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“Laurel,” he shouted, and she looked up and saw him

For one wild, heart-stopping instant, he thought he saw her face light with joy but he knew it had only been his iination because a second later her eyes widened, her pallor became waxy and she mouthed his name as if it were an obscenity

His mouth thinned To hell with her, then

God, she was collapsing!

“Laurel,” Dah the crowd and snatched her up in his arms just before she fell

She athered her close to him

“It’s all right,” he whispered, “I’ve got you, Laurel It’s okay”

Her lashes fluttered She looked at hihtened around her and he pressed his lips to her hair while his heart thundered in his chest What if he hadn’t been here, to catch her? What if she’d fallen?

What if he’d never held her in his arain?

“Damian?” she whispered

There was a breathy little catch in her voice, and it tore at his heart She sounded as fragile as Venetian glass She felt that way, too She was tall for a woht of her as delicate yet now, in his arms, that was how she seemed

“Damian? What happened?”

“How in hell should I know!” The words sounded uncaring He hadn’t meant the inside hi out of my car You fainted”

“Fainted? Me?” He watched the tip of her tongue slick across her lips “Don’t be silly I’ve never passed out in my” Color flooded her face as she renosis “Oh God,” she whispered, and squeezed her eyes shut

Daain?”

She took a deep breath and forced herself to open her eyes Dary Well, why not? He’d never expected to see her again and now here he was, standing on a crowded street with her in his ar Sir Gala had to her damsel in distress and, dammit, he was the reason for that distress If she’d never laid eyes on hione to dinner with him, never let herself be seduced by him

It wasn’t true He hadn’t seduced her She’d gone to bed with hi that her world would never be the sa in his arms, she felt—she felt—

She stiffened, and put her palainst his chest

“I’ain, no I’m fine, as a matter of fact Please put me down”

“I don’t think so”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” People hurrying past were looking at the in the middle of a crowded sideith a woman in his arms was bound to attract attention “Damian, I said—”

“I heard what you said” The crowd gave way, not ave it no choice “Coht her breath as she realized he was carrying her back into the building she’d just left

“What are you doing?”

“ThereWe’ll pick the first one and—”

“No!” Panic surged through her with the speed of adrenaline “I don’t need a doctor!”

“Of course you do People don’t pass out cold for no reason”

“But there was a reason I—I’ve been dieting” It was the sao, but this ti but tomato juice and black coffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” she said, rattling off the latest lose-weight-quick scheh the fashion world “You can drop five pounds in two days”

Five pounds? Daine why she’d want to lose an ounce She felt perfect to him, warht

“You don’t need to lose five pounds”

“The caree”

His serously sexy “Maybe the camera hasn’t had as intimate a view of you as I have”

Laurel stiffened in his arentleman For the last time, Damian Put me down!”

His eyes narrowed at the coldness of her voice “My pleasure” He put her on her feet but he kept a hand clao”

“Go? Go where? Dammit, Damian”

She sputtered with indignation as he hustled her through the door, across the sidewalk and toward the li beside the rear door and holding it open, his face a politehis employer snatch women off the street

Laurel dug in her heels but it was useless Da, and determined, and even when she called him a word that made his eyebrows lift, he didn’t loosen his hold

“Thank you, Stevens,” he said smoothly “Get into the car please, Laurel”