"Nice to meet you, Tucker. I've heard a lot of good things about you from my little sister. Contrary to the opinions of some," he cleared his throat, "I trust her judgment. Just keep her smiling, and you and I will get along just fine."

"Thank you, Kyle. I intend to make her smile as much as possible."

Out of the corner of Kat's eye, her mother whispered to her father.

"Katie, you forgot to introduce your mother."

"I didn't forget. It was intentional." The sisters-in-law gasped in unison. "Mother made it quite clear in the hallway, she has no desire for an introduction." Kat's stare landed without apology on her mother. Sarah James appeared to work hard not to shrink under Kat's scrutiny and the sting of public embarrassment.

Henry James blustered, his face shaded red, but he recovered quickly. He then introduced his wife to Tucker. Sarah seemed frozen, barely able to glance in Tucker's direction as he nodded and smiled politely.

Nervous chatter resumed on the other side of the room. Kat, Tucker, and Kyle formed their own alliance. Kat listened and delighted in the effortless way Kyle and Tucker exchanged stories and laughs.

She could feel the daggers in her back from the enemy camp, hear their muffled discontent. Then she zoomed in on the table, skipped along the formal table settings, an arrangement of tiered plates lined on three sides by an array of multiple forks, spoons, and knives. Wine glasses, champagne flutes, and water goblets rounded off one corner of each setting, with a bread plate and butter knife at the other. There were even name cards-Grant boldly displayed on one of them. Kat's disappointment escalated to a new level.

Sarah James lived for pomp and circumstance, but this level exceeded the norm for one of their routine family gatherings, holidays excluded. Clearly, her mother had rigged a test in hopes of embarrassing Tucker. Her family was apparently hell-bent on exploiting the differences between them, ready to cheer from their ivory towers when he floundered. They wanted to make him feel as uncomfortable, as unwelcome, and out of his element as possible.

Resentment swelled inside her.

Then something else registered: her father and brothers were wearing suit jackets and ties. They never dressed up for these informal dinners. What happened to business casual? She released some tension with an aggravated huff and shook her head. She should've let Tucker wear his dress shirt and tie like he'd wanted.

Then she noticed Kyle's loosened collar and missing tie-a remnant peeking above his jacket pocket. Kyle met her questioning expression with a wink as he tucked the tie fully into his pocket. Tucker's wide, warm hand slid around her waist and pulled her closer as she gave her handsome brother a grateful smile and mouthed thank you.

Her heart ached at the thought of him moving to the opposite coast. Might as well be a world away.

Epic fail. Without guidance, Tucker had navigated the obstacle course of fine china, silver, and crystal arranged before him with the poise of upper-crust breeding. Mother must be so disappointed. An uncontrollable grin spread across Kat's face.

This man continued to surprise her with the way he moved with unhurried ease past her usual defenses, all the while luring her deeper into his world with less and less struggle from her.

He was sneaky that way.

As she sipped dessert wine, Parker sat across from her, judged her with those black, calculating eyes she'd never trusted. He watched her as if he were waiting, planning ... What? What the hell had she ever done to him? He never had an answer when she asked.

Kat refused to lose to her aloof brother. This was their game, after all. The only meaningful way in which they communicated: the stare down. Who would blink first? Who would look away first? The diversion had always ended in a tie, an outside force halting their competition, pulling one of them away with a question or a nudge. This time their mother ended the showdown. Parker dragged his eyes from Kat's to answer the question posed to him.

A strong, warm hand covered her knee, slid midway up her thigh. Her attention shifted to Tucker and the curious look on his face, the question about Parker and her in his expression. She took his hand in hers and squeezed, shook her head, nothing for him to be concerned about.

Dinner conversation had primarily focused on bland news stories, political events, and the charities and fundraisers her sisters-in-law headed. Then talk of prep schools, universities, and the grad school admissions of the older children, followed by a lengthy and quite serious discussion of the potential pairings for her unsuspecting nieces and nephews with the offspring of other suitable high-born families.

Kat couldn't help but wonder if they still had discussions like this about her. Certainly not. She had to be past her expiration date at this point. She accidently snorted at the thought, drawing unwanted attention and judgmental glares.

She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. Please continue. It's riveting." She and Tucker exchanged conspiratorial glances. Kyle clasped his hands and pressed them against his lips, no doubt to conceal a traitorous grin.

"Do you find something funny, Kathryn? Perhaps you should share it with us." Sarah James's voice cut like a cold steel blade.

No surprise. Tearing up Grant's name card and then tossing the shredded bits like confetti had not gone over well before dinner.

"No, Mother, nothing to share. Because I haven't found one thing funny tonight." The two women locked eyes. With the exception of Kyle, the James clan had ignored Tucker, and Kat too. Well, she'd had her fill of the cold shoulder.

Sarah's posture stiffened further, her head tilted. "I'm so sorry we haven't entertained you this evening, Kathryn."

"I'm sorry too, Mother. You have no idea how sorry." Tucker gripped Kat's hand under the table. The tension in the room thickened. "I didn't come here tonight expecting to be entertained, but I did come here expecting common decency, good manners, and respect. Standards you've always demanded of others."

Henry James's tired voice bellowed from the other end of the table. "How long will you be in New York, Mr. Williams?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," said Charlie, his tone arrogant as he tossed his linen napkin on his empty plate.

Tucker zeroed in on Charlie's smug face. "I don't live by arbitrary deadlines." He paused and cocked his head. "I plan on staying as long as I want."

Charlie huffed and glanced over his wife's coiffed head to exchange a bemused glance with Parker.

"Don't you have a company to run back home in Montana?" He snickered. "Or maybe someone else does the heavy lifting for you ... while you clean out horse stalls."

The death grip Tucker had on Kat's leg prevented her from diving across the table. His jaw flexed, but the man did not look ruffled.

"If you've got somethin' to say to me, Charlie, then be a man and spit it out."

Charlie's mouth fell open. "Who exactly do you think you are? Using that tone with me in my family's home."

"I'm the man you clearly have a problem with. And it looks like you're the man who's been picked to run me outta town. So get on with it. Let's just get this song and dance over with right here, right now, in front of everybody. Then we'll all be on the same page after tonight." He held his hands up. "I've got nothin' to hide. How about you?" Tucker's question sounded more like a subtle threat.

Charlie appeared uncomfortable. He glanced around the table, shoring up his support. Kat stole a quick glance in Kyle's direction. He seemed mesmerized with apparent admiration for Tucker. Charlie loosened his tie and shrugged out of his suit coat and handed it off to his wife, Cecily. The two men stared at one another, playing a game of chicken.

Charlie broke the stalemate. "I'm sure you can understand why we would have concerns with any man Kat brings into our family. It's only natural we would be cautious, reserved in our acceptance." Charlie angled forward, sleeves rolled up for serious business. "You have to admit there is a lot of," his face contorted, "unpleasantness surrounding you. Your family, or families as it were, don't seem enamored of you, which makes me wonder why we should be."

Tucker remained silent for a few beats, probably contemplating the long road ahead.

"I see. You're one of those people. The kind who like to talk without actually sayin' anything. I'm supposed to guess, let you lead in a dance of words without you having to roll around in the mud. You don't like to get dirty-at least not when people are watching."

Tucker cut off Charlie's sputter.

"So, reading between the lines, I'm guessing you've bought into the media hype John Diamond's kids pedaled to anyone who would listen. The time you've taken to be my judge and jury probably amounts to a few clicks on a keyboard by one of your secretaries. You decided I was out before I ever walked in, because you don't like the way the reins of Diamond Industries were handed over to me. You think I didn't deserve it, being a bastard son and all," he paused, "as opposed to just being a bastard."

The air sucked out of the room, leaving behind a crush of silence and slackened jaws.

Tucker had come out swinging, gloves off.

This wasn't the laid-back Tucker Williams to whom Kat had become accustomed. No, the man next to her believed the best defense was a killer offense. She hadn't expected it, but in retrospect, maybe she should have. He'd come up against this type of bias most of his life. He probably went around locked and loaded, ready to strike. Oh yeah, he really had been to this rodeo before, many times.

Charlie recovered without missing a beat. "Oh, I assure you it was more than a few clicks on a keyboard." He waited a moment, his demeanor arrogant. "Are you planning on running Diamond Industries into the ground with your tree-hugging ventures? Looking for someone," his eyes skipped to Kat, "to shore up your cash flow so you can continue to play at being a businessman?"

Tucker leaned across the table with a mocking grin. "What've you got against trees, Charlie? You don't like clean air? Or is it clean water you have a problem with?"

Charlie looked perplexed but shook it off. "It seems to me you're one of those extremists. You probably buy into all the hype about climate change." His hands flew up, then landed hard on the table. "Well, of course, you do. You push for environmental legislation every chance you get in your state. You're for regulations that cripple businesses and kill jobs."

Tucker chuckled. "Been drinkin' that Kool-Aid, huh, Charlie?" Tucker settled back in his chair. "I bet your Kool-Aid wasn't made with the water from the Platte River, now was it?"

Charlie's smug expression drained away, taking all his color with it. "Excuse me?" His voice was tight and dialed down.

"Want to place bets on whether the land your company owns in Nebraska, your factory that poisoned drinking water and polluted the river, becomes a Superfund site? Or maybe it's just a line item in your financials. You know, a cost of doing business-killin' wildlife and people, instead of jobs."

"What!" Kat looked to Kyle for assurances, but he seemed far more engrossed with whatever he was pretending to scrape off the tablecloth.

Parker raised his hand to silence Charlie's sputtering rebuttal. "The matter is under investigation. Nothing has been proven and you know that, Mr. Williams. For all we know ecoterrorists are to blame." Parker's crisp, articulated words had all the markers of an orchestrated sound bite, a sleight of hand, a deliberate distraction. "And you," he directed his denunciation at Kat, "have never had any interest in the family business. I would advise you not to start now."

Parker's venomous tone startled Kat. Oh, she'd heard it before-when no one else was around to hear. But now he'd slipped and used it in front of others, an apparent crack in his veneer.

She brushed it off and stood her ground. "The mere fact you've just spoken more words to me than you have in years tells me I'm just in time. I don't want to be involved in the business, but clearly, I need to know what the hell is going on. What you've gotten this family involved in."

Her focus shifted to Charlie. "Do you believe the ecoterrorism spin?" He ignored her question, his apprehension evident, his attention aimed at Tucker.

Tucker filled in the blanks. "I don't much care for the definition of ecoterrorism. I think it misses the mark entirely, maybe even intentionally. I think people who willfully decide to pollute and poison our lands, air, and water and then turn around and hide behind a corporate shield," he pointed at Parker, "they're the real ecoterrorists.

"And what do they do next, Parker? Why, they pick up and move, don't they. Rename, rebrand, and reorganize. Isn't that the strategy? Find some country with lax environmental regulations, if any. Someplace where the people are barely paid a livable wage and will do almost anything to put food on the table, like breathin' in toxic fumes while they poison their piece of the world. But, hey, it sure does look good on the bottom line, doesn't it? I bet you have a sizable budget for all the greenwashing you have to do."

Parker's impassive manner failed to hide the malice in his eyes.

"Your bleeding heart won't find a sympathetic audience here, Mr. Williams. You should go back home-with your own kind."

"I would, but I'm havin' too much fun here." His jaw ticked.

Charlie cut in, pointed a finger. "When are you going to grow up, Kat? Huh? This wasn't funny when you were younger, and at your age it's just pathetic. When are you going to stop running through men and embarrassing Mother like this? You let the best of them walk right out of here tonight."

Kat huffed. "If you like him so much, Charlie, maybe you should run after him!"

Henry James's hand slammed down on the tabletop, rattling the dinnerware and the guests. "Enough!" He slowly scanned the cowed group, forced their rancor to stew in stinging silence. "It appears to me some of you were clued in on tonight's backdoor agenda, while others were left in the dark." His sharp judgment landed on Sarah; she twitched under his allegation. "And it will be discussed-in private."

Henry expelled an irritated breath and leaned back against his seat, arms extended before him on the table. He singled out his daughter. "You have always been independent, Katie. I respect that about you, I always have. I am proud of you and everything you've accomplished on your own. I'm glad to see my father's work ethic, ambition, and self-reliance passed along to someone in this family." He paused, admiration apparent in his eyes. "You are like a force of nature. Not everyone appreciates it. But I do." A smile teased at the surface, and then faded away.

His dimming focus shifted to the man who'd had a target on his back before he'd even arrived. "And you," he scrutinized Tucker, "I don't know whether I like you, Mr. Williams. I'll have to think about it, talk to my daughter. But I do know this: I like a man who speaks plainly, says what he means. So you've got that going for you."

Henry scooted his heavy chair from the table and surveyed the slack-jawed group. "I am a tired old man, and I am going to bed now." He ambled out of the room with a dismissive wave at his stunned family.

Kat remained frozen as her father's words and startling compliments replayed on a loop in her head. She'd never seen him like that, heard him speak that way, to anyone.

Something had to be wrong ...

"I need to leave. I have somewhere to be." Kyle slipped his smartphone into his pocket, ready to make his getaway.

"Not yet, Kyle. We need to discuss this situation with Margo."

"No, Mother. We don't need to discuss it. It's done. It's over. It's not happening. Just let it go."

Sarah James reacted with mortification at her son's unusually brusque tone.

As she geared up for her rebuttal, Kat cut her off. "We're leaving too, Kyle. We'll ride down with you." He nodded, barely able to make eye contact.

As the three of them crossed the threshold of the ornately hand-carved archway, Sarah James called out authoritatively, "Kathryn Diane. I need a moment of your time. In private."

Kat's fists clenched. Her mother still talked to her as if she were three.

"Just wait for me by the elevator-both of you," she said, the comment aimed at Kyle. "I won't be long."

She reentered the dining room, her sisters-in-law already absent through the staff door. Now she was left with her mother standing rigidly next to the table, her brothers observing with keen interest. They had undoubtedly been quite shocked, displeased even, and maybe a bit jealous. Henry James didn't give compliments, or affection, easily. No one had been more surprised by his praise than Kat.

Now she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"You are well aware I am quite disappointed with your decision to bring that man here tonight. Why you would have anything to do with someone like that when you had-" Sarah stopped, shook her head, and diverted her attention. "Well, it's just beyond me.

"I have done everything possible for you, Kathryn. Grant Collins was-is-perfect for you, and you know it. You simply relish fighting me on everything, even when it hurts you in the end. I feel terrible, embarrassed, for ever having involved him in this."

Kat digested the perplexing statement. Then a sickening revelation sunk deep in her belly. "Wait a minute. Do you mean for inviting him here tonight? Or something else?"

Sarah James couldn't cover her misstep quickly enough; her eyes had betrayed her.

"Oh my God! It was a setup from the beginning, wasn't it? The way we met, the day in the park was no accident. He already knew all about me. You coached him, didn't you?" Kat's eyes darted to her mother's partners in crime. "And you both vetted him, right? He got a big thumbs up from both of you. Why?"

She stalked to the table, braced her palms on the top, and then eased across. Charlie seemed uncomfortable with her proximity and looked to their mother for support.

"Tell me, Charlie. What'd you promise Grant if he closed the deal? Huh?" She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "A swanky hotel room for him and his mistress of the month?" Charlie's eyes widened in shock and understanding. Kat knew things she wasn't supposed to.

Parker spoke up. "You've always thought you could enjoy the benefits of this family without actually being a part of it. We've all made sacrifices. It's time for you to follow the same rules as the rest of us." He angled forward, challenge and enmity rolling in waves off his suited body.

His cool, clipped tone tightened Kat's resolve, focused her fury. She met his challenge head on and bent closer to him. "I guess you didn't get the memo, Parker. I make my own rules. I'm not a follower like you." She could see, feel, the rage boiling beneath his surface. He'd have her in a chokehold right now if it weren't for witnesses; she was certain of it.

What the hell was his problem?

"What were you going to get from my match made in heaven?" She tilted her head. "The Collins family is old money, much older than our family. Was it for the connections, the networks that go deeper, reach farther than ours?" Her eyes narrowed in contemplation. "Or was it because Grant's father is a federal judge?" The cold sheen of his eyes lit with fire for only an instant, but that was long enough. "What the hell have you done, Parker?" She uttered the question with genuine worry.

Silence. A blank canvas. The perfect poker face staring back at her, daring her.

"Well, you've got me curious now. Do you know what happens when I get curious?" She paused. The slight tug of a sneer marred his mask. "I look for answers. And I don't stop until I get them."

"That's quite enough, Kathryn!" The shrillness in Sarah's voice echoed, belied her usual impeccable self-control.

"I'd be careful, if I were you. You know, the cat and curiosity ..."

She considered her brother. Even with their shared family history, the man was a stranger to her.

"You don't scare me, Parker." The threat in his eyes told her she should be.

How had it gotten to this point? What piece was she missing?

"Enough!"

Sarah's apparent alarm caused Kat to whirl around and step toward her.

"I couldn't agree more," Kat said. Sarah appeared confused. "Shocking, isn't it? You and I agreeing on anything." She closed the gap between them. "I don't even have to ask about your motivations. I've been a disappointment you've had to explain away for years. Too smart for my own good, too independent for my own good. Too focused on my shitty, second-rate company, right?" Sarah blanched. "Too driven to take the time to marry a man, a rich man you hand pick, and become his baby factory, his dutiful trophy wife, satisfied to ride the coattails of his achievements."