It was approximately one in the afternoon when Nikki was finishing up in the sitting room nearest to the first-floor office. She was dusting the chairs that seriously didn’t need to be dusted when she felt a prickling sensation along the nape of her neck. Wiping a faint sheen of sweat off her forehead, she rose and turned to the doorway.

Devlin de Vincent stood there.

His presence startled her enough that she almost dropped the rag she was holding. Stepping back, she knocked into the heavy furniture that reminded her of something straight out of the Victorian age.

Goodness.

She’d seen pictures of Devlin in the gossip magazines over the years, but she hadn’t seen him in person during that time.

He looked so much like his father it sent a chill down her spine. Dark hair coifed and styled short. Coldly handsome and completely remote, he was dressed as if he’d just left an important business meeting, wearing trousers and a button-down despite the fact that it was September and still hot as hell.

As a kid, she’d been slightly terrified of the eldest de Vincent brother who now had to be steadily approaching his forties.

Nikki wasn’t a kid anymore, though.

His gaze drifted over Nikki, assessing her in a way that made her feel like a piece of furniture he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep or store away in the attic where important, powerful people couldn’t see it. “Hello, Nikki, it has been a while.”

Nikki forced an easy smile as she clutched the rag. “Hi, Dev.”

Something passed over his face when she used the abbreviated version of his name. Nikki wasn’t sure if it was irritation or amusement. One never knew with Devlin.

“Thank you for stepping in and helping while your mother is out,” he said, his voice as flat as his personality. “I do hope she is starting to feel better.”

“She is . . . she’s hanging in there,” she replied.

“Your mother is a very strong woman. If anyone can beat this, she can.”

That was possibly the nicest thing she’d ever heard come out of Devlin’s mouth.

His gaze roamed over her again. “I know you have been gone for a long time, away at college and all, but I am sure you do remember that our staff wears a uniform and not ragged, hand-me-down jeans?”

Aaand there he went, ruining it by becoming Captain Dickhead de Vincent, who sounded like he was eighty instead of almost forty.

Nikki’s spine stiffened. “These actually aren’t hand-me-downs.”

“You bought them that way?” A smirk appeared. “Perhaps you should ask for your money back.”

Her lips thinned as she resisted the urge to give him the middle finger. “I’m sorry. I was told I didn’t have to wear a uniform.”

Not necessarily true, but whatever.

He inclined his head, a gesture she used to see from his father. “I see. Then maybe you can find something in your closet that doesn’t look like we pay our help below minimum wage? Especially since you are being paid. You’re not doing this for free.”

She sucked in a harsh breath. Help. The house might’ve changed a little and Lucian may be a reformed man-whore, but Devlin was still the same. “I’m sure I can find something that will meet your approval.”

There it was again. A flicker of emotion that was gone before Nikki could even figure out what it was.

Then Devlin was in the very room with her, only a few feet away. Her eyes widened slightly. How in the world did he move so fast and so quietly?

Was he part ghost?

More like part devil. After all, that was his nickname—what the gossip mags called him. The Devil.

Now he was directly in front of her, and Nikki was not a tall woman. Barely pushing five and a half feet, it was hard not to be intimidated when he towered over her. “Do I detect an attitude, Nicolette?”

Oh dear.

Mentally cursing herself and Devlin, she planted the brightest smile she’d ever mustered in her life. “I hope not. I was being serious. I do have nicer pants. Ones that I am sure you would approve of.”

His eyes, the de Vincent eyes, latched onto her. “I am pleased to hear that.”

Okay. He did not sound pleased. At all.

He bent his chin down and she felt the tiny hairs rise all over her body. “I would hate to have to tell your father about your attitude.”

Nikki would, too.

“Do you remember what happened last time? The only time?” he asked. “I do.”

Oh, she remembered. She’d been seventeen and gotten into the liquor cabinet when her mom wasn’t looking, drinking the expensive-as-hell scotch, all to prove she wasn’t a little girl anymore. Looking back, she recognized that she’d been, in fact, a little girl, but that wasn’t the point. She’d mouthed off at Devlin when he’d ordered her to stop following Gabe around like a lost, underfed puppy.

He had such a way with words.

“I remember.” Her smile was beginning to fade. “In my defense, I’d been slightly intoxicated and therefore was not wholly responsible for my actions.”

One dark eyebrow rose.

Her shoulders squared. “And I also hadn’t been following your brother around, so I was a little offended.”

“You were attached to my brother like an underage barnacle that had no concept of why a grown man would not be remotely interested in a teenage girl.”

Holy crap, he really just went there! Like totally went there.

“I . . .” Yep. Nikki had no idea what to say to that.

Because it was true. All true.

Ever since Gabe pulled her out of the pool and defended her to Devlin, she’d spent every spare moment basically stalking Gabe and trying to catch his attention. For some dumb reason, when she’d been younger, she hadn’t seen the age difference as being that big of a deal.

God, she had been such an idiot.

She was completely nutso not realizing that the age difference had been a very, very big deal, because it was quite the age difference. He’d been twenty-six when he pulled her out of the pool. Ten years older than her, a full-grown man, and she had been—well, yeah, barely sixteen. Gross.

But she’d figured in her dumb hormone-riddled teenage brain that once she turned eighteen, Gabe would fall head over heels in love with her.

Honest to God, Gabe had never once given her any indication that he’d thought of her in any way that was inappropriate and illegal, but she . . . well, she had been young and dumb and in love for the very first time in her life.

“Can I be honest with you, Nikki?”

She blinked. “Of course.”

“I was not at all happy about you taking your mother’s place while she gets better.”

Wow. What was she supposed to say to that? Thanks?

“You leaving for college was the best thing you could’ve done for yourself, because if you had stayed, you would’ve gotten yourself in a lot of trouble.” He paused. “Or my brother.”

Well, she hadn’t exactly left before that happened.

Her face started to feel like it was on fire.

Devlin dipped his chin. “I do hope you don’t pick up where you left off.”

Nikki’s mouth dried as her heart turned over heavily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Now, you know that’s not the truth.” His voice was deceptively low. “From the moment you realized you liked boys, you pranced around this house every single time Gabe was around.”

Her face was seriously going to burn right off, because that was also true. She’d done just about everything to garner Gabe’s undivided attention. Sometimes it had worked. Usually it hadn’t.

“And those swimming lessons?” he continued, much to her horror. This was not a walk down memory lane she wanted to stroll on. She hadn’t even worked up the nerve to look at the pool yet. “They weren’t that bad when you had the body of an underdeveloped boy.”

Oh my God!

“But the older you got, the skimpier your bathing suits became.” His face was still completely devoid of emotion. “We all saw it whether we wanted to or not. Even though we shouldn’t have.”

Suddenly she was that sixteen-year-old girl again, wanting to drown herself in the pool. “I was just a teenager, Devlin.”

“And you’re just—what? Twenty-two now?” He’d guessed right. “Not exactly that much older. You’re still just a girl, but one who is actually of legal age now.”

Folding her arms across her chest to stop herself from throwing the rag in his face, she took several deep breaths before she trusted herself not to curse. “I am not a teenage girl pining after an older guy any longer. Trust me.”

“I don’t.”

She stared at him for several moments, unsure of how to even proceed with this. “I don’t know what you want me to say then.” And she really didn’t. “I didn’t come here for Gabe. I came home to help my parents. If being here is going to be such a huge problem, then you need to hire someone else. I’m sure my father will understand.”

Devlin was quiet for a moment. “You know . . . how things work here. You know what is expected.”

“I do.” She wished her face would stop flaming and that this conversation was already over.

The eldest de Vincent watched her intently. “The last thing my brother needs right now is another complication.”

Another complication? What? Her stomach dropped. “What does that mean? Is something wrong with him?”

That was apparently the wrong thing to ask, because his eyes narrowed. She didn’t regret asking the question. While she felt like an utter fool whenever she thought about Gabe and seeing him again was not something she was looking forward to, she still cared for him.

How could she not?

Gabe was completely off-limits, always was and always would be, but they’d been . . . friends once. Even with the age difference, he’d respected her. He’d been kind to her, and he used to bring her smoothies, surprising her with different flavors. Some he’d made himself. Others he picked up from her favorite shop when he was coming back from the city and knew she was there. He’d been there for her, more than once.

But she’d ruined all of that, so Devlin really had no reason to be worried that she had any plans that concerned Gabe. He was not going to welcome her with open arms, and Nikki was going to do everything in her power to avoid him as much as humanly possible.

“I hope we have an understanding,” Devlin said without answering her question.

“We do.”

He hadn’t backed off. “Good to know.”

Nikki nodded slowly, hoping beyond hope this awkward-as-hell conversation was over and she could retreat somewhere for a few moments to repeatedly punch herself in the lady bits for past crimes.

“Dev,” a voice called from the hall. “Where in the hell are you?”

Her heart stopped in her chest when she heard the voice. No. Oh, sweet baby Jesus, no.

“Speak of the devil,” Devlin muttered under his breath. His gaze lifted to the ceiling while Nikki was close to hyperventilating and maybe even passing out. “Gabe. I didn’t know you were coming home today.”

“Change of plans.” The voice neared.

Nikki looked around wildly for a place to hide. Would dive-bombing under the raised couch that no one ever sat in look strange? Yes. Yes, it would, but she was not ready to see Gabe.

Not after this conversation.

But it was too late.

There was nowhere to hide, and Devlin was turning around. She couldn’t see the doorway because of how broad Devlin was, but she squeezed her eyes shut nonetheless.

I can do this.

It’s no big deal.

I’m not a teenage girl anymore.

Her pep talk wasn’t helping her very much.

“What are you doing in here?” Gabe asked, and God, his voice sounded just like she remembered. Deep. Smooth. Lightly accented. “Oh, you have company.” A shocked-sounding laugh came from him. “Sorry to intrude.”

She almost laughed at the idea that she and Devlin could be together, but she managed to squelch it because it would probably sound a bit crazed.

“Yes, I do have company.” Devlin stepped to the side. She didn’t see him, because she still had her eyes closed, but she’d felt Devlin move.

Silence.

And then, “Holy shit.”