"I know chili dogs. I've just never eaten one dressed like this." She gestured at her violet, strapless evening gown before biting into her own dog.

Tucker boldly admired the view, his vision clouding over with palpable need. "You look beautiful, Kathryn James," he said in a rough whisper, eyes creased in a tender smile, "even with chili smudged on your face."

A heated blush bloomed across her cheeks at hearing the desire in his voice, the respect bright in his eyes. He wanted to lick the sauce off her, and more, she could feel it. Her flesh quivered from the idea alone. Impulse control, Kat. Kick it in gear, now.

A man had never affected her quite like this one.

"Well, you don't look so bad yourself. You clean up nicely, Mr. Williams."

She wiped away the chili near her lips as her eyes roamed over his untamed hair. He smiled knowingly and finished off his chili dog before digging into the basket of onion rings.

"I've had fun tonight."

"So have I," he said. Kat snorted in disbelief and looked out the window at the busy foot traffic. "I have, Kat. The opera isn't somethin' I'd normally do, but it wasn't bad. If you like it, I'm on board."

She brought her attention back to him. "That's just it. It's not really my thing. Never has been, but I still go-the ballet too. There are so many things to do in this city. I've probably done most of them-many times over."

"Okay, so other than torturing me, why do you go, then?" He crossed his strong arms and rested them on the tabletop, awaiting her answer.

"Well, because ... because I always have. With my family when I was young and with my friends and ..."

"And boyfriends," he said, completing her thought.

She nodded.

"It's just what we do, that's all." She wondered if his wheels spun in his head like hers were, trying to figure out if they could fit anywhere but a bedroom.

"What do you do, Tucker? I mean, back in Helena. What kind of things do you do for fun?"

He sat up straighter, removed his jacket, and draped it over the chair next to him before rolling up his sleeves and settling back over the table.

"Well, the ranch keeps me pretty busy. I'd rather be there workin' than all this other stuff I do that people call work. But I'm tryin' to keep John's business goin' strong. It's what he'd want. And he was a decent man. I owe it to him."

Tucker grabbed a salt shaker, spun it slowly on the table, focused intently on the silver-topped piece of glass.

"Listen, after what happened with us, I'm sure you Googled me and know all the dirty details about my life." Embarrassment marred his face; he wouldn't look at her.

"I'd rather hear the truth from you, Tucker."

His eyes darted to hers. He stared for a few seconds and then straightened, resting his large hands on his legs. He appeared ready to speak when their shakes, heaped with whipped cream and topped with nuts and cherries, landed in front of them.

"I'm sorry it took so long. We got backed up with orders and then the shake machine jammed and," the waitress sighed, "can I get either of you anything else?" She sounded defeated.

Kat and Tucker shook their heads at each other, then at the server. The frazzled girl placed their ticket on the table. Tucker motioned for her to wait as he dug out his wallet, pulled out some twenties, and placed them in her hand.

"Oh, no, you just pay up front." She tried to return the bills, but Tucker refused.

"I know. It's for you. Seems like you've had a rough night here. I'm sure you're the one gettin' all the heat for what's goin' on back in the kitchen, and no doubt you're payin' for it in tips."

The girl glanced down at the wad of green in her hand and blinked back tears. "Oh, I really couldn't take-"

"Don't want it back." Tucker's statement left no room for negotiation. He turned his interest to the double chocolate chip shake in front of him.

The girl looked to Kat for guidance and then back to Tucker, his focus squarely on his milkshake. "Thank you so much," she whispered gratefully as she scurried away.

With everything Kat had Googled about Tucker, the act of compassion she'd witnessed came as no surprise. After her debacle with him, she'd scoured the Web for anything and everything about the man. At the time, she'd chalked up her snooping to an anemic attempt to assuage her guilt over her miscalculation in judgment. However, what she'd uncovered about him highlighted her real misjudgment, the one she'd made the first time he approached her ...

The negative news stories she'd read about the maverick before her had outweighed the positive ones. She'd had to dig for the blurbs that gave Tucker any credit for being a decent human being. He obviously had enemies determined to destroy him, or at least his reputation. Skepticism ran deep in Kat's veins, making her leery of the tenuous grasp the media had with the truth, with facts-especially when the story involved hostile factions, families at odds. Given Tucker's story, there were plenty of detractors with agendas bent on his failure.

The couple slurped their shakes for a few minutes, allowing Tucker's earlier discomfort to settle before Kat broke the silence. "Tell me about your siblings." She shoveled in another scoop of her thick, strawberry banana goodness and noted the guardedness evident in his stiff body language. "It seems like they'd rather work against you than with you." Tucker sat back against his seat. "Money can bring out the worst in people. I've been around it my whole life, seen it firsthand. There will always be those who want what you have. And those who don't think you deserve to have it."

His features softened. "That sums it up about right. It's not completely their fault, though. The circumstances were shitty."

Kat's head cocked to the side.

"Seems like you got the worst of it, Tucker." The tenderness in her voice seemed to ease him further.

He swallowed hard, watched her for a few seconds. Then he surprised her by scooting both of their shakes out of the way and grasping her hands, with gentle sweeps of his thumbs over her knuckles.

"That whole situation," he shook his head, "was messed up. Finding out the man I thought was my dad, wasn't, hurt a lot. Hurt me more than it did him, seein' as he'd known all along. A double whammy, you could say. And when my biological father, John Diamond, decided he wanted me, well ...," Tucker sighed, "everything changed." He swung his eyes away, out the window. "But it is what it is, and I can't walk away from it."

"Was John Diamond the bastard the press made him out to be?"

"Really did your homework, huh?"

"Yeah, I don't like being blindsided."

The corners of his eyes creased in apology.

"He was a hard man. I went to live with him and his kids in Montana when I was eleven. I found out later he'd known about me all along. He'd met my mom when she was workin' at a mining conference." He rubbed at his forehead. "Nice way of puttin' it, I suppose. Anyway, they'd meet up from time to time. She got pregnant with me and he paid her and the man she was with hush money over the years. John didn't want his wife to find out. But then after she died, he decided he'd had enough and gave my mom and dad a final payout, to make my leavin' easier, I guess.

"He treated me different from his own, though. He was much tougher on me. Had me workin' on his ranch from sun up to sun down and every day after school. I hated him back then. His kids didn't like me much, either, as you can imagine. Bad blood from the get-go. And as you might guess, I had a chip on my shoulder with the one-eighty my life took back then. I know now he thought workin' my ass off back then would eventually use up all my anger. He was right." Tucker paused. "Then he sent me off to business school back east. And as I got older, it all started makin' sense." He paused as the recollections unwound.

"See, John Diamond thought his kids were worthless. Chelsea and Cameron. Their mother had died a few years before I went to live with them. He'd decided they'd had it too easy all their lives, so he did things real different with me. He didn't want the business he'd built run into the ground in short order with his son and daughter takin' the reins. I'm the only one he told that to. He'd taken me into his confidence by the time I was twenty-five or so. That's why there was such a dust-up when he moved me into the business-ahead of his own kids-after I graduated from Wharton. Nobody was expecting that play.

"Then, when he died a few years back, the gloves came off. Cameron and Chelsea didn't have to play nice anymore with their dad out of the way. I'm sure they thought his will would settle everything in their favor. Trust me; we were all surprised when it didn't. They weren't left out in the cold. No, no, no, they were set up with trust funds most folks could live quite comfortably on for several lifetimes. But he gave them no rights to his business or land. The legal battles finally ended about a year ago. John Diamond's will was airtight, no gettin' around it, even with fancy lawyers.

"Then during all that mess, my other brothers, who I didn't even know, came around with their hands out. My half-brothers from my mom." Tucker shook his head in solemn reflection. "I'm a man with two half families that don't add up to one whole family."

Kat's heart squeezed tight for the brooding man across from her. His grip on her hands tightened. She needed to steer this ship into bluer waters.

"Look at this," she said, with a lopsided smile, glancing down at their hands. "I've already broken one of my rules tonight." She answered his quizzical expression. "Less than twenty-four hours ago, I said I didn't even want to hold your hand. Now look. I'm holding both of them. So much for rules, huh?" Tucker's face lightened in relief, easing the tension in Kat's chest.

"Yeah, rules are a waste of time and paper," he said before scooting a bit closer. "Especially when it comes to this." He gently squeezed her hands.

Kat's stomach fluttered, and she nodded in agreement. This night had gone so well, almost too well. She needed to keep her head on straight, or they'd end up naked in bed again-or up against a wall.

Damn, those green eyes of hers, soft and dreamy, her pink lips curved in a shy smile, her creamy skin unable to hide the blush of attraction, all caused Tucker to groan on the inside with the indecent thoughts wrestling in his head. The things he wanted to do with her, to her. The things they'd already done ...

He shifted in his seat to relieve the pressure in his pants. He needed to stay focused. Everything had gone so well tonight. He couldn't screw it up by moving too fast.

She had certainly done her homework on him. He couldn't help but wonder what else she knew-or thought she knew. However, she didn't appear swayed by the trash peddled to the media about his inheritance. He'd sold her short. He'd figured given her privileged background, she'd be suspicious of someone like him coming into money the way he had. No, Kat's skepticism of him clearly had everything to do with his lie of omission six months earlier. But he still wasn't sure he would have, could have, done anything different.

"What's your family like, Kat?"

Yeah, he'd Googled her too. Knew she'd attended the best private schools in New York her whole life, and she'd been a hell of a lacrosse player at Columbia University, stuff like that. However, Tucker wanted to know the kind of things about her he couldn't find on the World Wide Web.

"Well, I have three older brothers-" Tucker's odd expression caught her attention. "What?"

Tucker's grin broadened and he shook his head. "Just thinkin' that explains a lot, that's all," he said. "Your brothers all live in New York?"

"Is there anywhere else to live?" She cocked her head with a challenging smile.

"Yeah, plenty of places. I'm hopin' to show you one."

Her jaw clenched. "We'll see." Her expression and voice were tight, but then her features softened and she continued. "Anyway, yes, my brothers all live here. They work in our father's company. My oldest brother, Charlie, is the CEO and president. Parker is the CFO, and my youngest brother, Kyle, is the chief legal officer."

"See 'em much?"

"Not as much as you might think. There's a big age gap between my two oldest brothers and me. Charlie is nineteen years older and Parker seventeen. Kyle's only a year older than I am. But he travels quite a bit on company business, so I don't see him as much as I used to. He and I never really had an opportunity to get close with Charlie and Parker. Too much age difference, I guess. It's like our parents decided to have a second family before the shop closed for good." She chuckled. "Plus, we're all pretty busy too. Charlie and Parker have families of their own.

"But when my parents close up the beach house each season, our mother organizes family dinners at their home here in the city once or twice a month. Attendance is mandatory." Her lips held the hint of a grin. "You have to be dead to get out of it."

Tucker laughed. Mandatory or not, it sounded nice. He'd settle for a family like hers any day of the week.

"And your grandfather started JAMESCO, right?"

Kat's expression widened, then she laughed knowingly. "I see someone else has been Googling. Touche, Williams."

"Yeah, well, I had six months to obsess over you."

Their eyes lingered on one another, letting the weight of his admission settle around them as his thumbs stroked across her hands, still held firmly in his.

Kat shooed away the trance and continued. "My grandfather, Harvey James, made a lucky investment when he was young and used the windfall to start the company. My father was an only child. His father made him work his way up from the bottom. He took the company over completely by the time he was thirty. It started out as a medical supply company, but over time it's expanded into many other areas. From what I understand, my brothers have diversified it considerably. Apparently, it's unrecognizable from when my father was in charge-subsidiaries, holding companies. I stay out of it," she said.

"Why?"

She assessed him, obviously deciding whether to let him in, trust him just a little.

He read the doubt in her eyes before she spoke the words.

"I have my reasons."

Okay, still early in the get-to-know-you phase. Her hesitancy and need to protect herself was understandable, especially after their terrible start.

"What about your mother?"

Kat scanned the diner, disapproval lining her features. "My mother." She diverted her attention to the New Yorkers streaming past the window and the neon OPEN sign hanging in it. "She was a debutante, the belle of the ball." The last part she said with sarcastic flair. "She still is. She takes her role quite seriously and would've loved to have had a daughter to pass the torch to. But I just wasn't cut out for it. No matter how hard she tried, still tries, to make me in her image." The mischievous tilt of her lips caused his to respond in kind.

"I suppose it's not really all her fault, though. Her life was decided for her. She was groomed from birth to be a must-have accessory for a wealthy man." Kat sighed in reflection, unaware of Tucker's wide-eyed reaction to her rebuke. "She's living someone else's dream for her but still accepts it as her own. God forbid should anyone burst her bubble, it's damn near perfect. Except for one thing." She pressed her lips together, her eyes narrowed in playfulness. Tucker bit back a chuckle.

He nodded in fresh understanding. Things just got a whole lot clearer about Kat James. He knew firsthand she liked to be in control, except the one night she wasn't ... Now he knew why she needed it so badly too.

He decided to repeat his question from earlier, even though he now knew the answer. "Why don't you work in the family business?"

Kat stared at Tucker for a beat and then, once again, redirected her gaze out the window. "I like my freedom too much." She swung her eyes back to his. "I like being financially independent from my family. It's important to me."

Tucker mulled the new, hard-won insight into this woman. She wanted control over her own destiny. Didn't want to live anyone else's dreams. He could respect that, encourage it. Even so, he had the irresistible urge to bait her, poke his fiery hellcat and risk the sting of her addictive claws.

"I never took you for the passive-aggressive type."

Kat cocked her head and zeroed in on her target. "There's nothing passive about me, Williams."

"Sure about that, sweetheart? I mean, from what you said it sounds like you're just being stubborn. Have you and your mother ever had a sit-down? Or do you just do the opposite of whatever you think she'd do, to prove your point?"

Kat remained stone still, her eyes boring into his, her lips coiling in displeasure. "And what point would that be?" Her tone cut with cool precision. Then she angled closer, a caution flag waving in her eyes. "By the way, I can't wait to hear this."

He did his best to maintain a sober expression, but the lie was damned hard. "Well, maybe you are like her, and it pisses you off. So, you do things to prove to her, and yourself, that you're different."

Kat's arms locked in haughty defiance, causing Tucker's attention to dip down. His eyes had a mind of their own and it was impossible to peel them off the swell of creamy cleavage now taunting him above her strapless dress.

"Those aren't my eyes, Williams," she said with suppressed amusement.

With heavy lids, his cloudy focus lazily roamed up the silky line of her throat, lingered over her soft pink lips, and locked onto her lush green eyes. His head felt squeezed, crowded with battling images of having had every square inch of her flawless skin in his hands. Jesus, his palms burned from the memories. Tucker cleared his throat, swallowed, and glanced away briefly.

When their eyes met next, they both understood the power had shifted, in her favor.

She studied him like a lioness ready to pounce on her next meal. "Let me get this straight, Tucker. You think I secretly want to be some man's accessory? You think I want to be in some man's shadow? Hell, anyone's shadow?" She snorted in disdain. "You had six months to obsess over me, Google me, and this is the bullshit you come up with?"

The glint in her eyes, the slight tug lifting the corners of her mouth told him he'd been had. He couldn't have stopped the excitement building in his chest, or his pants, if he'd wanted.

"You just love to piss me off, don't you? Why is that, I wonder?"

She plucked the cherry from her shake, embraced the lucky red ball between her lips, and sucked the sweet fruit off the stem. Hot spikes of need shot to his groin, dug in deep, twisted tight as she then took her time licking her straw clean, her skilled tongue sweeping the creamy remnants from her lips. He couldn't move, couldn't think. He was powerless to do anything but sit paralyzed, waiting for whatever delicious torture she had planned next.

"Want to hear my theory, Williams?"

He nodded, but the foggy haze still clung to him.

"You see, I've had time to think about what happened between us six months ago too. And I've thought about it a lot." She inched across the table, her breasts teasing him, begging him to unleash them. "This is what worked for you last time, worked for us. We both like the same game, and I'll play it with you all day long, and all night too." She'd stretched the words until his ears thundered with his own heartbeat. They were almost nose to nose, her scent swirling around him. "That's why you're really here, trying to piss me off right now. You want to know if it'll work again. You want to know if you can lift this dress and fuck me up against a wall again, don't you?"

Her nose brushed against his. Their lips so close ...

He rolled his bottom lip over his teeth and clamped down. Hands fisted, he called forth every ounce of strength to hold back the nearly overwhelming urge to pull her across the table and onto his lap.

A strangled breath filled with a curse burst out of him. "This isn't a game to me, Kat."

She flashed a warning smile. "It'd better not be, Williams. You have no idea how close I came to not giving you this chance at all." She took her time admiring his masculine features up close, lingering on his mouth. "You have a lot of ass-kissing to do, cowboy." One sculpted brow raised in provocation. "And not the kind you're so fond of, as I recall." She winked and then slid herself and those mouthwatering breasts, slowly, back to her side of the table. Her aura glowed with confidence.