Luca claimed his office chair for the first time during the interview and rang the Human Resources Department. He resisted the urge to loosen his collar, desperately needing the five feet of distance between him and the delectable Jacey Maddox. "Send someone up to escort Ms. Maddox down. Have her fill out the standard apprentice paperwork and give her the tour." She hadn't moved from where he'd left her standing in front of his desk. "She starts in the morning."

Her slender frame radiated exultation, an emotion he planned to extinguish first thing in the morning. She thought she'd played him. A spoiled rich girl who was way too accustomed to getting her way, she thought she'd outmaneuvered him. Him! He hadn't missed the mock lip biting or carefully modulated hand gestures and hated the way certain parts of him had so eagerly responded.

He worked on his computer, pretending to ignore his newest employee the remaining few minutes it took Human Resources to send up their representative to lead her from his office. But he remained acutely conscious of every inch, every curve that comprised Jacey Maddox. Assuming her curves were even real, not enhanced by cosmetic surgery. Regardless, she was built to entice, from the cascade of her near-white blonde hair to her falsely innocent baby blues to the outrageously expensive navy stilettos encasing her feet. And she knew how to use her attributes to tempt. To ensnare. She'd been honing her skills for years. At least nine years. He could vouch for that.

When the elevator doors closed behind her leaving the faint trace of her perfume, he lounged deeper in his chair, replaying each sentence of their conversation and dissecting every word. He always studied his opponents. She would return in less than seventeen hours to continue playing her games, and he intended to be ready. He fully planned to parry her next tactic and launch a few of his own. To unveil her true motives and macerate them. To send her running from Genesis so scarred with defeat she would never again present a threat to the family he loved so dearly or the employees he was honor bound to protect.

It would have helped to extend their interview, to allow her to play out more of her games here and now. Ending it prematurely was a missed opportunity to learn more about her up close and in person, but her tears had eliminated that option.

He’d always been a sucker for a woman in tears, but Jacey in tears? It had almost shattered his composure. Almost but he was made of stronger stuff.

It was the only part of their meeting that hadn't felt contrived, which meant she'd refined her wiles to deadly levels. She'd managed to stir something deep and elemental inside him. He was going to have to don his thickest emotional chain mail when he faced her tomorrow.

It wasn't the first time she'd practiced her siren charm on him. The difference was this time she wouldn't be the one to walk away laughing.

He’d been twenty-three the last time she’d ensnared him in one of her little games, while he was sunbathing on a secluded stretch of beach at the Gulf Island Country Club. The manmade stream wound its way around and through their award-winning golf course. He'd been alone, emptying his mind of his latest contract negotiations, soaking up the last of the evening's rays when Jacey had strolled across his vision.

As a rule, their families didn't socialize. He nudged his shades higher and settled further behind his book, hoping the youngest of the Maddox offspring wouldn't recognize him if she noticed him at all. He had no trouble recognizing her, the little minx. She couldn't be more than Easton's age, but she was already making headlines. Not the kind most parents wanted, either. She was a hellcat in flip-flops. A spoiled, privileged brat who drifted from one scrape to the next with an occasional run-in with the law. Her list of sins wrapped the perimeter of the city at least twice. Defacing public property, breaking curfews, and getting expelled from her college preparatory high school. A felon in the making if the iron arm of Maddox failed to rein her in.

Guilt clawed its way around the edges of his mind. The good Lord knew he had his own hands full trying to curb his youngest brother of some of the same things. He prayed the kid would grow out of it soon. Where was that scamp, anyway? He'd gone on a smoothie run a half hour ago.

Luca squinted at Jacey from behind the corner of his book. Why was she lingering? The few times he'd run into her before, she'd been surrounded by an entourage of friends. Where were they on this unseasonably warm afternoon? It was eight degrees out, which was almost unheard of in Kodiak — or anywhere else in Alaska, for that matter.

Not only was she alone, she appeared bent on staying awhile. Gazing over the gulf waters, she slowly peeled down her jean shorts to reveal a hot pink swimsuit.

He forced his gaze back to his book, trying to give her some privacy, but Jacey was hard to ignore. She slid to the sand to sit cross-legged facing the water. Her back was to him. If it was solitude she was seeking, maybe he should alert her to his presence. While he debated what he would say, she yanked her swim covering over her head and tossed it aside.

His mouth went dry at the creamy perfection of her skin. Just enough sun to lend it a faint flush of gold. No freckles. Her lithesome sides curved down to a slender waist and flared over the most beautiful set of legs God had ever created. Not the most appropriate thoughts for a man nearly a decade older, but his better judgment seemed to be rolling at a slow pace today. He stared, transfixed, as a hand with silver painted fingernails inched its way across her shoulder blades to the ties of her bright pink bikini top.

Whoa. Stop! No. He hastily gathered his few belongings, preparing to exit the beach if necessary, but she all she did was push the ties aside to rub on a dollop of sunscreen.

“Heya there, Jace!" Easton jogged across the expanse of the beach toward them, a smoothie in each hand. “Should probably charge my brother, Luc, for the view. Don’t think he’s getting much reading done.”

She tipped her head to laugh up at him. Not a girlish giggle either but a full-throated husky sound that made him think of rose-petal drenched walkways and candlelit dinners.

The two of them were friends? He shot his brother a what-are-you-thinking-you-moron kind of look and received a shrug in return.

Jacey stood and slowly stooped to retrieve her shorts and swim covering, peeping around her arm at Luca. Her lips curved in an impish, knowing smirk.

He was shocked into immobility. The arms he’d thrown up at his brother remained suspended in mid-air. She'd staged the whole striptease act for his benefit?

Her mocking laughter pealed over him again, stoking the tempest she'd stirred in him to an almost painful level. She drew emotions from him he didn’t know he’d possessed until now. Fury laced with desire. The kind that could drive a man to the brink of madness if it went unsatisfied. The vixen clearly had no idea what a perilous game she played. Eventually, someone was going to teach her a lesson.

He desperately wanted to be that someone. He was probably going to hell for even entertaining such thoughts! Now was not the time for him to teach Jacey Maddox any lessons. Maybe some day. After she grew up.

Most unfortunately, Luca had never gotten to deliver his lesson. She'd eloped with his youngest brother before he had the chance.

His phone buzzed. It was LeAnne.

"It's Rhys on line two, sir." Rhys was one of his brothers, and their shared executive secretary, LeAnne, was efficient and succinct, a woman who didn't waste words. It would be interesting to observe her reaction to Jacey when he introduced them in the morning, once she realized the youngest daughter of their biggest competitor was now employed by Genesis. Not that in mattered. Jacey wasn't going to last long. He would personally see to it.

"Yes?" Rhys never bothered him unless it was important.

"We're assembled in the board room if you can spare a minute." There were questions in his brother's voice. There was concern too.

Ah. Obviously, his grandmother had seen fit to announce Jacey’s arrival to the rest of their clan.

"I'm on my way." Best to face them right away. His family deserved a full and immediate update on Jacey's employment status. As a precaution, he'd alerted their legal council the moment they’d received her application a few days ago.

On the elevator ride down, he carefully formulated what he would tell his family. More than anything, his grandparents and brothers needed reassurance. Reassurance he had this latest crisis under control. Reassurance the Calcagnis hadn't been somehow cursed by the Fates. After the death of his parents two years earlier during a deep sea diving expedition followed all too soon by Easton's fatal race car crash a month ago, they'd suffered enough. More than their share.

He entered the boardroom and scanned the faces of each, gauging their expressions and making final tweaks to what he was about to say.

Edric presided at the head of their famed twenty-foot conference table, his hands clasped loosely on the solid slab of white Sylacauga marble. The years were showing in his shock of frosted hair, crepe skin, and hand tremors. Their grandfather only served in an advisory capacity these days, preferring the solid whack of a golf ball most afternoons over the ever-changing screenshots of products in varying stages of design. He'd certainly earned his lighter workload. He also taught Sunday School at the church around the corner. The brothers continued to enjoy his keen and often humorous guidance, dreading the day when they would have to carry on without it.

Rhys, who served as the chief operating officer of Genesis, and Knox, who served as chief financial officer, were seated opposite each other in the seats closest to Edric. Rhys reclined in his chair, one hand wrapped around a mug of coffee. His knees nudged the cherry wood base of the table with its raised relief carvings of ancient Roman businessman at work and play. Their youngest brother sat forward in his seat, tapping away on his electronic tablet. Both glanced up expectantly at him.

Waverly was pacing the length of the boardroom when he walked in. She was past seventy and had never served in any official capacity at Genesis, preferring to leave her handprint on various charities and other worthy causes throughout the city. Now that she was retired, she amused herself by showing up to the office unannounced, flitting from floor to floor, and jumping into whatever project suited her fancy. The employees adored her interest in their work, the bottomless trays of homemade cookies she showered on them, and the impromptu breaks she offered while covering their duty stations. It allowed her to keep a strong finger on the pulse of both official and unofficial company business, an asset the brothers had learned to treasure. It had also allowed her to intercept Jacey Maddox when she'd arrived an hour earlier.

"Oh, Luca!" She swept his way to clutch his shoulders. "Did that vixen finally spill what she wants? When I asked, all she spouted was some nonsense about how we're her family now. As if!"

He embraced her. When she continued to cling to him, he addressed the occupants of the room over her head. "Ms. Maddox claims the only thing she wants from us is a job."

"Please tell me you said no," his grandmother moaned into his dress shirt.

"I did."

"Thank God. And thank you."

"Hang on to that thought." He drew the most beloved woman in his life at arm's length. "She begged me to reconsider and swore she would take any job we had to offer."

"She actually begged? Lord have mercy! You didn't fall for that line, did you?"

"She claimed being in the building makes him seem less far away."

The color drained from Waverly's face. She sank in the nearest chair and leaned heavily on the table. "You hired her," she whispered. "You already went and hired the hussy."

Luca’s chest tightened. He hated being the cause of her misery, but there were certain rules he had to follow as a CEO, certain lines he couldn’t cross in the fair treatment of new and potential employees. Jacey would sink her own boat soon enough, giving him reason to fire her. Then his family would be done with her once and for all.

"What is your theory about her true motives, Luc?" Rhys asked calmly.

Luca didn't know what he'd done to deserve his next younger brother's unshakable trust. It was part of a special bond they'd shared for as long as he could remember. Similar to the bond between twins though nearly two years separated them.

Rhys's lips twisted in a bitter smile, and he continued speaking before Luca had a chance to formulate a response. "There are the more obvious explanations, of course. Opportunist. Gold digger. Word on the street is Jacey Maddox is flat broke. Her family disowned her when she left town."

To elope with Easton. The tension in the room swelled to suffocating levels at what he left unsaid.

Knox flung an arm atop the nearest empty chair. "Or corporate spy. It wouldn't be the first time they tried to steal something from us." He waggled his brows, an unconscious imitation of Edric, proof of the bone of humor he'd inherited from their grandfather.

Luca laced his hands together and pointed his two forefingers at Knox while taking his seat. "She claims her family offered to reinstate her marketing position at DRAW, but she turned them down. Sounds like that happened no more than a couple of hours before our interview."

Their grandfather's deep voice boomed across the table. He was hard of hearing and tended to shout when he forgot to turn up his hearing aid. "I met with our attorney over lunch. Easton's wedding was legal and binding, and there's no sign of a prenuptial agreement. If she wants to pursue a settlement as his widow, the courts may find her entitled to some portion of his estate. However, Easton never got around to making her his beneficiary on his life insurance — no surprise there — so it could take some time for the courts to sort it all out.” Easton had possessed no financial management skills and had been content to leave the task to his family.

"We'll fight her every step of the way if she tries to take one cent. She's already taken enough from us." Waverly pressed her lips to steepled fingers. "What are we doing to do about her, Luca?"

He waited until all eyes were turned his way. "We're going to give her what she asked for. A job."

"You sure about this, Luc?" Knox straightened his tie. "A Maddox won't exactly be well-received in our marketing department."

"True. That's why she'll be serving as my personal assistant." He offered a humorless smile with the bomb he laid on his family. "Her workload won't leave time for causing trouble. Not that she's going to last long at Genesis."

His grandmother's face brightened.

A knock sounded on the boardroom door. At a nod from Luca, Rhys rose to open it.

The employee they’d been so intensely discussing stood in the doorway, her expression wary.