Page 47 of Tristan’s Temptation

“Of course I handled it.” Adam put his hands on his hips. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”

Tristan shrugged and pushed past his brother into the sanctum of his office. “I’m fine. I just didn’t get any sleep last night.” He heard a snort from Shannon’s desk. He ignored it.

Adam followed him in and shut the door behind him. “Are you sure you’re all right? Damn it, Tristan. You’ve been weird lately.”

Tristan stilled. “Weird? How?”

“Everyone’s noticed.”

“Everyone?”

Adam leaned against the door and fixed his gaze on his brother. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

“Something?” Tristan pretended to be busy. He shuffled some papers around on his desk, thumbed through his messages.

“Tristan. Are you…sick?”

He froze. They both remembered, were haunted by the day, long ago, when their father had sat them both down and announced, quite calmly, that he was dying. “No. I’m perfectly fine.”

“You aren’t acting fine. Maybe you should go see Doctor Rafferty.”

“It’s nothing.”

Adam sprawled in one of the visitor’s chairs. He rested his chin on steepled fingers and pursed his lips, as though he was trying to unravel a mystery. “Something’s going on.”

Damn it all. Why did Adam have to be so fucking observant?

Tristan blew out a breath. “All right. Yes. Something is going on. But it’s something personal.”

“I’m your brother.”

“Something very personal. I’m…just not ready to talk about it.” He tried to ignore Adam’s hurt expression. As brothers and business partners, they’d never kept things from each other. Well—Tristan steeled his spine—until Adam started courting Kat.

“Okay. Fine.”

“Fine.”

“You’ll tell me when you’re ready?”

Tristan fiddled with his paper clips. “Yeah. Sure.”

“And if you need anything—anything—you’ll come to me?”

“Of course.”

“Okay then.” Adam slapped his knees with both hands. “In that case, if it’s not too much trouble, we have a staff meeting.”

“When?” Tristan instinctively checked his watch.

Hell. He’d forgotten to put it on.

Adam grinned. “Ten minutes ago. Come on. Everyone’s waiting. And they’re in a really bad mood.”

“Why?”

Adam’s grin broadened. “Jenny made the coffee.”

The rest of the day was torture. Pure torture.