Janet Chapman - Tempt Me If You Can

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2010 by Janet Chapman

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Pocket Star Books paperback edition March 2010

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Cover design by Min Choi

Cover illustration by Gene Mollica

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-4165-9544-1

ISBN 978-1-4391-7120-2 (ebook)

To Benjamin Chapman

This one is all yours, even though you have always been the hero of your own story!

(So now will you stop sending me those anonymous fan letters, asking when I am going to give my smart, handsome, eldest son his very own book?)

Prologue

B enjamin Sinclair stared up at his two brothers standing across the desk from him, presenting an imposing, united front. They hadnt uttered a word since walking in, and they didnt have to. Sinclair men never bluffed, and once committed, they never backed down.

Knowing he wasnt leaving the office until he explained his ongoing black mood, Ben silently pulled a card from an envelope on the desk, slid it toward them, then fixed his gaze on the opposite wall as they read the short, succinct note written on a plain white card.

Sam Sinclair picked up the envelope, read the postmark, then looked at Ben. You got this over three weeks ago.

Its taken me that long to find out if its true.

And is it? Jesse asked.

Ben dropped his gaze to the unsigned note that had sent him into a tailspin.

The envelope was postmarked Medicine Gore, Maine.

The investigators I hired believe that its true, Ben returned softly, his gunmetal gaze once again fixed on his brothers. His name is Michael Sands, he lives with his aunt in Medicine Gore, and the timing is right. He slid a thick folder toward them. The investigators included a photo. You tell me if you think its true.

Sam opened the folder and he and Jesse stared down at the eight-by-ten photograph.

My God, Jesse said hoarsely, looking at Ben. This could be a picture of you nineteen years ago. He looked back at Ben. He has your eyes.

Sam, the oldest of the three Sinclair men, collapsed with a sigh into a chair facing the desk. Jesse, the youngest, picked up the photo before sitting in the other chair.

All these years of enduring Brams petitions for us to get married and have children. Sam shook his head. And he had a great-grandson living in Maine all this time.

How the hell could you not know youd fathered a child? Jesse asked. It had to have happened that summer you spent protesting some logging practice in the Maine mountains. We suspected you fell in love with a girl up there, but you were in such a foul mood when you came back, you refused to tell us what in hell was wrong.