part of the Quintain empire

part of the Quintain empire Luke gave a damn about, and

his grandfather knew it. Never mind that the old goat

would hate seeing the Napa valley vineyard turned into an

upscale subdivision nearly as much as Luke would. He'd

said he would sell it, and Luke knew he would do just that.

Unless Luke got married.

Some might say that asking Devon Kowalski to marry

him had been giving in to his grandfather's blackmail, but

Luke had seen it as another move in the chess game being

played out between the two of them. Nick Quintain wanted

his grandson married and settled, preferably with a gaggle

of great-grandchildren on the way. Luke had proposed to a

woman who was everything he knew his grandfather most

despised, a featherbrained blonde with a bubbly

personality, the depth of a mud puddle and the maternal

instincts of a tree stump. She'd been the perfect means to

keep up his end of the bargain while ensuring that he didn't

give his grandfather any of the things he most wanted.

She'd been perfect for his purposes. But she was gone, and

now, here was her not-quite-stepsister, offering herself in

her place.

"I'm seriously considering it," he said, aware that the

silence had stretched to uncomfortable lengths. "How much

did you have in mind?"

Cat stared at him wide-eyed, as if, now that he'd said he

was considering her offer, she didn't know how she felt

about it. She uncoiled from the sofa and stood up, as if she

felt better facing him on equal terms.

"I...hadn't really thought about it."

"Well, think about it now," he suggested. "I'm willing to

be generous, but I'm not stupid."

She tilted her head and considered him, a faint smile

slipping into her eyes. "No reasonable offer refused?" she

suggested softly, and Luke was surprised to hear himself

laugh.

"That's pretty much it," he agreed, nodding. He bent to

scoop his drink up off the marble topped table, then

straightened to lean against the mantel again, the snifter

cradled in one hand. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, a trust fund for Larry, I think. And one for Susan.

Separate trust funds in case they split up because, like

Naomi always said, you never know where a person's life

path is going to lead. I'm not sure just how much. I know

they're both grown-ups and should be able to take care of

themselves, but I'd like to know that they'll never have to

worry about things."

She frowned and chewed on her lower lip while she

thought about it. Luke's fingers tightened around the

snifter as he forced himself to resist the urge to offer to

chew on her lip for her.

When she finally named a figure, it was much lower than

he'd expected. She must have seen his surprise and

misinterpreted it, because her teeth immediately began to

worry her lip again.

"Is that too much, do you think?" she asked anxiously.

Luke took a moment to consider his answer. Either she was

incredibly naive or she was one hell of an actress. Devon

had driven a shrewd bargain, though he hadn't given her

any more than he thought her name on a marriage license

was worth. How likely was it that Cat had spent what?

seven, eight years living with her and could still be as ...

Well, the only word that came to mind was innocent, which

was ridiculous in this day and age, even if she hadn't been

living in the same house with Devon. Which left the

possibility that he was being treated to an Oscar-worthy

performance.

"No," he said finally. "I think we could work with that

number."