Page 4 of Twins for the Silver Foxes

Scott rolledhis eyes and sat on the corner of my desk. “You’re looking more sour than usual. What’s up?”

“Dour.”Ryland shoulder-checked Scott on his way to the window. “The man’s British. The word you want is dour.”

“Sour.Dour. Who cares? They mean the same thing.” Scott held up both hands in a ‘whatever’ gesture.

“How isit that you two made it into your forties still acting like teenagers?”

Scott leaned back so farthat he fell into my lap. “Lucky, I guess.”

Ryland scoffedfrom his seat on the windowsill. “Luck has nothing to do with it. You refuse to act your age, and I’m burdened with the responsibility of hauling your sorry ass back on the rare occasion you decide youdon’twant to go home with another woman.”

“I offered to bring her here.”Scott’s head rolled side to side.

I pushed him back upright.“You’re not drunk. Stop pretending.” I’d seen him drunk often enough to recognize it. This was something else.

The shift happenedbetween one breath and the next. Scott gave Ryland a sloppy grin, then slid off the desk and straightened to his full height. “You were right.”

Ryland heldout his hand and wiggled his fingers. “Fork it over.”

Scott pulledout his wallet and threw a stack of hundreds into Ryland’s palm. “And you call me an asshole.”

“I’m notabove taking your money. Not that I need it.” He pointed a long, thin finger at Scott. “I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“We have a problem.” I interrupted before they devolved into a friendly verbal sparring match. Their notorious camaraderie often led them into this type of sarcastic argument that lasted days.

Both men turned toward me at my statement, all sense of joviality falling as they sat.

“What happened?”Any trace of “drunkenness” disappeared in those two words.

I pouredmyself another glass of whiskey and brought the crystal glass to my lips. “Deena’s taking some time off.” I filled them in on the situation, ending with, “She’ll be back in a few months.”

“Damn.”Ryland tugged his hair free and twisted the hairband around his wrist. “You did the right thing.”

“Agreed.”Scott pushed to his feet and picked up two glasses from the table behind him. He poured several fingers of whiskey in each glass, passing one to Ryland before returning to his chair.

“I did not needyour approval nor was I seeking it.” I sat forward and locked my hands together on top of the desk. “How are we going to find someone willing to work for just a few months?”

“Shouldn’t be too hard.”Ryland spun the liquor around the glass, watching it swirl with a calculated gaze. “We’ll put an ad in the local paper.”

“You wantto advertise locally that three bachelor billionaires need a temporary housekeeper?” Scott scoffed. “Why not put our faces on a billboard? You’d get the same effect.”

I frowned at him.“What do you mean?”

“I meanwe’ll get a thousand applications from women with zero experience. Women who want to come here in the hopes of landing a billionaire husband.” Scott’s nose crinkled so hard a crease appeared between his eyes. He made himself out to belittle more than a playboy, but the shrewdness didn’t surprise me. The animosity did.

It must have caughtRyland by surprise too, because he choked on his whiskey and pounded a fist to his chest until he caught his breath. “You’re against that? You? The one who brought a different woman home every week for three months?”

Scott’s jaw tightened,his chin jutting out as a stubborn look turned his green eyes into chips of emerald. “That was different. Those women were not given access to the whole house. They were not allowed to come and go as they pleased. Whoever we bring in here needs to be above reproach. They must be trustworthy.” He punctuated each point with the stab of a fingertip into my desk.

Ryland caughtmy eye and grinned. “Great. Then you should be in charge of the hiring process.”

The screech of Scott’s nail and the divot he left in the desk attested to his shock, though his face remained carefully neutral. He’d not become a savvy businessman by giving his emotions away. “You want me to hire a new housekeeper?”

“You seem particularly invested.”I joined Ryland’s cause with a grin. “I think it will be good for you.”

He shiftedin his chair and crossed his ankle over the opposite knee. “Fine. But only if Ryland writes the ad and stipulates all the points I’ve made.” He picked invisible lint from his trousers. “On second thought, put it in the paper. That’s our best shot at anyone older than college age finding it.”

Ryland bit his lip,but he gave up trying to hold back his laughter. It burst out of him in gleeful guffaws. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

---