Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) by Dawn Ibanez Page B

a
trying to make a living as a governess. He found a lovely family in Paris for
her to work for and set up a meeting. She found a nice husband who was a low
level Mage and had two lovely children. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
    Madison ticked off another finger. “And then there was Amy,”
Madison continued. “She was there when Antonio was attacked and while you
changed him, you paid for all of her medical bills from that night. You also
made Crispin give her a job. When you started to become infatuated with her, we
went to Japan for the summer and when we came back, she was transferred to
Austria.” Madison saw the way Victor frowned and turned his gaze away from her.
He never realized that she kept such a close eye on what he did, and he was
torn between being angry and being impressed. “So what are you going to do now? Leave and then send Rebecca to study under Gordon Ramsey or
something?”
    Victor stayed silent knowing that both Crispin and Dylan
were probably listening to their entire conversation. After a moment, he looked
at the woman that was his daughter in every way but blood. “You are an annoying
little know-it-all,” he hissed. When she laughed, he shook his head. “I do not
know what I would do with Rebecca,” he admitted. “She does want to go to
culinary school. I was thinking about keeping her here in the States and have
her study under the Ace of Cakes.”
    Madison laughed as she hugged Victor. The Vampire’s
sweet-tooth always seemed to show through, “You’ll do no such thing. She can
stay right where she is.”
    Troy walked over to where Victor and Madison stood and
stared into Victor’s eyes. “Thank you, for taking care of the boys for so
long.” When Victor nodded, he held his hand out for Madison. “I don’t know if
she told you, we’re going to… try to have a relationship.”
    Victor’s eyebrow arched. As far as Troy was concerned, all
they were missing were the rings. Considering the younger man was a mated Wolf,
he was correct. He was just putting up appearances for Madison’s sake. Something for which Victor could grow to like him. “Well,”
he said regally, “knowing Madison the way I do, you may need me to stick
around.”
    Madison’s eyes narrowed. “And why is that Father?” she asked
with a tight smile.
    The former ruler was going to enjoy this. “My dear, Troy
will do something sickeningly romantic and you are going to run. I will have to
be here to help him catch you.” He smiled as her hackles started to rise.
“Besides, if you think to tease me about Rebecca, then think of this as
turnabout.”
    Madison couldn’t contain her laughter as she hid her face in
Troy’s shoulder. “Bloodsucking Bastard,” she mumbled.
    Victor only waved his hand as he walked down the hall. “I
love you too, my dear.”
    Troy looked at Madison and shook his head. “That has to be
one of the strangest conversations I’ve ever listened in on.”
    She smiled as she looked up into his face. “This one was
pretty tame,” she admitted. “Sometimes they can be worse.” She reached up on
her toes and kissed him. As she pulled away, a thought occurred to her. “Tell
me about your family,” she said quickly then rethought her request. “Your mother and stepfather.”
    Troy smiled as she started to lead him to the deck. “They
both still live in Alexandria,” he started. “Mom’s a DA and Dad’s an OB/GYN.”
He paused when Madison froze up. “Are you okay?”
    Madison stood with her mouth open for a few moments then
swore. “I hate your father.”
    Troy frowned as he followed her. “What are you talking
about?” he asked as she picked up and started to dial. “Who are you calling?”
    Madison smiled evilly and winked at Troy. “You manipulative
son of a bitch,” she said when Dennis answered the phone.
    Troy hid a smile. That seemed to be her favorite slur to
Wolves… but really, it wasn’t one. His smile then faded when he started to
listen to what she