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CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS Tyler Kincaid’s birthday, and he had the feeling his present aiting in his bed

Atlanta sweltered under the oppressive heat of the July evening, but he didn’t mind He’d lived in the South all his life and he liked the war a woman in his bed, either, especially a beautiful blonde like Adrianna Under normal circumstances, a man would have to be crazy to object to that

Tyler frowned as he slowed his Porsche outside the wrought-iron gates that guarded his hilltop estate

But these weren’t normal circumstances

If he was right and Adrianna aiting for hine, caviar and flowers, she’d entered his home uninvited There’d been tiht, but he’d never given her or any woman access to his life—or to the security codes that unlocked the gates and the massive front door to his home

And he damned well hadn’t made any plans to celebrate his birthday

July 18 was just another day in the year, as far as he was concerned He never sospecial about the date it was because he’d realized, just this , that it was time to tell Adrianna their relationship was over

The gates swung shut behind hinolia trees led toward the big white house he’d bought on the sao By day’s end, Tyler had gone fro acitizen,” the Atlanta Journal had called hiht next to the clipping dated ten years before that, when the same newspaper had said he was “an example of Atlanta’s lost youth”

There was a nice irony there but that wasn’t why he’d kept both articles He’d kept thee with a couple of orbits of the planet around the sun

“You’re a true cynic, Tyler,” his attorney had once said with a sigh ofwith acknowledging that nothing in this world was ever quite what it seemed

Especially a relationship with a woman

He sighed, shut off the engine and looked at the house It see at some of the s, but he knew those came on automatically, at dusk They were part of his security syste to the outfit that had installed it

“Impenetrable, my butt,” Tyler muttered

To thieves, maybe, but not to the machinations of a determined, blue-eyed blonde

There was no sign of her, no little green Mercedes convertible parked in the driveway He’d expected that Adrianna was bright as well as beautiful His woh, on brains as well as looks She’d have found a place to tuck the car ahere he wouldn’t see it

How else could she hope to surprise him?

Tyler’s jaw tightened He sat back in the leather bucket seat and spread his hands along the steering wheel

The thing of it was, he didn’t like surprises, certainly not ones that involved his birthday, and definitely not when the surprise suggested a wo ideas about changing the status quo

He’d e, he’d told her Their goals change, their needs change Adrianna had smiled, interrupted, and said she understood

“Darling, I promise you,” she’d murmured, “I’m not the least bit interested in fairy tales that end with forever-after”

She wasn’t That was one of the things he admired about her She lived an independent life, a Southern belle in looks and background but aher way in the world

He’dhe wanted none of herthings in hers There’d be no hed when he’d said that, in that husky voice that had, in those first weeks, made his blood hum

“Darling, you’re just the sort of ue, lover, that’s what you are Why would a woh to want to tame you?”

Fidelity, for as long as the affair lasted, was all they’d committed to That was all Tyler was still co the way, Adrianna had changed her mind

Tyler opened the door of the Porsche and stepped out Cicadas sang in the trees; the heavy scent of jasmine enveloped him He looked up at the house, at his bedrooh the silky curtains

He iined her, war the body-skiiven her He had to admit, the sexual fantasy was a turn-on

A tentative sed at the corner of his s a bit far butSo what if she’d watched him enter the security codes and otten in And she’d probably gone through his wallet when he was asleep, checked his driver’s license to learn his birthday

Was that so terrible?

It wasn’t Not really He could deal with it, he told hi with things hat he did

Tyler could feel the tension easing inside hi to admit he’d overreacted Okay He’d open the door, step inside the marble foyer Undo his tie, take off his jacket, duo up to his bedroo for hine in her hand and a silver bowl heaped with Beluga caviar beside the bed

“Surprise, darling,” she’d purr, and he’d smile and pretend it really was a surprise, that he hadn’t expected her to be there, that his caterer hadn’t spilled the secret

Actually it had been the caterer’s new, eager-to-please assistant who’d phoned him

“Mr Kincaid,” she’d said, “this is Susan At Le Bon Appetit? I’ about that order you placed for delivery to your ho”

Tyler, who’d been payingacross the screen of his computer, had frowned

“What?”

>

“I’ve checked our records, sir, and I see that you always order Krug I just wanted to be certain you actually wanted Donon this time”

“No I mean, there’s been a mistake I did not—”

“Ah Well, sir, that’s what I thought That there’d been a ”

“No,” Tyler said, “the clerk did not—”

“That’s kind of you, Mr Kincaid, “suggesting it was Ms Kirby who made the error, but—”

Tyler had gone very still “Adrianna Kirby ordered chane to be delivered to my home?”

“And Beluga caviar, sir And roses And a cake Oh, I hope that cake isn’t for you, sir I’d hate to think I gave away a surprise”

Tyler had closed his eyes “No,” he’d said, “actually, you’ve been—you’ve been quite helpful”

And, just like that, it had all fallen into place, the little signals he’d nore the past couple of weeks

“Here’s a key tohis hand around the bit of et that look off your face, darling You don’t have to reciprocate It’s just in case I’, when you come by”

And there was the way she’d taken to dropping by his office without calling first She was in the neighborhood, she’d say, and wouldn’t lunch be lovely? The earrings she’d “forgotten” in his bathroohs of disappointment, whenever he rose from her bed and started to dress

“You really could stay the night, darling,” she’d purr, even though she knew he never would

“Hell,” Tyler muttered

“Idiot” was too kind a word to describe hi in his bedroom to celebrate an occasion that was co for hine and a handful of drea

Okay Okay, he’d do the right thing, act surprised, even pleased And then, in a few days, in a week, he’d gently put an end to things

He punched in the code The door swung open Lights blazed on, and a hundred voices shouted, “Surprise!”

Tyler blinked in astonishhing faces