“She won’t betray him. I tried.”

“Maybe you didn’t try hard enough.”

Sam gave his brothers a wry grin. “Don’t underestimate Ms.Kent , gentlemen. She may look like a meek little partridge, but she won’t break her promise to Bram.”

“We know he’s inMaine . We’ll track him down,” Ben said.

Sam looked at his brothers’ anxious faces in the soft interior lights of the limo. “Do we really want to go against Bram’s wishes?” he asked, his voice betraying his reservations. “He’s of sound mind; it’s his body that’s failing him. And he doesn’t want us to see that.”

“Damn. I didn’t realize he was sick. I thought we had more time,” Jesse choked out, dropping his gaze to stare at his hands.

Ben wouldn’t let go of his anger. “Why in hell couldn’t he have just faxed us his vote? The woman obviously doesn’t know a spreadsheet from a bedsheet.”

Sam snorted. “Guess.”

Both brothers blinked at him, then started cursing.

“Bram is still trying to marry us off from his deathbed!” Jesse snapped, shaking his head in disgust.

“Yes,” Sam agreed. “That, and to prepare us.” Sam cocked his head. “I’d guess that Ms. Kent has

fallen in love with Bram. Why else would she be doing this for him?”

“To land a rich husband,” Ben spat out.

“That woman couldn’t land a goldfish, much less a rich husband,” Jesse said.

“Don’t underestimate her.” Sam looked at his brothers with haunted eyes. “She owns a casket-manufacturing business. And she told me Bram’s been building his own casket.”

“What?”

“She says it’s been comforting for him.”

“Then she’s as sick as he is!”

“No. She’s softhearted. And the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” Sam countered.

“Brave?” Ben repeated.

“It was obvious that Tidewater’s boardroom was the last place Ms.Kent wanted to be today. And I assure you, she is not looking forward to this evening. It takes a hell of a lot of courage to messenger the imminent death of a man to his family. I honestly can’t say that I could do what she’s doing.”

The car fell silent after that, until they stopped to pick up Jesse’s date for the evening. With legendary Sinclair willpower, the three men forced themselves to throw off their gloom and smile at Darcy as she sat next to Jesse.

Darcy was the epitome ofManhattan womanhood. Tonight she was dressed in elegant black and cultured coolness. She wore three-inch heels, which were necessary if she didn’t want to be dwarfed by her escort. Jesse and Darcy had been seeing each other for three months, which was about the limit of Jesse’s female attention span.

Sam guessed his brother would soon be moving on, which was probably just as well. For all of Darcy’s beauty, she didn’t have much depth of character. Traveling, shopping, and spending her trust fund were the extent of her interests.

They picked up Ben’s date next. Paula wasn’t a steady; Ben enjoyed the company of several different women. He’d been burned badly a couple of times already; first when he was nineteen and then again four years ago.

The last time had been close. Bram had thought he was finally going to get a granddaughter-in-law, and Jesse and Sam had thought they were going to get the pressure lifted from finding their own wives. But just when it had looked as if Ben might propose, he’d broken off the relationship, not telling anyone why. It would take a stalwart woman to marry a Sinclair. She would have to be intelligent, strong, and forgiving. She’d also have to be brave. The Sinclair men were not known for their patience. People generally treaded carefully around them, especially Bram. And he’d brought up his grandsons to be just as ruthless, just as relentless, just as driven.

Sam, Ben, and Jesse had been orphaned when Sam was twelve. Their parents had died in a plane crash returning from an overseas meeting that had doubled as a romantic vacation. His shoulders slumped in

defeat with the news that his third and last surviving son was dead, Bram had arrived with Grammy Rose at the boys’ home and collected them. A powerful bond had been formed that day between the three lost, confused children and their grieving grandparents. Deep, desperate love had blossomed, along with friendship and respect.

That was why Bram hadn’t been able to choose among them. He didn’t want to turn his business over to just one of his boys; they all owned shares in Tidewater, and they all were wealthy men in their own rights, thanks to the Sinclair drive. To pick one to head his company was clearly too hard for the old man.

The limo pulled up to the Marriott, where Willa was waiting in the lobby. She reminded Sam of an absentminded professor, whose body was having trouble keeping up with her brain. Willamina Kent ’s head was too far into the clouds to see the everyday details of life. And her heart, apparently, was her own worst enemy. Why else would she have come on this mission for a man she’d only known for six weeks?

As soon as she saw him get out of the car, she headed for the revolving door. She’d traded her saddlebag of a purse for a clutch with a long strap that dangled from her fist. Sam watched in stoic resignation as she pushed through the door, snagging her purse in the sweep of the door behind her. The strap snapped, and the purse landed on the ground, unceremoniously pushed along by the door behind her.

Her ankles wobbled as she reached down to get it. Sam grabbed her elbow to steady her, then retrieved the purse himself.

“Thank you,” she murmured, clutching the mangled purse, the long strap dangling like a tail as she headed for the car.

Sam settled her into the silent limo. Getting in beside her, he saw her cheeks were flaming red. They matched her dress.

The dress looked as if it had come from a thrift shop, the style even older than the suit she’d worn earlier, with a high collar in danger of choking her. Ruffles grazed her chin, and the hem was nearly at her ankles.

At least her shoes were better this time. They were black, again with two-inch heels, and matched the wide belt cinching her waist. The purse she was industriously trying to repair was tan. Sam reached over and took it from her. Upon examination, he quickly decided the thing was a lost cause and broke off the strap. “Now you have a hand clutch,” he said, handing it back to her. Her gaze, which had widened when he’d popped the useless strap, lowered to her lap. Turning the small handbag over and over, she finally looked up at the others in the car and gave them a shy smile.

“Hello again,” she said to Jesse, who couldn’t quit staring. Ben quietly kicked him.

“Ah…hello,” Jesse answered. “I guess I should make the introductions. This is my friend, Darcy. And this is Paula, Ben’s friend. Ladies, this is Willamina.”

Everyone smiled graciously, then Willa turned to Sam. “Are we going to pick up your date next?” she asked.

“No. I drew the short straw.”

Her face flushed, and her head bent down, causing her precarious topknot to loosen. Aw, hell. He hadn’t really meant to say that. He knew she didn’t want to be there any more than they did. But despite what he had said to his brothers about Willa’s courage, she was also husband hunting. Only someone hoping to marry into the Sinclair wealth would agree to come toNew York to vote on something she knew nothing about.

Well, by the end of this evening, Willamina Kent would be more than ready to fly home after a triple dose of confirmed bachelorism. They’d all sent better women than she down the road shaking their heads. Bram was going to have to go to his grave without getting a granddaughter-in-law. Sorry for hurting her feelings but determined to stand firm against the threat she posed, Sam turned away and stared out the window.

The man may as well have slapped her face. She didn’t want to be the arrogant jerk’s date. She didn’t want to be anyone’s date. Especially not one of these three puffed-up baboons parading as men. They were just like their grandfather—and Willa didn’t consider that a compliment. Abram Sinclair was a bossy, arrogant old goat, even if she did love him. But that didn’t mean she had to love his grandsons. She didn’t even have to like them.