The Devious Husband (The Windsors, #6)

by Catharina Maura

“Let me guess,” Raven, my best friend and sister-in-law, says. “Xavier Kingston did something entirely unforgivable… for the second time this week?”

He seems to think that us treating each other civilly for a while means he can suddenly get away with murder.

“I was going to say that it’s almost like he misses you. You haven’t been attending any public events that you knew he’d be at, and for the last six months, you’ve been pulling out of every project he’s claimed an interest in. There was a time when you’d never go a week without seeing each other, even if it was only in boardrooms.”

“Who would be dumb enough to make a deal with the devil?”

“You know? For someone who claims to hate Xavier Kingston, you’re awfully concerned with how he’s spending his money and who he spends his time with. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re jealous.

“I’m simply surprised he’s got time for corporate espionage,”

I’m not silly enough to leave fingerprints, after all.

I’ve done some wild things throughout the years in my many attempts to sabotage Xavier, and I know from experience that my brothers will happily leave me in jail for the night if I get arrested for breaking and entering, even if it’s just to teach me a lesson.

What money can’t buy

Xavier has more than enough money, and the cost of replacing his tires won’t even register for him, but it’ll positively impact the countless car repair centers he’ll have to employ to fix all the damage I’m about to do.

Mrs. Kingston Protocol

“My sweet kitten got her claws into all my other cars, so I had no choice but to buy a car I thought she might leave untouched.”

“I’m not sure cute is the right word to describe my kitten,” he says, laughing with far too much glee for a man who found all of his favorite toys damaged this morning. “Fierce, perhaps. Beautiful, for sure.”

“Kitten,” I repeat in my quiet office. He thinks I’m small and inconsequential, an unruly pet

Each and every single one of my brothers are complete suckers for their wives, and sadly for them, my sisters-in-law all love me dearly.

“Such a pleasure to see you again.” “I’d say the feeling is mutual, but we both know I’d be lying,”

won’t even mind if you blatantly and purposely step on my feet — after all, I’ve greatly missed the way you keep me on my toes.

I suppose it makes sense for the devil to come in an enticing package.

“Care to dance with the devil?”

“Coercion and choice are vastly different concepts,

“I won’t return what I took until I get what I want, Sierra. Not a day sooner.”

I didn’t raise a bully — but that’s exactly what you seem to be.

“If things go the way I hope they will, I intend to make Sierra my wife.”

Each time we dance together, he makes me forget why I hate him, and then he opens his damn mouth.

judging by the font and the size of the text, I strongly suspect he cut this out of a novel. “What a barbaric, inhumane thing to do,”

Dear Kitten, please know that I wish it were my hands on your skin each time you wear these necklaces.

“He’s crazy,” I mutter to myself. “I’ve driven him completely crazy.”

How does he know which buttons to push to infuriate me, and why does he keep coming after me when I tried and succeeded in being the better person for so long?

“You really do seem to think you have nine lives, don’t you?”

“You haven’t learned your lesson from the last time you got arrested for breaking into my office, have you? Do you need a reminder, sweetheart?”

I smile, realizing that I’m just as completely and utterly fucked

“Just because I’m handcuffed doesn’t mean I can’t forcibly make you talk, Xavier.”

“W-what are you doing?” “What do you think? You presented me with a snack, so I’m taking a bite.”

“You… you’re completely unhinged!” “You say that like it’s new information, when you were the one who drove me crazy.”

“You’re the only one I’ll ever buy jewelry for, Sierra. Only you.”

Dimples are meant for adorable and kind human beings, not this piece of shit.

“You wouldn’t be here if you did.” “Debatable. I’m quite prone to ill-thought-out decisions, hence my current outfit and the handcuffs.”

“I don’t think of you at all,” I tell him, refusing to acknowledge that things had gotten so dire that he managed to steal my attention away from a brand-new romance novel I’d been waiting months for.

he managed to steal my attention away from a brand-new romance novel I’d been waiting months for.

I want that. I want the kind of intimacy they have, where one person always knows what the other is thinking, without any words being exchanged at all. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted my own happily ever after

“I think you should let me take you out for dinner so I can ply you with good food and drinks as I make my case.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m capable of thinking straight when she’s near,”

“Sierra,” I warn. “There isn’t much that I won’t let slide when it comes to you, but there are lines you shouldn’t cross. Eat with him if you’d like, but you’re leaving with me after. I’ll drive you home myself.”

I’m done acknowledging his presence, but I’m done avoiding him too.

It makes me feel so incredibly powerful to throw him off like that, and just like that, I’m reminded why I’ve always loved messing with him.

“My mother chose it for me, and she loves coming over to read on it. Pretty sure she doesn’t even come here for me — just the comfy sofa. Mom’s a clean freak, so she’d be upset if it got ruined.”

Hell, she might just be surprised I have a mother and didn’t just spawn from the depths of hell.

The Mrs. Kingston protocol allows her to do whatever she wants without setting off any of my alarms, and it always makes Elijah’s day when she breaks in.

What the fuck is going on here? My sofa is big enough to seat five people, so why the fuck would she choose to sit right next to him?

“You don’t know me as well as you think you do, Sierra.”