Max reflected. He didn’t have much tolerance for female indignation. Although, he supposed she had a right to be upset.
    She narrowed her eyes and said, “It’s that telegram, isn’t it? Is something going on with the duchess? I could use a scoop, Max. What do you know? Or think you know?”
    â€œThere’s nothing going on with my mother except a desire to keep all her lambs in the fold,” Max shot back.
    â€œWhat mother wouldn’t want her children with her on Mother’s Day?” Veronica pointed out.
    â€œMine.”
    Max didn’t elaborate. He wasn’t about to tell a reporter from the Times how seldom he’d seen his mother since his parents had split up. How visits with her, from the age of seven onward—when he’d been shipped off to boarding school—had been prized, because they’d been so few and far between. And how often those visits had been canceled.
    He and his brothers had spent their lives in one English or European or American boarding school after another. There had been so many because whenever one or another of them had done something to get himself thrown out, the others had refused to stay where they weren’t all welcome. As the youngest, Max had created his own share of the carnage.
    None of them had held a candle to Oliver. Oliver had a gift. He could destroy as easily with words as with a blow.
    But, of course, Oliver had a greater burden to bear than any of the rest of them.
    Max had heard the rumors about who’d really sired his eldest brother, who had dark brown eyes, rather than blue or gray, like both of their parents and the rest of his siblings. Max wasn’t sure what he believed. But he’d more than once defended both his mother’s—and his brother’s—honor.
    Max had been lonely at the end, because he was five years younger than his next older brother, Payne. Hisbrothers had all gone on to university—or not—and he’d been left behind. Sometimes he wondered how Lydia had managed. Being the only girl, and nearly two years younger than he was, she’d been all alone from the start.
    â€œYou’re not being fair, Max,” Veronica said with a petulant pout that made him realize how much he would have enjoyed having that mouth, with those full lips, taking full advantage of his body.
    â€œI’ll make it up to you,” he said.
    â€œPromise you’ll bring me back here?” she said, moving close again.
    Rather than reply in words, he took her in his arms and kissed her, giving the effort his full attention. And comparing the kiss, inevitably, with kissing K. He and K definitely had unfinished business. Whether she came to work with him or not, he hadn’t seen her for the last time. He realized the woman he held in his arms wasn’t the one he wanted to be kissing and let her go.
    â€œYou won’t forget me, Max,” Veronica said in a breathy voice when he released her.
    â€œBelieve me, Veronica, you’re unforgettable,” Max said with a teasing wink. He would never forget how difficult it had been to concentrate on this woman when he was thinking about another.
    Veronica smiled and he watched her shoulders relax.
    â€œExcuse me while I visit the powder room,” she said. She turned and he realized she had no idea where it was.
    He pointed her in the right direction. “In there.”
    He almost groaned with regret as he watched the sexy sway of her hips as she walked away. He was sure she had the sexual sophistication to please him a great deal in bed. Veronica turned to glance at him over her shoulder, her long blond hair swinging free, and smiled. The invitation remained.
    He should take advantage of it. He should cross the room and take her in his arms and finish what he had, by God, started.
    But there was no way he