Nick shook Maxs extended hand. He didnt think the lawyer liked him much, which was okay with Nick.

“I hope Henry went to all the trouble for nothing, Max said. “I hope, for Delaneys sake, he wont get what he wants.

Nick didnt bother with a reply. Delaneys virtue was safe from him. He walked out the front door of the office and down the sidewalk toward his Jeep. He could hear his cell phone chirping even before he opened the door. It stopped only to start once again. He started the engine and reached for the small phone. It was his mother wanting information about the will and reminding him to come to her house for lunch. He didnt need reminding. He and Louie ate lunch at their mothers house several times a week. It calmed her worries about their eating habits and kept her from coming to their houses and rearranging the sock drawers.

But today he didnt particularly want to see his mother. He knew how shed react to Henrys will and really didnt want to talk to her about it. Shed rant and rage and direct her angry diatribes at anyone with the last name Shaw. He supposed she had many legitimate reasons to hate Henry.

Her husband Louis had been killed driving one of Henrys logging trucks, leaving her with a small son, Louie, to raise by herself. A few weeks after Louiss funeral, Henry had gone to the house to offer his comfort and sympathy. When hed left late that night, hed left with the vulnerable young widows signature on a document releasing him from further responsibility in Louiss death. Hed placed a check in her hand, and a son in her womb. After Nick had been born, Benita had confronted Henry, but hed denied the baby could possibly be his. Hed kept denying it for most of Nicks life.

Even though Nick figured his mother had a right to her anger, when he arrived at her house, he was surprised at the vehemence of todays tirade. She cursed the will in three languages: Spanish, Basque, and English. Nick understood only part of what she said, but most of her outrage was directed toward Delaney. And he hadnt even told her about the absurd no-sex stipulation. He hoped he wouldnt have too.

“That girl! she fumed, sawing her way through a loaf of bread. “He always put that neska izugarri before his son. His own blood. She is nothing, nothing. Yet she gets everything.

“She might leave town, Nick reminded her. He didnt care whether Delaney stayed or was already on her way back home. He didnt really want Henrys businesses or the money. Henry had already given him the only property he would have wanted.

“Ba! Why should she leave? Your uncle Josu will have something to say about this.

Josu Olechea was his mothers only brother. He was a third-generation sheep rancher, and owned land near Marsing. Since Benita had no husband, she counted on Josu to be head of the family, no matter that her sons were grown.

“Dont bother him with this, Nick said and leaned a shoulder against the refrigerator. As a boy, whenever hed gotten in trouble or his mother figured he and Louie needed a positive male influence, shed sent them to spend the summer with Josu and his sheepherders. Both of them had loved it until theyd discovered girls.

The back door opened and his brother stepped into the kitchen. Louie was shorter than Nick. Solid, with the black hair and eyes hed inherited from both his mother and father. “So, Louie began, closing the screen door behind him. “What did the old man leave you?

Nick smiled and straightened. His brother would appreciate the inheritance. “Youre going to love it.

“He got practically nothing, his mother interjected, carrying a plate of sliced bread into the dining room.

“He left me his Angel Beach property and the land at Silver Creek.

Louies thick brows rose up his forehead and a glint sparkled in his dark eyes. “Holy shit, the thirty-four-year-old land developer whispered so his mother wouldnt hear him.

Nick laughed and the two of them followed Benita into the dining room, then sat at the polished oak table. They watched their mother neatly fold back the lace tablecloth, then leave to get their lunch.

“What are you going to put on the Angel Beach property? Louie asked, assuming correctly that Nick would want the land developed. Benita might not realize the worth of Nicks inheritance, but his brother did.

“I dont know. I have a year to think about it.

“A year?

Benita set bowls of guisado de vaca in front her sons, then took her seat. It was hot outside, and Nick really didnt feel like stew. “I get the property if I do something. Or not do something, actually.

“Is he trying to get you to change your name again?

Nick looked up from his bowl. His mother and brother stared back at him. There was no way around it. They were family, and they believed family had the God-given right to stick their noses in his business. He snagged a piece of bread and took a bite. “There was a condition, he began after he swallowed. “I get the property in one year if I dont become involved with Delaney.

Slowly Louie picked up his spoon. “Involved? How?

Nick cast a sideways glance at his mother, who was still staring at him. Shed never talked to either boy about sex. Shed never even so much as mentioned it. Shed left the talk up to Uncle Josu, but by that time, both Allegrezza boys had known most of it anyway. He returned his gaze to his brother and lifted one brow.

Louie took a bite of stew. “What happens if you do?

“What do you mean what happens? Nick scowled at his brother as he reached for his spoon. Even if he were crazy enough to want Delaney, which he wasnt, she hated him. Hed seen it in her eyes today. “You sound as if theres a possibility.

Louie didnt say anything. He didnt have to. He knew Nicks history.

“What happens? his mother asked, who didnt know anything but felt she had the right to know everything.

“Then Delaney inherits the property.

“Of course. Isnt it enough that she got everything that is rightfully yours? Now she will be after you to get her hands on your property, Nick, his mother predicted, generations of suspicious and secretive Basque blood running through her veins. Her dark eyes narrowed. “You watch out for her. Shes as greedy as her mother.

Nick seriously doubted he would have to watch out for Delaney. Last night when hed driven her to her mothers house, shed sat in his Jeep doing a really good impersonation of a statue, the moonlight casting her profile in gray shadows and letting him know she was royally pissed off. And after today, he was pretty sure shed avoid him like a leper.

“Promise me, Nick, his mother continued. “She always got you into trouble. You watch out.

“Ill watch out.

Louie granted.

Nick frowned at his brother and purposely changed the subject. “Hows Sophie?

“Shes coming home tomorrow, Louie answered.

“Thats wonderful news. Benita smiled and set a slice of bread next to her bowl.

“Id hoped to have a little more time alone with Lisa before I tell Sophie about the wedding, Louie said. “I dont know how shell take the news.

“Shell adjust to her new stepmother eventually. Everything will turn out fine, Benita predicted. She liked Lisa okay, but she wasnt Basque and she wasnt Catholic, which meant that Louie couldnt marry in the church . Never mind that Louie was divorced and couldnt marry in the church anyway. Benita wasnt worried about Louie. Louie would be okay. But Nick. She worried about Nick. She always had. And now that girl was back and she would worry even more.

Benita hated anyone with the last name Shaw. Mostly she hated Henry for the way hed treated her and the way hed treated her son, but she hated that girl and her mother too. For years shed watched Delaney parade around in fancy clothes while Benita had to patch Louies hand-me-downs for Nick. Delaney got new bicycles and expensive toys while Nick went without or had to settle for secondhand. And while shed watched Delaney get more than one little girl needed, shed also watched her son, his proud shoulders straight, chin in the air. A stoic little man. And each time she watched him pretend it didnt matter, her heart broke a little more. Each time she watched him watch that girl, she grew a little more bitter.