what he wanted to talk about.”
Zach frowned. “What kind of trouble?”
Grant picked up the file folder. There was no point in beating around the bush; this would have to be dealt with quickly.
“See for yourselves,” he said. He pulled papers from the folder and handed one stack to Cade, the other to Zach. Kyra looked at him, her brows raised, and he smiled reassuringly. There was nothing here to worry his little sister, thank goodness. After a moment, she turned toward the window.
Cade was the first to react.
“According to this report,” he said, looking at Grant, “this Dallas oil company Landon owns—Gordon’s, it’s called—is going to go under any minute.”
“What oil company?” Zach said, his expression puzzled. “I just read a profile on a Landon acquisition called Triad. It’s some kind of Hollywood production outfit—and it’s gonna sink like a stone.”
Grant nodded grimly. “You’re both right. Landon bought both firms to bail them out. Instead, we seem to have helped them get into worse condition.”
Cade bristled. “What’s this ‘we’ stuff, big brother?”
“Are you forgetting, Cade?” Grant swung toward him. “It’s us, as of yesterday. Like it or not, we’re Landon Enterprises. And we will be, until we find a buyer.”
Neither Zach nor Cade needed to be force-fed reality. Grant saw the understanding dawn in both their faces.
If either Gordon Oil or Triad Productions went under, selling Landon would become a nightmare. The company would have a hole in its balance sheet large enough to sink a battleship. Only a fool would buy it then.
Grant’s jaw clenched. His hand went to his pocket, where a scrap of paper lay. The paper was yet another problem, one so ridiculous he couldn’t bring himself to mention it. Not now anyway; not until they’d figured a way out of this mess.
“Tell Bayliss to deal with this,” Cade said.
“Bayliss retired as of this morning. He said he was too old to face another Colorado winter.” Grant smiled tightly. “Seems we read him wrong. He’s going to spend the rest of his days in the Virgin Islands, sipping piña coladas.”
“Goodwin, then. Bayliss’s second in command. He can—”
“Goodwin’s got a dozen things on his plate already.”
“Then what—”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” The brothers swung around. Kyra was glowering at them with a look on her face that said all three of them were fools. “What’s with you guys? Are you stupid, or what? A ten-year-old could figure this out!” She turned an angry glare on Zach. “You’re the financial whiz, aren’t you? Surely you could fly out to the coast, take a look at Triad’s books, and decide what can be done to help it.”
“Me? Don’t be silly. I’ve got people waiting for me in Boston. I can’t just—”
“And you,” she snapped at Cade. “You’re the genius who knows all about oil. And here’s this little company having a problem.” She slapped her hands onto her hips. “Would it be too much to hope that maybe you might be the one to check things out in Dallas?”
“It’s out of the question! I’ve business in London. I can’t—”
“She’s right,” Grant said brusquely. “You guys could get a handle on things faster than anybody else.”
There was a moment’s silence. Cade and Zach looked at each other, and then Zach threw up his arms in defeat.
“Two days,” he said, “and not a second more.”
Cade nodded. “Okay. Two days, and then…Wait just a minute.” He swung toward Grant. “What about you? Don’t tell me you’re the only one of us who gets to walk away from this mess?”
Grant’s hand clamped tightly around the paper in his pocket. Cade was flying to Texas to find out why an oil company was going under; Zach was heading for California to get a handle on a film outfit. And he—he was going back to New York to—to—
Jesus. It was ridiculous, but he was stuck with it. He took a deep breath.
“I’ve got my own mess to deal with. It seems some old pal of Father’s named him guardian of his twelve-year-old kid.”
“And?”
“And,” he said through his teeth, “until she turns twenty-one, I seem to have inherited her.”
He saw the smiles begin to curve across his brothers’ faces, saw even Kyra try, and fail, to maintain a neutral expression. But what choice was there? He was an attorney, he lived and practiced in New York. The girl lived there, too—it was no contest, he thought grimly. The child was his burden by default.
His brothers were looking at each other, their smiles rapidly becoming grins, and he glowered at them.
“You guys think this is funny? Listen, we can always swap jobs. I’ll take on Hollywood, or Dallas, and one of you can—”
“No,” Zach said quickly, “no, that’s okay, old buddy. I’ll deal with Hollywood, Cade’ll handle Dallas.” His lips twitched. “And I bet you’re going to make one hell of a terrific baby-sitter.”
Cade suppressed a snort of laughter. Grant swung toward him.
“This—this is not funny,” he choked, and then, suddenly, the grim look left his face and he burst out laughing. “Hell,” he said, “I can’t believe it, either.”
Laughing, the three men moved into a tight circle, clapped each other on the back, then joined right hands as they had when they were kids.
“To the Deadeye Defenders,” Cade said.
“To the Deadeyes,” Grant echoed, and they grinned happily at each other.
Cade stepped back. “Time to get started.”
Zach nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you guys before I leave.”
They both hurried from the room. Grant was following after them when Kyra caught his sleeve. “Grant?”
He looked down at her and smiled. “Hey, princess, I almost forgot you were here!”
Kyra gave a short, sharp laugh. “Isn’t that the truth!”
“Well, what is it, sweetheart?”
“I wonder…” She hesitated. “I was wondering how you feel about this place. Is it important to you?”
At first, the question puzzled him, but then he understood. Kyra was worried that her brothers might feel cheated because their father had left the mansion solely to her. Grant put his arm around her shoulders.
“This house will always be important to me,” he said, “with you
