Prologue
April Fools Day
Leah paused at the sound of her ringing cell phone and fished the device from her purse. Before answering she checked the caller ID, because after the day of travel she’d experienced, there was only a handful of people she was willing to talk to. Her cousin Courtney’s name was displayed across the screen. A call from Courtney or anyone else in her family, she’d take.
“Hey,” Leah greeted, entering the luxury condo building when the doorman opened the door for her.
Courtney didn’t give her a chance to say anything else. “Did you know?”
“I know a lot of things. You’ll need to be more specific, Court.” Since she was in no rush and Harry wasn’t even expecting her tonight, Leah crossed the building’s main lobby to one of the leather sofas rather than continue to the elevators.
“Right, sorry. Did you know your brother is C.S. Hilton? I didn’t find out until this afternoon. Curt stopped by my mom’s house to wish her a happy birthday, and he mentioned it.”
Shoot. She’d reminded herself yesterday to call Aunt Marilyn today and wish her a happy birthday. After the delays at the airport caused by the weather and then the awful plane ride, it had completely slipped her mind.
“Yes, I knew. Curt told me not long after Fatal Deception came out.” When he had confided in her, her reaction had been first shock, followed by amazement and pride because it had been a fabulous novel. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so eager for an author to release a second book. Unfortunately, the last time she asked Curt about it, he hadn’t even finished writing the next one.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. We even talked about the book after we both finished it.”
Leah remembered well. More than once she’d almost blurted out the truth during their conversation. “I wanted to tell you, but it wasn’t my secret to share. And Curt didn’t want too many people to know. Not even family.”
“Fair enough, but I still can’t believe Curt wrote it,” Courtney replied. “Did you also know he left Nichols Investment?”
Leah’s jaw all but fell into her lap. She along with everyone else in the family knew Jim Burke, the current CEO of the Boston-based investment firm, was grooming Curt to take over for him at some point in the near future. “He did?”
“Yep. He told us that at least for the foreseeable future he plans to do nothing but work on his next novel and remodel the house he bought.”
Another fixer-up? This had to be at least his fourth. She’d expected Curt’s interest in renovating old homes to have dwindled by now. If he’d not only bought another one but also left the firm so he could dedicate more time to working on it, it was the opposite.
“He plans on living in it too while he does the work,” Courtney continued. “The house is somewhere up in New Hampshire. I forget the name of the town, but he said it’s just over the Massachusetts border.”
Obviously her big brother had been inhaling too many paint fumes while doing all these renovations. She’d have to call him later and try to set him straight. He had a gorgeous place in Boston and a house right on the beach in Newport. He didn’t need to live in a run-down house in New Hampshire, no matter how much he enjoyed doing his renovation projects.
“Anyway, I’m heading out to Greenwich to visit Callie and Dylan this weekend. Do you want to meet in the city Sunday and do some shopping?” Courtney asked, referring to their cousin and her husband.
Anyone who’d ever seen the inside of Leah’s closet knew there weren’t too many things she loved more than a good shopping spree, especially if she had company while she did it. And with the expectation of maybe Paris, there was no better place to shop than New York City in her opinion. Even Los Angeles paled in comparison.
“I’ve been in California all week for work, and before that I was in Utah for three days. I just got back today. Let me make sure Harry doesn’t have any plans made for us this weekend, and I’ll get back to you.”
“Sounds good. Talk to you soon.”
Rather than toss her phone back in her purse, Leah pulled up Aunt Marilyn’s contact information. When she didn’t answer, Leah left a message wishing her a happy birthday and promising to call again soon.
“Hey, stranger,” a male voice she recognized well greeted. “Where have you been?”
Zipping her purse closed, Leah smiled up at Gavin Kincaid, Harry’s half brother. She’d first met him about a year ago at a fundraiser, but over the past two and a half months she’d gotten to know him well, since Harry and Gavin were currently sharing one of the building’s luxury condos while Harry’s new home was being built. Although how they managed to coexist in the same space, she didn’t know. They seemed to be polar opposites. They didn’t even share a family resemblance. While Harry was tall and lanky with blond hair and hazel eyes, Gavin had dark hair and dark eyes like their father. And the word lanky wasn’t an adjective anyone would associate with Gavin. At perhaps a little over six feet tall, he had a build perfectly suited for doing underwear ads.
“First Utah and then California. I just got back today.” Leah gestured toward the suitcase Gavin held. “Looks like I’m not the only one who has been traveling. Business or pleasure?”
“People travel for pleasure?” Gavin asked, feigning a shocked expression.
“Occasionally. You should give it a try sometime.”