Why had I changed my mind? It was simple really. Neither of the two women currently crowding my life was going to go away. Annabelle would be living in the guest house for five more months, and all the rules in the world were not going to push her out. And Lexi, sure, she was pissed at me now, but I knew my sister. Once she got over giving me the cold shoulder, she’d double back trying to convince me to help her get local support for her project. The perfect solution was, of course, to have the two women work together.

It was genius, really. Annabelle would have her super huge client, and Lexi would have Annabelle, a hell of a lot better-looking representative for Daire Industries than I’d ever been. A little coaching and Annabelle would be able to handle the gala and anything else Lexi and the construction world threw at her.

“I don’t need to keep my mind off of things,” I said. “I have everything under control. I merely need to get some things in play, namely get Lexi and Annabelle working together on this huge project, which will get both of them out of my hair, and then I can step back into my blissfully reclusive existence and be left alone.”

“Couple of problems with that theory, brother,” Jackson said. I had repeatedly told him not to call me that. It indicated a closeness that we did not share. He continued to ignore the request, however.

“Name one,” I scoffed. It was a perfectly well-thought-out solution. I dared him to find a problem with it.

“Annabelle lives on the estate,” he said. “How can you possibly avoid her? Never mind, why would you want to?”

“She’s about to get very, very busy,” I said. “Next.”

He looked at me from under his bushy eyebrows and scratched his chin. “What about your sister? The woman sent you a singing hippo. Do you really think she’s just going to crawl off because you’ve got a stand-in helping with the gala?”

“Lexi hasn’t been my sister in the real sense in almost twenty years,” I said. “Don’t you find it the least bit telling that she didn’t look me up until she needed my money?”

“It’s not your money that she needs,” he said.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “She needs my contacts, which are worth more than gold.”

“You really think she only came to you for your connections? She’s in town for this job; of course she took the opportunity to look you up,” Jackson said. His tone made it crystal clear that he thought I was an idiot.

“Yeah, it’s all very convenient.” I refused to accept any other explanation for her sudden appearance. It was easier this way.

Jackson sighed but I continued speaking to stave off another lecture about my brotherly duty to my sister.