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Chapter One
Jessica Randall scraid rain slashed through the dark night, drenching her face and clothing Gasping for breath, she knelt in the lanced over her shoulder and shuddered Alligators loved to hang out in Florida ditches A few ht with a shudder
Hands shaking, she scrubbed the water off her face and pushed to her feet
As her fear dih the darkness and could barely see her car Poor little Taurus, nose doater roiling around the hood
"I’ll be back for you Don’t worry," she pro her baby
Once on the narrow country road, she pushed her tangled hair out of her face and looked each way Darkness and darkness Daht in someone’s front yard? But no, the nearest house was probably the one she’d passed about a lare at the pool of water where her car had aquaplaned right off the road The arone At least she hadn’t hit it
Head lowered, she trudged down the blacktop toward the house, getting wetter and wetter Hopefully she wouldn’t trip on so would be the final straw in a day that had been a disaster fro at a halfway point for their first date when the man lived miles and miles outside of Tampa
He sure hadn’t been worth the trip She’d have found ain, he hadn’t appeared all that inized the look in his eyes, the one that said he really wanted tall and slielina Jolie type woman, no matter that her posted picture portrayed her quite accurately: a pint-size Marilyn Monroe
So far, she’d have to say finding a guy through the Internet rated right up there with back-country shortcuts, her second s happened in threes So would braking for an armadillo be considered her thirdin her near future?
She shivered as the wind howled through the palainst her chilled body Couldn’t stop now Doggedly, she set one foot in front of the other, her waterlogged shoes squishing with every step
An eternity later, she spotted a glih her when she reached a driveway studded with hanging lights Surely whoever lived here would let her wait out the storates, up the palm-lined drive past landscaped lawns, until finally she reached a three-story stone ht iron lanterns illumined the entry
"Nice place," she lanced down at herself to check the dae Mud and rain streaked her tailored slacks and white button-down shirt, hardly a suitable ie for a conservative accountant She lookedin
Shivering hard, she brushed at the dirt and grie oak doors guarding the entrance A slowed on the side panel, and she pushed it
Seconds later, the doors opened A ly as a battle-scarred Rottweiler, looked down at her "I’m sorry, miss, you’re too late The doors are locked"
What the heck did thatwith the cold "My car’s in a ditch, and I’m soaked, and I need a place to dry out and call for help" But did she really want to go inside with this scary-looking guy? Then she shivered so hard her teeth clattered together, and her mind was -boned face brutish in the yellow entry light "I’ll have to ask Master Z Wait here" And the bastard shut the door, leaving her in the cold and dark
Jessica wrapped her ar ain the brute "Okay, coht tears to her eyes "Thank you, oh, thank you" Stepping around hie his mind, she barreled into a small entry room and slaripped her shoulders She shook her wet hair out of her eyes and looked up And up The guy was big, a good six feet, his shoulders wide enough to block the roorasp on her ar in the blue room; send one of the subs"
"Okay, boss" The brute -- Ben -- disappeared
"What is your naht outside
"Jessica" She stepped back froet a better look at her savior S his collar Dark gray eyes with laugh lines at the corners A lean, hard face with the shadow of a beard adding a hint of roughness He wore tailored black slacks and a black silk shirt that outlined hard uy was a jaguar, sleek and deadly
"I’m sorry to have bothered --" she started