Page 74 of Lovers' Dance

“Poppet, go put pants on before I punch my older brother for ogling you.”

She looked mortified for a second, then practically ran out of the kitchen. Matt grinned to himself. When his gaze returned to Adam, the grin disappeared.

“Don’t start, Adam.” Matt spoke first, a pre-emptive warning that he hoped his brother wouldn’t ignore.

Adam began to tidy up the mess. “Start what, Matt?”

“Don’t play coy. I know why you’re here,” he replied.

“Oh, I see.” Adam scoffed as he swept the broken mugs into a pile on the dustpan. “You know why I’m here, do you? I guess you know I’ve had to endure tiresome calls from our parents and Hannah grilling me about your latest fling—”

“It’s no one’s business but mine,” Matt said curtly.

“For God’s sake, Matt. She’s black.”

“And?” Matt asked, face darkening in anger. “It’s the bloody twenty-first century. Race doesn’t matter, or maybe it would be better if I said it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Adam glared at him.

Matt glared back. “It’s none of your business, Adam.”

“None of my—” Adam exhaled loudly, shaking his head slowly. “You’re my brother, and I’m not going to stand by and watch you make a very public mistake—”

“Why is it a mistake to love her?” Matt asked in frustration, running a hand through his hair. He froze, realizing what he said and avoided his brother’s incredulous stare.

“I’m sorry. I must have misheard you. Did you say love her?”

Matt clenched his jaw and turned away, mentally kicking himself for the slip of words. He walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a saucepan.

“Matthew,” Adam hissed. “You’re having me on. Right?”

Matt remained silent as he walked over to the stove to place the pan. He eyed the amount of chopped chillies and scooped half up in his hand with a little frown. He needed to be firmer over the level of heat she insisted on infusing into her dishes. But she was damned cute with that enticing pout of hers.

“Matt.” Adam’s virulent tone made him pause. He shot his brother a bland stare before dumping the chillies in the bin.

“Adam,” he said calmly, washing his hands under the faucet. “I’m tired and hungry. I don’t want to argue with you about something you have absolutely no control over. Madi’s going to come down soon and I don’t want you upsetting her. She’s had a hard enough day already. So, big brother, are you going to act like an adult and stay for dinner or shall I throw you out?”

“You said you love her.” Adam brought the full dustpan over to empty in the bin. “Did you mean to say ‘shag’? I can understand the mix-up, but you don’t really love her. Right? I mean, bloody hell, she’s ten years younger than you. And poor.”

Matt tried to control his rising temper at Adam’s behaviour. He surveyed his brother coolly. The family resemblance between them was strong, although Adam’s eyes were more blue than grey and his hair a dark brown, not black like Matt’s. Matt had a couple of inches more, height-wise but, other than that, they were almost the same build. Bradley men.

“What’s offending your sensibilities, Adam?” Matt asked. “The fact she’s black, the fact she’s much younger than me, or the fact she’s not in the same financial bracket as I am? Which one is it?”

Adam huffed, folding his arms as he stared at the countertop filled with the ingredients for their dinner. Matt waited silently for his response. When he didn’t speak, Matt continued in a firm voice. “Because none of that matters to me. You know nothing about her.”

“Neither do you. I’ve seen the news, Matt.”

“Now who’s being ridiculous?” Matt scoffed. “The media is doing what they do best, and that’s blow everything out of proportion. Adam, I don’t expect you to understand or like it, but I do expect you to accept it. You’re my big brother. It’s your responsibility to support me, no matter what.”

Adam scowled at him for a long moment. Matt kept his expression neutral. He could hear Madi coming back.

Adam exhaled loudly before muttering in resignation, “I’ll stay for dinner, then.”

Matt grinned at him. “Good. She’s a great cook when she’s not trying to kill you with chillies.”

“Got a great arse, too.” Adam mumbled, shrugging when he noticed Matt’s narrowed glance. “What? Don’t tell me that wasn’t one of the reasons you—”

“Shut up,” Matt growled, then adjusted his expression into a pleasant one as she re-entered the kitchen, fully clothed.

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