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  Elise nodded, knowingly. “Well, Matt, how lucky that you were there to help Nicole. Let’s go get cleaned up.”

  Matteo looked up with pleading eyes. Nicole asked, “Elise, do you have ivory soap? I’m allergic to scented soaps.”

  Elise cocked a curious eyebrow at Nicole who merely shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “Follow me.”

  Matteo said, “Sorry about your pants, Nicole.”

  Nicole said, “It’s okay.” And it was. She looked down at the stains on her left knee and knew that her pre-dinner adventure would likely be told and retold as a new Andrade family story, and she felt a certain amount of pride in that.

  Matteo said, “Want to race later?”

  Nicole realized that he was now holding her hand rather than the other way around and her heart did a funny sort of summersault in her chest. “You’re on.”

  And together they went into the bustling house.

  Victor Andrade tapped his wife’s arm and stood the moment Nicole entered the house. Nicole froze in the foyer, hardly noticing when someone slipped Matteo’s hand out of hers and led him off to get cleaned up.

  “Nicole, you came,” Victor said in a welcoming tone she’d never heard in her own father’s voice.

  Katrine kissed one of her cheeks and hugged her like a mother who hadn’t seen her child in too long a time. Nicole stepped back and almost fell. Katrine grabbed her arm at the last moment and steadied her. “It’s good to see you, Nicole.”

  Stephan’s father walked over, and Nicole stiffened in anticipation of what might be another awkward embrace. Instead, he stopped and simply touched one of her cheeks. “It only took my son seven years to come to his senses.”

  Nicole couldn’t meet Victor’s eyes. “His anger was justified. I . . .”

  Victor’s hand dropped and his jaw clenched, his voice rising with emotion. “You did nothing wrong.”

  Nicole shrank a little without realizing it.

  Katrine said, “Victor, you’re scaring the poor girl. Nicole, don’t mind my husband’s mood. He’s upset with himself, not you. We were overjoyed to hear you and Stephan had made up.” Then she linked arms with Nicole and said, “Come on, Nicole, Elise is in the kitchen and she’s been talking about you all day. She’ll be thrilled that you came.”

  Nicole allowed herself to be led away.

  Much to Nicole’s amazement, Elise was actually cooking. The large kitchen contained several ovens and heating elements on a center island. Every area seemed to be in use. Apparently, Nicole did not hide her shock well, because Elise asked, “Do you cook, Nicole?”

  Once again, Nicole felt like an unprepared outsider. She shook her head. No one she knew cooked. They had cooks. Cooking was messy and in general considered a waste of time by those in her small circle of acquaintances.

  Elise asked, “You never cooked with your mother?”

  Katrine jumped in quickly and said, “Elise, you know . . .”

  Elise went pink, then rushed to Nicole’s side. “I forgot, Nicole. You must think I’m a horrible person. I keep saying the wrong things around you, when all I really want is for you to feel welcome.”

  There was no doubting the sincerity of the older woman. Nicole said, “I do feel welcome and please don’t worry. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t enjoy your company.”

  Katrine said, “Isn’t she everything I said she was? She’s exactly what Stephan needs.”

  This time Nicole blushed.

  As if sensing Nicole’s discomfort at continuing to be the topic of discussion, Elise answered the questions Nicole wouldn’t ask. “You’re wondering why we don’t have someone cook for us, aren’t you? We often do. If it’s just Alessandro and me, our house cook will throw something together for us. And Richard makes the Sunday feast. But tonight was special. When the family gathers, the food is part of the love, no?”

  Nicole shrugged awkwardly.

  Elise explained, “The sauce is my grandmother’s recipe. The meatballs are Alessandro’s mother’s. Katrine makes her Norwegian lefse bread and everyone eats it. When we blend our food, we blend our families and old recipes keep those people alive in our hearts. You understand?”

  There was little point in lying. “Not really, although it sounds beautiful.”

  Katrine said, “Don’t worry, Nicole. I had no idea how to cook Italian food before I met Victor. Elise taught me everything I know.”

  Nicole walked around the kitchen, looking into the various pots.

  Katrine added with a smile, “So, you either help us cook, or you do the dishes.”

  Wide-eyed, Nicole swung around, and Elise laughed out loud. “You are so bad, Katrine. We do have house staff. She’s only teasing you.”

  Squaring her shoulders, Nicole decided she was up for the challenge. She’d delivered a baby, for goodness’ sake. How hard could cooking be? She slid off her jacket and rolled up her sleeves. “Okay, where do I start?”

  Katrine and Elise exchanged a blatant look of approval. Elise said, “All that is left now is dessert. We always make a fruit crostrata in the summer—a kind of pie. Victor and Alessandro love them.” Elise pointed to a bowl of peaches and plums on a nearby counter and said, “If you peel the fruit, I’ll make the pastry for it. There should be blueberries in the refrigerator if you don’t mind rinsing them.”

  Busy following her instructions, Nicole asked, “So, is everyone gathered tonight to celebrate the newest addition to your family? Too bad Richard and Maddy aren’t here.”

  Elise walked over and patted Nicole on one shoulder. “We will celebrate Joseph’s birth this week when he comes home from the hospital and Stephan has returned. Tonight is about someone else.”

  Nicole looked from Elise to Katrine, afraid to hope, afraid to care.

  Katrine said, “Tonight is about you, Nicole. Welcome home.”

  Nicole had never felt so wonderful and so awful at the same time.

  Amid the gregarious discourse that was part of having three generations of Andrades gathered around one table, Victor’s phone rang. He held up a hand and the room quieted. “It’s Stephan.”

  He listened to his son for a moment then said, “Yes, I know, it’s all over the news that Dominic won the bid, but it’s for the best, Stephan. I’m surprised you went to China at all. Why? I’m looking at why. Nicole is here with us. It’s time for you to come home and focus on what is really important.” A red flush of anger filled the older man’s face. “What am I talking about? I’m talking about this foolishness with Nicole. You put her in an awkward position of lying to us when you asked her to keep your relationship a secret. She deserves better than that. My future grandchild deserves better than that.”

  Victor shook his head in response to something Stephan said. “And what is this about buying Corisi Ltd. without even mentioning it? It’s the right thing to do, but why the secrecy?” Victor didn’t give Stephan much time to explain before he said, “You’re right, we will talk about this more when you get home. Be sure of that. And don’t dawdle in China. You have a new nephew waiting for you. Oh, yes, and you’re lucky everything worked out with that, or even hiding in Asia wouldn’t save you from Richard. Maddy had her baby the night you left. Thank God, Nicole was with her. You should have been. You should have made sure she got home safely.”

  Stephan responded with something that calmed his father somewhat.

  Victor spoke with one hand waving in the air for emphasis. “She’s fine. Everybody is fine. Your Nicole took care of Maddy. I’m not so happy with the details, but I’m glad you finally came to your senses and asked her to marry you.”

  Nicole held her breath.

  “Now that is the first good idea you’ve had in a long time. Here she is.”

  Listening to an influential businessman being lectured by his father like he was an errant twelve-year-old was humorous, but Nicole wasn’t fooling herself into thinking Stephan was going to be anything less than furious with her. She took the phone and held it to her ear, careful to reve
al nothing in her expression.

  “Hi, honey,” she said, half gurgling with a nervous laugh.

  “What part of ‘no’ did you not hear?”

  “I miss you, too, honey, but we aren’t alone right now. Your whole family is in the room with me.”

  “Be very careful with my family, Nicole. Very careful.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. They’re all thrilled at the news.”

  “Apparently.” He was quiet so long Nicole began to worry the connection had been lost. When he did speak, the sarcasm was gone from his voice. “Did you really help Maddy?”

  “I didn’t have much choice. She decided to have your nephew in the back seat of my limo.”

  He sounded shaken. “And they are both really fine?” His concern for his cousin was moving to hear.

  “They are. Your family is planning a celebration for little Joseph early next week. Will you be back by then?” Nicole sounded more nervous than she meant to.

  “Worried that I will and everyone will find out that you’re a liar?”

  “Not really.”

  “You sound pretty confident about that.”

  “Yes. I figure you’re at least a teeny bit grateful to me now,” she said.

  “You’re right.”

  Nicole sat down with the phone. “I am? You’ll help me?”

  “It seems like the least I can do, everything considered.”

  “Oh, Stephan, thank you.” Wait, that’s too easy. “You really don’t mind everyone thinking . . . I mean, knowing that we’re engaged?” A few heads turned quizzically toward her, reminding her that she’d have to watch what she said.

  “No, I’ve decided that your idea has . . . potential benefits.”

  Sex? Nicole swallowed the question just in time. All eyes and ears were still on her. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You will,” he said in a tone that sounded more than a little suggestive.

  Nicole hung up and handed the phone back to Victor. She said, “He says he’ll be back early next week.”

  Alessandro said, “You must be so happy.”

  Nodding slowly, Nicole picked up a fork and nudged the food that had suddenly lost its appeal.

  Stephan was back in her life.

  Chapter Eight

  I couldn’t have planned this better.

  Nicole might have his family fooled, but she was not as innocent as she pretended to be. He wasn’t quite sure how Nicole and Maddy had ended up in the same limo and he was grateful Maddy hadn’t been alone, but that didn’t change what had clearly happened next. Nicole had used that event to infiltrate his family and give credibility to her claims of their engagement. She didn’t care if his family was hurt by her eventual departure. All she cared about was maintaining control of her father’s company, proof she was every bit as greedy and unscrupulous as her brother.

  Good. Otherwise, I would have felt guilty about using her.

  Their fake engagement meant they would be seeing a lot of each other over the next month or so. Oh, yes. The thought made him instantly hard. Sure, she threw insults at him and claimed to want nothing more than his help, but the heat in her eyes when she’d looked at him had given her secret away.

  She wants this as much as I do.

  Why not use this opportunity to finally get her out of his system? If he played this game right, he could soon walk away from two Corisis with the knowledge they had both gotten exactly what they deserved.

  Nicole wasn’t like other women he knew. No amount of flattery or gifts was going to get her to lower her defenses. Like overtaking a well-protected fortress, this was going to require some strategy.

  Everyone had a weakness, a secret, some motivator they often weren’t even aware they had—something that unconsciously drove their daily decisions. You could get most people to do almost anything you wanted if you could discover what it was.

  I must remember something useful.

  Nicole liked her routines. From the conservative pantsuits she wore every day to the way she couldn’t concentrate unless her stapler was in its proper place on her desk, she was a creature of habit.

  Like Dominic, she would probably act impulsively when she wasn’t in control of a situation. All he had to do was shake her up just a little and she’d fall into his bed.

  And he knew just how to do it.

  Already up and dressed in a gray pantsuit, Nicole answered the intercom at her father’s house in the Hamptons. They hadn’t had regular staff in over a year, since her father hadn’t wanted anyone to know his health was declining.

  “DA Plant’s Moving and Storage.”

  “Who?”

  “DA Plant’s Moving and Storage.”

  Nicole turned on the driveway video surveillance camera. The man speaking into the intercom sure looked like a mover. The logo on his blue uniform matched the one on the side of the truck behind him.

  “I’m sorry, you must have the wrong address.”

  “We were told you might say that, Miss Corisi. Your fiancé sent us.”

  “I’m sorry about the confusion, but he shouldn’t have called you. I’m not going anywhere.”

  The man wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “He said you might say that, too. Did you want him to cancel his appointment with your lawyer?”

  Service with a threat. How nice. “Well, I didn’t know movers were so verbose.”

  “He paid us extra for the message.” The man sounded apologetic.

  Oh, what the hell. The important thing was Stephan had agreed to help her.

  She pressed the button that opened the gates at the end of the long driveway.

  Two movers hovered at the doorway as if not wanting to dirty the white marble floor, their wide eyes taking in her father’s less-than-subtle display of his wealth. If it wasn’t ancient or one of a kind, it wasn’t worth displaying. Nicole snapped, “Come on in. What else did my fiancé say?”

  The two men entered slowly. One removed his hat as if the great hall deserved an act of respect. “He said you don’t have to take everything, just enough for now.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked, not hiding her annoyance.

  “I have no idea, ma’am. We’ll just pack whatever you’d like us to.”

  “He has no right.”

  One of the men backed up at her tone and almost knocked over a two-thousand-year-old Roman vase.

  “Watch out,” Nicole said automatically, “that was my father’s—” And she stopped.

  It was all her father’s. Everything in this house was his, because it had all been for show. He’d paid someone to decorate every room with only the rarest and most expensive items from around the world, never allowing the house to become a home. And that Roman vase? She’d never touched it, because he’d never let her.

  She picked it up and smashed it on the floor at her feet.

  Shards of ceramic flew in all directions.

  It felt good.

  She walked over to the Cycladic figurines on the mantel and smashed each one on the floor, along with a photo of her father shaking hands with the president of some foreign country—a picture that should have been of her winning one of her early dance recitals. However, those pictures had been discarded with the trash, not valuable enough to put on display.

  “Are you okay?” one of the movers asked.

  “I’m fine.” Nicole caught herself just before she reached for another priceless figurine. The two men were gaping at her emotional display.

  It’s an uncomfortable moment when you realize there is a crazy person in the room and it’s you. Nicole smoothed her hands down the side of her jacket and collected herself.

  “What would you like us to pack?” one of the men asked nervously.

  She looked around. “Nothing. There is actually nothing here I want.” And she walked out the front door.

  Jeff, her driver, lowered the partition on the way to Stephan’s penthouse. He asked, “You really took nothing?”

  “Nothing.”<
br />
  “Not even an overnight bag?”

  “I told you, there was nothing there I wanted.”

  “You might want a toothbrush eventually.” When she glared at him, he said, “Just saying.”

  His words sunk in. “I probably do want a toothbrush.” She laughed, but not because it was funny, just because her life was completely out of control and she didn’t have the faintest idea how to put it all back together. She couldn’t even make the smallest decision, like anticipating what she’d need at Stephan’s. “I don’t know what to do,” she said out loud.

  “Don’t you have millions and millions of dollars?” Jeff asked.

  Nicole shrugged. Her father had always kept her on a strict allowance. There had been rules to follow and appearances to maintain. Money had never given Nicole the freedom so many people assumed it would.

  Jeff continued, “Buy a new toothbrush. Buy a gold one. Buy whatever the hell you want.”

  He was way too personal, way out of line.

  But he had a point.

  Her father wasn’t here to stop her. She might be fighting for control of the company, but she certainly had control of her own checkbook now. She could buy a lifetime supply of toothbrushes if she wanted.

  There was just one problem.

  “Where do you buy them, Jeff?”

  “A toothbrush?” His surprise was not a compliment.

  Instantly defensive, Nicole snapped, “I’m not an idiot. I know you buy them at a pharmacy or something. I’ve just never . . .”

  “Never?”

  It was mortifying to admit the truth. “The basics were always there. Our staff bought them. I didn’t have to go shopping. Everything came to our house.”

  “That explains a lot.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Do you like what you’re wearing?”

  Nicole looked down at herself. “I never thought much about it. I’ve always dressed to . . .”

  “Blend in?”

  Nicole stiffened with anger. “I don’t need you to judge me.”

  “I’m just telling you that I understand.” Jeff didn’t seem the least bit put off by her snarl.