“Our one-night stand…”

“Has it lingered in your mind? It has mine.”

“In a way,” Cari said, twisting her necklace charm. Dec noticed it had two initials. DJ.

No, it couldn’t be. She wouldn’t have waited so long to tell him.

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“There’s no way to say this nicely. I had a baby nine months ago. A boy.” She couldn’t seem to stop talking now. “I should have called you but at first I didn’t believe I was pregnant and then your company was planning a hostile takeover of mine and…”

He heard nothing. “I have a son?”

Dec had to figure out what to do with this information. A child. His child.

His heart skipped a beat and his stomach clenched. This changed everything.

About the Author

KATHERINE GARBERA is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty books who has always believed in happy endings. She lives in England with her husband, children and their pampered pet, Godiva. Visit Katherine on the web at www.katherinegarbera.com, or catch up with her on Facebook and Twitter.

His Instant Heir
Katherine Garbera

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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This book is dedicated to Rob Elser, who makes me remember that it’s not that hard to live happily-ever-after if you have someone next to you who wants to be there.

Acknowledgments

It’s impossible for me to write a book about gaming and not thank my incredibly wonderful husband, Rob.

He is responsible for me having a gamer account on Xbox 360 (RomWriter) and for my new skills as a first-person shooter—I’m a pretty good shot, BTW.

I’d also like to thank the very talented Nancy Robards Thompson, who introduced me to Save the Cat! and helped me jump-start my plotting when I was stuck.

Lastly, thanks to Charles for his insight and notes on the early stages—they were invaluable as always.

One

Cari Chandler paused in the doorway of the conference room. On the far wall was a portrait of her grandfather looking very young and very determined. Since he’d never been a “happy” man, she hardly noticed that he wasn’t smiling. He certainly wouldn’t be convivial at this moment when the grandson of his most-hated enemy was in his stronghold.

Since the late ‘70s the Chandlers and the Montroses had been feuding and trying to cut each other out of the video-game market. Her grandfather had won that long-ago skirmish by making a deal with a Japanese company, cutting Thomas Montrose out, but none of that mattered today as the Montrose heirs and their Playtone Games had just delivered the feud-ending blow with their hostile takeover of Infinity Games. And leaving Cari and her sisters, Emma and Jessi, to pick up the wreckage and try to forge some sort of deal that would save their jobs and their legacy.

But Cari as COO was the one who’d been chosen to deal with Declan Montrose. It made sense, since operations were her area, but the secret she’d been harboring for too long suddenly felt like it had a choke hold on her, and she wished she’d confided in her sisters so that maybe she wouldn’t have to deal with Dec today.

The conference table was long and made of dark wood, and the chairs positioned around it were leather. She focused on the details of the room instead of the man she saw standing by the window. He hadn’t changed much in the eighteen months since she’d last seen him.

From the back she could see his reddish-brown hair was a little longer than it had been before, but was still thick and curly where it hit his collar. His shoulders were still as broad, tapering to a narrow waist and that whipcord-lean frame that she’d remembered pressed against her as he’d held her. A shiver of sensual awareness coursed through her.

Don’t. Don’t think of any of that, she warned herself. Focus on the takeover. One problem at a time.

“Dec.” She called his name. Her voice sounded strong, which pleased her since inside she was quaking. “I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

“I’m sure it’s a pleasant surprise,” he said with a sardonic grin as he left the window and walked over to stand not more than six inches from her.

The familiar smell of his spicy, outdoorsy aftershave surrounded her, and she closed her eyes as she remembered how strongly the scent had lingered on his skin right at the base of his neck. Then she forced herself to get it together, crossing her arms over her chest and remembering he was here for business. The knock at the door provided her with the distraction she needed.

“Come in,” she called.

Ally, her assistant, entered with two Infinity Games logo mugs, handing one to Dec and giving the other to Cari. Cari walked around to the head of the table, already feeling more in control now that Dec was on the other side of it from her. She was aware of Ally asking if Dec needed anything in his coffee and him answering he took it black, and then Ally was gone.

“Please sit down,” she invited, gesturing to the chair across from hers.

“I don’t remember you being so formal,” he said as he pulled out a chair and took his seat.

She ignored that remark. Really, what could she say? From the moment she’d first seen him she’d been attracted to him. Even after she’d learned he was a Montrose and technically her family’s enemy, she’d still wanted him.

“I assume you’re here to talk about moving assets around in my company,” she said.

He nodded. “I’ll be spending the next six weeks doing an assessment of the assets in the company and on this campus here. I understand you have three different gaming divisions?”

Wow. She should have been prepared for it, but he’d just completely shut off his emotions and switched to business. She wanted to be able to do the same, but she’d never been that good at hiding what she felt. Cyborg, she’d heard him called. He lived up to that moniker today.

He looked over at her and she realized she was just staring at him. This wasn’t going to work. She’d call Emma, her oldest sister and the chief executive officer of Infinity, as soon as he left and tell her that she or Jessi would have to work with Dec. Though to be fair, as chief marketing officer, Jessi wasn’t really the one who should be handling Dec.

“Cari?”

“Sorry. Yes, they all report to me—online, console and mobile.”

“I will need to set up meetings with everyone in the company. The way this will work is that each person will be assessed and rated, and then I will give a presentation to our combined board of directors with my recommendations.”

“No problem. Emma mentioned you wanted to talk to the staff. Do you think you’ll just be here one or two days a week?” she asked, mentally crossing her fingers.

“No. I want to set up an office so I can be here in the thick of things,” he said, leaning forward. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Not at all,” she said with the only smile she could muster. She’d rather not see him ever again, but that wasn’t going to happen and she was mature so she could deal with it. She knew her smile must have looked forced when he laughed.

“You were never good at hiding your feelings,” he said.

She shook her head. Though his statement was true, it wasn’t something that he could know from personal experience. They’d had a one-night stand, not a relationship. “Don’t say it like that. You don’t know me at all. We only had one date and one night together.”

“I think I got a fairly good impression of you,” he said.

“Really?” she asked. She told herself to let it go and just concentrate on the business end of things, but that was going to be impossible. “Then why’d you leave me alone in that hotel room?”

He leaned back in his chair and took a long swallow of his coffee before standing up to pace around the room to her side of the table. He leaned back against the table and stared down at her, and she was tempted to stand up so he wasn’t towering over her. But she didn’t want him to think he intimated her.

“I’m not really a man for attachments,” he said at last. “And though you think I don’t know you, Cari Chandler, I’d have to be a blind fool not to see that you care too much.”

She wanted to deny it, but the truth was she was the bleeding heart of the Chandler family. She volunteered, donated time and money to charities and causes and she’d fallen for more than one sob story at work. Emma had been furious at first, until she realized it made their employees loyal because they felt that the executive management cared.

“I wasn’t going to cling to you and profess undying love, Dec,” she said. She barely knew him after one sex-filled night. She might have been interested in seeing him again and getting to know him better, but she’d learned all she needed to know when he’d left her. “It was only one night.”

“It was a fabulous night, Cari,” he said, putting his hand on the back of her chair and spinning her around to face him. “Maybe I should remind you of how good we are together.”

She pushed the chair back, standing up. It was time for her to take control of this meeting. “Not necessary. While I remember the details of the night, it’s really the morning after that stuck with me.”

“That’s why I left,” he said in that wry way of his. “I’m not good at dealing with the aftermath.”

“Aftermath?” she asked.

“You know, the emotional stuff women usually bring up,” he said. “The clingy things.”

She shook her head. It was clear that a one-night stand was all that Dec intended for her to be. With her secret looming in her mind, she knew she had to say something about their night together, but for now she wasn’t going to. She would focus on the business and try to figure out a way to save her family’s legacy from being dismantled and destroyed.

Though she had to admit hearing Dec talk made her sad because she wanted better for herself. She had wanted to hear him say he wished he hadn’t left and that he’d thought of her every day…Probably what he would term emotionally clingy stuff.

“Disappointed?” he asked.

“I guess I know why an eligible billionaire like you is still single,” she said, trying not to be disenchanted that he was exactly like she’d thought he was. She’d hoped she’d just caught him on a bad day.

“Maybe the right girl just hasn’t tried hard enough to change me,” he said with a cocky half grin.

“Oh, you don’t seem like the sort of man who can be changed,” she said.

“Touché. I’m happy with my life. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to appreciate a woman like you when our paths cross.”

She wanted to stay angry with him, but he was honest and she couldn’t fault him there. Even though she’d hoped for longer with Dec, she’d known from the moment they’d gone to dinner that all he wanted was an affair.

“I think I’d have more luck changing the direction of the Santa Ana winds,” she said.

“Have dinner with me and we can find out,” he said.

“Would you be willing to discuss Playtone Games being a silent partner in Infinity?”

He laughed. “Not happening.”

“Then neither is dinner.” No matter how much he cajoled she needed distance and a chance to really think before she just jumped back into something foolish with him.

“We have to work together, so I don’t think us spending time together outside the office would be wise,” she said at last. She used to be more impulsive, but wasn’t anymore. Her one-night stand with this man had reminded her there were consequences for acting without thinking.

“The Cari I know doesn’t make decisions with only her head.”

“I’ve changed,” she said bluntly. Maybe if she hadn’t fallen for his smooth-talking ways and blunt sexuality…What?

“I like it,” he said slickly.

Cari knew she had to face facts that the man she’d had a one-night stand with was back in town. And it was becoming abundantly clear that a corporate takeover was the least of her problems. She was going to have to tell him about her son…his son.

Their son.

And she had no idea how to do that.

Cari had changed. That was easy to see even for a guy who’d spent only one night in her company. Dec knew things between them had always seemed complicated. Never more so than now. Their families were hated enemies of each other and his cousin, Keller Montrose, the CEO of Playtone Games, wasn’t going to be happy unless Infinity was completely broken apart so that nothing of Gregory Chandler’s legacy remained.

And this pretty blonde woman standing before him was going to be nothing more than collateral damage.

Dec had never been able to see her as his hated enemy. From the first moment he’d laid eyes on her he’d wanted to know more about her—and not so he could figure out how to use that information to take over her company.

Being adopted, Dec never truly felt like a real Montrose and was always striving to prove he was as loyal as both Kell and their other cousin, Allan McKinney.

Being back in California, conveniently with Cari, seemed his chance to do his job and continue to prove his worth to the Montrose family, as well as hopefully reconnect with the woman he hadn’t been able to forget. With her thick blond hair that fell in smooth waves past her shoulders and her pretty cornflower-blue eyes, she’d haunted him. He couldn’t forget the way she’d looked up at him as he’d held her in his arms.

Now that he had the chance to get a proper look at her, he could see the year and a half they’d been apart had added a quiet confidence to her. He started at her tiny feet in those pretty brown two-inch heels and moved upward. Her ankles were still trim, but her calves seemed more muscular. The hem of her skirt kept him from seeing any more of her legs but her hips seemed fuller…more pronounced. Her waist was still impossibly small, he noted, as the button on her jacket flaunted. Her breasts—whoa, they were a lot larger. She’d been slim and small but she was much—

“Eyes up here, buddy,” she said, pointing to her baby blues.

He shrugged and then smiled at her. “I can see that you have changed a lot in the past year. Your figure is much fuller than before, but I like that.”

He walked toward her with a long, languid stride and she backed up until there was nowhere for her to go. She put her hand up to stop him, keeping him an arm’s length away. He stood there, staring down into her eyes, and had to admit there was something different about her. It was in her eyes. She watched him more closely than she had before.

She looked tired and he thought, well, duh, Playtone had finally gotten the upper hand on Infinity Games and she was more than likely worried about her job.

He backed away from her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to come on too strong. I’m sure losing your company to us was a shock.”

“That’s a bit of an understatement.”

He smiled at the way she said it. “I’m a little jet-lagged still.”

“Jet-lagged? I wasn’t aware that there was a time zone between the Infinity Games campus and the Playtone offices,” she said.

She gave up nothing. And he wondered how he could have missed this side to Cari eighteen months ago. But then he’d been in full-on lust and it was safe to say his brain hadn’t been controlling him.

“I’ve been in Australia for a little over a year managing our takeover of Kanga Games.”

“You let them keep their corporate identity,” she said.

“They didn’t screw our grandfather over.”

“My sisters and I didn’t either. We’ve always dealt with you and your cousins fairly.”

“I’m afraid that doesn’t matter when it comes to revenge,” he said.

“Surely profit matters.”

“It does.”

She nodded and moved back to her chair. He sat down and so did she. She steepled her fingers together and he noticed she wore a ring on her right hand now that she hadn’t before. It was a platinum band of hearts with a row of diamonds in the center. It seemed the kind of ring a lover would have given her. Was she involved with someone now?

Maybe that was where her new confidence stemmed from. She had a lover now. Well, he could be happy for her. Even though he regretted that he might not ever get to kiss her again.

“When did you get back from Australia?” she asked as she toyed with the ring. Those little gestures seemed to indicate her nervousness, though the rest of her body language didn’t support that.

“Saturday, but I’m still adjusting. And seeing you again surprised me,” he admitted, reaching for his briefcase, which he’d stowed next to his chair, and putting it on the table. He had his computer and the files he’d already started studying on the takeover.

“How did it surprise you? I knew you’d be here this morning,” she said. “Didn’t you know it would be me?”

“Yes, Emma informed me via email,” he said. He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d never expected to react so strongly to her presence. Not now. He’d thought since they’d slept together all the chemistry would be gone…but he’d been wrong.

The mystery of her body had been revealed to him. There wasn’t an inch of it he didn’t remember, though he realized now, with the flesh-and-blood woman standing before him, that those memories were a pale imitation of the real thing.

He wanted a chance to explore all of her curves and, more than that, he thought, to finally unlock the secrets she kept hidden deep inside. If he were busy dissecting her, maybe he would stop trying to get introspective in his own life.

In fact, the more he thought about it the more that Cari seemed the perfect distraction for whatever malaise had been affecting him lately.

He needed a distraction, and voilà, the universe had provided the one woman he’d hadn’t been able to forget. He thought of his time frame for the takeover—six weeks. Surely that was long enough to satisfy his curiosity about her. Though being in the middle of a hostile takeover wasn’t going to make seduction easy. In fact, if he were smart he’d forget about her personally and concentrate on business. But this was Cari, the woman whose image had haunted him throughout the past eighteen months, and now he wanted a chance to find out why. Was it just that he’d only had one night with her? Was there more between them?

“Then what’s the problem?” she said with a half smile. She leaned boldly forward.

“There isn’t a problem.”

She stood up and put her hands on her hips. The movement pulled her suit jacket tight across her full breasts. She was a little bit flirty, which he liked. But also he sensed that it was a little forced this time.

“Are you sure? Doesn’t it bother you that our families have been feuding forever?”

He’d like to say yes, but he suspected the problem was with him. He’d been traveling almost nonstop since he’d last seen her and he was a bit lonely for home. Not the Baglietto Bolaro yacht he kept at the yacht club in Marina del Rey that he’d christened Big Spender. Certainly not the Beverly Hills mansion that he’d inherited from his parents. He’d never had a place that he’d felt was home.

It had just started three months ago, that longing for something permanent. And he knew he had to get over it. It was out of character for him. Being adopted by the Montrose family was great, but being used as a pawn in his parents’ messy divorce had taught him that he was meant to be alone. Then, at twenty-five, he’d lost his father in a freak skiing accident, and two years later his mother’s liver had finally given out from all the drinks she’d used to medicate her life.

He shook himself out of his reverie to answer Cari’s question. Was he bothered by the feud? Truthfully, it was something he’d grown up with, part of his family, and he knew it couldn’t be ignored. Instead, he told Cari, “It should.” Though he was going to be unbiased in his reviews, he knew Kell intended to fire all three of the Chandler women in revenge for what had been done to their grandfather all those years ago.

Starting an affair with Cari now had stupid written all over it. And he wasn’t a stupid man. He’d have to work hard to keep reminding himself of that, because the way she was now smiling at him made him almost believe that an affair would work.

“I want a chance to convince you that Infinity should be kept in its entirety,” she said.

He saw her sincerity. He groaned deep inside because that one statement gave him the excuse he needed to ask her out again. He could even tell himself it was purely business reasons why he wanted to go out with her, and maybe he’d be able to convince himself that it had nothing to do with wanting to kiss her again.

“Have dinner with me tonight,” he said. If she were involved with another man, she’d say no. “You can tell me about how you’ve changed and I’ll tell you all the reasons why I like it.”

She blanched, bit her full lower lip and then looked away. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The next few weeks are going to be very complicated.”

Not exactly a no, he thought. He wasn’t sure what that meant for the competition or for him. “They are, but I see no reason why we should deny that we are friendly. I’m not saying we’ll go straight back to my place after dinner—”

“We won’t. I’m a lot more cautious now,” she said.

“See, that’s something I want to know more about. And we’re both going to be too busy at work. Besides, this isn’t the place for anything personal.” He wanted to know more about her. He didn’t feel like he’d had enough time with her eighteen months ago. Now he had the time while he was assessing her company.

“I agree,” she said with a cheeky smile that made him want to go over and kiss her.

“Great. What time shall I pick you up?”

“I was agreeing to your statement,” she said.

But he noticed she didn’t say no to dinner. Finally she sighed, pushed her chair back to the table and stared over at him, searching for something, he couldn’t really say what. But then she seemed to reach a decision and nodded. “Tell me where and I’ll meet you at seven. Meanwhile, I’ll have Ally get an office set up for you, but until one can be made available, you can work out of this conference room.”

He let her be in control for the moment and watched her walk swiftly to the door, her hips swaying with each step. He followed a few steps behind. She’d clearly dismissed him, and for Dec, that wasn’t acceptable.

No matter what she wanted to believe, he was in charge of this entire operation—the business one and the personal one. And she’d just dismissed him like a servant—something that wasn’t acceptable to him at the best of times, much less when he was still jet-lagged.

She turned and gasped as she realized how close he was to her. Then she licked her lips and he saw her gather her composure around herself like a shield.

God, he’d never forgotten the taste of her or how her mouth felt under his, and in this moment he wanted nothing more than to taste her again. He’d never had a problem going after anything he wanted, and until she’d waltzed into the conference room looking calm, cool and confident, he hadn’t realized exactly how much he wanted her.

“Was there anything else?” she asked.

“Just this,” he said, lowering his head and taking the kiss he’d wanted since she’d walked into the conference room and made him regret leaving her all those months ago.

Two

Cari hadn’t planned on Dec. Not at all. Not the way his lips moved over hers or the way he tasted so familiar to her. She’d missed this, she thought. Then chided herself. She hadn’t missed anything. Dec had been nothing but a one-night stand. It didn’t matter that she’d wanted him to be more. He’d only been interested in her because of this.

Sex.

She only wished she could be dispassionate in his arms, but she’d been alone, her feminine instincts directed toward mothering instead of being a woman. Dec was awakening something in her that she thought she’d lost. A wave of desire shot through her. Her blood felt like it was heavier in her veins and every nerve ending came awake.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, knowing this was the only embrace she could allow between them, so she was determined to enjoy every second of it. She tipped her head to the side, angling her mouth under his, and sucked his tongue. He groaned, and for the first time since she’d learned he was back in her life, she felt a measure of control.

But control was fleeting. When he put his hands on her hips and drew her in so that she felt his erection against her lower body, she felt her breasts respond.

Shocked and afraid he might notice, she lifted her head and looked up at him. His eyes were closed and there was a flush of desire on his skin.

He was a hard man, but his lips were always so soft on hers. She lifted her hand and rubbed her thumb over his lower lip. She paused a moment, hoping for something that would resolve the conflict inside her. But then his hands tightened on her hips and she knew this was only bringing more complications to the table.

She dropped her arms and pulled her blazer around her to ensure that he couldn’t see the wetness that would be a sure giveaway that she had a baby.

She sighed. She wasn’t ready for Dec to come back into her life. She’d just settled into her routine with her job and her son, and now Playtone Games and Dec were throwing her back into a tornado. She wanted to grab DJ and her staff and head for the cellar until this passed, but she knew she couldn’t run away. She was the one in charge of everyday operations and the takeover meant she was the best person to advise Dec on her staff. It was up to her to somehow persuade Dec to keep as many employees as possible.

He laughed. “Was my kiss that bad?”

“That good,” she said, opting for honesty. She’d always been a lousy liar. Something her sisters had twigged on to the first time she’d refused to name DJ’s father. But it had been important to keep her secret from them given the bad blood between Dec’s family and hers.

“Then why the sigh?” he asked, his fingers flexing and drawing her nearer to him.

She put her hand between them to preserve the distance and her illusion of control, because it was becoming startlingly obvious that she hadn’t been in charge of anything from the moment she’d walked into this conference room. She stepped back and stumbled into the door.

He reached out to right her but she shook her head. “I can’t do this, Dec. We need to talk and there are things—”

“I’m not doing this for revenge,” he said.

“What?” she asked. She hadn’t even considered that, but now that he’d mentioned it, wouldn’t it be fitting for one of Thomas Montrose’s grandsons to take sexual revenge on his sworn enemy’s granddaughter?

“I just wanted you to know that what is between us has nothing to do with business or our families. This is you and me. Just us,” he said.

“Ah, that’s a nice thought,” she said, thinking of her son and her sisters and the fact that no matter what he wanted to believe, they didn’t live on an island. It would never be just them.

“It’s my opinion. I’m not one to let my cousins dictate my personal life,” he said, touching a strand of her hair, tucking it back behind her ear the way she normally wore it. “I had the impression that you were someone who made her own decisions, as well.”

“Of course I am. Stop trying to shame me into—” She stopped. “What exactly is it that you want from me?”

She felt panicked and nervous, but not because of him. It stemmed from herself and the fact that it would be easy to surrender and give him what he wanted. A casual affair. But that wasn’t like her at all. Dec Montrose was danger, she thought. She had to remember that.

“I want a chance. I don’t want you judging me based on my cousins or this takeover. That has nothing to do with what is between us. It didn’t eighteen months ago and it still doesn’t now,” he said.

“I agreed to dinner,” she said. She struggled to believe him. If she was a sap, she’d fall for his lines, but she wasn’t. Was she?

She crossed her arms over her chest, not really caring that it was a defensive pose. She had to figure out how to manage Dec. But managing people wasn’t always her best strength. She preferred to help people find their happiness. And Dec wanted two things that wouldn’t leave her in a good place. He wanted her company and she was almost 100 percent certain once he knew about DJ he was going to want their son.

“I want more than dinner,” he said.

“That was obvious,” she said.

“I’ve never been subtle. Kell says with this mug I can’t be,” he said, gesturing to his face.

He wasn’t classically handsome, but there was something about that strong determined jaw and those dark brown eyes that had made it hard for her to look away from him in the past, and now. “You use that to your advantage.”

He shrugged. “I figured out early in life that I had to play to my strengths.”

“Me, too,” she said. “I was never going to be as strong as Emma or as rebellious as Jessi. I had to find my own way.”

“You’ve done well from what I can see. Everyone I talked to about Infinity Games said you are the heart of the company.”

She closed her eyes and wished her staff had said she was the ballbuster of the company. That would make it easier for her to deal with him. What could she say about that? She genuinely cared about her staff and had made it her purpose to make sure they all worked to their maximum. “You’re the axman of Playtone Games.”

“So I’m the Tin Man then and don’t have a heart. Is that what you’re saying?” he asked.

She caught her breath at the flash of pain in his eyes. Just as quickly it was gone, and back was the determined suitor. She still wasn’t sure what he really wanted from her, but she was determined to know this man better. She had until dinner to figure out the best way to tell him about DJ. She had until tonight to figure out if there was a way to use him to save as many of her staff as she could. She had until tonight to find a way to handle everything he threw at her.

She had a bad feeling the latter was going to be much harder than any of the others.

Dec had always felt like he wasn’t the same as everyone else. The adult in him knew it had everything to do with him being adopted. His mother had insisted he be treated like the other Montrose heirs, but inside Dec had always known he wasn’t a true heir. And that had affected him.

Normally he didn’t give a crap about that. He knew he’d been called a shark. Cold and heartless when it came to his approach to business. A man who coolly cut staff, sent them packing and didn’t apologize for it. That was business. Usually the people who complained were the ones who didn’t make the cut. But hearing Cari say he was heartless had given him pause.

“Tin Man, really?” he asked when he realized she wasn’t going to respond to his comment.

Ah, hell, he thought, pushing his hands through his hair. “Well, Cari?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” she said, but he noticed she bit her lower lip and didn’t lower her arms. She in fact did mean it that way.

“I’m not here to hurt you or your company,” he said. “In fact, as a shareholder I’d think you’d be happy about the takeover. Despite the enmity between our families, you are going to be a very rich woman when this is all over.”

“Is money the most important thing to you, Tin Man?” she asked teasingly.

“I’m not a Tin Man.”

“Sorry. I didn’t say it to be rude,” she said, then nibbled her bottom lip. “Well, maybe a little. I’m trying to figure you out.”

It was there in her tone. She was hiding something, or maybe just hiding from him. Maybe she’d discovered that it was going to take more than one kiss to get over him. He sure as hell was winging from the embrace they’d just shared.

“Good luck with that,” he said. “I have enough money to make life comfortable. It’s a nice goal, though. Most people want more.”

“That’s true. Is that the reason most of our stockholders sold to you?”

“I didn’t talk to them, so I can’t say. But profit is why they invested in Infinity Games.”

“I know. I just hate change.”

Change didn’t bother him and never really had. He knew that life was one constant change. People who got comfortable in a situation found themselves…Well, like Cari right now. “I’m not heartless when it comes to staff. Is that your biggest concern?”

She shook her head and fiddled with the ring on her right hand. “Everything about you raises red flags, Dec. I wanted to be cool and sophisticated this morning. Instead I let you kiss my socks off and stumbled into a door.”

“I like you the way you are,” he said.

She gave him that half smile of hers that had originally drawn him across the Atlanta convention space to her booth. It was inviting and sweet and made a man want to do anything he could to keep her smiling.

“Good, because I’m too old to change.”

He laughed. She was young enough and innocent, as well. Despite the fact that she was the spawn of his family’s hated enemy, there was nothing malicious in Cari. “If you’re old, I must seem ancient.”

She tossed her hair and let her arms fall to her sides as she studied him. “Not old, but there is something ageless about you. I know you have work to do. My assistant will work for both of us…unless you have one who will be joining you here.”

“No. I don’t need an assistant and it’s a cost savings to just utilize existing staff.” He’d had an executive assistant a few years ago, but the man had become a liability when he’d started to get too chummy with the staff of the company they were dissolving. It hadn’t been easy, but Dec had fired him. Not everyone was cut out to work in mergers and acquisitions. It required a person who could compartmentalize. And he was the king of that.

“Cost savings…is that how you always look at the business?” she asked.

Her tone said she didn’t approve, but that didn’t bother him at all. If she’d asked him something like this about their personal life, it might, but this was business. There was no place for emotions in the workplace. If something was losing money it had to be cut, and Infinity Games had made too many poor decisions. Perhaps leading with the heart instead of the wallet. It had left them vulnerable to a takeover and now Dec was here to clean it up. And he would.

“Yes, how else would I view it? It’s all about the bottom line. That’s how we were able to take over your company.”

“I’m not a driven-by-the-bottom-line type of COO. I like to see my staff working and being productive.”

“Maybe you should have been more focused on the bottom line,” he suggested. She hadn’t argued when he’d called her the heart of the company. In his experience, that meant the emotional one. He had the feeling that she had an open-door policy and never said no to any of her staff. He would love to be proved wrong, but he seldom was. That meant they were going to be at odds at work. Mentally, he shrugged.

What he wanted from Cari had nothing to do with business. He’d do his job and he intended to get to know her, as well. The two things were separate in his mind.

“I don’t know. I mean of course I understand that profit has to be a driving force, but I always think about the people behind it. They need to feel safe to work at their best.”

“It will be interesting working with you. I have the feeling I don’t know you at all, Cari,” he said.

“I’m sure you don’t,” she said. “Most men only see what they want to when it comes to women.”

“Interesting thought,” he said. “Whereas you see me as I really am?”

She flushed. “Sorry. I just hate the thought of you looking at a piece of paper and saying we need to cut head count when I know that head count means a person. A person who has a life that they are trying their best to balance.”

“I’m not going to randomly reduce staff. We need to see where you are losing money, Cari. You have to know that your company isn’t as profitable as it could be.”

“Yes, I do. As you said, we’ll have to work together to make it profitable again,” she said. She reached for the door again and he had the feeling that she wanted to get away from him. Who could blame her? He’d given her two things to think about this morning.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Because he hadn’t meant to reenter her life this way. Well, to be honest, he hadn’t really meant to reenter it at all. She wasn’t the kind of woman with whom he could have an affair. Even if there wasn’t a decades-long feud between their families.

It wasn’t just that she was the heart of the gaming company, she also was caring and compassionate and, he knew, worlds too soft for Beau and Helene Montrose’s adopted son. The boy they’d fought over and eventually, when his mother had lost the argument, handed over to Thomas Montrose to be honed into a weapon to be used in this war against the Chandlers.

“This was never going to be easy,” she said.

“How do you mean?”

“You left me without a backward glance, and probably thought our paths wouldn’t cross again. Definitely like this. Now we have to work together and I’m going to try to save as much of my company as I can and you’re going to—”

“Do what I do best.”

“What’s that?”

“Make this a profitable move for Playtone Games and somehow convince you that despite all of that I’m not really a Tin Man.”

Cari entered her office and picked up the phone to call Emma. Then immediately put it down. The time to go running to her big sister had passed. She was a mom now, a decision maker. At work she didn’t need Emma’s advice and she’d made the difficult decision to stand on her own in her personal life, as well. She knew better than to backpedal now.

She couldn’t help it, though. She felt scared and panicked at the thought of Dec just down the hall from her. And little DJ downstairs in the nursery. Two males who had the most influence in her life. One by her design, the other…by fate?

She shook her head. She wasn’t going to figure this out right now and didn’t want to try. She instant messaged her assistant.

Ally knocked on the door and popped her head around. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes. I need you to draft a memo to the staff from me and my sisters letting them know that Playtone Games has taken over our company and we will be using the next six weeks to merge.”

“Okay. Anything else?” Ally asked without hesitation or concern. Her assistant was thirty-two and had gotten married last summer, and Cari knew she’d just signed a mortgage on a new house. She had to be worried.

“Let them know that Dec Montrose is going to be observing them for the next few weeks. Everyone who works to their full potential need not worry.”

“Okay. I’ll draft an email and send it to you for approval,” Ally said.

“Thank you. Do you think we could get a temp in here to serve as my assistant?”

“Why?”

“Ally, I’m thinking of transferring you to finance. You have the skills to be in accounts receivable and that way you won’t be attached to me,” Cari said.

She wasn’t sure how much any of the staff knew of the bad blood between her family and Dec’s, but she didn’t want to take any chances of Ally being a casualty of that old feud.

“That’s not necessary.”

“Being part of this office might be a liability,” she warned.

“Like you said, if I do my job I’m fine. Besides, I’m not abandoning you,” Ally said with a smile.

“Thanks. In that case, Dec and I will be sharing you as an assistant. Think of it as a dual-reporting relationship.”

“Okay,” Ally said.

As her assistant left, Cari leaned back in her chair and swiveled around to face the plate-glass windows that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. She took a deep breath, warned herself that if she didn’t get her head together Dec was going to walk all over her. And she couldn’t let that happen.

Her door opened loudly and she pivoted around to see Jessi standing there. She had thick black hair that she wore shoulder length with a thick fringe of bangs on her forehead. For shock value, she had a deep purple streak on the left side. On anyone else it might have looked frivolous but on Jessi it just added to her commanding presence.

“So, how’s it look?” she asked, putting a Starbucks cup down in front of Cari before dropping down into one of her Louis XIV wing chairs. She wore a pair of skinny black trousers with a rhinestone top and an Armani tuxedo jacket. Cari loved her sister’s bold style.

“Thanks for the skinny latte,” she said, taking a sip.

“Figured you’d need it this morning, and with my cute little nephew you don’t exactly have time to get one for yourself. So what’d he say?”

She didn’t need to ask who she meant. She sighed. “Dec’s here for blood. He pretty much said he’s cutting the dead weight and going to find out where we are profitable.”

Jessi propped one booted foot on her knee and leaned back, taking a sip of her own drink, which Cari knew was a mocha. Her sister was a rabid chocoholic. “Figured as much. Can you influence him at all? What do you think is the best approach?”

“Um…” That was a loaded question. Now that Dec was here and his family had the upper hand in business, Cari realized her sisters would be at a disadvantage once DJ’s parentage became public knowledge.

“What? Did he threaten you?” Jessi said, jumping to her feet. “I’ve dealt with the Montrose clan before.”

“You have?”

“Unfortunately. Allan McKinney was the best man at John and Patti McCoy’s wedding.”

Cari remembered Jessi being the maid of honor at her best friend Patti’s wedding two years ago in Las Vegas. She recalled hearing nothing about Allan, however. “I didn’t realize that,” she said.

“Well, since we’re feuding with his family I didn’t think I should talk about it. Besides Allan was a total jerk douche about a few things. I can see why there is bad blood between our families. Anyway, I spent the longest weekend of my life in Vegas thanks to him. If I need to go in there—”

“No. You don’t need to do anything for me, Jess. Dec was fine,” she said. Then she realized she needed to start laying the groundwork for Dec to be introduced as DJ’s father. “In fact, we’re having dinner tonight.”

“You are? He must be nothing like Allan, who is an annoying jerk.”

Cari laughed, and for the first time this morning she felt maybe it wasn’t the end of the world. No matter what happened at Infinity Games, they’d be okay. They might be a bit worse for the wear, but her sisters and she would be fine.

Three

Dec rubbed the back of his neck as Ally escorted the lead programmer from the IOS team out of the conference room. He needed a long, stiff drink and an evening where he didn’t have to think about staff reductions. It was clear to him that part of the problem with Infinity Games was the fact that Cari allowed her staff too much leeway. But that was neither here nor there. It was almost six and as he had a date for the first time in almost six months, he was leaving.

“Good evening, Mr. Montrose,” the security guard said as he exited the elevator. The lobby of Infinity Games spoke of heritage. On the wall in large print was a list of accolades the company had garnered since its inception in the early ‘70s. Dec skimmed over the first one, which listed both Gregory Chandler and Thomas Montrose’s names. The next accolade was a partnership with the Japanese video-game giants Mishukoshi, after which Thomas’s name disappeared. And so began the family feud.

Dec looked at the guard. “Good evening. What was your name again?” he asked. He knew in takeovers it was important to have a face to go with every name on his list. Kell wanted this place gutted and soon there would be no need for two teams of security. And this man looked like a prime candidate for early retirement.

“Frank Jones,” the older man said. His blue security uniform was neatly pressed, he presented himself in a well-groomed manner and despite his age, Frank was in good shape.

“Declan Montrose,” he said, holding out his hand. The handshake was firm and strong. There might be some gray in his hair, but Frank’s posture and attitude weren’t as elderly as it had seemed from across the lobby.

“Who hired you?”

“Ms. Cari. She said we needed someone who took this job seriously and understood that security was the most important part of making a game,” Frank said.

“And that convinced you to take the job?” Dec asked.

“That and her smile,” Frank said.

“Her smile?”

“She has this way of making you feel like you’re the only one for the job when she smiles at you. Makes me want to do my best,” Frank said.

“She does have a way,” Dec agreed. Suddenly he had an inkling of why Cari was so popular with her team. There was something to be said about being made to feel important. Obviously it was a skill that Cari had in spades.

His iPhone rang as soon as he was in his Maserati GranTurismo convertible. He glanced at the caller ID and wanted to toss the phone out of the car. He wasn’t ready to download information to Kell, but as the man was his boss and not just his cousin, ignoring the call wasn’t an option.

“Montrose here.”

“Here, as well,” Kell said. “Is it as bad as we feared?”

“Worse. The staff is really loyal. I think if we kick the Chandlers out we might have a mutiny. I’ve spent the better part of the day listening to how great they are.”

“That doesn’t concern me,” Kell said. “We knew the takeover was going to be messy.”

“And I’m mitigating the mess, but it’s going to take some time.”

Kell cursed under his breath. “You said six weeks.”

“And that’s still exactly how long I need. Calling and badgering me isn’t going to speed it up.”

“I know that. I was wondering how the Chandler girl was…Cari?”

She was nervous and sexy and sweet. But his cousin didn’t need to know any of that. And if Dec had learned one thing from his socialite mother it was to keep some information to himself. “She’s hiding something.”

“What? There is no other investor in the wings,” Kell said with surety.

“I’ll find out what I can. But there is definitely something she’s protecting. Maybe one of her sisters. From what I gather, the oldest one, Emma, is something of a barracuda. The staff spoke of her the way our team talks about you.”

“I’ll get in touch and see if I can find out what they are hiding. You keep working on Cari. I think that Allan’s best friend is married to the middle Chandler girl’s best friend.”

“Why do you know this?” Dec asked. Kell just didn’t do personal stuff. If it didn’t affect Playtone Games, usually Kell didn’t bother with it.

“I had the misfortune to try to drink our cousin under the table last weekend and heard all about the girl.”

So Allan knew the middle sister, and unless Dec was very much mistaken—and he was seldom wrong about anything—he himself was going to know the youngest sister very intimately. Again. And this time he was going to…What? He was the adopted son of the Montrose dynasty. He had been abandoned, adopted, pretty much left to his own devices again. He knew he wasn’t a man for commitment. What could he do with Cari except have an elusive affair?

In fact the only thing he’d ever stuck with was his cousins and Playtone Games.

When he was in this twenties he’d tried to strike out on his own, but then Kell had called and the chance to be part of this new generation of game-making Montroses was too much of a lure. Dec still wanted to prove himself to a generation that was all but gone.

“You still there?” Kell asked.

“Yeah, but I’ve got to go. Dinner meeting tonight.”

“With?” Kell asked. In the background Dec heard the sound of the evening financial news show that Kell watched religiously. He was a genius when it came to reading the market, which was in no small part the reason for their success.

Dec had always marveled that he and his cousins, Kell and Allan, each brought something unique to the table that no one else could. They made a very strong triumvirate, and though he knew he wasn’t a blood Montrose, he was definitely a necessary part of Playtone Games.

“Cari,” Dec said at last. “I’m having dinner with Cari.”

“Good. I suspect that you will keep her off balance and maybe you’ll be able to find out what she is hiding.”

He intended to find out all of her secrets, he thought as he ended the call with his cousin. He wasn’t as concerned that she was hiding something that would affect the takeover; frankly, at this point there was nothing else for the Chandlers to do to save Infinity Games.

He pulled into the parking lot at the Marina del Rey Yacht Club and parked his car. The Playtone offices were in Santa Monica just a few short miles from the Infinity Games offices. Something that Kell had done deliberately to make sure that every day when first old Gregory Chandler and now his heirs had gone to work they’d have to drive past the competition.

Tonight he wanted to see if there was anything real between him and Cari. There had to be a reason other than revenge that he was back in her life. He realized that he wanted to move Cari from competition to lover. His time in her bed had been too short and being this close to home always made him long for things he knew he didn’t need and couldn’t have. But for tonight he was planning to ignore all of that and just enjoy himself.

Cari stood in the foyer of her own house holding her son in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Canceling dinner wouldn’t be construed as running away, she cajoled herself. But then DJ reached up and put his tiny hand on the collar of her shirt and made that sweet little sound. “Mamamama.”

“Ugh,” she said, tossing the phone on the hall table and walking back across the Spanish-tiled floor to the kitchen. She put DJ in his high chair and then leaned back against the cabinet. “What am I going to do?”

He just stared at her as she placed a teething biscuit on the tray in front of him. His eyes were brown. Not just any brown, but Dec brown. She knew that if she canceled this dinner, it would be solely due to cowardice. She knew that. Yet she was more afraid tonight than she had been this morning.

It had been one thing to see Dec in the office where she wore her business suit and had a certain air of authority, but this dinner—no matter how she tried to spin it—was more than business. He’d kissed her. And her body had almost betrayed her secret. She knew she had to tell him about DJ before he found out.

She touched her lips and remembered every sensation of his body pressed to hers. God, she thought, this was nuts. Just cancel and then run away.

Dec might be all into her at this moment, but their past told her that he moved on. His own words told her that he wasn’t ready for commitment, and though a lot had changed in the eighteen months they’d been apart, she knew she couldn’t just spring DJ on him. She owed herself, her son and even Dec more than that.

Some things once done couldn’t be undone.

Her grandmother used to say that to her all the time when she’d been young and headstrong. Wanting to adopt a puppy or bring another cat or rabbit into the house. Grandma was always cautioning Cari to remember that when other lives were brought into the equation, it changed.

She gave herself one last look in the mirror. “Tell him tonight.”

But the look in her own eyes and that feeling in her heart told her that telling him wasn’t going to be easy.

But even though she wasn’t a bossy woman like Emma or a badass rebel like Jessi, she’d never been a coward. And running away wasn’t her style. Besides, she knew it was past time to tell Dec about his son. Until she did, he’d have one thing over her—guilt. She felt guilty about him not knowing about his son.

“I’m going,” she said, smiling at DJ.

He clapped his hands and smiled back at her. She laughed at his toothless grin and drool-covered face. Truly he was the most adorable baby in the world. She scooped him up again and walked resolutely down the hall to her bedroom. She put his blanket in the middle of her bed and propped pillows around him to keep him in place.

He sat in the center, happily chewing on his biscuit while she puttered around getting ready for her date and awaiting Emma, who was going to babysit, along with her son, Sam.

The doorbell rang, and from the security monitor in her bedroom she saw not only Emma and Sam, but also Jessi. She wasn’t ready for both of her sisters. Not tonight. She was so unsure, and hell, she had to admit, scared, that she was tempted to blurt out her secret to her big sister Emma. Then Emma would excuse her and—

Stop it.

She hated that she still sometimes wanted someone else to make decisions for her. She was a grown woman and a mom now. It didn’t matter that it would be easier if she just gave up control of her life. She had to step up.

She pushed the intercom button. “Come in. I’m in the bedroom getting dressed.”

She hurried into her closet and grabbed a retro-style cocktail dress that she’d gotten from ModCloth at a bargain. She didn’t need to save money, but her mother had drilled into her that it was better in her pocket than in someone else’s, and she’d always been frugal.

“Let’s see what you are wearing,” Jessi said as she led the way, ignoring DJ and coming into the closet to stand next to her. Her sister had an aversion for babies and was the first to admit she liked to keep her distance from children until they could walk, talk and order a drink.

She spun around so that Jess could see what she was wearing. The dress was slim-fitting, in a regal purple color that made her pale skin glow. It had a fitted bodice with thin spaghetti straps and a velvet ribbon that accentuated the slimness of her waist. She’d put on a strand of black pearls that their father had given their mother for a long-ago birthday and that Cari had inherited when her parents had died in a tragic boating accident, but she’d changed her mind at the last minute and now wore her usual charm necklace instead.

“Gorgeous, darling! Are you sure this is just a business dinner?” Jessi asked.

“Yes,” she said, though the heat of her blush made her realize that she wasn’t as confident in that answer as she should be. “What else could it be? He’s a Montrose.”

“Don’t forget it,” Jessi said as they both walked back into the bedroom.

Emma gave her the thumbs-up. “You look good,” she said. “What are you not supposed to forget?”

“That Dec is essentially my enemy.”

“Dec?”

“That’s his name.”

“His name is Declan, Cari. And you said it like…” Emma watched her shrewdly.

She didn’t ask like what. Cari knew how she’d said his name. Like he was her salvation and her downfall. And he was both. No matter how she tried to spin it. No matter what she wanted to pretend. No matter that he was a game changer and she had to decide how to proceed.

So far she’d let him get the upper hand at the office, and for her own sake and DJ’s, she couldn’t let that happen tonight. She had to be the one in control.

She glanced at both of her sisters as she sprayed perfume on her pulse points. They looked worried, and she just smiled at them as she adjusted the high ponytail she’d put her hair up in and fingered the bangs on her forehead.

Tonight she was going to be rebel, boss and angel all rolled into one. Tonight Declan Montrose wouldn’t know what hit him. Tonight she would walk away victorious.

Dec was waiting in the bar for her when she arrived at the Chart House restaurant in Marina del Rey. He looked sexy and sophisticated dressed all in black. Pants, tie, shirt and jacket. On anyone else it would have looked like too much, but it suited him. He wasn’t light-hearted at all and this dark attire reflected that.

But it also made him look devastatingly handsome. She noted that women sneaked covert looks at him as they sipped their drinks. She sighed and wondered if she was really up for this. Talking herself into being brave had been a daily ritual since she’d realized she was pregnant. She continued the practice now, put her shoulders back and walked over to him.

He turned just as she approached. And she arched one eyebrow at him in question.

“I saw you in the mirror,” he explained, holding out a drink. “I recall you were a gin-and-tonic girl.”

“Still am,” she said. “But since I need my head about me tonight, I’ll settle for just the tonic.”

He smiled. “I’ll get you a different drink.”

He turned back in a second handing her a highball glass with a twist of lime in it. She took a sip of the refreshing drink and decided to stop her worrying for tonight. Somehow she’d figure out how to tell him he had a child.

“How was it today?” she asked.

“I don’t want to talk shop tonight. I want to catch up on you,” he said. “We’ve got fifteen minutes until our table will be ready.”

He led the way through the semicrowded bar to a small intimate booth in the far corner and gestured for her to sit. She slid onto the seat and took an inordinate amount of time to straighten her dress about her legs.

“I make you nervous,” he said when she looked up.

“Yes. You did when we first met, as well,” she admitted.

“Why? Is it because I’m a Montrose?”

She thought about it. But really she didn’t need the time to consider his question. She’d already spent a lot of time dwelling on Dec Montrose. “No. It’s something about you. You seem so confident and determined…makes a girl feel like she needs all of her wits about her.”

“You don’t seem to have a problem with me,” he said.

“There are one or two ways to keep you off balance,” she said. “But I can’t always count on being able to kiss you.”

His surprised laugh made her smile. The black clothing wasn’t a front where he was concerned. Dec was serious most of the time. So when he did smile or laugh it felt like a sort of gift.

“I’m willing to let you try it.”

“I bet. Tell me about Australia,” she said.

He shook his head. “That’s business.”

“You haven’t done anything but work for eighteen months?” she asked. “I don’t believe that. You seem a bit different than before.”

He shrugged and took a swallow of his scotch on the rocks. “It might be the fact that after ten years of hard work Playtone Games has finally met our goal.”

“Taking over Infinity Games?”

“Yep,” he said. “Guess you don’t want to talk about that.”

“No, I don’t. I should have thought harder about going to bed with someone who has a decades-old feud with me.”

“I’m not feuding with you,” he said.

“Really?”

“Not anymore. I’ve won the battle. Now it’s simply a matter of cleaning up the mess and moving on. No conflict of interest between us anymore.”

But there was a big conflict of interest, and for the first time since she’d given birth to DJ she realized that her son could be the leverage she needed to make Dec do what she wanted him to. As soon as the thought entered her mind, she shuddered with repugnance and pushed it aside. She’d never use her own son as leverage. That was despicable.

As was not telling him. Though she believed her reasons were valid. He hardly seemed like the kind of man who’d want a family or a son. But she owed it to him to let him make that choice now that he was back in her life.

“So, there’s something I should tell you,” she said, not sure how exactly to begin this conversation.

“Is it a secret?”

“Sort of,” she said.

“Kell did want me to find out what you are hiding,” Dec said.

“What?” How did his cousin know she was hiding something? Did he know that she’d had a baby with Dec?

“I told him I thought the day had gone well, except I felt there was something you weren’t telling me.”

“Oh.” So he assumed it was something to do with the takeover. Why wouldn’t it be? They’d had a one-night stand, not an affair or a fling. He’d never guess what she’d been keeping from him because his mind wasn’t going along that path.

“Well, he’ll be disappointed. I’m not keeping any business secrets,” she said.

“I think you are. The security guard said that the staff would do anything if you smiled at them.”

She blushed. He had to have been talking to Frank, who was like a Dutch uncle to her. “Frank exaggerates. Besides, what would I get them to do?”

“Mutiny,” he said.

“You’re not the captain of a ship,” she said.

“But I am. I’m the one who’s going to steer them through the shark-infested waters—”

“I thought you were the shark.”

“Only in your eyes,” he said.

But he wasn’t a shark in her eyes. She reached over and took his hand and squeezed it in hers. “The acquisition isn’t going to be easy, but I don’t blame you for anything you have to do.”

“What do you blame me for?” he asked.

“Leaving me.” The words just slipped out. But now that they had been spoken she realized they were the truth.

“I’m back now.”

“Yes, you are. For some reason, I’m not sure why you are here with me. You already satisfied your curiosity with me, right?”

“I’m nowhere near satisfied with you, Cari. I want more and I intend to get it.”

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