“I know I’m not going to lose money with you watching out for things,” Gage said a little drily. Then he rubbed his forehead like there was a pain there. “Noah’s in rehab again.”
Understanding hit. Noah was Gage’s younger brother and he’d been in and out of treatment for years. “Thought he’d been doing pretty well.”
“So did I.” Gage held up the cigarette and eyed it expressionlessly for a moment before slipping it back inside the pack that he pocketed once more. He rubbed his forehead again. “I don’t know what to do about him,” he admitted.
“Maybe don’t do anything,” Archer suggested bluntly. “He’s a grown man.”
“He’s a spoiled kid in a grown man’s body,” Gage corrected wearily. “All he has ever cared about is himself.” He fell silent while Theresa delivered their drinks. When she disappeared again, he looked at Archer. “Thought you and Theresa weren’t seeing each other anymore.”
“We aren’t.” He sipped the scotch and it hit the back of his throat with welcome warmth.
“She’s sure giving you the looks.”
“Is she?” Archer hadn’t really noticed. He sank deeper into the thick cushions of his chair. Gage never did anything halfway. Everything he surrounded himself with was first-rate.
He was also one of the hardest-working fools Archer had ever known.
Gage had been raised by a single mom who’d worked for a pharmaceutical magnate. If he’d ever known his father, he’d never said. He’d earned every bit of success he had, whereas his little half brother, Noah, had never had to work for a single thing thanks to being the only child of that pharmaceutical magnate.
Money. It could bring out the best in people. So often, though, it brought out the worst.
Archer looked up at the inky sky. Thought about Nell. About the night he’d brought her home from The Wet Bar.
The only reason he’d put her in the guest room bed was because she’d been drunk enough to climb into his bed, first.
It would have been way too easy to take advantage of that situation.
If he were honest with himself, he very nearly had.
Only the ringing of his phone had brought him to his senses. He’d dragged Nell’s arms from around his neck. Somehow managed to button her back into her clothes and literally dumped her into the guest room. The only reason she’d stayed there was because she’d finally, mercifully passed out.
When—if—he was going to go down that rabbit hole with Nell again, he wanted her fully aware that she’d chosen to go down it with him, too.
“My grandmother’s having a party on Friday,” he told Gage abruptly. Before Archer had phoned Nell, Vivian had called him specifically to let him know she expected him to be there regardless of how much rearranging of his schedule it might entail.
It wasn’t the first time it had dawned on him that he was surrounded by a lot of strong-willed women with expectations where he was concerned.
“It’s for that library project of hers,” he went on, “but if the mountain ends up under Weaver control—and my hunch is that it’s leaning that way—it’d be an opportunity for you to start making some connections with the locals.”
Gage was shaking his head. “That’s what I’ve got you for.”
It wasn’t the first time Gage had avoided going to Weaver. Archer knew it couldn’t be because of Gage’s ex-wife, Jane, who lived there. Gage had staked Jane in her purchase of a local bar and grill and admitted more than once that they were far happier with each other’s company as exes than they’d ever been during the few years they’d been married more than a decade earlier.
“I already know the power players in Weaver,” Archer countered. “That’s not the point. They’re going to want to know you. Know who they’ll be inviting into their world. Once all the dust is settled about the mountain, what you do on it is going to change things for that town, and they all know it. Tourism is a whole new ball of wax for that area.”
“Then I’ll do the meetings I need to do.” Gage’s lips twisted a little. “But what I don’t need to do is crash your grandmother’s party. I’ve already donated money to her library deal.”
“Afraid she’ll ask you for more?”
Gage’s expression finally lightened. “Now you’ve got it.”
Theresa returned and leaned close to Gage, murmuring in his ear. He didn’t react, but when she was gone again, he slammed back the rest of his drink and stood. “Ever think about finding an island where the only things to worry about are which hammock makes for the most comfortable nap?”
Archer shook his head. “Nope.” Still, he was the man’s attorney. If there was a problem that needed his expertise, it was his responsibility to handle it. “Anything I can help with?”
“Just business,” Gage dismissed. “Stay and enjoy yourself,” he said before he strode away.
“I plan to,” Archer murmured. He popped three of the little fancy crackers into his mouth and pulled out his phone. It wasn’t often he voluntarily called his stepsister. She was definitely a strong-willed woman, but when it came to Archer, Rosalind’s only expectation was that he stay out of her way.
But he had enough scotch warming his belly to blunt the edge.
Amazingly, she answered on the fourth ring. “Archer.” Her voice was cool. “I’m in the middle of something, so this better be important.”
“What’s going on between you and Nell?”
He could hear the very loud irritation in her silence. “I have nothing to say to you about that,” she finally said, in
