“Everything else is yours to keep.”

Willa took a shuddering breath. “And mine to give away?”

“That’s complicated,” Spencer cautioned. “Bram’s will specifically states that you may not turn anything over to his grandsons. Not unless you’re married to one of them. And you must get pregnant. Only then can you do whatever you want with everything.”

“Is that legal? Can Abram bequeath me a gift and then still control it?”

“He can entail the inheritance. You could try breaking it in court, but it would probably stand. Tying legacies to lineage, thus making it contingent on your conceiving, is a time-honored tradition based in ancient law. Families have been doing it for centuries.”

“What happens to all of this if something happens to me in the next three months?” Willa asked.

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Sam snapped.

“But what if it does?” she shot back, raising her chin.

“There are provisions,” Spencer quickly replied. “Legally, Bram had to consider that possibility. If something happens to you, Rosebriar and the money will be equally divided among the three grandsons. But the Tidewater shares will still be sold to Warren Cobb.”

Sam gave her a lopsided smile. “You’re a wealthy woman now. And would marriage really be so bad?”

“My last one was!” she snapped, glaring at him and then turning her glare on Spencer. “Give me the damn papers to sign. I wouldn’t want the electricity cut off for nonpayment of the bill.”

“Uh-oh. She’s mad now,” Jesse chirped, walking to the desk. “We’d better be nice to her, guys, or we’re liable to be looking for a place to sleep tonight.” He gave Willa a daring grin. “You gonna kick us out of your home, little partridge?”

“What is it with this partridge thing?”

Sam shot a warning glare at Jesse.

“It’s just something…um, Bram said in one of his memos to the office. He mentioned seeing a partridge where he was staying,” Jesse quickly prevaricated.

Willa snorted. “Well, Bram still owes me for the casket.”

“I think he’s paid you in full, Willa,” Ben said with a chuckle, holding the open bankbook out to her. Sam watched Willa read the numbers. “I can’t even count all the zeros!”

“Enough to cover the cost of his casket?” Jesse grinned.

Willa slapped the bankbook onto the desk with a crack. “Each and every one of you can go straight to hell.” She spun on her heel and stalked away. “And join your grandfather!”

The windows rattled with the force of the slammed door.

“She’s in a bit of a snit,” Jesse said, picking up the bankbook and letting out a soft whistle. “Most women would be rather pleased right about now.” He waved the book at his brothers. “She could buy a small nation with this kind of money.”

“Or a husband,” Ben speculated. He looked at the door. “Was her first marriage that bad, do you suppose?”

“I don’t think marriage is the problem,” Sam offered. “Remember last night, when she told us how she was responsible for maiming her niece? She’s scared to have children, because she’s afraid she might harm them.”

“That’s right,” Spencer added. “Bram saw it. Willamina does have a tendency to…find trouble.”

“Only because she’s so busy trying to save the world,” Sam explained. “She was so worried about doing well for Bram at the board meeting she couldn’t even get off the elevator without causing a commotion.” Sam turned serious. “Does Warren Cobb know the specifics of the will? Did either you or Bram consider all of the different scenarios?”

“We did. And Warren Cobb is a smart man,” Spencer answered softly. “He’ll figure it out.”

“Then we may have a problem.”

“What?” Ben asked, stiffening.

“If Willa doesn’t get married in three months to one of us, or if she doesn’t get pregnant within fifteen months, or if she dies,Warren wins.”

“Cobb wouldn’t do anything drastic,” Jesse said.

“Sixty years is a long time for hate to fester.”

Ben cursed. “Then you shouldn’t wait three months to marry her. Unless you’d rather one of us gets the partridge pregnant? I suppose I could volunteer.”

“For the good of Tidewater?” Sam asked, stepping toward his brother.

“Tidewater can go straight to hell with Bram, for all I care,” Ben said with a laugh. “Just as long as Cobb doesn’t get it, I don’t care if the whole damn business explodes.”

“You seem to be the only one of us kissing Willa,” Jesse said, moving between his brothers. “So, what’s the problem?”

“There is none!” Sam snapped. “Maybe I’ll just ask her to marry me right now. ‘And while you’re

signing the marriage license, would you please sign over the Tidewater shares while you’re at it?’” he finished scathingly.

“But that’s the plan,” Spencer piped up.

Sam growled, “Did you or Bram consider how Willa will feel, thinking she’s merely a prize? She’s going to think I’m marrying her only to get Tidewater.”

“But you will be,” Spencer pointed out.

“Dammit! It’s not the business I want!”

“You’ll be getting Willa, too!” Spencer shouted.

“That’s enough. Calm down, both of you,” Ben said. “We’ll figure something out. Together we’ll find a way to convince Willa it’s her you want.”

“You really want her?” Spencer had the nerve to ask.

“Yes,” Sam snapped. “And like my brothers, I don’t care if Tidewater rots.”

“But Bram worked his whole life to build that company.”

“He needed it. We don’t.”

“What about Rosebriar? Don’t you want it?”

“We can build elsewhere on the estate,” Jesse said. “Sam will probably be busy making caskets inMaine most of the time, anyway.”

“Just as long as Warren Cobb and his damned grandsons are out of the picture,” Sam growled.

“Have you met any of his grandsons?” Spencer asked.

“Yup. And if you thinkWarren ’s bad, you should see them.”

“He’s got four, hasn’t he?” Ben asked.

“Warrenhad six children,” Spencer told them. “Four daughters and two sons. And several grandchildren now. I don’t remember the exact number.”

“The old bastard didn’t pine for Rose long,” Jesse drawled.

“He married about four years after Bram did,” Spencer said. “And he married money. That’s how he got his start.”

“Then I can’t imagine them holding a grudge for sixty years.”

“It was heated at first, until they both got busy building their empires. It’s only been minor skirmishes for the last thirty years.”

“Then Willa shouldn’t be in any danger,” Jesse speculated.

“Don’t bank on it,” Spencer offered. “One of his grandsons, Barry Cobb, is ten times worse than old man Warren. And he hopes to gain his grandfather’s favor. It would be my guess that most of the battles Tidewater has fought lately have been because of Barry.”

“But why? The feud’s two generations removed from him.”

“All of the children were raised on stories tainted withWarren ’s bitterness,” Spencer explained. “Most of them could care less, but with Barry, it took. He’d like nothing better than to bring down Bram’s company for his grandfather.”

“So, now we know where to look for trouble,” Sam said. “We keep Willa safe, and we keep a close eye on Barry Cobb.”

“We’ll do the watching, brother—you concentrate on wooing your bride. Then you can start making a baby. Fifteen months isn’t all that long,” Ben said.

Sam gave his brother a challenging grin. “One million bucks says I get her pregnant within two months of our wedding.”

Ben’s eyebrows climbed into his hairline. “A million?”

“Each.”

Jesse’s eyebrows went the way of his brother’s. “Pretty cock sure, aren’t you?”

“Eleven months from the wedding, I’ll consider accepting your christening gifts.”

“You’re on!” Jesse said. “One million each, to be set in trust for your kid. One day past eleven months, though, and you set up trusts for our future offspring.”

“Fair enough.”

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

Three hours of crying hadn’t helped, and the laughter Willa heard coming from the office only added to her anger. It had begun drifting up the stairs two hours ago in increasingly boisterous waves. It was obvious that those three pitiful excuses for grandsons were getting roaring drunk. They’d put Abram in the ground not ten hours ago, and now they were carrying on like uncivilized baboons. The ungrateful wretches.