“Does your family seriously own all of those businesses?” I asked Nate on the long drive back to his property—a place I was going to have to get used to calling my home.

“Sure does. It’s how we legitimise our earnings.”

“I see. So, you use all those businesses to launder the profits of your illegal activities.”

He touched his nose and winked.

I sat back in my seat and thought on it for a moment. “These businesses, do they turn a profit in their own right?”

Nate looked ahead, his focus on the road as he shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose. Jasmine looks after all the books, we do all the grunt work—picking up takings and paperwork, fixing things that are broken… you know, normal shit you’d need to do when you have a portfolio to manage. What’s your point?”

“OK. It’s just that there are so many of them, and there’s obviously a lot of money to go around if you’re able to afford the property we’re living on—”

“I have my own investments. The others aren’t as well off as I am,” he interrupted.

“OK, but that only presses my point more. Why are you still robbing people? You, in particular, have so much already. Why do you need more?”

He glanced at me, and I could tell by his expression that he legitimately didn’t know the answer to that question. “It’s just what we do,” he said eventually.

“At what point do you think you’ll decide you have enough?”

He licked his lips and shook his head. “I don’t know. When everyone in the family is as wealthy as I am, I suppose.”

“They’re all adults, Nate. You aren’t responsible for them.”

Speeding up to merge onto the freeway, Nate stayed quiet for a while. “They’re family, duchess. Of course I’m responsible for them.”

The slim, tallish woman I’d always known as my best friend came hurtling out the front door and practically threw herself at me when we arrived at the Cartwright family home. Nate told me on the way that we’d been invited to dinner so they could discuss the business and, more importantly, make amends after what went down in the Cook Islands.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Alesha whispered, hugging me so tight that I almost couldn’t breathe.

Tears sprang to my eyes as I hugged her back. I’d been so focused on my own feelings and Nate that I hadn’t thought enough about her and how her new relationship was going. Was Sam treating her well? Did they still feel as strongly for each other as they did in the beginning? Was Jasmine being good to her? What about the other brothers? I did hope she was living somewhere with Sam on her own and wasn’t here cooking and cleaning for them all every night. She did have a tendency to try and please….

“I’ve missed you too,” I returned, pulling back so I could look into her eyes. “How have you been?” It was the one question I felt safe asking while all the family was around. I would know how truthful her answer was by the look in her eyes. The rest would have to wait for a more private time.

She pressed her lips together, wrapping her hands around my forearms as she nodded. “I’m OK.”

My heart sank—she wasn’t happy. I could see the sadness in her big brown eyes and the slight quivering of her lip. My instinct to protect her overwhelmed me, and I drew her into my arms.

I didn’t know what else to say, so I just held on tight, only releasing her when Jasmine’s voice cut into our moment, reminding Alesha that there was something in the kitchen that needed her attention.

“I’m glad you both came,” she said, looking between Nate and me. “I’d hate for our family to fall out of contact.”

“Then maybe my family will refrain from touching what’s mine,” Nate said coolly, stooping slightly to kiss his mother on the forehead.

“Of course.” Jasmine smiled. “I do hope you’ve forgiven me, Holland. There was a lot of pressure on us as all that day. I’d never intentionally do anything to harm you.” Her saccharine voice made me sick to my stomach. She’d threatened me with that voice, threatened my life and those of everyone I loved. She’d have to forgive me if I didn’t believe her.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked, redirecting the conversation instead. “It’s been a long day and I’m starved.”

“Alesha has made potato au gratin, Toby has some lamb on the rotisserie, the twins are on salads, and Sam is on drinks. I’m doing dessert. We have everything covered.” She held out her arm to welcome us inside. “Come. It’s time we celebrate properly. It’s not every day a woman with five sons gets to entertain two daughters.”

As food and drinks were passed around the outdoor table, it was easy to relax into the festive atmosphere. Kristian and Abbot were like two halves of the same person, talking interchangeably about whatever topic caught their interest in the moment. They even laughed at the same time, syncing to the same beat. It was funny to watch.

Despite Alesha’s demeanour when we’d arrived, she did seem highly content sitting next to Sam. When the food was finished and the conversation continued to flow, he draped his arm over the back of her chair, gently caressing the bare skin on her arm. She relaxed into him. The only times she seemed uncomfortable were when Jasmine addressed her, or if she had to interact with Toby—who was once again fairly silent for the most part. I noticed it was rare that he looked my way, spending most of his time focused on his beer bottle instead while the Boston terrier, Rogue, sat at his feet and he slipped her scraps under the table.

Then he caught me watching him. He raised a single finger to his lips, glanced at Jasmine, and then smiled at me. I looked away, the interaction feeling odd. The last time we spoke, he’d told me he thought I was trouble and looked as though he wanted to kill me. Now he was smiling at me?

Perhaps he was drunk.

“Will you ladies excuse us for a while?” Jasmine asked during a lull in the conversation. “My sons and I have some business we need to discuss.”

Standing obediently, Alesha started clearing the plates, so I stood and did the same. Nate grabbed my wrist and shook his head.

“I should help,” I whispered.

“You aren’t a servant,” he reminded me.

“Neither is she.” I glanced towards Alesha, whose arms were laden with plates and cutlery.

Releasing his breath, Nate nodded, then stood to help clear.

“The girls can get that, darling,” Jasmine said with a shocked laugh.

“It’ll be faster if we all pitch in. Once all this is clean, we’ll talk business. I didn’t bring my wife here so she could clean our mess.”

“I think I just came a little,” I whispered in his ear as we walked towards the kitchen together.

He pinched me on the arse and I let out a little yelp. Everyone else stood and grumbled a little, but they ultimately helped to clear the table, tidy the kitchen, and put everything back where it belonged.

Once everything was pristine again, Nate grabbed Stollis from the fridge, handing me two before telling me to go relax with my friend.

Alesha and I retired to the living room at the front of the house, putting a decent amount of distance between us and the rest of the Cartwright family.

“Are you OK?” Alesha asked immediately in a hushed tone. “I’ve been worried sick about you since the wedding. He hasn’t hurt you, has he?” She grabbed my arms and inspected every part of me she could see with a keen eye.

“I’m fine,” I assured her, laughing slightly out of confusion. “Why would you worry about me? I’m the one worried about you.”

“Me? No, I’m great! I love it here. I mean, it gets a bit much sometimes having so many people around, and I admit to being a little homesick and bored hanging around the house all the time. But Sam is amazing whenever we’re together, and I can pretty much do whatever I want the rest of the time. Kristian is teaching me to surf. Jasmine is teaching me to cook. I’m pretty much perfect.”

“So, you’re living here? Not at Sam’s?”

“Sam’s?”

“Nate said they all had their own places.”

“Nate and Toby are the only ones living on their own. But Toby is here a lot.”

“And you’re happy living with them all?”

“I like the noise and the company.”

“Wow. So I imagined all the discomfort out there?”

“Discomfort?”

“Yeah, between you and Jasmine, and Toby.”

“Toby?” She scrunched her face as if the idea of being uncomfortable around him was insane. “He’s a pussycat.”

“Are you sure about that?” I eyed her carefully, and she nodded emphatically.

“I’ve just been worried sick about you. After our wedding, Nate went crazy on Kris and Abbot. Kris had a split lip, and Abbot could barely see out of one eye for a whole week. And I saw him yelling at Jasmine.” Her eyes went wide. “Lord, Holl, I was so scared. I thought he was going to hit her.”

“Did he?”

“No, but he threatened to, held his hand up like he was going to backhand her the same way she did to you. And I thought, ‘God help Holland if that’s the kind of temper that man has.’”

“He doesn’t have a temper, Leesh. He was angry because Jasmine hit me and the twins covered for her. I really don’t think he would hit his own mother.”

“So you’re OK?”

“More than OK. I’m ridiculously happy. I’m in love with him.” It felt silly sitting there admitting that, but at the same time it was wonderful because Alesha was the only other person on the planet who understood exactly who it was I married and how it all came about.

“You do? That’s such a relief. We got real lucky with these guys, Holl. I reckon someone was watching over us.”

I nodded. “My parents, perhaps.”

“Or maybe God. Or my mum if she’s up there. Lord knows I’ve prayed enough for a man to whisk me away from my crappy life.”

“I want the fairy tale,” I quoted in my best Julia Roberts voice.

Alesha smiled at the Pretty Woman reference. “And as far as men go, it seems we got exactly that.”

“Yes. But what about the rest of it? Their… business activities?” I nodded towards the back of the house where the family meeting was underway.

Alesha shrugged and sighed. “I try not to think about it. The less we know the better, right? That’s how mob guys protect their wives.”

I smiled. “You watch far too many movies.”

She shrugged. “Up until now, they’ve been better than my life.”

“You said you’re a little homesick. Have you gone to visit your dad?”

She shook her head, lowering her eyes slightly. “He won’t take my calls. We went to visit when we got back and he lost it. He’s angry with me for getting married without him, and especially because I didn’t get married in a church to a good Catholic boy.”

“I’m sorry, Leesh.”

“Ugh.” She shrugged. “He was never going to like anyone I brought home. I always expected something like this to happen.”

“He’ll come around,” I said, patting her leg.

“We’ll see,” she said with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulder. Then she adjusted on the couch, tucking her knees beneath her as she looked at me and grinned. “Now tell me about Nate. I want to know everything about him.”

I smiled at the mischievous glint in her eye as I was taken back to a simpler time where we shared everything. That seemed so long ago after this whirlwind of events.

“How about you tell me all about Sam. Start with the moment you locked eyes, and don’t leave out a thing.”