Checkmate (Neighbor from Hell 3)

"Where are you going? I thought you were going to give me a tour?" her father asked as she walked away. She knew that she was being rude, but she couldn't help it. If she didn't get away from him now she knew that she'd do something stupid like cry and that wasn't happening. Her father might think that she was weaker than the boys, but that didn't mean that she had to go and prove him right.

* * * *

"Where's your sister?" Connor asked as he stepped into the once impressive kitchen, which was sadly nothing more than a room full of broken tile, rust and debris.

None of the James brothers looked at him, never mind paused in demolishing the room and the connecting pantries. That really didn't surprise him since the whole family seemed to hate him. Not that he could really blame them. He did seem to go out of his way to make Rory's life a living hell. He was actually surprised that none of them had tried to kill him yet.

"She's checking the attic," said the deep voice that used to give him nightmares as a kid. It was a little unnerving that the man still had the power to make him want to run and hide.

He forced himself to relax as he turned around and once again forced himself to stay where he was when blue eyes very much like Rory's, but colder, so much colder, locked on him.

"She shouldn't be up there by herself," he said, ignoring the disbelieving snorts from her brothers.

"Oh? And why's that?" Mr. James asked in a bored tone as he crossed his still impressively large arms over his chest.

"Because she could get hurt," he said with an annoyed sigh as the James boys once again snorted and chuckled. "She's also getting in the way and holding back this project," he said firmly, never taking his eyes off the man in front of him. He wasn't an idiot after all.

"Oh puhlease," Brian said, chuckling. "You're acting like she's some chick."

Connor blinked. "Because she is," he said slowly, wondering what the hell was wrong with these men. Of course her brothers laughed while Mr. James considered him with a hard glint in his eyes.

What in the hell was wrong with them? They overprotected her everywhere else in life except for this when they should be dragging the damn woman away from the tools and dangerous conditions. Hell, it was taking everything he had not to run up to the attic and drag her ass away from his job site. She had no business here.

He wasn't a sexist pig or anything, okay, maybe just a tad, but Rory had no business working here. It wasn't because she was a woman, but because it was Rory. He had several women working for him that could easily keep up with the men, but Rory.........

For some reason he just couldn't stomach the idea of her doing this. Not only because she was going to get in his way, but because he didn't want to see the damn woman hurt. Sure, he liked to torture her and make her life a living hell, but he'd never done any permanent damage and that was really all that mattered.

This was the biggest project of his career and if he could pull it off it would mean bigger and better things for Highland Construction, but that wouldn't be happening as long as Rory James was around. He didn't want her screwing with his site and he sure as hell didn't want to have to worry about the stubborn woman getting hurt. Judging by the amused smirks on her brothers' faces he was the only one that was concerned.

Hell, he was never going to get any work done while she was around.

The only choice he had was to drive her off, just her. He still needed her men and equipment if he was going to finish this project on time after all. With an inward sigh, he decided that he was going to have to go ahead and make her life a living hell.

"Sunday," Mr. James said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Sunday, what?" he asked, unable to hide his confusion even as he noted the looks of shock on the rest of the James men's faces. They'd all stopped working to stare at their father in wonder and shock.

"Dad, you can't be serious," Johnny finally said.

Mr. James never took his cold eyes away from him as he addressed his sons. "Last time I checked, I was still head of this family and if I decide that Connor needs to join us this Sunday then he's going to join us," he said firmly, giving Connor the impression that he wasn't exactly being asked to come, but commanded.

Since this actually worked in his favor, Connor didn't argue. "What's going on Sunday?"

"Every Sunday, rain or shine we go fishing as a family at six," his eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he added, "no women allowed. We take our fishing seriously. If you bring a woman you better make sure that she knows that she stays at the house with the rest of them. While we're fishing you can tell me about the plans you have for this old house."

He nodded even as he thought that over. Huh, no Rory......that could actually work for him. He'd be able to get her old man on his side and work on starting to convince the James brothers that their lives would be so much better if they came to work for him. This could really work in his favor, he thought as he looked at the men in question and had to bite back a smile. Oh yeah, the James boys were as good as his.

* * * *

"We're having Dad committed," Bryce said in way of a greeting as he climbed up the rickety steps to the enormous attic that she was even at that moment making plans for. The client wanted the roof fixed, a new attic floor, fix the stairs and update the utilities, but they were passing up a golden opportunity with this space and she was going to convince them to allow her to make three very large, luxury suites out of the space and she was going to make damn sure that Connor stayed away from the area.

It was going to be her signature touch to the hotel, the thing that drew people to this hotel and the thing that came to mind when Strawberry Manor was mentioned. It was going to be Shadow Construction that got all the glory. She had a meeting set up this Friday and she was going to convince them to stretch their budget just a little more to accommodate her dreams.

While other little girls were day dreaming about their wedding she'd been thinking about all the things that she would do to this large old mansion to make it perfect and now that it was all hers, well, half hers, to remodel she was going to make damn sure that it lived up to her dreams.

"Did you hear me? I said we're having Dad committed," Bryce said as he carefully stepped up onto the plywood she laid down for safety and glared at her.

"Yeah, I heard you," she said distractedly as she looked at the ceiling and frowned at the structure beams that were going to have to be replaced. She'd hoped that they could salvage some of them to help get the new roof on faster, but it looked like they were going to have to tear the entire roof off and start from scratch. Actually, that could work for her because-