Yawning loudly, Lucian scrunched his fingers through his hair and then dropped his hand to his thigh as Troy got down to eyeballing Dev from the other side of the desk.

Of course, they weren’t seated in their father’s study.

Livie had one of the professional cleaning services out as soon as it was cleared to enter the room. Signs of what had gone down in that room had been scrubbed away by the time Lucian arrived back home early morning. A full day later and Lawrence’s study was going to be yet another place in the house that was shut up as if what happened in there could also be sealed away, forgotten like other bad memories.

Business was now being handled from the office Dev had installed on the second floor several years ago, the corner room that overlooked the overgrown rose garden Mom used to tend.

The only person missing from the impromptu meeting of the minds was Gabe, but he’d left not soon after Lucian got back. Gabe was most likely heading out to his warehouse. Lucian doubted they’d see him for the rest of the day.

And Lucian was present only for one reason, which had nothing to do with why Troy was here or his deceased dad. He was waiting, rather impatiently, for a very important arrival.

He had no idea what was about to go down, but for the first time in God knows how long, he was actually antsy with anticipation. He knew what time the plane landed, so it should be any moment now.

There had been a lot of firsts for him in the last twenty-four hours.

“You look like shit,” Troy commented, glancing over to where he sat.

Lucian lifted a shoulder. What could he say? He hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night.

“I think you guys know why I’m here,” Troy started. “And I know you got a lot on your plate, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

Dev leaned back in the leather chair, loosely crossing his arms. “I understand, but what we talked about the night of the incident hasn’t changed.”

Closing his eyes, Lucian shifted in the seat as he rubbed at his brows with his forefingers. As much as he cared for Troy, he needed him gone.

“Yeah, well the problem with that is the chief has a hair up his ass and he’s really pushing on this investigation. Probably has something to do with the army of lawyers who descended on the police department within hours of your father’s body being found.” He tapped his hand off the shiny, clear-of-clutter desk. “And I think he said something along the lines of ‘the de Vincents may run the world, but they don’t run my department.’”

“Interesting,” Dev replied in a way that didn’t show an ounce of interest.

“This isn’t going to go away.”

“The chief can think whatever he wants, but what happened seems pretty clear to me.” Dev picked up his glass. “He hung—”

“There were scratches along his neck as if he tried to get the belt off,” Troy clarified. “And that’s a bit suspect. Not saying that he couldn’t have had a change of heart, but that’s unlikely. The autopsy is being performed later today. I’m not suggesting that’s going to show anything, but it’s probably going to leave us with more questions than answers. And that’s like fucking Christmas morning to the chief right now.”

Dev took a sip and then flicked his wrist as he lowered the glass. Amber liquid swirled. “I really don’t know what to say about that.”

“Of course not,” he muttered dryly. “I’m trying to help you guys.”

“We know,” Lucian chimed in, shooting his brother a look of warning.

“Do you?” Troy’s steady gaze was on Dev. “I need to know everything so I can be prepared for anything.”

“You know everything,” Dev replied smoothly.

Irritation pricked along Lucian’s skin. Truth was Troy didn’t know jack shit about anything, and out of loyalty to them, Troy would get as close as he could to risking his badge for them. And Dev was going to sit behind that desk like he didn’t give a fuck.

Troy sure as hell didn’t know about who was upstairs. Dev had gone to extremes to keep that quiet, and Lucian had only agreed because he found the alternative to be unacceptable.

Richard appeared like a ghost in the doorway. The look on his face told Lucian that what they’d been waiting for was finally here. Lucian sat up, all traces of tiredness gone.

“I apologize for interrupting,” Richard announced, hands clasped behind him, “but you have a meeting you cannot be late for, Devlin.”

“I’m sorry, Troy, but I do have to go. As does my brother.” Dev rose, fixing the cuffs on his shirt. “Can we get back to this at a later date?”

Troy sat there for a moment and then shook his head as he rose. “Don’t expect this to just go away,” he warned, looking between the two of them. “It’s not going to be like everything else.”

Dev inclined his chin. “Of course.”

Pivoting, Troy started toward the door but stopped in front of Lucian. “Make sure your pig-headed brother understands how serious this can get.”

Lucian nodded even though he suspected Dev was well aware of that.

“See you later,” Troy muttered.

Richard escorted Troy out, making sure he didn’t end up where they didn’t want him. He was already halfway to the door when Dev stopped him.

“Where were you yesterday?”

Lucian lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Nowhere.”

“I think nowhere is somewhere that was ridiculously unnecessary.” Dev walked around his desk. “Did you stop and think about how that would look? You leaving the morning after your father tragically killed himself?”

He smirked. “I really don’t think anyone would’ve expected anything less.”

“And that is something to be proud of?”

“I like to think so,” Lucian remarked.

Dev sighed as he finished messing with his cuffs. “I’m still not happy about this.”

Tension crept along Lucian’s neck as he faced him. He knew exactly what his brother was referencing. “You’re not happy about anything. Why would this be any different?”

Dev crossed his arms. “You know what I mean. We’re bringing someone in this house after what just happened? That’s dangerous.”

“We made this decision before what went down with our father.” He squared off, going eye to eye with his older brother. “But I got to ask, what’s so dangerous about it, Dev? Is there something you’re hiding and worried about someone finding out?”

Dev didn’t flinch. “You know what I’m talking about.”

He got what he was implying without him having to go into detail. “Now, I thought you said our father was having problems dealing with what his brother is going through,” he reminded him.

Dev went quiet.

His hands curled into fists. “There is no way she’s responsible for what happened to Lawrence if he didn’t do that to himself. You’ve seen what kind of condition she’s in. You know what the doc said. God only knows where she’s been or what has happened to her, and all you care about is what people think about our family.”

“You don’t know what I care about, but let me explain something to you. Yes, I do worry about what people think, because what do you think Troy or that damn chief of police is going to wonder when they realize she’s back—that she came back shortly before our father died under apparently suspicious circumstances?”

Shaking his head, Lucian held his gaze. “Don’t pretend like you’re worried about her. I know you better than that. This isn’t about you protecting our sister.”

“Do you know me better?” His blue-green eyes, the same color as Lucian’s, burned intensely. “Do you think you know me like that? That I’m not trying to protect her?”

Lucian’s lips curled into a smirk. “Yeah, sorry. I’m going to call bullshit on that when you wanted to commit her to some faraway hospital. Seal her up and forget about her.”

A muscle flexed along Dev’s jaw. The first real hint of emotion. “If I wanted to seal her up and forget about her, I would’ve done exactly that.”

There was no way Lucian would’ve allowed that. “Why are you so worried? You did a background check on the nurse, right?” Even though Dev hadn’t told him he had, Lucian knew there was no way Dev would let her in the house without an extensive one. “You probably dug so deep you know what she ate for dinner a month ago. You vetted her.”

“I did,” he gritted out.

Lucian stepped in so close his shoes brushed the expensive loafers Dev wore, nearly the same their father had on the night he was found hanging from the fan. “So, I’m going to ask one more time, why are you so worried?”

Dev held his stare.

“Boys,” called Richard from behind them. “Your guest is waiting.”

Rife tension flowed out from them, filling every square foot of the airy room. Neither of them moved for a long moment. It was Dev who stepped back and spoke first. “Don’t you have something to do right now?” He paused. “Like someone to fuck?”

An almost cruel smile twisted Lucian’s lips. “Nah, not at this minute.”

“Too bad.” Devlin stepped around him.

There was no way Lucian was going to allow Dev to get to that room first and he wouldn’t allow Dev to have this conversation alone. Who knew what Dev would say about their sister?

Maddie needed someone compassionate. Someone with patience, who genuinely cared about helping her get better while they tried to figured out what had happened to her. No way would he allow Dev to jeopardize that.

Especially since Lucian was shocked to discover that his brother had actually hired someone with all those qualities.

“Where do you have her?” Lucian asked.

“She’s waiting in the lower sitting area,” Richard answered.

Because his brother would only walk at a sedate, proper pace, he easily sidestepped him and Richard, making his way downstairs before Dev even reached the top of the staircase.

His strides were long, his own notably ridiculously expensive Stefano Bemer shoes silent on hardwood floors as he made his way to the same room he’d broken the news of his father’s passing to Richard and Livie. He neared the open archway and came to an absolute, complete stop before even entering the room.

There was a moment, the tiniest second, where he realized there was going to be a before and there was going to be an after to this moment. He’d kind of felt that way last night, when he walked into a small, no-name bar and got his first look at the nurse Dev had hired.

Seeing her again was like seeing her for the first time all over.

Lucian had no idea what he had been expecting when he first laid eyes on Ms. Julia Hughes. Someone older? Possibly matronly? Who knew? But he was as shell-shocked then as he was last night.

Sitting on the edge of the Victorian-era couch, completely unaware that he could see her, was the woman he’d had his fingers inside of less than twelve hours ago.

She was . . . fuck, she was beautiful.

Beautiful in a way that wasn’t often seen anymore. The kind of beauty that was from eras that no longer reigned.

Her deep brown hair was secured in a neat knot with the exception of one strand that fell against her cheek. It was the same strand he’d tucked back last night. He still wanted to see her hair down, to know if his suspicions were true. He knew, just knew, it had to be thick and long.

The shape of her face was a perfect heart. Delicate brows arched over eyes he knew were the warm color of whiskey. A pert nose and high cheekbones that were even more pretty when they were flushed pink and her mouth . . . oh sweet Jesus, her mouth was a work of art. Lips so lush that a man would live his entire life without ever having the honor of tasting them, of knowing how they felt against his own month or around his cock.

Yeah, he was thinking some shit.

And he hadn’t even gotten to taste them.

Like when he first saw her, he could see her face rendered on canvas. It wouldn’t be easy. He knew there was a lot of emotion in that face, emotion that was always hard to translate in paint. Even the slight furrow in her brows would be difficult to capture.

It would be a challenge.

An honor.

Even though she was sitting, poised stiffly and uncomfortably on the edge of that couch, he knew she had a body of dreams. Full figured, soft and silky in all the places he wanted to explore.

There was a buzz in his veins as he stared at her, a heat that was burning him from the inside out. Flames that would engulf him whole, and what a way to burn.

Ms. Julia Hughes had been a very, very pleasant surprise.

Unlike his brother, he was more hands-on. Instead of hiring an investigator, he’d done the field work. The whole purpose of the trip to Pennsylvania was to scout her out since he hadn’t been able to find anything online about her. Went to where she’d worked and pretended to be interested in enrolling a family member. All he had to do was smile and say a few flowery words, and he was able to dig up some info from her old boss.

Stellar employee.

Well-liked by coworkers and patients.

They were going to miss her.

And while he’d been there, he’d overheard the friendly blonde talking about the party. Pure luck that had put him in the right place and the right time without being seen. He’d gone to that bar with the full intention to engage her in conversation, get a feel for her, and honest to God, that was all he’d planned.

But then he saw her.

Then he talked to her.

And then he’d wanted her.

He was vaguely aware of his brother approaching him. Knowing he should look away, he found that he couldn’t, that he didn’t want to.

“Lucian,” Dev warned quietly.

He ignored his brother as he inched closer. When he first saw her last night, he had a purely primitive reaction to her and it had been too long since that had happened. Too long.

“I mean it.” Irritation was evident in Dev’s low tone. “Don’t even think it.”

He wished his brother would shut up so he could gawk at his nurse in quiet privacy. “Now how would you know what I’m thinking?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” he challenged in a low voice. “You only care about two things. One of them involves fucking out what’s left of your brain cells.”

Lucian arched a brow as he looked at him, because he couldn’t argue with that. “What’s the other thing I care about? Tell me. Since you know more about me than I apparently do.”

His brother’s brows slammed down. “The reason why she’s here.”

“True,” he murmured, unable to argue with that either.

But when he turned his attention back to his nurse, his sister—God help him—was the furthest thing from his mind.

Lucian wanted to . . . he wanted to paint her.

And he couldn’t remember the last time he wanted to do that. That urge had peaced out on him a long time ago, but now his fingers itched.

For the first time since, well, forever, he looked at a woman and really thought about what his great-great-grandmother had said about the men of the de Vincent family. Maybe she’d meant that they fell in lust fast and hard, without reason or hesitation.

Because oh yeah, he was experiencing some hard-core lust. Walking away from her last night had been one of the craziest and out-of-character things he’d ever done.

“Lucian,” Dev repeated. “I want you to leave her alone.”

“Too late for that,” he replied.

Dev stiffened as he stared at him and then his eyes widened slightly. “Where did you go yesterday?”

Winking in his brother’s direction, he strode forward, leaving his brother and his concerns in the hallway, where both belonged.

Ms. Hughes jolted at the sound of his footsteps and finally, finally lifted her chin and those thick lashes. He saw her eyes widen and could track the confusion pouring out of them as she recognized him, and when those plush, unbelievable lips parted on a soft inhale, the tiny breath went straight to his dick.

He couldn’t help it.

Lucian bowed in front of her with a flourish aristocrats would’ve been envious of, extending a hand to her.

Those warm brown eyes dropped to his hand and then rose to his face. The pink in her cheeks deepened and spread. She gave a little shake of her head. Disbelief was etched into every inch of her face.

As if through a tunnel he heard his brother say his name again, this time closer, and this time with a little more warning to it. But he didn’t care. This was Dev’s fault, after all, because what the hell had his brother been thinking when he hired her? Not that he was complaining, but for real? Did Dev not find a picture of her during the background check, and think, well, this may not be a wise idea?

Too late now.

Because he knew he could’ve had her last night.

Because he still wanted her.

And Lucian always, always got what he wanted.

This wasn’t real life.

That was what Julia was thinking as she watched Taylor bow in front of her. This was some kind of dream. Maybe she was still back in her apartment, in bed. Or maybe she fell and hit her head somewhere in the airport. There was no way Taylor was here.

In such a shock, she barely processed him plucking up her hand.

“Ms. Hughes?” he said in that same deep voice that sent a fine shiver down her spine.

Her mouth dried.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” he drawled, his lips curving in a small way that hinted at all kinds of trouble.

She blinked slowly. What in the hell? She knew who he was. Intimately. Like real intimately, but that didn’t answer why he was here.

Her mouth opened and she drew in a deep breath that went nowhere. She started to rise, but found that she couldn’t get her legs to move. Air scorched her lungs as she stared up him. This couldn’t be happening. She’d just seen Taylor in Pennsylvania, and he had been . . . he was just some hot guy she met in a bar. He couldn’t be standing in front of her, thousands of miles away.

“You should maybe breathe,” he said softly, low enough for only her to hear.

On reflex, she gulped in air just as the corners of her vision started to blur.

“That’s better.” And then louder, he said, “I’m Lucian Taylor de Vincent.”

Oh my holy hell, burn the world down, he was Lucian de Vincent?

How in the hell had she not recognized him last night? Then again, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen a picture of him in the tabloids and, of course, she wouldn’t have been expecting him of all people to stroll into a bar in basically a town that symbolized bumfuck. But it was him, the youngest brother—the one they called . . .

“Lucifer,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

His brows rose about an inch and that smile spread, flashing straight, white teeth, and oh yeah, him smiling definitely amplified his hotness by about a million. “So, you’ve heard of me? Flattered,” he said, tone light, almost teasing.

Flattered?

Julia’s lips parted again, but what was burning up her throat was an entire truckload of curse words. The kind that would blister his ears right off him. She started to pull her hand free, seconds from unloading on him in the likes of which she doubted he’d ever experienced before.

Lucian held on to her hand. “I’m pleased to see you, Ms. Hughes. I do hope your flight to Louisiana was uneventful.”

Staring at him, she decided she was seconds from spending the rest of her life in jail for murder. Not cold-blooded murder. Oh hell no, this was going to be burning rage-induced murder. To make it all worse, suddenly, so many things made sense to her. Now she understood how he knew her last name, which meant he’d sought her out last night, in her state, a thousand miles away. A Thousand. He’d come there looking for her and for what?

She couldn’t even fucking process this.

Bitterness quickly wrapped itself around the anger as she realized she now could answer the whole “why her.” God, she wanted to laugh, except she might just end up screaming in his face.

And he was still holding her hand, refusing to allow her to pull her arm free. In stunned anger, she watched him lift her hand to his mouth. He kissed the top and then he turned her hand over, kissing her palm as he held her gaze.

Fury coursed through her as she glared back at him, mingling with the heat blasting her cheeks as she easily recalled what it felt like to be pressed against him. She clearly remembered how the hand that was holding hers now had felt between her legs, how—

A flick of wet warmth traveled up the center of her palm, shooting a wave of rolling warmth straight through every vein in her body. Had he—? Did his tongue—?

He winked as he lifted his mouth from her palm, holding her gaze.

He had.

Oh my God, a dozen emotions hit her. Insulted. Disgusted. Enraged. And because there was seriously something twisted and broken inside her stupid body, she felt the kernel of arousal stirring deep in her belly. She was turned on even as her brain was screaming abort, abort at her, yelling that she get up right this instant, punch him in the throat, and get back to the airport, hightailing her round butt back to Pennsylvania.

But she was locked in to that blue-green gaze—that kind of eyes, the kind of stare—that didn’t simply promise that kind of pleasure you only heard about, but threatened the kind you were likely not to recover from.

The kind she had a taste of last night.

Julia was so going to kill him.

A new, slightly terrifying thought occurred to her. Was this even a real job? Was she hired for something else? Because none of this—

A throat cleared, jarring her. As if a trance was broken, she yanked her hand free as her entire body flushed red.

Another man had entered the grandiose room. He looked to be the polar opposite of Lucian, roughly the same height but broader, dressed as if he were at a place of business instead of at home. An aura of absolute authority surrounded him as Lucian moved to the side and then dropped onto the couch beside her.

It wasn’t a very big couch.

His knee pressed against hers.

“I’m Devlin de Vincent,” the darker, older one said. “I apologize for my brother. He has the manners of an untrained dog.”

Her narrowed gaze shot to where Lucian was arrogantly sprawled on the couch beside her, thighs spread and one arm tossed lazily over the wooden trim. His grin kicked up a notch as he met her gaze with a heavy hooded one.

“And I feel like I need to apologize for something I know nothing about,” Devlin continued, the one the tabloids called Devil. “It appears that you two have already met?”

How in the hell did she respond to that? Why, yes. Your brother showed up at the local bar in a totally different state last night and ended the evening with his fingers between my legs? Oh, and I had no idea that Taylor was the middle name that had de Vincent attached at the end. Yeah, she didn’t think so. She was so thrown off guard by this, by all of this, that she couldn’t formulate basic sentences.

“We met briefly last night,” Lucian answered, surprising her. “We actually chatted about her career and decisions to take this job.”

Her nostrils flared as her hands curled into fists. That was partly true.

“Is that so?” There wasn’t a single part of Devlin that sounded like he believed him. “So that is where you disappeared to?”

It occurred to her then that Devlin had no clue what Lucian had done.

Lucian finally, thank God, stopped staring at her and looked toward his brother. “Did you think I’d let you hire someone without me checking them out?”

His brother’s lips thinned as he murmured, “Foolish of me.”

Julia sucked in a sharp breath as the reality of what was going on slammed into her with the force of a freight train. Lucian had searched her out to check her out, and not in the fun, flirty way. He’d known who she was, that she’d been hired to care for someone, if that was why she was actually here, and he chased her down in a bar, and he . . .

God, her stomach roiled.

Julia would never spread her horny wings and let herself fly again.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Was last night some kind of test? To vet her ethically and morally, because if that was the case, she’d failed stunningly. But what the hell did that say about Lucian, for him to do something like this? None of that really mattered. Julia felt overexposed and set up, like she’d walked into some kind of twisted trap.

No.

No way.

She was so done with this.

“Excuse me,” she gritted out, because that was all she trusted herself to say. Spine going rigid, she stood and snatched up her purse. Without waiting for either of them to say a word, she walked out of the room without one look back.