she was on the go so much that she stayed in great shape. A pair of big sunglasses covered her eyes.
“What’s your solution?” Devin asked, smiling as she blew a puff of air into Amelia’s face. The baby sucked in a breath and scrunched her eyes shut, then Devin gently ducked her underwater.
“Lucas can adopt me instead.”
“What a great idea,” Devin singsonged as she lifted Amelia back out of the water.
The baby squealed and kicked in delight, nearly wiggling out of Devin’s grasp.
“A win for you,” said Lexi. “A win for me.”
“Not so much for me,” Lucas said in a dry voice.
Lexi popped her sunglasses up onto her head to squint at Lucas where he stood on the deck, while Devin turned in the pool so that she faced him. He should have looked out of place in his business suit, feet braced apart, tie neatly knotted at his throat. But for some reason, the outfit made Devin self-conscious of her aqua-colored bikini instead.
Lexi didn’t miss a beat. “I don’t see why not. I don’t throw temper tantrums, and I’m fully potty-trained.”
“I can vouch for that,” said Devin.
Lucas shook his head, apparently unamused. “I’ll be out for an hour or so. Do you need anything?”
“We’re fine,” said Devin, keeping her attention on Amelia, wishing she didn’t find Lucas so attractive. She had absolutely no business thinking about him as anything other than an enemy.
She could feel Lucas’s gaze on her for a long moment. Then she heard him turn away, and she dared to look up as he took the staircase to the concrete pathway, walked past the garden, below the sprawling oak tree, and disappeared into the mansion.
“He’s even better looking than Konrad.” Lexi sighed.
“You think?” asked Devin, taking Amelia’s chubby hands in hers and drawing the baby forward in a front float.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t notice,” Lexi admonished, lying back and stroking a hand through the water, recentering herself in the deep end of the pool.
“I didn’t notice,” Devin lied. “I was too busy fighting him in court.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t look.”
“It means there’s absolutely nothing about the man that I like.”
“I liked his ass,” teased Lexi. “Then you are a cougar.”
“And I am sorely disappointed to hear that,” came a drawling voice, a clear thread of amusement running through it.
Devin glanced up to see Byron, arms crossed over his chest, feet planted firmly apart, staring openly at Lexi while she sunbathed. He wore faded blue jeans, a denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of brown cowboy boots.
“Eyes front, old man,” said Lexi with a waggle of her finger. “I’m not here for your visual entertainment.”
Byron didn’t look away.
Devin lifted Amelia from the water and cradled her cool body against her chest. “Byron, this is my friend Lexi. Lexi, Byron is Lucas’s… what do I call you? Widowed stepfather?”
“I’d say we can go with ‘friend’,” Byron responded, still staring openly at Lexi where she lay on the air mattress.
Lexi pushed her sunglasses back up to the top of her head and propped herself on one elbow. “Do you have a reason for being here?”
Devin coughed out a laugh at Lexi’s blunt manner. “I believe I do.” He turned his attention to Devin. “I was hoping to have a little talk with you, young lady.”
Devin hesitated, not really anxious to be grilled by Byron. “About.?” she asked.
“Come on up here, and I’ll tell you all about it.” Devin stayed put.
“I’m not gonna bite you,” he assured her with a grin. She glanced down at Amelia and saw that the tiny girl was worn out. They were going to have to get out of the water soon anyway. And she had a feeling Byron would wait.
“Why not?” she muttered. The man clearly had something to say. She might as well get this over with. She made her way toward the wide staircase at the end of the pool.
She took a butter-yellow towel from the rack at the edge of the pool deck and wrapped it around Amelia to keep her from getting chilled.
Byron watched her approach. Then he gestured to a lounge chair. Devin accepted his offer, stretching out her legs, draping the ends of the big towel across her bare stomach and thighs.
The sun was warm on her wet limbs and her rapidly drying hair.
As Byron sat down in the lounger on the other side of a small square table, his glance flicked critically to Lexi. Devin didn’t offer to ask Lexi to leave. Whatever the man had to say, he could say in front of her friend.
Byron seemed to accept the situation. “I hear tell you’ve met Steve Foster.”
“I have.” She focused her attention on adjusting the towel, making sure Amelia’s pale, delicate skin was protected from the sun.
After a moment, she looked back up into the silence to see Byron regarding her with penetrating hazel eyes and a grim line of a mouth.
“You know there’s been some trouble between those boys.”
Devin gave a small shrug. “Steve’s helping me out. Lucas is fighting against me. Is that the trouble you’re talking about?”
Water sloshed in the pool as Lexi came off the air mattress.
“More to it than that,” Byron corrected. Devin steadfastly met his gaze. “Anything else is none of my business.”
“I’d be willin’ to bet that it is.”
She shook her head in denial as Lexi made her way through the shallow end and out of the pool.
“You’re the latest pawn in a feud that goes back a considerable long time.”
“I’m not going to be anybody’s pawn.” Devin couldn’t care less about the emotional and financial entanglements of the Demarco family. She was fighting for Amelia, and that was the end of it.
“What is it you’ve got in mind for an endgame?” Devin didn’t understand.
Lexi wrapped a towel, sarong-style, around her dripping wet body and slicked back her blond hair as she moved toward them.
Byron’s gaze tracked Lexi until she sat down. Then he glanced back to Devin. “What is it you’re hoping to get out of this?”
“Amelia,” Devin answered.
Byron’s skepticism came through in his
