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kitchen. “You said you’re up for the CEO position?”
    He turned to face her. She was standing at the counter opening a bottle of red wine. “It’s between me, the CFO Emilio Suarez and my brother Jordan.”
    â€œYour brother, huh? That must be dicey.” The cork popped free and she poured the wine. “If I recall correctly, your relationship has always been…complicated.”
    â€œIs that the polite way of saying he’s an arrogant jerk?”
    â€œI actually met him at a fundraiser last year,” Ana said, carrying the two glasses into the room.
    â€œDid he hit on you?”
    â€œWhy? Are you jealous?” She handed him one, their fingertips touching as he took it from her. It was an innocent, meaningless brush of skin, but boy, did he feel it. Way more than he should have. If she noticed or felt it, too, she wasn’t letting on. She sat back down in the chair, curling her legs beneath her, looking young and hip and sexy as hell. And yes, maybe a little tired.
    â€œI ask,” he said, “because Jordan hits on all beautiful women. He can’t help himself.”
    â€œI believe he was there with a date.”
    Nathan shrugged. “That’s never stopped him before.”
    â€œNo, he didn’t hit on me. Although maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was eight months pregnant and as big as a house.”
    â€œSomehow I can’t see that stopping him either.”
    She laughed. “Come on, he’s not that bad.”
    He didn’t used to be. When they were growing up, Nathan had been his brother’s protector. He couldn’t begin to count how many times, when they were kids, that he had taken the blame for things his brother had done to shelter him from their father’s wrath, or stepped between Jordan and their father’s fists. As the older brother he felt it was his responsibility to shelter Jordan, who was quiet and sensitive. A sissy, their father used to call him. But instead of the loyalty and gratitude Nathan would have expected, Jordan learned to be a master manipulator, always pointing the finger at Nathan for his own misdeeds. At home, in school. He became the golden child who could do no wrong, and Nathan had been labeled the troublemaker. Not that Nathan hadn’t gotten into enough trouble all on his own. But after all these years it still chapped his hide.
    â€œJordan is Jordan,” Nathan said. “He won’t ever change.”
    â€œWhen will the new CEO be announced?” Ana asked.
    Not until the investigation into the explosion at Western Oil was complete, but he couldn’t tell her that. Only a select few even knew there was an investigation. The explosion was caused by faulty equipment—equipment that had just been checked and rechecked for safety—and as a result thirteen men were injured. The board was convinced it had been an inside job, and they suspected that Birch Energy—specifically Ana’s father—was behind it. The goal was to flush out whoever was responsible. But it had been a slow, arduous and frustrating process.
    â€œWe haven’t been given a definitive date,” he told Ana. “A few more months at least.”
    â€œAnd how will you feel if it goes to Jordan?”
    â€œIt won’t.” Of the three candidates, in his opinion, Jordan was the least qualified, and Nathan was sure thatthe board would agree. Jordan used charm to get where he was now, but that would only take him so far.
    â€œYou sound pretty sure about that.”
    â€œThat’s because I am. And no offense, but I don’t want to talk about my brother.”
    â€œOkay. What do you want to talk about?”
    â€œMaybe you could tell me a little about my son.”
    â€œActually, I can do better than that.” Ana set her wine down, got up from her chair and walked to the bookcase across the room. She pulled a large book down from the shelf and carried