Gabe groaned. “Can’t trust ’em to keep their mouths shut, can you?”

“I’m sure Aunt Elaine is the soul of discretion. Usually. Wait until we’re in the car, and you can tell all,” Randall said.

Like hell he would. He and Randall might have shared a thousand secrets as boys, but when it came to women, Gabe drew the line. He followed Randall out to the parking garage, and whistled at the sight of Randall’s silver-colored Rolls-Royce.

“Does this come from the ancient family fortunes, or did Stanton Publications pay for it?”

“Stanton Publications,” Randall told him. “All the family estates do is soak up money. It’s the firm that makes it.” He settled behind the wheel and looked avidly at his cousin. “Come on. Give. All I know is, it’s something to do with a floozie called Tracy.”

Gabe cocked his head. “Do I detect a little envy in your voice, cuz?”

Randall scowled, then shifted his gaze to focus intently on fitting the key into the ignition. “Of course not.”

“It’s not a crime, you know. Every red-blooded male ought to meet a Tracy or two.”

“Or twelve or twenty,” Randall said drily. “Or have you had more than that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Gabe grinned as he leaned back against the leather seat and flexed his shoulders. “You should have a few floozies in your life, bud. It would make you a better human being.”

“Like you, I suppose?” Randall snorted.

Gabe shrugged negligently. “All work and no play makes Randall a dull boy.”

“Better than all play and no work,” Randall said firmly.

One of Gabe’s dark brows lifted. “Just a little testy, are we?” he asked as Randall negotiated the narrow lanes of the parking garage.

“You’d be testy too if you had Earl breathing down your neck every minute of every day.”

They called Cedric Stanton “Grandfather” to his face; they called him “the earl” when speaking about him to acquaintances; but they called him “Earl” behind his back because one summer in Montana when they were boys, an old camp cook had actually thought it was the old man’s name and kept yelling, “Hey, Earl! Come an’ get it, Earl!”