Dragon and the Dove by Tara Janzen Page A

her shoulders, skimming the
delicate line of her jaw and emphasizing the fairness of her skin.
Her blouse was partially untucked from her black skirt, making a
white wing against the darker material. She was lovely, supple, and
female, and her mere presence touched him.
    Watching her, he was glad he’d stopped Chow
from caressing her face, from feeling the skin he’d admired. She
might be more stranger than friend, but Cooper felt a connection
with her, one he was thankful he hadn’t allowed to be sullied.
    A part of him wanted to put her far away
from the mess he was in. He’d requested a highly specialized
accountant from Elise Grubb, a person versed in finance and the Far
East, and she’d sent him someone he was thinking of more as a
woman, as a mother, a human being. It was damned distracting. He’d
wanted everything cut-and-dried, and all business. He didn’t want
any personal involvement. A robot who could think like a woman
would have suited him fine.
    “This is his house, Paul’s,” she said,
looking over her shoulder at him and continuing her thoughts. “The
kids and I share it with him and another of our brothers.”
    “Tony is your brother too?” he asked,
wondering what idiocy had made him assume differently about her
ménage
à
trois
. Jealousy, probably, and that was hardly
a comforting thought.
    “The youngest,” she said. “I have two more
who are older than me.”
    He didn’t know whether to be relieved or
resigned.
    His life would have been easier if she’d
been seeing someone else, or two someone elses. He didn’t want her
to be available. His best bet was to get her suitcase to the door
and make a quick escape.
    “Hey, Jessie!” A deep voice called to her
from somewhere in the jungle of the yard.
    Cooper turned toward the sound, feeling a
distinct but strangely displaced sense of recognition. When a young
man broke through the foliage, Cooper froze. For an instant
sunlight and shadow played tricks with the man’s broad grin and the
impish gleam in his dark eyes. For an instant Cooper thought he saw
someone else.
    “Jessie!” the young man hollered. He bounded
down a hill to scoop her up into his arms and swing her around,
making her squeal. A white daisy dangled precariously over one of
his ears, held in place by straight dark hair that added to the
painful illusion of familiarity.
    “Tony Signorelli, you put me down.” Jessica
laughed and bopped her not-so-little brother on the shoulder with
her shoe. “And what’s this?” She reached for his flower. “Don’t
tell me you’re playing—”
    “
Jessie
,” he warned, threatening to
drop her.
    “Tarzan and Jane.” She squealed again as he
let her fall a foot before he caught her.
    Cooper was damned surprised at the
playfulness of his Ms. MBA assistant, but it was the man who held
his unwavering attention. Tony Signorelli was all energy and
enthusiasm, and he was teasing his sister with a smile Cooper had
last seen in the South China Sea.
    It was Jackson’s smile, an uncanny
duplication of an expression Cooper had coaxed out of childish
tantrums and endured through adolescent arrogance. He’d seen
Jackson’s smile quell dangerous men and seduce temperate women.
Once, the woman had been Cooper’s, or so he’d thought until Jackson
had shown up and lured her away with his easy charm.
    The reunion at the edge of the jungle was
interrupted by the appearance of “Jane,” a petite young woman with
generous curves, short blond hair, and a warm smile. Her face had
an elfin quality despite her plumpness.
    “Hi,” she said to Jessica, then lifted her
hand in a wave to include Cooper where he stood by the car.
“Hi.”
    Tony released Jessica and stepped aside to
put his arm around the other woman in a gesture of obvious
affection. His smile and his resemblance to Jackson faded into a
more serious expression. “I’d like you to meet Alaina Fairchild.
Alaina, this is my sister, Jessie.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Alaina said.