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Guarding His Body
A.C. Arthur


The ex-marine spoke with confidence and steely determination, but all Renny Bennett saw in his new bodyguard was a petite, doe-eyed nymph. Sabrina Dedune's feisty, take-no-prisoners attitude proved she took her job seriously. But suddenly the gorgeous body under that T-shirt seemed far more dangerous than any threat on his life.Sabrina was good at her job, but this talented sculptor and his erotic works of art left her reeling. Staying focused was hard when her body ached to taste all Renny had to offer. But after one searing kiss, she was guarding more than his body. Now her heart was at risk….









“Renny, stop.”


When his tongue continued to flick over her lips and dip into her mouth, she moaned then flattened her palms on his hard chest and pushed against him. “Stop!”

The one word was like a splash of cold water stunning him back into reality. He lifted his face from her, looked down at her now swollen lips, her passion-filled eyes, and realized what he’d done. He’d crossed the line.

He eased away from her while keeping his hands on her waist until she lowered her legs to the floor. When he knew she could stand on her own, he backed away, putting several feet between them. “Sabrina—”

She shook her head quickly. “Our emotions were running high. This entire situation has changed in a matter of hours and we have to deal with that. That’s all we have to deal with. Is that clear?”

“No, it’s not clear. There’s something else between us that will have to be dealt with sooner or later. You know that as well as I do.”




A. C. ARTHUR


was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where she currently resides with her husband and three children. An active imagination and a love for reading encouraged her to begin writing in high school, and she hasn’t stopped since. Determined to bring a new edge to romance, she continues to develop intriguing plots, racy characters and fresh dialogue—thus keeping readers on their toes! Visit her Web site at www.acarthur.net.




Guarding His Body

A. C. Arthur







www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


To Andre, Asia & Amaya

A mother could not ask for a better crew


Dear Reader,

Whew! ROMANCE ON THE RUN—just the title sounds exciting. And I am more than pleased to be a part of this themed series.

Guarding His Body introduces two new families, the Desdunes and the Bennetts. They are influential families in the quiet town of Greenwich, Connecticut. Renny Bennett is an alleged playboy who left his family business to become an erotic-art sculptor. He’s a quiet alpha male who you’ll instantly fall in love with. Sabrina Desdune is not your ordinary heroine—she’s feisty, headstrong and a bodyguard. Bree uses her military training to protect Renny and his family from an anonymous threat, while Renny uses his charm to break down all Bree’s defenses. I loved these two characters and the way their differences came together to forge a strong bond.

Bree and Renny have a lot of obstacles, but their desire for each other and loyalty to their families outweigh them all. This was a fun story to write, with a touch of suspense thrown in for good measure. Be on the lookout for an appearance by one of those sexy Donovan men in this story as well!

Please do not hesitate to share your comments about Renny and Bree via e-mail at acarthur22@yahoo.com.

A. C. Arthur




Contents


Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue




Chapter 1


Renny had a death grip on his temper. Of all the Bennett children he had the shortest fuse. In the past few months he’d been trying really hard to prove his brothers and father wrong, that he could make intelligent decisions without first over-reacting. But glancing again at this tiny woman—she couldn’t be any more than five feet three inches and one-twenty soaking wet—with serious dark eyes and hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, he felt his resolve slipping.

How in the hell did they expect him to take the news that she was his new bodyguard seriously?

She didn’t look capable of buying herself a drink without identification, let alone protecting him from some psychopath killer!

Through clenched teeth he managed a smile and extended his hand to clasp the one she’d held out to him. “I’m Renny Bennett. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Desdune,” he murmured, because his mother had been a stickler for manners.

Bree hadn’t missed it—even though he’d tried valiantly to hide his irritation, she’d seen the spark in his brown eyes and almost winced with its fierceness. He wasn’t dressed in designer suits like the three other Bennett men in the room. No, this one was so sure of his good looks, he’d opted for crisp new blue jeans and a navy button-down shirt. His boots looked sturdy, Timberland, she thought with a shrug, the same ones Lynn had just purchased for her nephew, Jeremy.

She was an excellent judge of character. Her mother said this was her sixth sense inherited from her Creole grandmother, Ruby, on Daddy’s side. Bree didn’t care who it came from, it was a great tool and she had used it all her life. Now she used it to tell the true feelings of Mr. Bennett. He was thinking that this little woman couldn’t possibly be a threat to anyone, so how was she supposed to protect him? She had to admit, the Bennett men did soar over her at more than six feet, but then she’d always been the shortest one in the bunch. It never stopped her from taking either one of her brothers down, nor had it stopped her from graduating tops in her basic training class when she’d enlisted in the marines.

So regardless of how Renny Bennett glowered down at her through his fake smile and brilliant white teeth, she had his number, loud and clear. “You can call me Sabrina.” She tossed him a big ole fake smile of her own and clasped his hand.

Both their eyes shot open at the contact, twin bolts of heat traveling quickly through their limbs.

Sabrina pulled away first.

Renny continued to stare, dumbfounded and looking silly, his empty hand still outstretched.

“Ah, Renny, I assure you that Sabrina is very capable. As you are the only one of the Bennett men not directly involved in the business, it’s most likely you’re not the target. Still, I’d like to keep a close watch on you just in case,” Sam said, moving closer to Bree.

“I’m sure that Ms. Desdune is good at what she does.” He doubted that very seriously; she was a woman, for goodness’ sake. Why on earth her brother was letting her run around playing cops and robbers was beyond him, but that was not his concern. “I simply don’t think I need any protection.”

“That’s what they all say.” Bree couldn’t help it; the words were out before she’d had a chance to consider the company they were in. A quick glance to her right and she saw Sam’s frown. She’d promised him she’d be on her best behavior, that she’d complete this assignment without any mishaps. The Bennetts were very wealthy and very influential in the Greenwich community. Their charity work and financial contributions around the state were well-known and much appreciated. Besides that, Sam needed this job. His security company had only been open for two years and he was making a steady amount of money, but he was getting married in six months to Leeza Purdy—Connecticut’s very own Paris Hilton. But that was another story for another day.

Behind her she heard a snicker. Renny Bennett glowered over her shoulder, then lowered his eyes to her again.

Sam glowered at her, then turned his attention to their new client. “What she means is that most of our clients that receive personal attention are against it, but your father has hired me to do a job and I would not be doing that job if I didn’t cover all the bases.”

A muscle in Renny’s jaw twitched and Bree found herself staring at his face, the finely chiseled features, strong jaw, dark bronze skin, dark eyes and thin beard and mustache giving him an air of danger. She remembered that one of his parents was Brazilian, the mother, if she wasn’t mistaken. That would explain the exotic look all the Bennett sons had. They were certainly a triplet of beautiful men. When she made her way to his eyes again she realized with a start that he was staring at her as intently as she’d been staring at him. She cleared her throat and stood a little straighter, her mouth suddenly going dry. “Mr. Bennett, I can assure you that I’ll guard your body as if it were my own.” The moment the words were out she knew they were an even bigger mistake than her previous comment.

Sam grabbed her by the arm. “Yes, Mr. Bennett, Desdune Security will take very good care of your family. Now, if you’ll excuse us we’d like to get a better look at the grounds to decide what other precautions we need to take here at the house.” He pulled her to the door, barely masking his anger.



“Taunting the client is not good business, Bree,” Sam scolded when they were well down the hall from the dining room.

Bree had already pulled away from his bullying grasp and was checking the locks on the windows in the living room as Sam spoke. “I wasn’t taunting him. He was the one looking down his nose at me, a mere woman assigned to guard his body.” And what a wonderful body that was, she thought surprisingly. “These windows are the pits.” She stood back and looked at the almost floor-to-ceiling windows and held in a sigh. “Besides giving you a breathtaking view of the landscape, they aren’t the best safety choice. I think we should line the entire house with a new alarm system. Possibly some motion sensors since they seem to have a lot of valuables in here.”

Sam wanted to be mad at her; he wanted to continue to drill into her head the importance of this job, but he just couldn’t. Bree was his baby sister. Not only that, she was his fraternal twin. They were as close as two people could possibly be and he loved her with all his being. But she could be a stubborn pain in the ass when she felt like it. Still, she was smart and good at what she did. She’d studied weaponry and hand-to-hand combat in her sixteen-year stint with the Marine Corps. Despite her small frame and wispy appearance she could beat the hell out of you without batting an eye—he’d seen it done.

He moved through the elegantly decorated room and had to agree with her. The windows were gorgeous, but wouldn’t protect the Bennetts from an intruder. He pulled his notebook out of his back pocket and scribbled down some notes. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I think a security gate to get on the property would be good, too. I can’t believe they have this huge estate and never thought to have one installed.”

Bree chuckled. “We live in Greenwich, Connecticut, Sam. Who the hell needs security out here? We’re only a step away from Smallville.”

Sam couldn’t help but laugh with her. Bree always hated Greenwich. Her spirit and energy fit New York or L.A. much better. That had him wondering again why she’d come back. “Actually, we’re only a step down from Beverly Hills, which has its share of crime and danger. Now, I’ve already bugged the office phones. Mr. Bennett’s direct line and the lines of Alex and Rico, as well. I doubt any calls will come in through the other staff. We need to come back and set up the lines here in the house and we need to do each of the private home phones, as well.”

He looked over at Bree, who had paused at the mantel looking at the family portraits. “Are you writing any of this down, Bree?”

She didn’t wince, didn’t even turn before replying. “Nope.”

He let out a deep breath. “And why not?”

She tapped her temple as she turned toward him. “I’ve got it all up here.” She gave him that award-winning smile. That smile that made whatever else you were thinking fly right out of your mind.

Sam shook his head. He felt sorry for the man that fell for Sabrina Desdune.



“That’s some bodyguard you’ve got there, little brother.” Alex moved to the minibar and poured himself a drink, still grinning after what had just happened.

“I don’t need a bodyguard.” Renny moved to the window, looked out at the cloudy October sky. “This whole thing is ridiculous. Just call the police and let them handle it. That’s what they get paid for.”

Rico sat down at the table, opening a file and poring over its contents. “It’s too delicate a situation for that. If word gets out that we’re being stalked the publicity alone will be a nightmare. Not to mention our stockholders who’ll probably get jumpy and start selling off stock. We’re going about this the right way and you’ll just have to deal with it.”

Renny jammed his hands into his pockets. He hated when Rico talked in that highly professional, full-of-crap tone. He’d learned it from his father and now did it more often than not. Renny missed their teenage years when they’d talked like normal boys about sports and girls and everything in between. He knew he was the outcast because he hadn’t gone into the family business, because he’d rather wear jeans and tennis shoes than a Brooks Brothers suit and tie. But they were still brothers.

“It was only two notes, Rico. It’s not as if the house was broken into or a threat was made on our lives. Two little notes that said basically nothing.” He frowned and continued to stare outside. He’d much rather be in his studio or on his deck drawing whatever came to mind. Being cooped up in this big house was stifling.

Alex jumped in, now over his petty laughter. “They said something, Renny. And we can’t ignore it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were finished with your joke of the day.” Renny turned to face his oldest brother. They were almost the same build but Alex was about two inches taller. Alex wore a suit, like he normally did, but he didn’t look suffocated by it like Renny usually did. He looked distinguished and professional. Renny admitted that he was proud of his brothers. Even though Rico was a little obsessed, he was glad they’d made their spot in the world. And now Renny was making his own.

He admitted this was a bad time for him, as well. He didn’t need any bad press, didn’t need the threat of some lunatic stalker hanging over his head. His gallery was opening in three weeks; his first solo show would be on display. He did not have time for this stalker or that woman.

“No, I still think that feisty little nymph was funny as hell. But I agree with Rico that we need to take this very seriously. Dad is obviously worried that this is a viable threat, so we should be, as well.” Alex took a drink from his glass. “I would like to commend Rico for hiring Desdune Security. They have a good reputation for getting the job done. And I think your guard in particular is going to do a magnificent job on you.”

“She’s not hired to do a job on me. Hell, I don’t know what she’s supposed to do.” Renny hadn’t missed Alex’s implications. Of the three Bennett men, Renny was the most reckless when it came to women. Because he was so absorbed in his work he didn’t give them any more time than was absolutely necessary. The problem was, with his good looks and obvious colored background—green for money—women were always practically throwing themselves at him. He took from the bounty when the mood struck him and when it didn’t, he ignored them.

Sabrina Desdune, however, would not be easy to ignore.

She was tiny, yes, he’d give her that. Yet she possessed something he’d never seen in the women in his life—confidence. He’d bet half his trust fund that Sabrina Desdune knew exactly who she was and what she wanted out of life. Now, whether or not that should concern him, he wasn’t quite sure. What he was sure of, where she was concerned, was that she was damned beautiful. Despite her attempts to downplay her good looks, a blind man could see them. Skin the color of cocoa, a pert little mouth with full lips, high cheekbones and eyes so deep, so moving, you could sink right into her soul. And that body…any woman that wore jeans and a T-shirt like that had his vote every time.

Still, he did not need a bodyguard.

“She’s supposed to keep you alive. It’s as simple as that so don’t get any other sordid ideas about her,” Rico chided.

“I think it’s too late for that, Rico. Didn’t you see the sparks flying between those two? I’ll bet he has her in his bed by the end of the week.” Alex guffawed.

“I will not!” Renny said adamantly.

“He’d better not!” Rico added. “This is serious, Renny. Now, I know you don’t care much about Bennett Industries, but this attack is personal. Dad has made quite a few enemies in his time and now it appears one has gotten bold enough to come after his family. You’d do well to watch your ass this time instead of that woman’s.”

Renny was instantly offended. “Now, wait one minute. Bennett Industries is just as important to me as it is to either of you. Just because I choose not to work there doesn’t mean I don’t care. I know how important it is to Dad and to the two of you. And I see how worried these notes have Dad and Mom, for that matter. That’s the only reason I agreed to come here and meet with these security people in the first place. But I don’t see either one of you being assigned a girl to guard you.”

Alex sat in a chair, stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Nah, I could never be so lucky.”

“It’s not luck, believe me.” Renny had turned toward the window again, just in time to see that curvy little body moving swiftly toward the SUV her brother drove. Those jeans molded over her bottom as she stepped up into the vehicle, and blood pumped swiftly through his loins. Hell, no, this was not luck, this was going to be a game of Russian roulette if he’d ever seen one. And he’d never been lucky at gambling.



Okay, so he was fine as hell with that thick, curly hair and those smoldering dark eyes that sent chills down her spine. But he was just a man. One of the species that she had sworn off for the rest of her natural life.

Turning into the lower-level garage, Bree realized that little oath might be a tad unrealistic—a woman needed some sort of sexual relief sooner or later. But she was definitely not going to get that relief from this man. He was a client. Her brother’s biggest client, and she wouldn’t dare muddle something that important with stupid thoughts of sex with Lorenzo Bennett.

Besides, she wasn’t the type of woman he got excited over. She’d seen that in the look he’d given her when she was introduced as his bodyguard. He’d barely masked his disgust. Tomboys definitely weren’t on his platter as an appetizer. She visualized him with the tall, leggy, buxom, model type. The glamorous, giggling bombshell that would hang on his every word and grace the society pages with elegance—elegance that she would never possess.

She parked her Durango, the one luxury she had allowed herself upon her departure from the U.S. armed forces, and lifted the bag from the backseat. “God, Sam, did you pack everything out of the office in here?” she muttered as she slipped the black duffel onto her shoulder and climbed down out of the truck.

She pulled a piece of paper from her back pocket and glanced at the address again. He was on the third floor. She disregarded the elevator and took the stairs. She hadn’t had a chance to run this morning because Jeremy and his cute self was full of questions and stories for his auntie Bree, and she’d happily indulged him.

Besides, taking the stairs would give her the chance to check out the ins and outs of this building—this high-priced, glitzy condominium complex that she should have known the billionaire playboy would reside in. She wasn’t impressed. For all the money he undoubtedly paid to live here, the security wasn’t worth crap. She’d driven right into the garage and opened the stairway door and was now pulling it open without any security breaches.

There was a long hallway with only two doors to her right and one to her left. She went to the left first even though that wasn’t in the direction of the door she needed. At the end of that hall was a floor-to-ceiling window giving a view of the golf course that looped around from the country club up the street. There was no way to open the window, but there was no security tape around it that would signal any alarm if someone decided to bash it in and gain entrance. She turned and came back down the hall, passing the bright green Exit sign pointing to the stairs she’d just come from. The doors were numbered with big glossy black numerals. Looking up and down the dove-gray walls, she frowned at the lack of even a security camera. She stopped in front of the door with the numbers that matched those on the paper she still held and took a deep breath.

You can do this, Bree, he’s just a man. She shook her head vehemently. Correction, he’s just a client.



The incessant knocking resonated through the thick haze of Renny’s thoughts. He was focused, in a place that soothed and comforted him—that place his father called his fairy-tale land. He held his pencil in a loose grip, looking down at the paper filled with lines that were about to take shape even as someone continued to rap on his door.

Cursing, he stood from his desk and walked out of the studio. Through the CD player the smooth, sensual sounds of Brian McKnight filled the living room. He paused momentarily to turn it down a notch, then went to the door, pulling it open with all the frustration he was feeling at the moment.

Bree had been about to knock again but instead the door had flung open and she’d lost her balance, her raised arm and the top half of her body falling into what felt like a solid wall. She looked up into the stern face and dark eyes of the owner of that massive wall of a chest and forced herself to smile. “Oops. Mornin’,” she said in a voice that was much calmer, much more chipper than she really was.

Renny had caught the flailing female effortlessly, but the moment his hands made contact with the bare skin of her arms he knew it was a mistake. She’d haunted him last night and that hadn’t been enough. It wasn’t even eight o’clock and she was here on his doorstep, possibly to torment him some more.

He steadied her, then quickly took his hands off her. She wore lip gloss today, her pouting mouth almost begging to be kissed. She wore sunglasses so he couldn’t see those eyes, those deep-brown, expressive eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail again and he fought the sudden urge to pull it free. She’d twisted and turned it in some fashion so that it looped around a few times and was dangling down her back, but he knew that if he just pulled on that band it would fall, cascading down her back like a curtain of pure satiny bliss.

He cleared his throat. “What are you doing here?” he asked gruffly.

Bree tried not to take his rudeness personally and pushed her glasses to the top of her head. Without the dimness of the shades she almost moaned. He was beautiful. He wore sweatpants that accentuated his trim waist and a sleeveless shirt that was glued to his muscled chest. That funny bronze skin of his almost glistened from his face to his neck, to the bulging biceps and big hands. Through his shirt she could easily make out the imprint of impressive pectorals and a six-pack of abs. He must work out religiously to keep that kind of body.

“Not a morning person, huh?” she said airily as she pushed past him and made her way into his condo. She instantly began looking around, surveying what was needed.

Renny closed the door, lounged against it, crossing his arms over his chest, and enjoyed the view for a moment. “Normal people don’t go around banging on doors this early.”

She shrugged, dropped her bag on the couch and moved to the windows. She was dragging her hands along the seals as if she was looking or feeling for something.

Renny watched her intently. With every stroke he let his detail-oriented eyes settle on her fingers. She had small hands, low-cut fingernails, no rings, no watch, no polish. Her touch was swift, methodical, yet he felt every stroke as if she were slowly guiding it over him, caressing him. He shifted his stance to relieve the tightness in his pants. “What are you doing?” he asked through a slightly cracked voice.

“I’m checking out your windows. I’ll need to wire the security system through here.” She moved from the patio door to the phone. She picked it up, put it to her ear and listened for a second or two, then put it down and lifted it to look at the underside. “No bugs.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I would hate to have to call an exterminator.”

She was moving toward the bedroom now and Renny felt his groin tighten.

“Don’t tell me you have a sense of humor.”

He tried like hell not to watch her butt as she walked in front of him, or to imagine that she was leading them right to his bedroom, to the bed where he’d dreamed of her only hours before. “Ah, yeah, something like that. But it’s still early.” He heard himself stumbling over his words. This was new for him. Of all the Bennett men he was the smoothest around the women, the charmer, the home-run hitter each and every time. “What exactly are you looking for?”

She was in his room now, turning her head this way and that, taking in everything he possessed. She paused at the bed. It was a four-poster Victorian antique he’d found on a trip to Paris. It sat on a platform in the middle of the floor, covered with cream-colored bedding that his mother had picked out.

“Wow! That’s a seriously big bed.” Bree was used to the military twin size. Even when she’d moved off base to her own apartment she’d purchased a full-size bed since it was only her. But this monstrosity looked like it could easily fit her, her two brothers, her sister and her two-year-old nephew.

“I like big things,” Renny said simply.

That remark poured over her as she found herself thinking he probably had a lot of big things in his possession. She couldn’t resist; she hadn’t wanted to, but it almost called to her. She stepped up on the platform, touched her hand to the thick dark wood and let it slide all the way down, then up again.

“How long have you lived here?” Bree asked, pulling her hand away from his bed. She wanted to sit on it, to feel what she knew would be soft against her back, but she digressed. She didn’t turn back to face him for fear he’d see the longing in her eyes, so she stepped down off the platform and went directly to the windows on the other side of the room.

“Ah, four years now.”

“And you haven’t done anything about security?” She turned to him then. “Americans are so gullible.”

Renny blinked quickly. “Excuse me?”

“We take our safety for granted. You simply believe you’re safe and trust that the local authorities will protect you from anything bad. When what you should be doing is ensuring your own safety. Protecting what’s yours.”

“Listen, Sabrina, why don’t you just tell me why you’re here? We can handle any business we have to and then you can be on your way.”

Bree blinked at his curt tone and hooked her fingers in her belt loops, an awful habit she had that drove her mother crazy. “You are my business,” she informed him. “I mean, you are my job. I have to secure your premises and then we need to go over your schedule and how we’ll be traveling for the next few weeks.”

“So, how long is this going to take? I have my own work to do.”

“Oh, you work?” She looked clearly surprised.

Renny tried not to take offense. “Yes, I work. What? Did you think I just sat around living off my father’s money all day?”

He looked angry now. His brow had scrunched together, his luscious lips growing into a tight line, and for a moment she felt concerned—for a brief moment. She moved closer to him. “Actually, I thought you spent your days scouring for what new woman you would take to your bed. Isn’t that what rich playboys normally do?” Who he took to his bed should not have concerned her, yet with a fierce certainty it did.

Now he was officially turned off. How dared she barge into his house at the crack of dawn insulting him at every turn? “You’re not a morning person. Your house isn’t secure enough.” And now, “You’re just an unemployed rich playboy.” In a minute he was going to lose all the good manners his mother had taught him and say a few things that would likely send little Miss Bodyguard running. “I’ll have you know I am very gainfully employed. Outside of Bennett Industries,” he said, lifting his head high and poking his chest out just a bit.

She raised a brow. “Really? And what is it that you gainfully do outside of Bennett Industries?”

She’d folded her hands over her chest, effectively pushing her plump breasts up a few inches so that he could see the smooth skin slipping into the crevice between them. Damn. He was turned on again. He clenched his teeth until he was sure he’d develop lockjaw. He’d never been this physically aware of a woman before. He preferred soft, compliant women. Women that wore ultrasexy, ultrafeminine clothes and treated their hair and makeup as if they were their only commodity.

So why was Sabrina Desdune getting under his skin so easily?

“I am a sculptor and I own an art studio.” For a minute he thought he’d had her stumped. She blinked quickly. Then the corners of her mouth upturned and she gave him a wry grin.

“Bored, are we? Or are you simply rebelling against Daddy?”

That was it! That was the last insult he was going to take from her without striking back. He moved to the soft Italian leather couch and sat down slowly, stretching one arm over the back of the chair while the other one rested in his lap. “I could ask you the same thing. Running around playing cops and robbers with your big brother. What’s the matter? You couldn’t find a man to marry you and knock you up?”

Without another word she scooped up her bag and turned her back to him.

Damn, he hadn’t thought she’d pick up and run. A part of him was enjoying their little sparring match. Besides Gabrielle, his youngest sister, he didn’t have this type of exchange with anyone else. He jumped up from the chair and was at her side before she could take another step. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. I was out of line. Don’t go.” He cupped her elbow, turned her to face him.

Her head tilted to the side, a few strands of her ponytail draping over one shoulder. Her eyes sparked and glittered with flecks of gold he hadn’t noticed before. Then she smiled. And Renny felt his chest tighten. She was quite simply breathtaking.

“Oh, you were way out of line, but I wasn’t leaving.” She tossed the words at him as she purposely turned quickly so that her duffel bag hit him square in the stomach. Then she moved to the matching couch he’d just vacated and plopped herself and her stuff down. “But I have a job to do and I plan to do it. We don’t have to like each other and we don’t have to know each other’s personal business. I’ll just need your schedule and then I’ll show you how to work some of this stuff. Then we should be set.”

Renny rubbed his hand over his midsection. The jab she’d tossed him hadn’t been the least bit painful, but his ego sure was taking a beating. He was used to women falling over him, batting their eyes and doing everything in their power to attract him. Sabrina acted as if she couldn’t care less whether he took his next breath or not.

The bodyguard situation was turning out to be just as bad as he’d thought it would.




Chapter 2


“So, do you want to talk about it?” Lynn set her cup on the table, picked up her napkin and folded it neatly in her lap. Jeremy was in the living room watching his morning cartoons. The sun streamed through the windows on another unusually warm October day. And her baby sister sat across the table from her, looking as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Bree shrugged. “There’s nothing to talk about.” For the first few months of her return Lynn had been the quiet one, the one person in her family hadn’t asked a million questions about her sudden decision not to reenlist. She loved the military, loved the life of a marine. She’d served in Desert Storm, done a year in Germany, a year in Japan and was happily based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, when her glorious life came to a screeching halt.

“You were really happy in the service. You couldn’t wait to get away from here once you graduated from high school and you only came back on holidays. So I guess I’m just a little confused as to why you’re here now, doing this little security thing with Sam.”

Bree looked up at her sister, the oldest of the Desdune siblings. Lynette Desdune Richardson, her mother’s pride and joy. Lynn had always done the right things in her mother’s eyes. She’d been a cheerleader on the honor roll. She went to college, found a guy, married him and had a baby, exactly as planned. And in the last year that guy had walked out of her life, leaving her with a mortgage and a son to raise alone. Still, Lynn was the epitome of womanhood, according to her mother. She was tall and beautiful, with the coffee-brown skin that all the Desdune siblings shared, light brown eyes, full lips and a great body—yes, Lynn was the woman that Bree had secretly longed to be.

Even though she knew she’d definitely lose her mind if all she had to do from day to day was housework and taking care of kids, the small female percentage of her wanted the love of a good man and wanted that love to spill over into a couple of kids—but that wasn’t written in the scroll of her life; she accepted that. Besides, Lynn had a career now. She was an attorney at the Legal Aid Bureau. She said it was entertaining to say the very least, and Bree had to agree that her sister looked really happy. She wished she could feel that way.

“It was simply time to come home, Lynn. Don’t make a big deal out of it.” Bree bit into her muffin and tried to look away.

Lynn shook her head, sipped from her coffee cup, then smiled. “There’s nothing out that window that wasn’t out there yesterday or the day before. And you’re going to have to tell someone what happened sooner or later. I just thought you’d like to share with your only sister first.”

Bree frowned. “Oh, don’t give me that only-sister crap, I had to find out from Mommy that Roger had left. I didn’t see that sister bond reaching out then.”

“You weren’t here, Bree. You were doing your own thing and nobody really wanted to disturb you.”

“Except for Mommy, who wanted me to come home, anyway.”

Lynn smiled. “Mommy never wanted you to go. It was only because Daddy threatened to tie her up and lock her in her room that she didn’t board a plane and bring you home a million times herself.”

Bree laughed with her sister. “Yeah, Mommy never did understand.”

Lynn reached across the table, took Bree’s hand in hers. “But I do, Bree. I know that there is something going on, something that has hurt you deeply. I can see it in your eyes.”

Was she really that transparent? It didn’t matter, she’d failed. She’d been so headstrong and so determined to make her life mean something, to prove to her family that she was more than just the baby of the troop, that she could hold her own. Yet when it really came down to it, she’d been a childish dreamer and as a result she was sitting here in her sister’s kitchen, sleeping in her guest bedroom and working security jobs with her twin brother.

“I remember Mommy saying that there was nothing like growing pains,” she began in a hushed tone. “Now I know that she was right. Again. Mommy always seems to be right.”

“Not always. Remember she thought that white dress and those white pumps would look fabulous on you for your prom.”

Bree smiled at the memory. “Yeah, except I couldn’t walk on those stilts and I ended up wobbling right into Bobby Spencer, who was carrying two glasses of punch that immediately landed all over my dress.”

The sisters laughed over the memory.

“Growing up is hard. But for the record, I think you’ve done a wonderful job.” Lynn still held her hand.

“Yeah, whatever.” Bree snatched her hand away, not willing to go any further. If she continued to sit there, Lynn with her caring eyes and tender touch would have her talking about things that were better off left alone. She stood abruptly and carried her own dishes over to the sink and rinsed off her plate.

Lynn, who was taller than Bree by a couple of inches, came up behind her, wrapped her arms around her sister’s shoulders and hugged her tight. “It’s okay, you’re with family now, with the people that love and cherish you. Whenever you’re ready to talk, just know that I’m ready to listen.”

For a moment Bree’s heart filled and she wanted nothing more than to rid herself of all these hurtful feelings, but she just couldn’t. They wouldn’t understand why she’d done the things she had and she didn’t want to see the disappointment in their eyes. So she took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over her sister’s arm. “Thanks, Lynn. But I’m going to be okay. I’m going to find an apartment and make a life for myself here in Greenwich. This is my home and this is where I belong. I should never have forgotten that.”

When a yell from the living room pulled Lynn away, Bree stood at the kitchen sink, looking out the window in front of her.

Greenwich was her home but it had never emotionally filled her. She wanted to see the world, to find action and adventure, to live her life on the edge, and joining the marines was the closest she was ever going to get to that. Her first four years had been fantastic; she trained in the Special Weapons Division. Because that was what had intrigued her most and she’d mastered everything, from martial arts to taking apart a semiautomatic weapon and putting it back together again in less than ten minutes. She’d been having the time of her life.

Then all that had changed.

The phone rang, startling Bree out of her reverie. Hastily, she dried her hands on the dish towel and scooped the receiver off the mounting on the wall. “Hello?”

“What are you doing still home? You should be on your way to Bennett’s place.”

“Good morning, Sam. Yes, I’ve had breakfast and am about to start my workday. And how are you this glorious fall morning?” Sam’s voice had been curt, laced with a bit of tension. But then if she had to spend every evening with Leeza, she’d be stressed, too.

“Sorry, sis. I guess I’ve just got a lot going on this morning. But really, you should be on your way out. I hear Bennett is an early starter.”

Bree cradled the phone between her shoulder and her ear and looked down at her hands. “Yeah, he gets up at the break of dawn, sort of reminds me of my days on the base.” She hadn’t cut her nails in a few days and was surprised to see the beginnings of growth. She’d never had fingernails before or worn fingernail polish for that matter. She wondered briefly what it would feel like.

“Alex says he’s opening an art gallery in a couple of weeks. You should probably check out his building and find out what type of celebration he’s planning. It might be a good time for a hit.”

Her adrenaline started to pump, slowly. “Really? You think it’ll go that far?” She pushed her hands into her pockets, not really sure why she was thinking about nail polish and stuff, anyway.

“I think we need to be prepared for anything. This merger is worth billions of dollars. A lot of people stand to become rich just as a lot of people stand to lose their jobs. It’s our duty to make sure our people are protected from whatever goes down.”

Bree nodded even though Sam couldn’t see her. Her brother had pored over those letters, studying every detail, the homicide detective in him never leaving the job the way Sam had. He said the Force was simply too restrictive. He wanted to really make a difference, so he set out to provide security for the citizens of Greenwich so that they wouldn’t end up on the desk of some homicide detective. “Well, I’m ready for whatever goes down.”

Sam chuckled. “You’re always ready for anything, Rambo.”

“That’s why you hired me.” She smiled. Sam hadn’t called her Rambo since she’d been back home. She realized she’d missed the stupid nickname.

“Well, get moving before I fire you. And, Bree?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful,” he warned solemnly.

“Be careful of what, Sam? We live in Greenwich.”

Sam sighed. “I know how you feel about our rural little town, but a lot of sick things have happened since you’ve been away fighting wars. It can get dangerous out there. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“Renny Bennett has a reputation and I don’t want you getting caught up in it.”

Now she was intrigued. Of course Renny had a playboy reputation. With those looks and that body, why shouldn’t he? But that had nothing to do with her; she was so not his type. “Please, I’m the last person he’s thinking about in that way.”

“Bree, just watch yourself around him. Okay? He’s smooth with the ladies and I don’t want to have to walk away from this job because he stepped out of line.”

“Sammy, you’ve clearly had too much coffee this morning. There’s no chance of that happening so don’t even worry about it. Now, I can’t get to work if I’m on the phone with you.”

“You’ve been forewarned,” Sam said before disconnecting the line.

Bree hung up the phone and ran back upstairs to get her cell phone and keys. She walked past the full-length mirror that hung on the wall near the closet and stopped. She’d put on khakis today, a powder-blue color that her mother had picked out for her. Her shirt still resembled a T-shirt but it had a slight V-neck and was the same pale shade as her pants. On her feet were purely functional Reebok classic tennis shoes and her hair was pulled back in her signature ponytail, except it swung loose today.

She stood to the side, studied her silhouette. She didn’t have a bad shape. Sure, she wasn’t as curvy as Lynn and didn’t look as soft as other women, her own muscled biceps flexing as she moved her hands up and down her body, but she was clearly a woman. She turned to get a frontal view. Her face was free of makeup. She never really liked the stuff, but looking at her plain face now she thought maybe some gloss would be okay. After moving to the dresser and finally finding a tube that wasn’t dried out or caked up, she smeared it on her lips, then groaned.

“You’re his bodyguard. This is so silly. He would never be interested in someone like you.” She swiped the back of her hand over her lips and sighed. “And you don’t want him to be, either.”

Without glancing in that traitorous mirror again, Bree grabbed her jacket, keys and phone and left the room. She had a job to do.



Renny had a busy schedule today. He needed to go by the foundry to check on a last-minute piece he’d added to the collection. Then he needed to go past the gallery to meet the decorator and go over the details for the opening with his general manager. And he had to squeeze in time to work on his newest piece. The piece that had been keeping him awake at night.

It was so clear in his mind and as he’d drawn it, he’d felt his pulse quicken, his breath hitch. He’d mounted the armature and had just started to apply the clay earlier this morning. He wasn’t sure if this piece would ever see the light of day. Still, he was compelled to finish it, to have the picture of her etched forever in bronze.

She’d been with him for the past two days. From sunup until sundown, she’d been at his condo hooking up one gizmo after the next. He found her to be very thorough in her duties. She checked and double-checked everything the moment she got there and just before she left. He felt like he was on display in his own home. She had cameras and motion sensors outside his door, along the windows, and bugs in his phone. It was as if he didn’t have any privacy left at all. Not that it was an issue since he never brought women to his home, anyway. It was simply too personal and the moment they were in his house, to their mind’s thinking, they were in his heart and in his pocket, neither of which he was allowing.

He loved women, but he didn’t want a permanent one. As in love as his parents were, Renny was in no hurry to have those emotional entanglements. It just wasn’t for him. He was too focused on himself, his work and his gallery. He’d be no good to a woman. His father had said as much the day he told him refusing to work for Bennett Industries meant he didn’t have a care for his future stability. To Marvin Bennett, being an artist was not stable, it was stupid.

Renny accepted his father’s view, but didn’t let it sway his decision. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to offer a woman the fame and fortune that went along with the Bennett name—because Marvin swore he wouldn’t leave Renny one piece of the company as long as he was playing around with clay and drawing. Renny had a handsome trust fund set up for him by his grandfather on his mother’s side, so he really wasn’t worried about being the proverbial starving artist, but women expected more from a Bennett. They expected to have it all once they landed him and he would ultimately have to disappoint them.

So instead, he dated, had sex and left soon after. There were no mornings waking up beside Renny Bennett, and if any woman dared to say she had, she was surely lying. A hotel or her place was the destination of choice, so he could get up and leave when it suited him. None of them even had his home number, and his cell number was changed periodically because he especially hated the ones that couldn’t let go. His brothers called him ruthless as a businessman when it came to women; he called it a necessity to his own survival and didn’t have any plans of changing his routine.

His bodyguard wasn’t here yet this morning, but then he was leaving a little earlier than she normally arrived. It didn’t matter; she had a key to his place, so if she wanted to go in and check on her gadgets she could. He really didn’t understand why he needed a bodyguard in the first place, and wondered what this little woman could actually do to protect him, anyway. She had loads of energy, though. She moved from the time she came in until the time she left. She drank her water, but he never saw her eat much. Yesterday, he had convinced her to have a slice of pizza, but she hadn’t sat down at the table to consume it. Instead she’d held it in one hand while she pored over maps of the city, saying they needed to have safe routes mapped out in case of an emergency. He’d gone back into his studio then. All her moving about was making him tired. He was as much of a workaholic as the next guy, but his job was more slow, more graceful, while hers seemed to be adrenaline driven, and she was really into it.

His mind had wandered out into the living room as he wondered what she was doing. Had she had enough to eat? When was she going to go to the bathroom after she’d consumed almost a half gallon of water in three hours? And was she biting on her bottom lip like she did when she was concentrating?

As he stepped through the door he shook his head. He shouldn’t even have thought about her lips or the fact that he’d remembered such an inconsequential detail about her like that. He checked the locks the way she told him and even smiled up at the camera just above the entryway. He had his bag on his shoulder as he took the stairs down to his car. Pulling his keys from his back pocket, he hit the button disengaging the alarm and was just about to open his car door when he felt a jab in his back.

He turned around quickly and was faced with her wrath.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going? You didn’t say you were going out today. And you shouldn’t be out here by yourself. You didn’t even look around or check your surroundings. You didn’t see or hear me come up behind you, did you?”

She was like a madwoman, spouting off questions, not waiting for answers. Her sienna eyes sparkling with anger, her chest heaving. Yeah, he found his eyes resting on her chest quite frequently in the past couple of days. He’d never considered himself a breast man before, but admitted that his fingers tingled each time he looked at the perfect roundness of hers.

“Good morning, Sabrina.” He smiled down at her and she clamped her lips closed so tightly he thought she would break a tooth. She opened her mouth to speak again, but closed it just as quickly before taking a deep, steadying breath. She was even more beautiful when she was angry.

Bree instantly felt guilty. Hadn’t Sam just done the same thing to her less than an hour ago? It was a good morning and she should have said that first, but he hadn’t heard her come up behind him and she could have been a hit man with a gun and he wouldn’t have had any time to protect himself and…he’d smiled at her. That smile that left her breathless. “Good morning, Renny.”

“That’s so much better.” He reached for the handle and opened his door.

Bree stepped back to avoid being hit. “You still didn’t tell me where you were going, and you weren’t watching your back.”

Renny tossed his bag into the backseat and climbed inside. “Isn’t that what you get paid to do?”

Oh, no, he wasn’t popping an attitude now. “Yes, it is, and that’s precisely why I’m angry with you now. You should have told me last night before I left that you’d be going out this morning and I would have been here earlier. It’s clear you don’t have a care for your own safety, which makes my job even harder.” That and the fact that you are one mouthwatering piece of eye candy.

“We’ve already established the fact that I don’t buy into this whole threat and need for a bodyguard, and I wasn’t aware that I had to tell you my every move.”

“Well, you do. So you might as well start now.” She folded her arms over her chest and waited.

Renny expelled a deep breath. She sure was a feisty little thing. He actually enjoyed getting her all riled up. Her eyes looked wild, filled with untamed passion that he’d love to tap into. He sat back in his seat, his hands on the steering wheel, because he wanted to reach out and touch her more than anything else. “I have a couple of errands to run. Is that okay with you?”

He really was infuriating. But Sam had warned her that in cases like this there were always people who didn’t see the need for a personal guard—especially men. “Fine. I’ll follow you.”

She turned to walk away and Renny felt a sudden loss that he couldn’t quite explain. He pushed on his horn. She was just at the front of his car, so the loud sound startled her and she jumped a bit. He grinned and shrugged, poking his head out of the window. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, right,” she snapped.

“Hey, if you’re supposed to be guarding my body shouldn’t you be a little closer to it?” he shouted.

Bree almost collapsed right there. How had he known she’d just been thinking about being up close and personal with his body? Then it dawned on her he didn’t know, he was simply teasing her about her job again. “I’ll be right behind you in my truck.”

“That’s not acceptable. I happen to know that my brother is paying you a pretty penny and I want him to get his money’s worth. Hop in.” He could see her trying to think of a reason to decline and wondered for a moment if Miss Bodyguard was feeling the heat between them as he was. “C’mon, I’m going to be late.”

She didn’t have a choice. It was her job and he had a point; to effectively protect him she did need to stay close. Squaring her shoulders, she took those first steps toward the passenger side door and then climbed in beside him. This was a great car, a Porsche, candy-apple-red with all the niceties that came with it—even the devilishly handsome driver. Clasping her seat belt, Bree laid her head back on the headrest and tried to remind herself that this was work, he was Renny Bennett and she was Sabrina Desdune, ex-marine, lifetime tomboy. That was it, plain and simple.

“We’re here,” Renny announced as he pulled into a parking lot.

Bree looked around. It looked like a deserted building from where she was sitting, so she couldn’t help but ask, “Where is here?”

Renny reached over, undid her seat belt and grabbed his bag from the back. “It’s a foundry.” He hopped out before she could ask another question and came around to the other side of the car just as she was swinging the door open. He reached for her hand and she stared at it as if it were a foreign object.

“What are you doing?”

Renny smiled, reached in and grabbed her hand, pulling her resistant body out of the car. “You sure do keep your guard up. I’m helping you out of the car. That’s what a man is supposed to do.”

He closed the door behind her and dropped her hand. She was glad of that because the heat that soared up her arm at his touch was disconcerting to say the least. “Being alert is part of my training,” she said to his now-retreating back.

Renny looked over his shoulder to see her following him. “You actually trained to become a bodyguard?”

Was that humor she heard in his voice? She frowned. “No. I actually trained to become a marine.”

Renny stopped abruptly. Bree had been looking at her surroundings and didn’t realize he wasn’t moving anymore until she collided with him and that alluring chest again. He grabbed her shoulders.

“Sorry. I keep doing that,” she mumbled, then tried to move around him, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“You’re a marine?”

He looked absolutely flabbergasted. It was kind of funny, this look men got when they were confronted with a female soldier, especially a marine. There were men who hadn’t made it through the Marine Corps, so a woman was definitely a shock. Bree kind of liked the effect. “For sixteen years.”

She was so tiny he would never have imagined her climbing over walls and dodging bullets, yet the thought was a definite turn-on. He was quickly realizing that there was a lot about his bodyguard that turned him on.

“Do you have a problem with that?” He was staring at her and it made her uncomfortable. His dark eyes raked over her body as if he were searching for something…and amazingly enough had found it. She battled with whether she liked it or not. Then he smiled and she wanted to melt into his arms.

“No problem at all. I guess I’m really protected now.” He should stop touching her. She was steady now; there was no need to have his hands on her. Except the need deep inside him that wanted to get closer. The light blue outfit she wore today was refreshing from her normal denim and white attire. It gave her a softer look that he really liked. A slight breeze mussed her hair, the back of the ponytail swayed gently.

“Are we going into this foundry or what?” She managed to move away from his touch this time and walked around him. Her stomach was doing somersaults and they were standing out in the open where he was a clear shot.

Renny dropped his arms to his side and led her into the building. He was tall and didn’t walk slowly. Usually he’d have to slow down to almost baby steps when walking with a woman, but Sabrina, even with her shorter legs, kept up with him without a problem. She didn’t carry a purse, just a small pouch at her waist. She didn’t wear long flourishing earrings, just simple studs. Her watch was the only jewelry that adorned her arms, and today he couldn’t even see her ankle bracelet. She looked around, taking in everything and seemingly recording it for future use.

“You ever been to a foundry before?”

“No.”

“Then let me give you the grand tour,” a familiar male voice interrupted. This was Walt. He worked on all of Renny’s projects. In fact, Renny didn’t trust anyone else with his pieces.

Renny extended his hand, and Walt clasped it quickly and with a generous smile. “Hey, Walt. What’s going on?”

“Nothing much. I’ve got this dude working me like crazy, that’s all.” Walt was a tall man, wire thin, with a long face and a big, warm smile. “I see you’ve brought me a little bit of sunshine this morning. You tryin’ to bribe me?” Walt was looking at Sabrina.

Renny didn’t miss the implications in Walt’s words, nor did he miss the salacious look he was giving Sabrina. What was even harder to miss was the swirling heat in the pit of his stomach—something he wasn’t even going to qualify as jealousy. “This is a friend of the family, Sabrina Desdune. She’s helping out with the opening, so I thought I’d let her get a look at how the background work is done. Sabrina, this is Walter Hemler, foundry worker extraordinaire.”

Bree gave the man a cordial smile and extended her hand. He eagerly took it between both his hands and rubbed her skin gently. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hemler.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Walt shook his head. “You’ll call me Walt just like everybody else. You sure are a pretty little thing.”

Bree blushed at his words. Why was it that older men always flirted with younger women, embarrassing them both immensely? “Thank you, Walt. I’m a bit curious. Do you think you can explain all this to me?” She looked around them again, ignoring the heated glare she was receiving from Renny.

“Sure thing, little missy. You just follow me and I’ll answer all your questions.”

Walt hooked Bree’s arm in his and began walking. Each of them seemed to forget Renny was even standing there.

With his lips drawn tightly Renny followed them, not liking the exclusion one bit. He was supposed to be showing her around. It didn’t really matter. He was here to check on his pieces; showing Sabrina around would only distract him. Sort of like the sway of her hips was doing right now.

“We mostly do artwork here. You know, sculptures and statues. Over there’s the oven. That’s where we melt the metal and fire the castings. It’s hot as Satan’s den over there, so I won’t take you too close.” Walt was busily talking and guiding Sabrina.

Bree looked around, watching as workers poured a glistening liquid into small molds and large molds, her inquisitive mind working overtime. “So, do you just come up with the ideas and pour the metal inside and then you have a statue?”

“Naw, all this starts with the artist. He dreams up the idea and then brings us a smaller model. We take it from there.”

“This is really interesting. I never gave much thought to how these things were actually created.”

“It’s a daunting process,” Renny spoke up from his spot behind them. When she turned her eyes to him he felt like sitting her down and answering any question she asked. She looked suddenly vulnerable and very childlike in this big warehouse with all this heavy machinery. A marine, no, you would never guess it of this petite woman. Not until you looked deep into her eyes. They were such expression-filled eyes that Renny found himself getting lost in them once again. She was passionate, with a strength and determination to rival any man’s; he could see that clearly. An artist had an eye for detail, and ever since meeting Sabrina he’d stored away loads of details about her.

“Really?” She’d known he was close, had felt his dominating presence behind her as if he were her entire world. There was an unknown element about Renny Bennett, something she assumed other people didn’t see often when they looked at him. “How do you get your inspiration?”

He couldn’t tell her his latest source of inspiration and didn’t quite know how to explain his pieces, so he thought an example would suit this conversation better. “Walt can show you a couple of my finished pieces and then I’ll let you answer that yourself.”

“Sure. Right this way. He’s real protective of his stuff, so I keep it in a locked room until it’s time to move it.”

They walked through the center of the factory, up a few stairs and across a catwalk. Renny grabbed her elbow to keep her steady. Bree frowned but didn’t say anything. She’d walked on a catwalk before; hell, she’d jumped out of a plane before, so this was a piece of cake, but she kept that to herself. Renny seemed to be real big on this gentleman thing, so she’d leave it alone, for now.

Walt used a key to gain entrance into the room and flicked on a light before inviting them in. Renny still held on to her arm even though they’d left the catwalk about twenty steps ago. White sheets covered everything in the room except the steel shelves. When it seemed no one was in a hurry to remove them, Bree took a step and pulled one away herself.

She gasped, her hand coming to her throat for an instant. Then she ran her fingers lightly over the figure. It was a woman. A naked woman, lying on a couch, one leg thrown over the back while the other dangled over the edge. One arm was draped over her head while the other extended down between her legs. Her features weren’t clear, yet the excitement, the growing passion, was unmistakable.

Her skin tingled as she continued to study the sculpture. It was intricate in its design, right down to the sharp protrusion of the woman’s nipples. Renny was standing right next to her now, close enough that she could hear his breathing. “What do you think?” he almost whispered.

She licked her lips. “It’s, ah…very interesting.”

Renny sighed. “You think it’s pornographic, don’t you? You can tell me the truth.” That’s what his father thought, that he was spending all his time making dirty sculptures so horny nutcases could pay a fortune for them.

Bree heard the disappointment in his voice and turned to face him. His hands were thrust into his pockets, his jaw clenched as he looked away from her. She touched his arm gently, knowing exactly what it felt like when someone didn’t understand your life’s work. “I think it’s extremely passionate. It’s not pornographic, more like sensually tasteful, I’d say.”

Overhead a speaker blared and Walt heard himself being paged. “I’d better see what’s going on out there. You two take your time. I’ll be right back.”

They were alone in the room when Renny finally let himself look at her. She’d touched him of her own accord, but the moment his eyes rested on hers she’d pulled away. She thought his work was passionate. “Do you want to see the rest of them?”

“I’d love to.” Bree was careful to keep her eyes averted from his. This room was really small, and very hot since she’d unveiled the first sculpture.

“I call the collection Breathless Passion,” he told her as he went about the task of removing the other covers.

Breathless was exactly what his sculptures made Bree feel. Each one, twelve in all, were of men and women in various stages of sexual fulfillment—together and separately. She touched them all, hadn’t been able to resist. They were so real, so alluring. Renny Bennett must be some kind of lover to create like this.

One in particular drew her closer, both her hands moving over the cool, smooth surface. The woman stood with her back facing the man, one foot lifted to rest on an ottoman, one hand fingering her breast while the other reached up to wrap behind her lover’s neck, pulling his head closer to hers. The man was behind her, buried deep inside her womb, his hands grasping her hips as he bent her slightly forward.

Bree’s heart took on record speed as she examined the piece. For a moment she felt as if she were in the room with that couple. She could smell the distinct aroma of sex and sweat, could feel the tension rising until it clogged her throat. The place between her legs began to throb, her breasts stiffening with the erotic reverie. Then she felt it, his hands on her waist, his thumbs at the base of her back, his fingers splayed over her pelvic bone. He pulled her back to him until his hardness rested against her like a silent, but persistent, offering. She inhaled.

“It leaves you breathless, doesn’t it?” Renny asked with a thickness in his voice he hadn’t intended. Usually his work excited him, not to the point of masturbation or driving him to go out and find the nearest woman to sleep with, but excited him with a feeling of accomplishment. His dedication paid off. But watching Sabrina enjoy his creations, watching her touch the very bodies his fingers had molded did something to him. He envisioned her hands on him as clearly as if she’d turned and undressed him herself. His skin had reacted to each of her caresses as if they were meant only for him. And he wanted her.

Breathless was an understatement to Bree. She remembered inhaling, but for the life of her she couldn’t release that breath. His hands were still and they weren’t on any real prohibited part of her body, yet they sent sparks of heat through her so intense she’d closed her eyes to keep from sighing. If they were naked and she lifted her own leg he could slip inside her—they’d be just like this sculpture and she’d have the same look of supreme satisfaction on her face that this woman had.

The doorknob turned with an unmistakable click and Bree rushed away from Renny. The moment Walt entered the room she snatched her hands away from the sculpture and tried to gather her wits.

“Just a minor problem I had to deal with. So, little missy, how do you like my boy’s work?”

Renny jammed his hands into his pockets to conceal his burgeoning growth from his longtime friend. He was sort of glad that Walt had picked that moment to return. If not, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do to Sabrina next. She was an enigma. An ex-marine turned bodyguard. A wisp of a woman with the allure of a porn star. An ordinary female with more beauty than a supermodel. What had his brother gotten him into?

“The pieces are wonderful,” she said in a slow measured tone. “I would venture to say that very creative hands brought them to life. The public is going to love them.” She was looking at Walt as she spoke, but her words were meant for Renny. She’d sensed his insecurity about his work the moment they’d stepped into this room, and wondered where it stemmed from. Most artists, she assumed, were very confident about their creations, almost to the point of being arrogant. But Renny seemed a little leery, as if he were always waiting for approval—for someone to say he’d done a good job.

He was covering the pieces now, his back to her, and she felt a little deflated. He hadn’t even acknowledged her compliment. Well, it’d be a cold day in hell before the magnificent playboy received another one from her. She couldn’t believe she’d allowed herself the briefest second of romanticizing the man through his work. He was just what she thought he was, a manipulative womanizer. He’d touched her with such softness, such familiarity that she’d, for a moment, believed they’d had some sort of connection. That was absurd. He was Renny Bennett and she was his bodyguard. He was not attracted to her and she was definitely not attracted to him!




Chapter 3


Renny was quiet in the car, his body still adjusting to its reaction to Sabrina and his sculptures. If he let his mind wander he’d feel her soft strokes against his skin and the heat would ultimately begin to rise again. So he tried to focus. He turned on the radio. Something by Usher was playing and to his dismay Sabrina started to sing. The lyrics were a bit sexual and bam…his thoughts again turned lusty.

He rolled down his window, let some of the breeze into the interior of the car. He was losing his mind. He was not supposed to be attracted to her. You’ve got to be kidding. Who wouldn’t be attracted to her? But I’m no good for her. She already thinks I’m some rich playboy. She probably wants picket fences and kids in the yard.

He stole a glance at her. She had her hands raised as high above her head as they could get in the confines of the car and was snapping her fingers, gyrating the top half of her body to the rhythm of the music. Then again…maybe she didn’t.

Either way, she definitely didn’t want a one-night stand or even an intense physical affair that would ultimately end badly. She deserved more than that. Besides, Rico would never forgive him if he mixed business with pleasure and he’d hired Desdune Security to do business with the Bennetts. Touching her was definitely out of the question. But he’d already touched her, albeit briefly. He’d already felt her soft curves against him and so help him he desperately wanted to feel them again.

“What?” she asked when she caught him staring at her. “You don’t like this song?”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m just not a big Usher fan.” But he was definitely a fan of the way the man’s music had her body moving. This little woman continued to wreak all kinds of havoc on his libido.

“Then let’s find something to loosen you up a little. I’m tired of you looking all grim over there.” Bree leaned forward and pushed the buttons that roamed the radio stations.

“Ooh, I love this one.” She swayed slowly from side to side as the smooth voices of Boyz II Men vibrated through the speakers.

Oh, hell, no! Renny’s mind screamed. Was it pure coincidence or pure torture that they were singing “I’ll Make Love To You” at the same time he was fighting a tremendous hard-on.

Renny gripped the steering wheel even tighter, praying his pants were baggy enough not to give away his state of mind.

“I know you like this one. All men like this one.” Bree gave him a brief smile. She touched his arm and sang along with the four men of the group. Renny’s muscle tensed beneath her hand and she frowned. “Are you always this happy?”

He clenched his teeth so tight his head started to hurt. “I didn’t say I didn’t like the song. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” About one hundred and twenty pounds of gorgeous female, come to think of it.

“Is it the letters? Are you worried about whoever is stalking your family?” Bree grew serious, reaching over to turn the radio down. She was being insensitive. His family was dealing with a lot right now, the merger and these threats. It had to be hard on him since he and his brothers seemed so close.

No, it wasn’t that, because he thought that was some big promo scheme thought up by the execs at Coastal Technologies, but he couldn’t tell her the real reason. “That and the opening.”

“Oh, your gallery? Is that where we’re going now?”

“Yes. I need to talk with the decorator and make sure things are moving along smoothly.”

Bree sat back and looked out the window. It was early afternoon. People lined the streets either heading for their lunch breaks or to run some mundane errand; that’s all they did around here. “So, what made you get into art? I mean, did you need some type of hobby?”

He cut his eyes at her once, then paid attention to the right turn he was making. Her flippant question had sounded a lot like his father. And here he’d thought she really got his work. “It’s not a hobby. At least not for me. I’ve always been good with my hands.”

Bree shifted uncomfortably at his remark. “Oh? Really?”

He knew she was thinking of his comment in the wrong context and most likely with the wrong female, but he ignored the thought. “As a kid I used to spend hours drawing. I went through so many sketchbooks and pencils that my father threatened to cut down all the trees in our backyard to keep me in supply. He didn’t mind my drawing so much back then.” It was only when he’d grown up that Marvin said it was time to put that task to rest.

“How does he feel about your career choice now? I mean, since you obviously don’t care for the family business.”

“It’s not that I don’t care for the business. I get all the stock reports for Bennett Industries. I know all of our products and all of our customers. I’ve read and reread this merger file a billion times. It’s my family and my family business, so naturally it means something to me.” He took a deep breath. “Sculpting just means more.”

“I know what you mean,” she said softly.

“You do?” He pulled into the parking lot behind the newly renovated building. “Do you have a big family?”

“I guess you could say that. There’s Sam and me, we’re the youngest of the bunch. Then there’s Lynn and Cole, Mom and Dad. My parents are from Louisiana. They have a chain of Creole restaurants along the coast called Lucien’s.”

Renny switched the engine off and sat back in his seat. “I’ve heard of them. Actually, I’ve been to the one in New York. They have great food. So why aren’t you in the restaurant business?”

“While I love to cook, slaving behind a hot stove for a bunch of patrons was never my idea of the perfect career.”

Because she looked so vulnerable at this moment, and the hollow of her neck seemed to glisten in the sunlight that streamed through the window, Renny reached over and traced a finger over the bare skin.

Bree jumped. “Look, Bennett, I wasn’t going to say anything about this touching habit of yours, but now I don’t have a choice.”

Renny grinned. Did he have a touching habit where she was concerned?

“Just because we’re going to be working in close proximity doesn’t give you free privileges. I’m not one of the women you trifle with—not that I needed to remind you of that—but regardless, I won’t be fondled by you, either.”

Renny blinked, wondering what she’d meant by not needing to remind him that she wasn’t like other women. Of course she didn’t need to remind him, he knew very well how different she was. And that, ultimately, was the problem.

But it was his problem and he’d deal with it. “Relax, Sabrina. Since the window was open some of that pollen stuff blew into the car. I was simply wiping it off of you. I have no intention of fondling you while you’re working.”

“Good.” Bree unlocked her seat belt. “Just so we’re clear on things.”

Renny released his seat belt, as well. “We’re perfectly clear. You’re the bodyguard—”

“And you’re the client in need of protection. That’s all.”

Their eyes locked and in that moment their circumstances didn’t matter. He looked as if he wanted to say something else.

Her eyes seemed to call him, to welcome him inside her world; then she broke the contact and stepped out of the car.

Everything about the Silhouette Gallery screamed Lorenzo Bennett’s name. From the high ceilings to the pure white walls and the smoky-gray moldings, it was chic and understated, masculine and smooth, artistic and unique.

The outside of the building was deceiving, sturdy brick with no flare and no excitement. Just above the swinging glass doors the simple word Silhouette was scrawled in bold black script letters. The moment she entered, the clean lines and sharp angles greeted her. A pewter winding staircase shocked her as she found herself traveling to what should have been the basement, but was actually the main showroom.

Stone-gray marble floors and recessed lighting flanked her as she walked through absorbing either canvases on the walls or statues on podiums. It was class personified and Bree was simply amazed.

Renny walked beside her, afraid to ask what was going through that mind of hers. She always seemed to surprise him, so he decided he’d let her comment on her own.

“This is extraordinary, Renny. Did you do all this by yourself?” Bree finally said.

“I’d like to think I had a hand in it, as well.” Clicking heels and a sultry female voice interrupted the twosome.

Bree turned in the direction of the sound and nearly swallowed her tongue as she was faced with the most gorgeous female creature she’d ever seen. She had to be at least five feet eleven inches to six feet tall, limbs as fluid as liquid draped in a red crepe slip dress that accentuated her honey-toned skin. Bold, blond tresses cascaded past her shoulders while her flawless makeup let you know she was serious about her appearance. Her gaze briefly swept past Bree before resting comfortably on Renny.

“You’re late,” she said as her long arms twined around his neck, pulling him close for a hug.

Renny reciprocated. “I got caught up at the foundry. Is everything going okay?”

The hug was complete, but her arm stayed around his neck in a proprietary fashion that wasn’t totally lost on Bree. She took a step away from Renny to assure this platinum bombshell that she wasn’t stepping into her territory.

“Everything is just fabulous now that you’re here.” One long red-nailed finger stroked his chin as she spoke only to him.

Bree shifted from one foot to the other before clearing her throat. She wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, but she wasn’t about to be ignored, either. He’d have plenty of time to cozy up to this sex goddess when she was off duty, but until then he would give her a modicum of respect.

Renny had already released his hold on Yolanda, but since she hadn’t done the same he was sort of trapped in her embrace. He hadn’t forgotten that Sabrina was standing there, nor had he missed the implications this little display undoubtedly sent to her. “Sabrina, this is Yolanda Tate, my general manager. Yolanda, this is Sabrina, a friend of the family.”

Again he so effortlessly lied. Bree was careful to take note of that fact. She extended her hand and pasted a smile on her face. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Tate. The place is wonderful. You’ve done a good job.”

Yolanda regarded the outstretched hand a moment, then turned to Renny. “Are you babysitting?”

Resisting the urge to put this Amazon in a Chinese headlock, Bree lifted a brow and then pulled her hand back. “It’s called a greeting. I say ‘nice to meet you’ and you say ‘same here’ or something to that effect. The handshake is optional, but I assure you I’m not contagious.” She shrugged. “Just a few things I’d think a general manager would know.”

Renny grinned. Clearly her size was an underestimation of any opponent. He’d be sure to take that into consideration at all times. Thankfully though, Yolanda took the bait and released him from her grasp.

“Your candor isn’t amusing. Still, if you’re a friend of the Bennetts I assume you know when and where to use it. Will you be visiting long?”

Bree slipped her hands into her pockets; that was the only way she could assure herself that she wouldn’t take a swing at the blond beauty. “I’m sure you and I will be seeing a lot of each other since I’ll be here for quite some time.”

As exciting as a catfight seemed to younger men, Renny was not about to let one break out in the middle of his gallery. “I’ve been showing Sabrina around today. We stopped at the foundry and now we’re going to look around here. She has a wonderful eye for detail and I thought I’d put it to good use.”

Bree looked at him as he talked about her. Something in the way his eyes roamed freely over her body made her fidget. She clearly paled in comparison to Yolanda, so his look must be intended to agitate, not excite her.

“She has an eye for detail?” Yolanda looked her up and down, clearly not impressed.

“She has an exceptional eye,” Renny said, still staring at Sabrina. He was talking about the intense pools of brown, how they swirled and tantalized him, and of course how she paid attention to her security detail. “We’ll just take the tour and I’ll speak with you before I leave.” He took Sabrina’s hand and led her away from Yolanda, not waiting for the woman’s reply.

“Your Amazon manager is going to need some etiquette classes before the opening or you’re never going to sell a thing,” she commented when they were only a few steps away from Yolanda.

Renny laughed. “She’s usually not so…blunt.” He led them around a sharp corner.

“Is that the best you could do? I was thinking more along the lines of shallow, rude…”

Renny squeezed her hand gently. “I get the picture. But she looks good and the men will come in just to see her alone.”

“Is that why she was scarcely dressed and draped all over you?” She sounded jealous. She could hear the cold tint of her voice and didn’t like it one bit. “I mean, if she hangs on to you like that, they’ll assume she’s taken and go on about their business elsewhere.” Goodness, was it hot in here, too?

His thumb played over her skin as he listened to her. She sounded jealous, but then that was impossible, or was it? He decided to find out if his bodyguard was indeed feeling the same attraction he was. “Do I detect a note of jealousy?”

She tugged on her hand, but he didn’t let go. “You don’t detect anything. I’m just making a point to rebut your reasons for having her around. At any rate, you’re touching me again.”

She was definitely shaken. He couldn’t help but grin. If she was shaken, then she was affected, if she was affected, then the attraction wasn’t entirely one-sided. He lifted her hand to his lips, placed a whisper-soft kiss over her knuckles and watched her eyes darken. There it was as plain as the day, desire. Dark as sin and as alluring as fool’s gold. This was exactly what he wanted his art to bring to the surface. The liberation and release of pent-up desire in everyone.

“Let me go,” she said softly and without any conviction. What was it about him that appealed to her? She knew and yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Sure, he was fine and he seemed intelligent enough, but there was something else—something inside him that called to her.

“Is that what you really want, Sabrina?”

Her name rolled off his tongue like a rush of warm water and she almost drowned in its effect. He kissed her knuckles again, this time letting his warm lips linger, his thin mustache prickling her sensitive skin. He was smooth. That was his reputation, and as of this morning she’d been forewarned. With a forceful tug she retrieved her hand and glared at him. “I always say what I mean, Bennett. Don’t forget that.”

And there it was, the door had been closed and from the looks of it, locked securely. She was the bodyguard again, the professional. But for the briefest moment, just like back in that room at the foundry, she’d been something else. She’d been the woman, the enigma that plagued him.



She hadn’t a clue how she’d let Renny talk her into dinner. Maybe it was his plea that he needed to eat and she was his bodyguard so she had to follow him wherever he went. She’d rolled her eyes and clasped her seat belt without another word to him. They’d driven in silence and were now seated in a booth near the back of Thataway Café, one of Greenwich’s trendy restaurants.

“Are you hungry?” he asked while he perused the menu.

“No.”

He peeped at her above his menu and took note of the folded arms and bored expression. She was angry with him. Funny how he’d only known her three days and her moods were already as transparent to him as if they’d known each other forever. What was even funnier was the way her anger affected him. He didn’t like it, to put it simply. He didn’t like when she wasn’t smiling, when her eyes were brewing instead of smoldering or sparkling. He didn’t like when she folded her arms, effectively closing him out of her world.

“You haven’t eaten all day, Sabrina. How about a hamburger?”

“I said I’m not hungry.”

He expelled a deep breath. “How do you propose to protect anybody when you’re weak from malnourishment?”

She cut her eyes at him, released her arms and placed her palms flat on the table. “I’m getting sick of you using my position to your advantage.”

He feigned innocence. “Would I do something like that?” He lifted his menu to hide his smirk. Sabrina was very serious about her job. The mere mention of her not being able to do it to the best of her ability had her agreeing to almost anything. He’d have to remember that in the future. “I’m going to have a bacon cheeseburger with everything on it, French fries and whatever you have on tap,” Renny told the waiter who’d mysteriously appeared.

Bree picked up her menu and scanned the contents. When she looked up the waiter was standing in front of her, pen poised and waiting for her order. “I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger with mustard only, French fries and a glass of water. And the gentleman doesn’t want onions on his burger.”

The waiter looked at Renny in question and Renny looked at Bree in the same way.

“I’m not smelling onion breath for the rest of the night. How do you expect me to protect you if I can’t stand being near you?” she said smugly.

It was back, that sparkle in her eyes he was quickly becoming used to. “No onions, please.”

They talked amicably after that, in which time Bree learned more about the infamous Lorenzo Bennett. He wasn’t shallow like his reputation painted him. Instead he was very passionate about his work and about his family. She watched him as he spoke of his younger sisters and their future, of his brothers and their childhood escapades, of his parents and how much they loved each other. As she ate, she found herself wishing for just a moment that he was her man. She could tell he’d love her and cherish her, he was just that way. Too bad she wasn’t looking for a man right now. If she’d met him two years ago, maybe…no, she would still be Sabrina the tomboy and he’d still be the gorgeous millionaire with his pick of the world’s most beautiful women.

“Sabrina?”

He touched her hand as he said her name and she focused on his mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine. What were you saying?”

“I was asking about your life as a soldier. How was it for you personally? Did you date?”

She stuck a fry into her mouth to give herself a moment to think about the question. “We had personal time to do with as we pleased, if that’s what you mean.”

He’d finished his food and was actually enjoying watching her eat. She didn’t pick like the other women he’d dated. She hadn’t ordered a salad and then acted as if those bits of leaves and vegetables had filled her up. No, she tackled that burger with as much enthusiasm as she tackled everything else she did. “I meant were you seeing anyone special?”

She’d figured as much. “Then why didn’t you just say that?”

“I just did.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m curious.”

She picked up her napkin, wiped her mouth and sat back against the chair. “It’s really none of your business.”

“Look, we’re two adults sharing a meal. We’re going to be working together until this merger is wrapped up. We might as well have some type of friendship between us.” She wasn’t budging. “Okay, if you answer me, then you can ask me a really personal question in return. Deal?”

She drummed her blunt fingernails on the table. “Fine. Yes, I dated. And once I had a serious relationship.”

He’d thought as much. “Was he a soldier, too?”

“Uh-uh, I answered you. Now it’s my turn.”

He nodded in compliance. He was enjoying his time with her, more so than he’d enjoyed an evening with a woman in a long time. “Go ahead.”

“Why do you use women?”

“Who told you I use women?”

She shook her head. “You can’t answer a question with a question.”

“Okay. I don’t use women. At least I don’t think I do. I see a woman I like, I ask her out. We may or may not sleep together and then it’s done. That doesn’t sound like using to me.”

“Why do you sleep with them if you don’t want a relationship with them?”

That was two questions, but he was going to answer her; it would indebt her to him in the future. Sabrina was nothing if not honorable. “I don’t sleep with every woman I go out with. And I make my limitations perfectly clear from the get-go. It’s their choice whether to proceed or not.”

“How long do you plan on sleeping with women and dumping them?” She’d leaned forward now, her arms folded on the table in front of her.

“Until I find the right one.” He didn’t know why he said it. He’d already decided that there was no right one for him, that a committed relationship was simply not in the cards of his life. Yet the answer had come so quickly, so honestly that he thought there might be some semblance of truth to it.

That wasn’t the answer she expected. She blinked and tried to retrain her thoughts.

His cell phone rang, effectively ending the conversation. She sat back against the chair piecing together all that she’d just learned. Renny Bennett was one hell of a man and she suspected she was being treated to something people outside his family rarely saw—the real him.

“I’ll be right there,” she heard him say before disconnecting his phone and putting it back into his pocket. He pulled out some bills and stood.

“Adriana is stranded. I have to go and get her. I’ll call you a cab.”

Bree stood, looked at her watch. “No, you won’t. As long as you’re out, I’m on duty. I’m going with you.”

Renny started to argue, then thought better of it. She would remind him it was her job, and he didn’t really feel like spoiling the camaraderie they’d just forged. “Let’s go. It’s getting dark and I don’t like the idea of her stranded on some side road by herself.”

They trudged out of the restaurant and toward his car.

“Why is she by herself? Gary is supposed to be guarding her,” Bree said as she climbed into his car.

“I’m not sure. She just said she was stranded and told me where to meet her.”

They drove through the city until they hit the rural roads. Streetlights were a good distance apart and like Renny said, it was getting dark. “Why would she be out here? Does she know people out this way?” They were miles away from the city and even farther away from the Bennett estate where Adriana lived. Adriana was a grown woman, so she could go about as she pleased, but Bree sensed something wasn’t right.

She kept looking out the windows memorizing her surroundings even as she mentally went down her checklist. Her gun was holstered at her ankle, a knife was in her pack along with her cell phone and mace. Gary should have called if they needed a ride. Why hadn’t he called? She was about to reach into her pack for her phone when Renny’s voice stopped her.

“There she is.” He swerved off the road, pulling up behind the stalled vehicle.

Before Bree could stop him he’d jumped out of the car and was heading toward the driver’s side. Bree reached down, retrieved her gun and stepped out of the car, as well. She watched as Renny bent over, looked into the driver’s side window, then walked around to the passenger door.

Her gun down by her side, Bree came up on the back of the car, passed the driver’s side while peeking in herself, then began to make her way around the front of the car. She heard it before she saw it, a speeding vehicle. When she turned, there were no headlights, but she could see the phantom outline. Renny was just standing there, looking into the passenger-side window.

“There’s nobody in there. Where is she?” He stood, his body halfway in the street as the car got closer. He turned the moment he heard the engine behind him and was about to jump onto the hood of the car when he felt something slam into him, knocking him to the ground. The car whizzed by as he lay there. He rolled over, trapping the person who had tackled him. He heard something fall, looked to his right and saw a gun slide over the asphalt. Then he looked down into her face.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he yelled when they were safely inside his car pulling back onto the road ahead. “Why would you jump out there when you saw that car coming? Are you crazy?” His heart was pumping, his mind reeling with possible scenarios.

“I was doing my job, thank you very much.” Bree leaned over to strap her gun back to her leg.

“And what the hell is that? Why didn’t you tell me you were strapped?” He was driving like a maniac, in a hurry to get to his parents’ house to see if Adriana was okay.

“I’m a bodyguard. It makes sense that I’d be armed. And for your information that’s what I was doing when I tackled you to the ground. The car was coming right at you. I saved your life, Bennett!” She wasn’t accustomed to being yelled at by people whose lives she saved. She reached into her pack and dug out her phone.

“Why? I didn’t ask you to. I would never ask you to put yourself in danger for me! I can’t believe you did that! And who the hell are you calling?”

“I get paid to do what I do and I’m calling Sam to see what the hell is going on. Why would Adriana call you? She’s supposed to be with Gary.”

Renny didn’t get a chance to ask another question before she was talking on the phone.

She spoke quickly into the phone. “Sam? It’s me. Have you heard from Gary? Where’s Adriana?”

“Adriana is here having dinner with her parents and Alex. Where are you?”

“Renny got a call from Adriana saying that she was stranded. But when we got out to her car there was no one there, and then someone tried to run him down.”

“We’ve been here for the past two hours. Gary’s here with her. It must have been a ploy.”

Bree looked to Renny, who by his grim expression had heard the conversation. “Okay, we’re on our way.”

“No. Get Renny home. I’m going to lock things down here and I want you to do the same with Renny at his place. Make sure everything’s working, and call me when you get there.”

“Fine.” Bree disconnected the line. “Adriana’s okay.”

“Let me guess. This so-called stalker has just stepped up his game.”

Bree only nodded because the fierce look in Renny’s eyes held her quiet.



He hadn’t spoken another word to her during the ride back to his place, and he’d only grunted when she told him that’d been where they’d been instructed to go. Upon getting out of the car she retrieved her gun again and walked close beside him, telling him they’d take the stairs. He’d looked down at her, then at the gun in her hand, and clenched his jaw, but still he didn’t speak.

Renny pulled out his keys and let them into the condo, pausing to punch the new security code into the pad on the side wall. He dropped his keys to the table and went straight to the bar in his dining room and poured himself a drink.

Bree moved to the canvas on the large wall in his living room and checked to make sure the surveillance camera she’d installed behind it was working. Beside Renny’s very advanced audio entertainment center, she’d installed a tiny box that kept track of outside intruders. She checked to make sure it was running and operational. He didn’t make a sound behind her and she was getting a little antsy. His silence, not the events that had taken place or the impending danger this could signal, bothered her.

When she turned he was downing the glass of brownish liquid, his eyes resting fiercely on her. She looked away, reached into her pouch for her phone to call Sam.

“Sam, we’re here and everything is secure. So what happened?”

“It was definitely a setup. Somehow they got Renny’s cell phone number and called with a voice-over sounding like Adriana. She was never in danger and she was never stranded. Yesterday her car was acting up so she took it to the shop. About a half hour ago the body shop called to say the car had been stolen.”

“But I don’t understand, Sam. Why Renny?” Renny didn’t have any connections with the business besides the family name and neither did Adriana.

“All I can figure right now is that he’s targeting the most unlikely subjects. It would be too obvious to attack Mr. Bennett directly, and the loss of one of his kids would be far more devastating. We’re gonna have to step up our security. We can’t risk another setup.”

“I agree. What do you want me to do?” Bree paced the floor as she talked; moving kept her calm. Without really thinking about it she went to his balcony and pulled the horizontal blinds closed, then moved to the other windows and made sure they were secured, as well. Renny was in the same room with her occupying space and brooding like a volcano waiting to erupt. She wondered what he was thinking, what he was feeling. This had to be a shock to him. After all, he hadn’t placed much credence in this whole stalker business in the first place. A direct attempt on your life was difficult for any civilian to take.

“I want you to stay with him 24/7,” Sam said with finality.

“What?” Her movement stopped.

“I know what I’m asking is difficult, Bree, but we don’t have a choice. I’ll try to find someone to take over for you as soon as I can, but for now it has to be you.”

He was right, she knew it and it was her job—everything else she was feeling was secondary. “I understand, Sam. And don’t worry about finding someone else. I’ll be okay.” She said the words, but her heart hammered in her chest as she acknowledged his closeness. She smelled him, felt his strength and anger just behind her. She didn’t get the chance to turn before the phone was ripped from her hand.

“What the hell is your problem, Desdune? How could you give your sister a job like this? Do you know what she did out there tonight? Do you know how much danger she put herself in because of this little job you gave her?”

Renny was yelling at Sam and Bree turned to look at him, stunned at his words. Why was he still fussing over what she’d done? It was her job.

She didn’t know what Sam’s response was, but by the way Renny continued to yell into the phone it wasn’t a good one. “This is ridiculous, and risking her life for mine isn’t worth it!” Renny roared, then clicked the phone off and tossed it across the room.

He was on her before she had a moment to blink, his hands grasping her shoulders as he shook her slightly. “You will never, ever do that again! Do you hear me? You will not put yourself in danger on my account!”

His face was scant inches away from hers, she could feel his breath whispering across her face. She opened her mouth to speak, to argue with his stupidity, and then his lips stole her words.

Fierce, hot, hard, her senses reeled as she struggled to keep up with the torrent of sensation. Persistently he nudged her lips apart, the hot tip of his tongue sweeping inside like a summer storm, quick and potent. He dominated and controlled, sampled and delivered. His teeth raked over her bottom lip, soliciting a gentle moan from her.

His hands released her shoulders only to gather her up completely in his embrace, fingers splaying over her butt, gripping her cheeks intensely. Bree didn’t even attempt to fight the feverish motions, but instead twined her arms around his neck, coming up on tiptoe to increase the connection. Tilting her head, she opened her mouth wider to take him in completely. He was the one to moan this time as he pushed her until her back was up against the wall.

When he had her steady he grabbed beneath her hips and lifted her, guiding her legs around his waist. His lips trailed a line of heat over her chin, down her neck and into the soft opening of her shirt. Bree held on for dear life as her mind reeled and spun out of control. She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, couldn’t focus on anything but the incessant throbbing between her legs.

Renny returned to her mouth, moaning as she opened for him once again. Her butt was soft and pliant in his big hands, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist increasing his hardness until he was sure he’d burst. He widened his stance, pushed against her middle, rubbing his arousal against her juncture.

That feeling shocked her to her senses and she gripped his shoulders and whimpered. “Renny, stop.” When his tongue continued to flick over her lips and dip into her mouth she moaned, then flattened her palms on his hard chest and pushed against him. “Stop!”

The one word was like a splash of cold water stunning him back into reality. He lifted his face from hers, looked down at her now-swollen lips, her passion-filled eyes, and realized what he’d done. He’d crossed the line. The invisible line he’d drawn between them the moment he realized he was attracted to her and that she was also working for him. The one he’d sworn he wouldn’t cross no matter how much it cost him.

He eased away from her even while keeping his hands on her waist until she lowered her legs to the floor. When he knew she could stand on her own he backed away, putting several feet between them. “Sabrina—”

She shook her head quickly. “Our emotions were running high. This entire situation has changed in a matter of hours and we have to deal with that. That’s all we have to deal with. Is that clear?” Her chest was heaving, her lips still tingling from his touch. She straightened her shirt and made a move to get away from him.




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