Книга - The Secret Millionaire

The Secret Millionaire
Ryanne Corey


Wealthy Zack Daniels kept his fortune secret to ensure acceptance by his fellow cops.There was nothing Zack enjoyed more than fighting crime until he found himself locked in a basement playing Truth or Dare with leggy blonde Anna Smith. Zack was on temporary leave from the LAPD, so he eagerly accepted the undercover assignment Anna offered as her boyfriend-of-convenience.Though Anna needed Zack's help to discourage the attentions of a soon-to-be-married male friend, she knew they were playing a dangerous game, for there was nothing make-believe about Zack's hold on her heart. Her captivating cop was everything she wanted - but could he give her the security she needed?












“I’d Like You To Come Home With Me And Pretend You Love Me.”


Zack had heard all kinds of propositions throughout the course of his career. Not a one had the nuclear-bomb effect of this particular one.

“You want to take me home?” he asked stupidly. Then, a bit louder, “And pretend I love you? Is that what you said?”

“Well, don’t look so shocked,” Anna said. “You won’t be in any mortal danger or anything. The key to the whole thing is pretend. For heaven’s sake, you’re a cop. I thought you were used to unusual situations.” Then, after a short pause, “You’ve never been this quiet for this long. Are you still breathing?”

Zack realized he wasn’t, and immediately rectified the matter. “I’m not shocked,” he gasped, pulling oxygen into his paralyzed lungs. “I’ve been around, you know. It takes a lot to shock me. It’s just…it’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

I’ve never had a dream come true before.


Dear Reader,

What could be more satisfying than the sinful yet guilt-free pleasure of enjoying six new passionate, powerful and provocative Silhouette Desire romances this month?

Get started with In Blackhawk’s Bed, July’s MAN OF THE MONTH and the latest title in the SECRETS! miniseries by Barbara McCauley. The Royal & the Runaway Bride by Kathryn Jensen—in which the heroine masquerades as a horse trainer and becomes a princess—is the seventh exciting installment in DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS, about an American family that discovers its royal roots.

A single mom melts the steely defenses of a brooding ranch hand in Cowboy’s Special Woman by Sara Orwig, while a detective with a secret falls for an innocent beauty in The Secret Millionaire by Ryanne Corey. A CEO persuades a mail-room employee to be his temporary wife in the debut novel Cinderella & the Playboy by Laura Wright, praised by New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber as “a wonderful new voice in Silhouette Desire.” And in Zane: The Wild One by Bronwyn Jameson, the mayor’s daughter turns up the heat on the small town’s bad boy made good.

So pamper the romantic in you by reading all six of these great new love stories from Silhouette Desire!

Enjoy!






Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire




The Secret Millionaire

Ryanne Corey










RYANNE COREY


is the award-winning author of over twenty romance novels. She is also the recipient of the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award. She finds the peace and beauty of the mountains very conducive to writing, and currently lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Utah. She has long believed in the healing power of love and laughter, and enjoys nothing more than bringing a smile to a reader’s face.




Contents


Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue




One


Zack Daniels was an alpha male, from his gleaming ebony hair to the blue-and-white toes of his well-broken-in Reeboks.

He knew this because he watched the Animal Planet channel and was well-informed when it came to the characteristics of a dominant wolf, dog, cheetah, etc. Animal or human, the alpha males were easy to spot. They were driven by their powerful wills, more likely to survive harsh circumstances and always ready for a fight to maintain order in the pack.

True to form, Zack didn’t mind the occasional tussle. In fact, at the moment he was absolutely itching for a fight. He needed to vent.

He knew with total certainty that he was the most frustrated human being in the state of California. And when he drove his platinum silver 2001 Lotus Esprit across the California border into Oregon, he became the most frustrated human being in Oregon, as well. And why?

Because he was on vacation.

Zack could understand why maybe an accountant or an attorney or a loan officer at a bank would look forward to two weeks of vacation. Those poor guys were stuck in their routines day after day, often glued to a desk and forced to deal with tedious things like billing hours, credit reports and balance sheets. And what did they have to show for their labors at the end of the day? Could they look in a secure jail cell and wave to a dangerous criminal they had personally tracked down and apprehended? They could not. And how many distraught damsels in distress did the poor fellows come across in their line of work? Zack would venture to guess: none. Of course they loved their vacations. They looked forward to having a break from the relentless monotony of their lives.

Zack, on the other hand, had a different situation entirely. He was one of the fortunate few who was lucky enough to have a dream job. He was a cop, and he cheerfully danced with danger and unpredictability for the chance to make a difference in the world. And not just a tame waltz, either; he danced a wild tango with his whole heart and soul. He had never believed in doing anything halfway. Granted, he frequently faced risky situations, but on the whole he relished the satisfaction of being a duly sworn-in representative of justice in a world full of bad guys. He hated to sleep, simply because he might miss a chance to protect, serve, defend, nab evildoers and administer justice. He hated to spend an evening at a high-class restaurant, feeling he was somehow failing to do his job if he turned his pager off for two entire hours. But more than anything, Zack hated taking a meaningless vacation from a life that suited him to a T. And right now he was facing an indefinite period of teeth-grinding, nail-biting, migraine-headache boredom.

He had successfully avoided taking a vacation for the past four years. Unfortunately, a short while ago, he and his partner had been ambushed during a drug bust gone bad. “Pappy” Merkley was a powerful black man who looked more like a football player than a cop. Zack had always considered his friend and mentor impervious to harm, but this time Pappy had taken two bullets in the chest. It was nip and tuck for a couple of days, but the fifty-year-old veteran was a fighter. It was a good thing, too, because Zack would have called the Almighty on the carpet had an idealistic, gentle giant like Pappy lost his life because of a slimeball drug dealer. Once Pappy was moved out of the ICU, Zack was eager to administer what he termed “legal payback.”

Zack had many friends who knew him well. Not one of them wanted to be in the same state when he perceived an injustice and lost his temper. His precinct captain, Benjamin Todd, knew very well that it was only a matter of time until his fiercely loyal wunderkind tracked down the shooter and more than likely got himself in hot water. Todd had sentenced him to an open-ended vacation “anywhere out of California” until further notice.

Alpha males occasionally had difficulty relinquishing power to authority figures, and Zack was no exception. He absolutely, positively hated to be frustrated when it came to doing his job…almost as much as he hated taking vacations.

At the moment he was in his ninth hour of vacation and could hardly face the prospect of another minute, let alone an indefinite period of accomplishing absolutely nothing. The heavens had been raining on him since he’d left Los Angeles, doing a smear job on his recently detailed Lotus. To make matters worse, he also had a headache and a sore throat and feared he was coming down with a cold. He wasn’t surprised. His good health seemed to be directly related to the skirmishes he fought in the war against crime. Constant challenge and sweet justice guaranteed high spirits and general well-being. No challenge whatsoever, not to mention a good dose of frustration, translated into sneezes and a cough. True to form, Zack began to pine for dry sheets and a box of tissues. When he sneezed his way into a one-stoplight town called Providence, he decided it was as good a place as any to spend the night.

It was dusk, and the rosy light slanting in from the west did wonderful things for the Lotus’s platinum exterior finish. The exotic, hand-tooled car garnered him quite a bit of attention as he motored down good old “Main Street.” None of his friends or colleagues would have recognized the low-slung sports car he drove, for the simple reason that he kept it hidden in his garage beneath a chamois car cover. Like the rest of the cops he knew, Zack drove a battered economy car with bad tires and too many miles. Anyone who planned on going into law enforcement for the money was doomed to great disappointment and poor transportation.

Though he looked, walked and talked like a cop, Zack had a few secrets he kept with religious fervor. Heaven help him if any of his buddies on the force found out that he had a genius IQ. Though his photographic memory was a tremendous help in his work, he played it down as much as he could. He couldn’t help his intellectual gifts; he’d been born that way. Was it his fault that he had graduated summa cum laude from Berkeley with little effort and even less dedication? No. And so what if he happened to be a member of Mensa? Everyone had skeletons in their closets. Being labeled a genius had been seriously detrimental to his high school social life. He’d been saved from complete humiliation by securing the position of quarterback for the football team, guiding them to a state championship. All brains and no brawn would have made Zack a very dull boy.

At thirty-three, Zack was older and wiser, and by now an old hand at keeping his astonishing intellect under wraps. Still, certain challenges were irresistible to him. During his last year in college, he’d attended an economics lecture wherein the professor compared the chances of success in the stock market with the chances of success at a blackjack table in Vegas. Zack perked right up at the prospect of such an intriguing challenge. Immediately he had begun studying the stock market, quickly learning the ropes and spotting the trends. Initially he invested the small inheritance left to him by his father, and over the next few years created a fine bear market for himself. Simply put, he had become filthy rich. Not a soul on earth besides his banker and lawyer knew about his jaw-dropping fortune. Zack took great pains to keep it quiet, fearing his colleagues would no longer consider him “one of them” if they knew of his exalted tax bracket. Still, now and again he spoiled himself, as he had done when he’d impulsively purchased the Lotus. The only good thing about his vacation was the opportunity to bring his smoke-colored road rocket out of hiding. There was no denying it; alpha males liked to go fast.

As Zack reined in the growling Lotus at a stoplight, a sign in the lighted window of Appleton’s General Store caught his eye: “Beat the bug! Save money on all supplies for cold-and-flu season!” He pulled into the parking lot, only too happy to call it a night. He was knee-deep in his own personal cold-and-flu season. He could see a motel down the road with an electric-blue vacancy sign. In thirty minutes he would be seriously medicated and off to dreamland. When he awoke, another eight hours of his vacation would be history.

He climbed out of the car, hearing his popping spine protest the length of time he had been sitting in one position. Walking through a curtain of rain, he shook the water off his head like a black Lab fresh from a swim. He wore threadbare jeans frayed white at the knees, a gray T-shirt and an ancient brown leather jacket broken in to the consistency of soft butter. Unless he was called on to testify in court, these were his “work clothes.” It was a happy day when he had been promoted to the rank of detective four years earlier and given permission to shed his barely there marine haircut and ugly-as-sin patrolman’s uniform. Life was sweet, indeed; he had a perpetual green light to chase bad guys and help maintain order in the Los Angeles, California, pack.

Until now. Zack’s vacation instructions from Captain Todd were simple: “Forget work and read a book or something.” As far as Zack was concerned, Todd was a sadist. Still, on the way out of town, he had stopped at a bookstore and picked up a copy of Stephen Hawking’s Universe, a book he would never have bought had he been hanging out with his buddies. Maybe a little light reading would help him pass the time.

The notice on the sliding-glass door told Zack he had only two minutes to find his cold supplies before the store closed. He took off at a slow jog, scanning aisles one through ten before he saw the medicines in aisle eleven. He collected an armful of fine and potent cold remedies, including cough syrup with a very high alcohol content. Meanwhile a young employee mopped the floor around Zack’s sneakers, looking very irritated at the possibility that Zack would be responsible for his shift going thirty seconds overtime.

“Oh, chill out,” Zack growled, sniffing. He was in no mood to be pestered by a pimply faced teenager. “Just tell me where the tissues are, kid.”

“Right behind you,” the clerk muttered, pointing with the handle of his mop. “Any closer and they would have bit you. Could you move it along? I can’t mop the floor if you’re standing on it.”

Obviously, the kid didn’t know who he was dealing with. Zack decided to be difficult, for no other reason than he was miserable and it seemed fair that everyone else in the world should be miserable, too. “I always have a hard time making a decision. On one hand, you’ve got the really soft, puffy kind, but there’s also the kind with the lotion in it. Then you have to decide on one-ply or two-ply. And I pretty much prefer unscented, but that’s sometimes hard to find. It’s a dilemma, you know?”

“There, right in front of you. Second shelf from the top. We’ve got puffy, we’ve got lotion, we’ve got scented and unscented. Okay?”

“I love small towns,” Zack told the clerk with complete insincerity. “They’re so personal. When I retire, I think I’ll come right back here to good ol’ Providence. Live out my golden years basking in the warmth of your old-fashioned hospitality.”

“It’s five past ten,” the clerk pointed out, unimpressed with Zack’s sarcasm. “We’re officially closed. If you want your puffy tissues, you’d better get a move on before they close the registers.”

Zack’s headache was getting worse and he’d left his patience behind in California. “Well, you’re not closing promptly at ten tonight, bud. You know why? Because I want to walk around and make sure I get everything I need. I’m coming down with something, you know. I want to be prepared.”

The clerk glowered at him through his wire-rimmed glasses. “So tell me what you need and I’ll help you find it…fast.”

“That’s the trouble, you know? You never know what you’re forgetting till it’s too late. I’ll just mosey around and see what catches my eye. Maybe a hot-water bottle. Or maybe some herbal tea. And some vitamin C, my mom always said it was good for…my mom always said…holy smoke!”

Something—actually, someone—had caught his eye in a death grip. A woman breezed around the corner in a rush, obviously trying to beat the clock. She was tall, willowy, exotic-looking. Her waist-length hair whipped behind her in a multicolored curtain of honey-brown, ivory and dark gold. Her full-length black leather coat swung open, revealing a cream-colored sweater shot through with white sequins. Her jeans were black, her sexy, high-heeled leather boots a startling shade of cranberry red. Zack liked a woman who wore leather. Unfortunately, those very sexy boots were a poor choice for recently mopped linoleum.

Zack gleefully realized he was going to be called on to be heroic. He loved to be heroic. Everything happened at once. Her left boot started to skid. Her eyes met his, wide, startled and helpless. Those eyes were the clearest, brightest, most unusual shade of crystalline blue he had ever seen, fringed with outrageously long lashes. The light-diffused, shimmering color was a heart-stopping contrast to the rich summer tan gilding her flawless skin. Zack had to mentally slap himself to switch to hero mode, dropping his medical supplies and happily holding out his arms to catch the fragrant, feminine bundle that toppled into them.

She was a bit heavier than she looked, but he managed. For a wonderful moment he had her full weight, holding her high enough that her heels kicked above the slippery floor. He enjoyed it immensely.

“This is a really nice store,” he commented, winking at the startled clerk. Suddenly the kid wasn’t bothering him so much.

The young woman in his arms rolled her eyes, one of her heels connecting painfully with his shin. “Oh, dear,” she said innocently when he winced. “I’m terribly sorry. If you don’t mind, it would be best if you put me down before I accidentally kick you again.”

“I do mind,” Zack sighed. He could only hold her in the protective arms of the law for so long. “But I will put you down, because you asked politely and you’re wearing very sharp heels. Feisty little thing, aren’t you?”

Reluctantly he relinquished his hold. Her boots hit the ground walking. Just like that. He’d been dismissed.

“What?” Zack asked the back of her leather coat. “No thanks? No introduction? No love at first sight?”

She looked over her shoulder, fluttering her long lashes at him. He swore he could feel a breeze. “You’re sort of cute, but I’m afraid you’re a little cocky. Thanks for your help. Goodbye.”

“Shot down,” the clerk said, watching her round the corner and disappear.

Zack sighed, nodding sadly. “In flames.”

“I’ve never seen her in here before,” the clerk went on in a slightly dazed tone, no longer quite so upset at working late. “I guess I would have remembered if I had. Boy, was she hot.”

Zack stared him down with cool gray eyes, the same look he used on punk teenagers with an attitude. “Down, boy. Back to your mopping. Look here, someone has broken a bottle of cough syrup all over the floor. That’s too bad.”

“I’ll never get out of here,” the kid grumbled. “Hey, man, what’s that on your shirt? You’ve got her watch or something caught on your button.”

Zack looked down his nose at the middle of his chest. There was indeed a delicate silver chain dangling there; the clasp was caught in the loose thread from a button. “It’s not a watch,” he said, more to himself than the clerk. Carefully he untangled the almost weightless piece of jewelry from the front placket of his shirt. “It’s a bracelet. Her initials are on the clasp…H.S. I wonder what they stand for.”

“Heather,” the clerk said promptly, his attention caught despite the heavy burden of working overtime. “She looks like a Heather to me. Hey, you want me to take her bracelet up front? I can have her paged.”

“I can handle it.” Zack, holding the beautiful bracelet up to the light, began to smile. He’d completely forgotten about his cold. His symptoms had magically disappeared. He’d also forgotten about his vacation. Suddenly he had a fine new challenge, and the anticipation gave him a second wind. He actually laughed out loud, then took off in pursuit.

Unfortunately, the sweet-smelling lady in leather had vanished. He checked each and every aisle, then jogged up to the front where a big-haired girl with white-frosted lips waited in front of a register. Zack had a killer smile. One of his former lady friends had once described it as a nuclear weapon. He used it now for all he was worth. “Hello, there. I know you’re closing now, but I wondered if you could do me a little favor?”

She didn’t even consider it. “It’s past ten. My register is closed.”

Zack stared at her, taken aback. Apparently the nuclear weapon had been a dud. This had never happened before. “Look, I need to talk to one of your customers. A young woman wearing a long, black leather coat. Have you seen her?”

The girl nodded, snapping her gum. “Yeah. She asked me where the rest rooms were.”

“And you told her…?”

She opened her eyes wide. “Duh. I told her where they were.”

Zack stopped being charming and reverted to cop mode. “Look, lady, the sooner you start cooperating, the sooner you can leave. Where are the damned…the rest rooms?”

Her colorless, Casper the Ghost lips pouted. “Fine. Go to the double swinging doors at the rear of the store. Take your first door to the left and go down the stairs. You’ll see the signs. Hustle, will you? I’ve got a date tonight.”

Poor guy, Zack thought, sketching her a mocking salute.

Truth be told, he was surprised at his own determination to track down a woman who clearly wasn’t interested in being tracked down. He simply wasn’t accustomed to being dismissed by an attractive woman. It wasn’t so much that he was an egotist, he’d simply learned long ago to expect and receive special treatment from the ladies. He didn’t know if it was the cop thing or what, but women usually found him kind of appealing. Most women, anyway.

He did have his pride to consider. He had no intention of following the lovely lady into the women’s rest room. That would look too desperate, not to mention somewhat indecent. Still, there was no law about waiting for her in the vicinity. After all, he was a Good Samaritan trying to do her a favor. His motives were almost selfless.

Smiling to himself, he followed the cashier’s directions, going to the back offices of the store and through the double doors marked with an Employees Only notice, then opening the stairwell door. It was a heavy fire door, made of dull gray steel and posted with a No Exit sign. Another sign below this read, Authorized Personnel Only. Below that, Shoplifters Will Be Prosecuted to the Full Extent of the Law. Zack decided this was the least friendly store he had ever patronized.

Other than a single yellow lightbulb swinging from the ceiling, the hallway was in shadows. His face split with a grin, Zack squatted and looked at the sliver of light beneath the door of the women’s rest room. He wasn’t a detective for nothing, no sir. Now all he had to do was hurry up the stairs, station himself by the door of many signs and gallantly return her bracelet. She would have no choice but to introduce herself. He didn’t know why it was so important that he know her name, but it was. His extraordinary intellect, combined with years of detective work, had left him with amazing powers of observation and recall. She had been wearing large, glittering earrings, obviously paste, but still nice. On close inspection her black coat was not leather at all, but a less-expensive imitation. Besides the thin silver chain around her wrist, she’d also worn a chunky men’s digital watch, an inexpensive Timex if he wasn’t mistaken. Most important, she had not been wearing a wedding ring. If he remembered accurately, she’d had a ring on every finger, with the single exception of her ring finger. It was a very important finger.

He heard the doorknob to the women’s room rattle a bit, and quickly loped up the stairs three at a time. He didn’t want to scare her by waiting in the hallway like some stalker. He’d go back into the well-lit storeroom and…and…

He tried the fire door a second time, with more force.

It was locked.

He winced as he heard her come out into the hallway. He was caught like a rabbit in a snare. This was going to severely affect his dignity. He remained rooted to the spot, hot blood burning his cheeks as he listened to the click, click, click of her heels moving down the hallway.

“Excuse me?” said a curious voice from the bottom of the stairs. “What are you doing up there?”

Zack’s forehead thumped loudly against the steel door. “Me? Oh, I’m just being perplexed.”

“Perplexed? Is there a problem? I know you’re closing soon. I’m sorry if I delayed you.”

Clearly she had mistaken him for someone who worked there. He wished he did; it would have made his explanation so much easier. He took a deep breath and slowly turned around, grateful the shadows hid the telltale wildfire in his face. “Hello, there. Fancy seeing you here.”

“You?” she asked, her eyebrows narrowing suspiciously. “What is this? Are you following me or what?”

“You should have your ego looked at. I think it’s swollen.” Zack had learned long ago to improvise with the best of them. It was one of his survival tools when working undercover. Feigning injured innocence, he pulled her bracelet from his pocket, swinging it from his fingers like a pendulum. “You left this tangled up with one of my buttons when you fell into my arms. I was simply trying to return it to you. Sorry, but no ulterior motives. You’re sort of cute, but you’re a little cocky.”

Now it was her turn to blush. “Oh. I suppose I jumped to the wrong conclusion.”

“Like a kangaroo.” Biting back a smile, Zack tossed her the bracelet, and she caught it in midair with a neat flick of her wrist. “Nice catch,” he murmured appreciatively. He loved a woman with good hand-eye coordination.

“Thank you,” she muttered, fastening the bracelet on her wrist. “This bracelet has tremendous sentimental value to me. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost it.”

“No problem.” Unfortunately, the words reminded Zack there was, in fact, a major problem. Once again he tried to open the door. He tried it again. Finally he slammed his hip against the stubborn metal. “Ouch. That’ll leave a mark. Listen, I hate to tell you this, but it seems we’re locked in.”

“What?” an alarmed voice directly behind him asked. “Locked in? As in locked in? We can’t get out?”

Zack jumped, unaware that she had come up the stairs. He looked over his shoulder, feeling the jolt of her stabbing blue eyes a mere twelve inches from his. Even in the shadows, they seemed an intensely brilliant source of light. Her skin was golden, her generous lips stained wetly with a rich cinnamon gloss. This was the sort of woman who could give a sought-after ladies’ man a run for his money…so to speak.

“We can’t get out,” Zack confirmed hoarsely, trying not to stare at that full-bloom rosebud mouth. “Not till they come and find us, at any rate.”

“Are you kidding me? Tell me you’re kidding me.” Then, a full octave higher, “We’re trapped?”

“Think positively,” Zack encouraged. “We’re not so much trapped as we are very, very secure.”

“I’m claustrophobic!” she yelped, losing her cool. She pushed past him, jerking on the handle with both hands and nearly knocking Zack off the steps in the process. “I can’t deal with this, I tell you. I have to know I can get out of places I go into. If I feel trapped, sometimes I…sometimes I panic and…”

“And what?” Zack asked warily, looking at her dilated pupils. “Oh-oh. You don’t look so good. Sometimes you what?”

“I…do…this,” she muttered weakly. And for the second time in less than ten minutes, she collapsed into Zack’s waiting arms.




Two


Anna Smith had never been the kind of person who came unglued easily, and never in public in front of a stranger. She had a little stubborn streak. Which was why, even as the little stairwell in Appleton’s General Store was spinning into nauseating darkness, she was absolutely exasperated with herself. This was so pathetic for a twenty-six-year-old woman.

Fortunately, she wasn’t completely out of it. She managed to more or less walk on her Gumby legs, supported by two strong arms and a bright, bracing stream of encouragement: “You can do it, here we go, down the stairs…good girl, good girl…”

He had a nice voice, she thought groggily. And very calm, almost like he was used to dealing with emergencies like this all the time. He dragged her along, finding an unlocked door close to the stairs. He turned on the light, and Anna found herself firmly planted in a hard folding chair.

“You okay?” he asked sharply, clicking his fingers in front of her fluttering, half-closed eyes. “Hello, there! Yoo-hoo! Coming around? You can open your eyes, we’ve got a nice big room here. No windows, but…we won’t think about that. You’ve got a door you can walk in and out of. Isn’t that nice? We still can’t get out of the basement, but…we won’t think about that, either. If you don’t say something soon, I’m going to use up all the oxygen blabbering.” A pause, then in a more hopeful tone, “I suppose I could try artificial respiration.”

“Don’t you dare,” Anna muttered, trying to control her weighty lids. “You know perfectly well that I’m breathing. Of all the idiotic things for me to do, fainting like that…”

Zack watched sympathetically while she tried to bury her swimming head in her knees. He’d been in a similar position himself many times after a rowdy night on the town. “That’s it, take slow, deep breaths. You’ll feel better soon.” Then, with humor, “If it makes you feel better, I have this effect on women all the time. They’re swooning here, there and everywhere.”

Slowly, her white-knuckled hands clutching the seat of the chair, Anna forced herself to sit up straight. She saw they were in a very large storeroom of sorts, which caused her to breathe a great sigh of relief. As long as she didn’t think about the locked door at the top of the stairs, she should be able to keep the demon claustrophobia at bay. “This is so embarrassing. I suppose I should thank you for catching me.”

“Not if it’s painful for you,” Zack replied, hearing the reluctance in her voice. “Something tells me you’re one of those women who don’t need assistance too often.”

She gave him a wobbly smile, her eyes still a bit glazed. “And something tells me you’re used to women who very much appreciate your assistance. I’m doing better now. This chair feels like it’s bobbing on the ocean, but other than that, I’m fine. This kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time, just so you know.”

“Freaking out was understandable in these circumstances,” Zack replied. “We’re all human, you know. Except Captain Todd, the bane of my existence. He’s another species altogether.”

She blinked in slow motion, her brows drawn together. “What are you talking about? Who is Captain Todd?”

Zack grinned, shaking his head. “Never mind. Since you’re lucky enough not to know him, we’ll keep it that way.”

There was a long silence while Anna absorbed the full effect of his remarkable smile. She was clearheaded enough to translate the potent, wickedly sensual message he was delivering. His heavy-lidded gray eyes went along for the ride, as well, curling up at the edges in captivating little sunbursts. She saw sweetness there, and a silky-smooth masculine appeal that no doubt went over very well with the ladies. His thick hair was dark as midnight, a bit damp and carelessly finger-combed back from his face. He wasn’t exceptionally tall, just under six feet, but he had the build of a lean young athlete. Even his well-worn leather jacket couldn’t disguise the hard stretch of well-defined chest muscles beneath the soft gray T-shirt he wore. Anna found her eyes skipping lower, to the low-riding, stonewashed jeans that were more white than blue. She couldn’t help it; he was standing and she was sitting, and the flat plane of his stomach and hips was directly at eye level. Altogether a dazzling and heady package…and here she was without sunscreen or shades. She couldn’t help but shake her head at the voyeuristic trend of her thinking.

“Ahem.” Zack cleared his throat, more than a little self-conscious. She was studying him in precisely the same way he usually studied an attractive woman. Not in a rude way, but unusually candid. In his experience, and he had quite a bit of it, women tended to be a little flustered around him. He liked being the one who did the flustering, not the one being flustered. Having the tables turned wasn’t nearly as much fun. “You’re suddenly very quiet. Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

“I’m fine.” Anna stood up slowly, telling herself to get a grip. “Excuse me. I was distracted by…never mind what I was distracted by.”

“If you told me your name,” Zack ventured, “I could scratch our initials in the fire door out there to commemorate our incarceration.”

She smiled at that. “I’m Anna Smith, occasional fainter. We’re in a little predicament here, I guess.”

You guess right, Zack thought with gentle humor. Lucky us. “Nice to meet you. I’m Zack Daniels, catcher of fainting women. You make a very stimulating predicament partner, do you know that? And I’m an expert at predicaments and partners, so I speak with authority.”

Anna decided he was harmless enough, despite his inclination to flirt. And he did provide nice scenery for their predicament. “Well, here’s hoping we won’t be partners for long. No offense, but this place isn’t my idea of a dream vacation. Hey!”

Alarmed, Zack jumped and looked over his shoulder. “What? Who? Hey what?”

“I see a telephone!” She made her way through a pile of boxes, lifting up a bright pink telephone from beneath a sheet of clear plastic bubble wrap. “Of course, they would have a phone down here. Why didn’t we think…” Her voice trailed off. She lifted her head, sheepishly meeting Zack’s dancing eyes. “It’s a Barbie phone.”

Zack nodded, not even trying to hide his grin. This just kept getting better and better. She was a laugh a minute. “The Barbie sticker kind of gives it away, don’t you think?”

“I can’t believe my luck tonight…or absence thereof.” She dropped the phone back in the box with a heavy sigh. “Oh, my goodness. Why can’t anything be easy? Do you think there might be a phone in one of the other rooms? Maybe there’s another exit somewhere, or maybe a basement window we can crawl out of.”

“I doubt it. The sign on the fire door said No Exit.” Zack was enjoying himself immensely. She was pure magic to watch, the way her changing emotions were reflected in her vivid eyes, her lips, the light catching the burnished-gold streaks in her hair whenever she moved. Nothing was hidden, nothing was calculated. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d met a woman who didn’t try to impress him. They liked his looks, which he guessed was understandable. Not so understandable was their starry-eyed fascination with the potential danger involved with his work. The possibility of Zack being on the receiving end of severe bodily harm was inexplicably titillating to them. It wasn’t very nice of them, but then again, Zack had never really focused on nice women. “I’m sure they’ll find us sooner or later. Why don’t you relax?”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “You’ve got to be kidding. I’m not the type who sits around expecting to be rescued. I’m perfectly capable of rescuing myself.”

“An independent and resourceful woman,” Zack said respectfully, settling himself in the folding chair she had vacated. “How inspiring. I’ll sit here and admire your resourceful character while you rescue us. You may begin.”

Obviously, he wasn’t taking this situation of theirs very seriously. Ignoring him, Anna proceeded to explore the room at length, rummaging through piles of boxes, cleaning supplies and office equipment…but no telephone. She went to the door twice, giving the darkened hallway a quick look before scuttling back into the room. “You could do something,” she told Zack irritably, annoyed by his complacent attitude and Cheshire Cat smile. “I’m not keen on exploring the other rooms. I feel trapped whenever I look out there. Would it be too much bother for you to separate yourself from that chair and look around?”

“Well, I suppose I could take a look around,” Zack said after a moment of reflection. He stood up and slowly stretched, his sparkling eyes noting her reaction with amusement. “I do have a little cold and I’m feeling under the weather, but I’ll manage somehow. Still, I hate to leave you in here all alone, you being so delicate and all. Will you be all right without me?”

Anna placed a hand over her heart with exaggerated sincerity. “I will do my poor best.”

Zack grinned. “Lady, you’re the most entertaining thing that has happened to me in my entire life. I’ll be right back. Don’t move a muscle.”

He was gone for several minutes. Anna heard doors opening and closing, boxes being shoved around and occasional sounds of exaggerated discouragement. Then she heard him knocking on the fire door and calling out for someone to help them, all to no avail. When he came back, he had an expression of utter dejection, though his keen gray eyes were still lit with enjoyment. “We are doomed, my pretty new predicament partner. No exits, no windows, no way to call anyone. And there’s not a sound from upstairs. I’m afraid they may have locked things up and left. I can’t tell you how upset I am about this. We have ourselves in a pickle here. Or rather, a pickle jar with a very tight lid.”

“Well, this is just wonderful,” Anna muttered, hands planted on her hips over her leather coat. “Absolutely wonderful. What on earth do we do now? I’m not about to spend an entire night locked in some basement, I’ll tell you that.”

“I’m afraid,” Zack said kindly, “you are.”

She stared at him suspiciously. “You know something? I think you like this situation.”

Zack could have told her he was tickled hot pink with the whole thing, but he didn’t think the timing was right. He settled with, “Let’s just be happy it isn’t Saturday night. If it was and the store wasn’t open on Sundays, we could be here all weekend. We wouldn’t have any food except for gummy bears and candy necklaces, and—”

“What’s that?” Anna was instantly distracted from their little problem. Zack Daniels had just mentioned her favorite food group: candy. Besides, it just wasn’t in her nature to be grumpy for too long. “You really found gummy bears?”

Grinning like a proud hunter, home with his kill, Zack pulled a cellophane bag from his jacket pocket, swinging it from his fingers in front of Anna’s nose. “I found a whole case of gummy bears and two cases of candy necklaces. Oh, yes—and games. Candyland, Monopoly, Twister. We can find all kinds of things to keep us occupied.” He slowly uncoiled his teasing, bone-melting smile again, making the room seem suddenly smaller and a great deal warmer. “Trust me, Anna Smith. I’m an expert when it comes to handling predicaments.”



“And now we’ll have sharing time,” Zack announced in his best Sunday school teacher’s voice.

Anna’s baby blues narrowed. She was nobody’s fool; she had nixed the idea of playing Twister right off the bat. Instead, they had spent an hour playing the ever-popular board game, Candyland. Despite Zack’s dark mutterings about “sissy games,” he played along like a good sport and emerged the winner. After that they’d found a chess game. Again Zack won. He never seemed to need any time at all to ponder his next move, yet his strategy was astonishing. The win, he claimed, meant that it was now his turn to choose the next activity.

“And what precisely do you want to share during sharing time?” Anna asked cautiously. She was leaning with her back against the wall, legs stretched out before her. Her boots were off, as was her long black coat. Zack sat opposite, leaning against a four-foot-high box of paper towels with his jacket for a pillow, chewing on a candy necklace he was wearing.

“Stuff.” He grinned, wriggling his eyebrows like the evil villain Snidely Whiplash. He’d been flirting shamelessly throughout the chess game, inspired by the way she slowly ran her tongue along the edge of her upper lip when pondering her next move. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen much progress. Anna took every teasing comment he made in stride, easily holding her own. She was accustomed to men flirting with her. She didn’t think it was so much her looks that were inspiring the attention as much as it was the basic nature of men. It had become tiresome, to say the least. While in high school, she had first heard the old saying, “Men never make passes at girls who wear glasses.” She had gone right out and purchased a pair of non-prescription eyeglasses, but the old adage had proved false. Glasses or no glasses, she was destined to be the target of masculine interest. She realized early on that very few of her admirers were interested in her fine character, lively sense of humor or steadfast loyalty. Nine times out of ten, it was a purely physical attraction, something along the lines of, “Lie down, I think I love you.”

Anna had learned to cope quite well, and wasn’t thrown a bit by Zack’s obvious interest. When he complimented her on her glorious, waist-length hair, she told him his own razor-cut style was very flattering for his square-jawed face. Appalled, he immediately went on the defensive. He did not have his hair styled, he had it cut, plain and simple. Anna had opened her big blue eyes very wide and innocently apologized. It seemed to her that the man wasn’t used to being frustrated by women.

“Whatever.” She shrugged. “At least this is one game you can’t actually beat me at. I’m a kindergarten teacher, so I’m very experienced when it comes to sharing time.”

“I never, ever had a kindergarten teacher who looked like you. If I had, I would have put off going into first grade for a few years. So, anyway, we’ll take turns asking each other questions. If we choose not to answer, we have to take a dare.”

“That’s not the way we have sharing time in kindergarten.”

“Of course it isn’t. We’re adults, darn it, and we’ll have sharing time like adults.”

“Says the man who is wearing a candy necklace. Okay, you won Candyland and the chess game, so I get to go first. Yes?”

“Well…” Zack nodded, somewhat suspicious. “I guess so.”

Anna tipped her head back against the wall, popping another couple of gummy bears into her mouth. “Okay. When was the last time you cried?”

“What?” Zack immediately gagged on his candy. This was completely unacceptable. Despite the fact he was wearing a necklace, he was a macho kind of guy through and through. He usually carried a gun, for Pete’s sake. Men who wore guns did not admit to crying. He couldn’t think of a single male friend who would even admit to having tear ducts. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

“Wrong. I’m serious.”

“That’s ridiculous! No way am I answering that.” If he did, he would have to tell her he shed a couple of tears a week earlier when he saw Where The Red Fern Grows on late-night television. “Ask me something else. Anything.”

She shrugged, cheerfully biting the head off a gummy bear. “No way. You can’t pick and choose your questions.”

“Oh, but I can.” He took off his candy necklace for emphasis, throwing it over his shoulder. “I don’t care what you ask me, it can’t be as bad as the first question.”

“You don’t think so?” She tilted her head sideways, studying him with mischief in her electric-blue eyes. For the first time since leaving Grayland Beach, she was actually having a good time. Zack Daniels was more than just a pretty face—or rather, good-looking face. He was funny, incredibly quick-witted and an entertaining verbal sparring partner. Anna had never made the mistake of thinking good looks were an indication of a good nature, but she did appreciate the diversion. What woman wouldn’t? “I’m going to enjoy this,” she said, rubbing her hands together with great anticipation. “Okay, I’ll take pity on you and ask you another question. When was the last time you lied?”

Zack winced. Actually, the last time he’d lied had been about two hours earlier, when he’d told her how upset he was that they were locked in the basement. “Having sharing time was a bad idea. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to play anymore.”

“Don’t be such a chicken.”

“I’m not a chicken, I’m a dignified male who refuses to look stupid.” He paused, giving her an “I dare you to make me” look. “Keep this up and I’m going to start chipping away at the concrete wall with my pocketknife to escape from here. You’re a threat to my masculinity, do you know that? And I’ve only known you for—” he consulted his watch “—one hour and fifty-five minutes. You’re scary.”

Anna laughed, throwing back her head and slapping her palms on her jeans-clad thighs. “And you’re easy. Round one goes to me. Finally I win at something.”

Zack opened his mouth to deliver a delightfully witty comeback, then promptly forgot the words. She made a heart-stopping picture, this vibrant, light-filled creature with soul-piercing eyes and clouds of bright hair swirling around her shoulders. Her sweater was tight enough to show she was a woman and loose enough to show she was a lady. His eyes slid over the entire fetching picture, lingering on her shoeless feet. Here was another surprise. Her black stockings were shot through with glittering silver question marks. And her toes curled when she laughed. She was an original.

He sighed heavily, for the moment giving up on being witty. He was certainly man enough to show he wasn’t immune to her extraordinary charm. Besides, he wanted to further distract her from sharing time. “I have to tell you something,” he said, tilting his head sideways in a pantomime of thoughtful consideration. “You are definitely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my entire life.”

She lifted her eyebrows curiously, as if waiting for him to make his point.

“That was a compliment,” Zack explained, in the tone of one speaking to the mentally impaired. Never had he experienced so much trouble trying to get into a little trouble. “What is it with you? You never react to anything quite the way I expect.”

She shrugged, finishing off the last surviving gummy bears. “Who says how someone should react to things? I have this friend named Frank, and he has the most amazing analytical mind. He always tells me the world would be a much saner place if people acted and not reacted. It makes sense, don’t you think?”

“Frank?” Zack said, reacting for all he was worth. “Who is Frank?”

“I told you, he’s my friend. He’s a judge, so you can imagine how interesting he is. When he sits on the bench, he looks just like an avenging angel, with his black robe and silver hair.”

“Silver hair?” Zack seized on that one immediately. “Then he’s old?”

Anna frowned at him. “No, he just has prematurely silver hair. It’s beautiful. As I was saying, Frank contends that emotions are something to be governed, not something that governs us. He talks like that, kind of stuffy. But he’s fascinating to listen to, and the stories he tells—”

“I don’t like Frank,” Zack told her, sounding a little stuffy himself. “I don’t want to talk about Frank. If I had a really ugly dog, I would name him Frank.”

“You don’t even know Frank. I swear, you’re just like Davy.”

“Oh, hell.” Zack stood up, mentally adding frustrating to the list of words that described this surprising woman. “And Davy would be…?

“Davy is also a friend. He’s what you would call a man’s man, someone who lives for hunting season and fishing season and any other manly season you can think of. He also likes to climb very high mountains. My point is, like you, he has a tendency to—”

“Don’t you have any friends who are women?”

“Not many, actually. My father was a high school football coach. The players were always coming to the house. I met some of my best friends that way. Anyway, when Davy isn’t off hunting elk or climbing mountains, he takes his shirt off and models for covers of romance novels. You might have seen his picture.”

The light of battle flared in Zack’s eyes. “Are you suggesting I read romance novels?”

“No, although I don’t know why that would bother you. The point I am trying to make—”

“Wait a minute,” said Zack. “Do I look like a model to you?”

“This is ridiculous. Will you put a lid on your testosterone and listen? Like many macho men, Davy is someone who has been known to react emotionally rather than think things through.”

A tiny muscle went tic-tic-tic in Zack’s hard brown cheek. “Well, I am not someone who reacts emotionally. I am in complete control of myself at any given moment. Cool, calm and collected. Ask my buddies how well I discipline my emotions if you don’t believe me.”

“I see,” she said in a sweet voice. “You never do anything impulsively.”

“I’m saying that I have incredible self-control.” Reflecting on this, Zack realized that anyone who knew him well would be rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically about now. Especially Captain Todd. “How did we get on this subject, anyway? Considering we just met, don’t you think you’re making way too many assumptions about me?”

“I’m sorry. I do that, draw conclusions about people right off the bat. I don’t really judge them, I just look in their eyes and…sort of feel what they’re all about. It’s a gift I have.” Humming beneath her breath, Anna picked her way through boxes, files and crates, searching for something more nutritious than candy. “People usually give off vibes, and I really do believe you can look into someone’s eyes and read them.”

Zack followed her zigzag pattern across the room, bound and determined to make his point. “I want you to understand something. In my line of work, I can’t afford to be affected by personal emotions. I’m told that I’m very good at what I do, so obviously I have the ability to remain calm and focused on my objective. Also, unlike your friend Delbert—”

“Davy.”

“Whatever. Unlike what’s-his-bucket, I don’t make a habit of living on an emotional seesaw. Besides, there is no way in the world you can look into someone else’s eyes and know what they’re like, what they’re thinking or feeling. People have too many protective layers these days. It’s a defense mechanism we all have. And considering the criminal elements in our society, it’s a good thing to be cautious.”

“No one can keep their true nature hidden completely.”

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” Zack told her with the sage voice of experience. “I’ve known several people who could hide their true natures completely. Unless they choose to take the mask off, no one has a clue who they are or what they’re capable of.”

“You seem awfully familiar with the ‘criminal element.’ You’re not a criminal, are you?”

“Of course I’m not a criminal. Do I look like someone who could rob a bank?”

“Yes,” Anna said instantly, grinning at the insulted look on his face. “And you also look like a person who wouldn’t get caught, either. You’re very…confident.” She bent over, huffing and puffing as she struggled to lift one box off the other. “Look at the label on the box beneath this—beef jerky. Yippee! What is your line of work, anyway? No, wait. Let me guess. You look like you would be very photogenic. Are you a model?”

For the second time that night, but with even more fire, “The hell you say! Look, you’re going to hurt yourself. Let me.”

Anna was more than happy to move aside and let the big strong man lift the heavy box. “Okay, okay. I was just teasing. I’ll be serious now. Let’s see. There are any number of professions a man like you could be suited for. You’re obviously familiar with a shady side of society. Are you a public defender?”

“Sort of,” Zack replied. “I defend the public quite a bit, as a matter of fact. No more guesses? Use your ESP, Anna.” He set the box on the floor and turned to her, both hands planted on his hips. “Can’t you look in my eyes and know all my secrets?”

Anna’s smile grew wider. “Oh, I’ve had you pegged from ‘Hello.’ Not your profession, maybe, but definitely your nature. You’re a typical male—you like to win every game you play. You’re so intelligent it’s scary, you flirt like a pro and you’ve had enough experience with the world to make you a little cynical. You can also laugh at yourself, and you enjoy helping people. How am I doing so far?”

“Pretty good. Except that bit about me being typical.” Zack teasingly fluttered his lashes at her. “I like to think I’m somewhat out of the ordinary.”

She opened her eyes wide, speaking in a spooky, Vincent Price voice. “I can see into your soul, Zack Daniels. I know who you are inside and out.”

Softly he said, “Lady, you haven’t even scratched the surface yet.” Zack took one step, just enough to bring his sneakers and her stocking toes together. His eyes locked on hers, and his smile took on a slick and dangerous curve. This flirtatious, provocative dance was familiar ground for him. He was face-to-face with an incredibly appealing woman, and he was tired of being on the defensive. In addition to chess, there were certain other games he played very well; he had it on the best of authority. And he was getting increasingly hungry to play them with Anna. “I’m going to give you a chance to prove your point. Look in my eyes.” He lowered his voice, imitating Anna’s eerie delivery. “Tell me what I’m thinking, oh great and wonderful wizard. Read me.”

Here was something new. The atmosphere between them changed in a heartbeat. One moment they were lighthearted and teasing, the next moment a sharp awareness slipped into the narrow space dividing their bodies, stealing their smiles in a sneak attack. Zack was suffocatingly close, seeming larger than life, every powerful physical attribute he possessed magnified ten times over. Anna stared mutely at the way his ragged lashes cast half-moon shadows on his cheeks, the sharp flecks of blue in his smoky gray eyes. She could smell the faintest hint of his cologne, something musky and very male. His glossy, jet-black hair was shimmering almost wetly beneath the overhead lights, a devilishly dark halo. She could feel him reaching out to her, urging, pulling at her. And she couldn’t pretend not to understand the look in his restless gray eyes.

Her body was buzzing and tickling, her respiration coming in short, quick catches. She couldn’t step back; she couldn’t pull her eyes from his. Her lips parted on a strand of breath, her eyes widened with awareness.

Anna wasn’t a woman who carelessly took risks, but suddenly she realized she wanted to walk the knife-edge line between safety and danger. Zack was virtually a stranger, which added a tantalizing dose of the unknown to the moment. He was charismatic, he was ultraconfident, he was one hundred percent male. And even if she wanted to, she couldn’t get away from him until they were rescued. Zack Daniels and his hedonist’s smile was temptation in the finest masculine incarnation she had ever seen.

As she studied his face, she deliberately allowed her imagination to wander into an unfamiliar and reckless curiosity. In an oddly distant way she knew she was safe. A brief lowering of her defenses wouldn’t change that. In a matter of hours they would be going their separate ways, back to their own lives. She would never see him again. And meanwhile the chemistry sizzling between them was pressing her to experiment. Just a little, and no one but Anna and Zack would ever know. One short moment in time when consequences wouldn’t matter.

Why not?




Three


“This is so strange,” Anna said softly, her voice unnaturally husky. “When I stop and think—”

“The sad end to all waking dreams—thinking. Why do we have to stop and think? Haven’t you ever wanted to do anything risky?” Even as he spoke, Zack’s pulse continued to accelerate. He wondered if she had any idea of the beguiling, bewitching picture she made. Her small face was draped with gold and honey-colored hair that curled in looping question marks over her shoulders. So sweet.

Her beautiful eyes remained solemn. “Are you telling me you’re risky?”

“Some people think so.” His body moved infinitesimally closer to hers, drawn by something he couldn’t see or explain. She was a hypnotizing contradiction of darkness and light, uncertainty and daring. With all his experience, Zack felt like a newborn, amazed that a situation that had begun so innocently could feel so sharply, aggressively sexual.

Thoughtfully she tilted her head to one side, unable to stem her curiosity about this man. “Should I be careful, then?”

“No. Please, no.” His hand slipped beneath her hair, warm on the delicate nape of her neck. Even as he lowered his face to hers, he was aware of an uncharacteristic trembling in his body. He saw her eyes grow wider, brighter, the dark rings of her irises visibly expanding. Then her face blurred, his attention fiercely riveted on her parted lips. The first tentative touch of his mouth on hers was the merest caress, a fluttering, barely there butterfly kiss. Still, the resulting shiver that coursed through his body was hard and unexpected. He heard the sharp intake of her breath, and a stark urgency flared to life within him. Whatever was happening here was happening to them both.

And he wanted more.

The second kiss went much deeper and demanded far more than the featherlight touch of butterfly wings. Zack slanted his head to capture her lips fully, his palms framing her face while he drank with a hunger that startled even him. At the same time Anna’s hands closed over fistfuls of his T-shirt, clinging for dear life. She could feel steel in his muscles.

The fact that Zack was a virtual stranger sharpened the fiery sensations sparkling through her like champagne bubbles. And the way he made magic with his warm lips and cool tongue added the most delicious, sinfully wicked pleasure. She felt a curling heat deep in her stomach, a connection to this man and this moment that somehow went beyond a simple kiss. In an instant she somehow knew she had changed, never to be quite the same again.

When Anna finally pulled back from the kiss, she was feeling light-headed and weak all over. Her eyes had an endless depth as she studied his expression, hot and hectic with emotion. Like a dreamer she raised her hand to smooth back his hair, the silky strands flowing like cool water through her fingers. So soft, like she was playing with clouds. Her body had transformed into warm butter, barely holding its shape. One more second in his arms and she would have been pooled around his feet on the floor.

“I wonder why I did that,” she said hoarsely.

“I know why I did,” Zack replied, sounding a bit hoarse himself. “Do you have any idea what you do to a man? What just looking at you does to me?”

At that, she shook her head and smiled faintly. Obviously her own incredible looks didn’t figure whatsoever in her value system. “You don’t need to flatter me. For the moment there’s no competition.”

“I wasn’t trying to—”

And then the real world tapped them on the shoulder.

From out in the hallway a door slammed, followed by a loud commotion of male voices. Zack said a four-letter word, then closed his eyes and took a heavy, sustaining breath. It was hard to go from sensual to sensible in the space of three seconds.

“We are about to be rescued,” he growled, his eyes still closed tight. “And in my opinion the timing really sucks.”

Anna was both relieved and disappointed. This was her safety hatch, her opportunity to run from this beguiling stranger before things got out of control. This was why she had allowed herself to be carried away, knowing that nothing about this night was real. She tried to smile, but she was overwhelmed by the confusing emotions shuddering through her. She dropped her hands awkwardly to her sides and stepped away from him. The air between them felt instantly cool, the fluorescent lights harsher and the atmosphere thick and uncomfortable. “I guess we should be grateful for the interruption. We’re a very bad influence on each other.”

The voices grew louder. Zack’s eyes flew from Anna to the door and back to Anna again. “The last thing I am is grateful. Look, this whole thing wasn’t—”

The door flew open, framing two uniformed policemen and an amazingly short, triple-chinned man who had “Owner of Appleton’s General Store” stamped all over him. Before either policeman had time to speak, he marched into the storeroom, obviously emboldened by his gun-toting companions. “Ha! I knew something fishy was going on the moment I spotted the car and the Jeep parked out front. What the devil do you think you’re doing, breaking into my store?”

Zack scowled at him, feeling an overwhelming urge to pop the blowhard in the nose. However, since he was an officer of the law, he shoved his hands in his pockets and contented himself with speaking his mind. “I don’t like you.”

The man turned red, puffing out his barrel chest. “What? As a criminal, you are in no position to like or dislike anyone. In case you haven’t noticed, you and your partner in crime have been apprehended.”

Zack wasn’t impressed. “Oh, put a cork in it. We’re trying to break out of your store, buddy, not into it. We made the mistake of visiting the bathrooms around closing time and got locked in. You should have a sign posted at that door at the top of the stairs: Run Like Hell if the Clock Strikes Ten.”

Looking acutely uncomfortable, one of the policemen politely cleared his throat. “Like I told you upstairs, Dad, I think you might be overreacting.”

“Dad?” Zack asked incredulously. “This guy is your father?”

The young man nodded almost shamefacedly. “I’m afraid so. I mean, yes.”

“Afraid?” the owner spouted, turning his indignant gaze on his son. “Afraid? Are you trying to say you’re not proud to call me father? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

The second policeman raised a calming hand. “Now, let’s all cool down. Nothing has been disturbed upstairs, and these people would hardly leave their getaway vehicles in full view in the parking lot for any passerby to see. I’m sure this is nothing more than an unfortunate accident, Dad.”

“Dad?” Zack blurted again, his eyes growing wider by the second. “Good Lord, is everyone in this town an Appleton? If we were criminals, we’d be in big trouble here. Talk about having the cards stacked against you.”

Anna’s shoulders jumped with a half-born giggle, which was quickly stifled by her hand. She couldn’t help it; she had a vivid imagination and this whole scene had the feel of a Three Stooges movie. Curly and Moe were bumbling policemen, and Larry was the befuddled villain.

“We don’t get many criminal types through here, anyway,” son number one replied with a regretful sigh. “Being a cop in Providence can be kind of boring, actually. Still, hope on and hope ever, as our captain says. Are you both all right?”

The older man again took offense. “I don’t believe you! You’re asking these trespassers if they’re all right? You’re supposed to be the law around here, damn it! Why aren’t you arresting them? Do I have to slap the cuffs on them myself?”

“They didn’t do anything,” son number two pointed out in a long-suffering voice. “And I told you before, I called in the license plates on both cars. No problems. Besides, this guy is a cop, Dad. Remember? They told me when I ran the plates. I think you should take one of your nitroglycerin pills and go home.”

Anna looked at Zack. “So that’s what you do for a living. You’re a cop. That’s perfect. It really does fit you much better than being a lawyer.”

“There’s something fishy going on here,” Appleton Sr. muttered. “It’s a trick, I tell you.”

“There are way too many policemen in this room,” Zack announced. Not only had a beautiful moment had been cut short, but he was growing increasingly irritated with the short guy’s testosterone tantrum. “I think it’s time for the lady and me to take our leave.”

Anna gave the Appleton boys a dazzling smile. “Can we please leave now, Mr. Policemen?”

The officers bobbed their heads like two dashboard puppies, obviously pleased to grant this stunning lady’s wish. Their outraged father sputtered and coughed, but both Zack and Anna ignored him. They collected their coats and took the stairs two at a time, leaving a family argument boiling over in the basement of Appleton’s General Store.

Anna found herself avoiding Zack’s eyes as he escorted her to her forest-green Jeep in the parking lot. Somehow, what had seemed so natural and enticing while locked in a basement now felt rather embarrassing. Apparently even a brief stolen moment could have consequences. “What a night,” she said, anxious to fill the thick silence. Every second that ticked by seemed to increase her feeling of awkwardness. Kissing a stranger while they were locked up in a basement together was one thing. Facing him as they returned to reality was a bit sticky. “I thought we’d never get out of there.”

“Will you slow down a little? This isn’t the fifty-yard dash. Anna—”

“I can’t believe it’s nearly one in the morning. I didn’t plan on my visit to the store to last half the night. All I wanted was some Tums.” She unlocked her car, tossing him a tight little smile over her shoulder. “I’ve been under a little stress lately, and my stomach doesn’t like stress. I remember once when—”

“Look, hang on a minute. You’re talking faster than a trained parrot. What on earth is wrong with you?”

“Not a thing, not a single thing. I was just…just…” She was suddenly distracted by the car parked very near to hers. Obviously his car, since they were the only two in the parking lot. It was a Lotus, a sleek, silvery work of art. A terribly expensive work of art. This was the sort of car she found mention of in magazines like Fortune and Forbes. “That isn’t…that isn’t your car, is it? That thing has to cost more money than I’ll make in my lifetime.”

“Uh…maybe I’m a very good cop,” Zack mumbled, momentarily caught off guard. Apparently his rapid-fire intellect was adversely affected by a pair of big blue eyes. It was a humbling moment.

Anna giggled nervously. “Policemen don’t make that kind of salary, do they? Because if they do, I’m off to the police academy first thing tomorrow.”

With a sinking heart, Zack saw a new expression on her face, a combination of confusion, curiosity and distance. This was the same expression he had feared he would one day see on his friends’ faces should they ever discover he was such an oddity—a rich cop. Besides, how would he explain to Anna how he amassed his fortune? Actually, I’m a genius. I played the stock market for a couple of months just for fun and ended up with several million dollars. Go figure.

“I’m just teasing you,” he said after an almost imperceptible pause. “It’s not my car. You’re right about cops’ salaries, we barely make enough to pay for our donuts. The Lotus…an inheritance from my father. Can we talk about something extremely pertinent to this moment? Like where the devil you’re going in such a rush?”

“You know…places to go, things to do when I get there. Well, it’s been an unforgettable experience.” She turned to face him, sticking out her hand. “Nice meeting you, Zack. You’ve been an entertaining companion.”

Entertaining? Zack could have sworn that something more went on in that basement than simple entertainment. Again, a humbling moment. “What is this? Do you have a split personality or what? Unless I miss my guess, about ten minutes ago we were lip-locked and loving it.”

Anna turned her back on him, fumbling for the Jeep’s door handle. Her face felt as if it was on fire. If nothing else, she’d learned a little lesson about the awkward consequences of giving in to one’s base desires. Sooner or later you had to face reality. “Sure. It was fun.”

“Fun?” In the past being tagged as “fun” hadn’t bothered Zack at all. Tonight, however, the innocent little word felt like a slap in the face. He reached out and took hold of Anna’s shoulders, firmly turning her to face him. “I didn’t notice you laughing hysterically. I did notice your breathing getting out of control and your hands trembling when I kissed you. Was that part fun, too?”

“Yes,” Anna said stubbornly. “When my fingers are trembling, I know I’m having fun. Fun, fun, fun.”

Zack wasn’t amused. “Why do you need to run off like this?”

“I’m late.”

“Late for what?”

“I’m late for arriving at the place where I’m going.” Wherever that was. Anna deftly twisted free of his touch, opening the car door and climbing inside. She knew she was acting like a schizophrenic, but she couldn’t seem to control herself tonight. As good old Frank would say, she was reacting instead of acting. “I’m a very punctual person.”

“That’s wonderful,” Zack snapped childishly. “Fine. It’s been real, kiddo.”

Biting down hard on her lip, she looked up at him, her lavish blue eyes briefly giving away her confusion. She knew this was the point where she should start the car and drive away, but her fingers simply weren’t cooperating. Strange. A couple of hours ago she had found comfort in the thought that he would soon disappear from her life. Now that knowledge was oddly depressing. “Well…”

Zack looked at the ground, scuffing the toe of his sneaker on the asphalt. “Don’t let me keep you.”

“I’ll be seeing you.”

At that his head snapped up, staring hard into her eyes. “No, you won’t. You don’t even know where I live, and I don’t know where you live. And obviously you’re content to leave it that way.”

Anna was silent for a long moment, though she never broke eye contact. “I think it’s better this way,” she said finally. “I’m not…I don’t usually do this kind of thing. I’m a pretty humdrum kind of person.”

“What kind of thing?” Zack demanded. “Kissing men? Are you a nun or something? Nuns don’t usually wear black leather coats.”

She smiled faintly. “Maybe I’m a trendsetting nun.”

“You’re really going,” Zack said, more to himself than to her. He’d dated his last girlfriend for six months, but it hadn’t really bothered him when they’d parted ways. After only a couple of hours, letting Anna Smith disappear from his life was surprisingly difficult. Besides, his pride was killing him. He didn’t have much experience in not making an impression on a woman. “And I can’t make you change your mind?”

“I can’t afford to change my mind,” Anna replied with a wistful smile. “I’m not very good at complications. I’m one of those weird people who like predictability. I have my life all organized and cozy, waiting to welcome me home. Nothing remarkable, but it suits me perfectly. Besides, tonight was…” Her voice trailed off. She looked down at her lap, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

“Tonight was…?” Zack prompted.

“Perfect just the way it was.” She sighed, leaning her head back against the seat. “The rain has finally stopped. Can you smell how fresh the air is? I love it when the world is all fresh and clean like this.”

Obviously the subject had been changed. Since he truly didn’t know what else to do, Zack bent down, pressing his lips softly to her forehead. Then he stepped back, closing the Jeep’s door. “So be it. At least I tried.”

She gave him one last look, feeling the strange tug of unfamiliar emotions. Then, because she hadn’t really left herself any choice, she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Immediately Zack pulled a pen out of his pocket and wrote her license plate number on the palm of his hand. He wasn’t through trying…not by a long shot.

Alpha males never gave up.



The motel Zack had seen earlier was managed by a middle-aged woman with a Santa Claus figure and a headful of pink foam curlers. She didn’t like being roused from her sleep, judging by the expression on her face. Zack threw her a preoccupied smile, and she started to blush and fiddle with the rick-rack collar of her pink-and-white seersucker robe. Wonderful. Now the nuclear weapon worked. Immediately he whipped out his poker face and asked if he could pay half price for only using the room half the night. He had discovered long ago that businesswomen didn’t mind being friendly—unless it cost them money. This lady was no exception: “A pretty face won’t get you any special treatment here,” she snapped, abandoning her flirtatious air.

Climbing the metal-grate stairs to his room on the second floor, Zack brooded on his unhappy existence, feeling deeply sorry for himself. A stout woman with curlers in her hair had just called him pretty. Before that, an irresistible woman had resisted him with no trouble at all. He’d kissed her and she’d kissed him back, which was probably a good thing, except for the fact that he now knew exactly what he was missing. Yes, he had Anna Smith’s license plate number, but that didn’t guarantee he’d ever see her again. The Jeep could be borrowed or rented for all he knew. He’d call in the license plate number first thing in the morning and discover just how depressed he should be. He knew that Anna wasn’t going to be easy to track down. And why?

Because he was on vacation and bad things happened to people when they were on vacation.

Though Zack had supposedly been given a nonsmoking room, it smelled heavily of cigarette smoke. He had quit smoking five years earlier, a monumental achievement for a man who had been smoking since he was sixteen. But suddenly he was itching for a cigarette. Naturally he blamed his renewed cravings on his burdensome vacation. The dripping faucet in the bathroom, the air conditioner that refused to turn off and the mattress that seemed to be made out of cement he also blamed on his vacation. It was a fine scapegoat.

He stripped off his clothes and huddled beneath the lightweight bedspread trying to get warm. After a few minutes he put his clothes back on and dove beneath the covers, trying to block out the rumbling of the air-conditioning. He didn’t feel sleepy whatsoever. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Anna. She was grinning at him over her shoulder, fluttering her extravagant lashes and looking so damned adorable. You’re cute, but you’re a little cocky.

Why had he let her go? Why hadn’t he done something?

It was rare for a woman to have this effect on Zack. Since his life was his work, he’d always made a practice of ending his relationships long before either party was seriously involved. He had learned from firsthand experience how difficult it was for someone in his line of work to have a normal private life. Zack’s father had also been a cop, a larger-than-life hero to his son and a man respected among his colleagues for his courage, humor and loyalty.

Unfortunately, Tommy Daniels was far better at enforcing the law than he was at making his marriage to his wife, Kelly, a success. Whether it was due to his addiction to thrills and chills or his famous roving eye, Tommy was a bitter and recurring disappointment to the woman who waited at home for him. Zack’s mother had tried for fifteen years to hold her marriage together. Though Tommy loved his wife, he was a man who became bored easily and found it difficult to enjoy the stifling responsibilities of a husband and father. He couldn’t relate to his wife’s loneliness, or her constant anxiety about his well-being. If he was content, why wasn’t she? Toward the end of their unhappy marriage, Kelly had begged her husband to leave his job and concentrate on his family. For Tommy, that was like asking him to give up oxygen for the rest of his life.





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