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Excerpt - Chapter One

Nico Jordan surveyed the front of the ranch-style house where his half brother's widow lived, and scowled into the frosty morning air. She'd left him for Kent and this pretentious piece of real estate?

Well, to be fair, Kent's personal fortune had probably bought Beth several houses besides this one, and jewels by the bucket—things Nico wouldn't have been able to afford back when he was twenty-four.

Things had changed in the last five years.

More things than he cared to remember.

But Kent was dead, Beth was now a widow, and Nico had a job to do. He rolled up the pages in his hand and knocked on the door with a clenched fist. He'd volunteered to finalize the paperwork in person regarding his dead brother's share of the family vineyards because he had to see Beth one more time. To have her in his bed one more time.

Despite his best efforts, he'd never managed to control his craving for the woman who'd betrayed him.

He lifted his fist to knock again but the door opened with a whoosh of warm air and then Beth stood there, more beautiful than he had remembered, her so-familiar Cupid's bow mouth open, her sapphire blue eyes wide.

Suddenly he was transported back five years to the last time they'd made love among the Pinot Noir vines on his family's estate in Australia. They'd both pledged undying love that day—the day before she'd left the country to marry his brother.

"Nico." She sounded breathless, as if she'd been running, but there was no flush on her cheeks. In fact, she looked pale.

Her strawberry blond hair was shorter, in a pixie cut now, which only made her heart-shaped face sweeter. His gaze swept down—she'd lost some weight, leaving her a little too thin, but that didn't stop the pull of dark desire that flooded his system.

Yet he offered her no more than a cynical smile. "Good morning, Beth. I've come to offer you the family's condolences on the loss of your husband, and to talk about some inheritance issues."

Beth's eyes darted to the side and she turned, hurriedly scanning the lavish room. He could see through to a living room beyond—also decorated in tasteful elegance. Then she stepped out onto the porch, closing the door firmly, but quietly behind her. "Thank you for the condolences. That was thoughtful of…your family."

There was no love lost between his family and Beth—his father blamed her in part for Kent moving here to New Zealand to manage these minor vineyards and cutting most family ties. That wasn't the crime Nico held her accountable for, however. "No trouble at all for the widow of our dear Kent."

She had the grace to look unsettled. Though she should feel worse than merely "unsettled" after the anguish she'd caused him.

Her eyes slid to the windowpane in the door then back to him. "Surely any paperwork can be handled by attorneys? You didn't need to come all the way from Australia."

He leaned one arm on the closed door, dipping his head several inches closer. "Oh, bella, but I did."

She flinched at the use of the endearment, the one he'd whispered so often on lazy afternoons in her parents' hammock, or in the heat of passion when she lay under him.

"If we have to talk, then not here. I'll meet you somewhere." Her voice betrayed nerves—and determination.

"Are you telling me I'm not welcome in my own brother's house?" He didn't bother to hide the irony in his tone—he knew his brother would have stabbed him in the back rather than invite him into his home. Their lifelong, bitter rivalry had reached its peak after Kent's marriage to Beth. She had been immediately whisked overseas to sever all ties with her past, but even worse, to maintain the estrangement, Kent's son had never seen his grandfather or his Uncle Nico. A situation Nico intended to rectify.

He ran his gaze over Beth again. Kent had probably been wise to be paranoid about his wife. Had Beth strayed across Nico's path after her marriage, he wouldn't have thought twice about poaching on his brother's territory. Kent hadn't bothered with those rules.

But Kent was gone.

Beth darted another look inside and raised a hand to circle her throat. "Nico, do this for me. If we have to talk, meet me another day, somewhere else."

What was she hiding? Was she continuing Kent's plan to keep his son from his family? Or did she have a lover stashed away? Perhaps both.

"Five minutes alone and you're already asking favors, bella." Nico let his hand fall from the door, considering his options. Despite his determination to harden his heart, the plea in her eyes tugged at him, made it almost impossible to refuse her anything. But he must remember she was a good actress. This was the woman who'd strung him along for eleven months and then left him as soon as she got a better offer from his richer half brother.

And yet…

Deciding to grant this one favor, Nico blew out a breath. "I'm here only for the weekend, so we'll talk today, in one hour. At my hotel room."

"In one hour?" She reached behind and grasped the door to support herself. "That will be difficult. Perhaps tomorrow?"

He'd conceded enough. He turned to go. "If you're not there in one hour, I'll be back. I'll also make a petition to the court that your son has access to his grandfather. The papers are drawn up and in the car ready to be lodged."

He and this small boy were the only family his father had left, which was tragic for a family man like Tim Jordan. Nico had always been exceptionally close to his father and he'd do whatever it took to bring some joy to the older man, especially now he was so ill.

"Nico, you don't understand—"

Her voice, fraught with panic, didn't move him. He had no time to listen to her excuses.

"One hour, Beth. I'm staying at The Imperial." He strode toward his car, not looking back.

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