He was getting too old for this. He'd just spent a week in Antwerp working sixteen-hour days getting ready for the opening of Messina Diamonds' new diamond-cutting branch. On top of that, the seventeen-hour flight from Belgium—complete with a six-hour delay in New York—had taken its toll.

"This the place?" the cabbie asked from the front seat.

"Home sweet home."

Since the renovations on his own urban loft had hit yet another snag, Dex was living with his brother, Derek, a situation that suited neither of them and had been going on far too long. Only the amount of time Dex spent out of the country and the fact that he stayed in the detached guest-house made it bearable.

Dex handed the driver a fifty, pulled his bag from the seat beside him and climbed out of the car. He swung the rugged canvas duffel over his shoulder and walked up the curved path. The towering oaks and clusters of shrubbery were perfectly manicured to hide the house from the road while creating the impression one had left the exclusive Dallas neighborhood of Highland Park altogether.

Ivy crept up the far corner of the building. A low stone retaining wall crumbled at one end. Both gave the impression of gently declining nobility.

Everything in Derek's life was like that. Perfect. Controlled. Pretentious.

It set Dex's teeth on edge. Made him want to take his motorcycle out of storage and pop some wheelies on his brother's plush green lawn.

Not that he would. He was a respectable contributor to the family business these days. A damn pillar of society.

Why he even—

D