Seduced by Love, Claimed by Passion~Summer Box Set

by Helen Conrad

  Yeah, that was it. This had to be a dream. A wakeup call, so to speak. A little lesson for him. Maybe all that security he’d been traveling with since he’d become enormously successful was not just a nuisance. Maybe he really did need a bodyguard. Maybe the way he’d been living in New York wasn’t so crazy after all.

  But then the barrel of the .357 magnum nudged him just above his ear. He sighed. Okay, so this was real and just might be serious. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and squinted in the direction the voice had come from.

  It took a moment for him to be able to focus on her face. For the longest time, the dark, menacing gun was all he could see. But finally he dragged his gaze away from imminent death and looked at her—really looked at her.

  What the hell!

  She was just a girl—and a darn pretty one at that. He began to relax. This couldn’t be all that bad. The day he would let a slip of a girl scare him into ….

  “Hey,” she said sharply, and the gun froze, pointed right at his forehead. “You don’t move until I tell you to. You got that?”

  Something in her voice told him it might be a very bad idea to take her lightly. He looked at her again. On second thought, she wasn’t a girl. She was a woman. The “deadlier than the male” sort of woman.

  But awfully good to look at. Her long honey-blond hair flew about her face and shoulders in undisciplined wisps that gave her a born-in-the-wild, windblown look. She wore a yellow v-necked, cropped t-shirt that set off some high, gorgeously ripe breasts and left her beautiful midriff naked to the world—eye candy if he’d ever seen it. But there was more. Those little tight white shorts showed off every bit of leg she had and then some—legs that looked strong and hard as a world class runner’s. Her arms looked strong too, and the hands that held the gun were sure and steady.

  Her face didn’t seem to go with the rest of the package. Her huge dark eyes were framed by the wild hair as well as long, curled lashes and her little, turned up nose was covered with a light dusting of freckles. Baby-faced. That’s what he would have called her, if it hadn’t been for the fact that the rest of her body looked like America’s athlete of the year.

  “Are you paying attention?” she demanded impatiently.

  He looked up into her eyes and frowned. They were beautiful, but they weren’t exactly what he would call friendly. Hostile might be a better word.

  “I always pay attention to people who point guns at me,” he informed her. “It does tend to sharpen the senses.”

  She nodded. “Good. Do what I say. Sit up slowly. Keep your hands in front of you.” She gave him a quick demonstration for good measure. “Like that.”

  She watched coolly as he maneuvered himself into a sitting position. She sat on a straight-backed chair she’d pulled up to the side of the bed and turned backwards. Her legs were spread wide and that was right where his gaze went, giving him a jolt and stirring juices that usually weren’t awake quite so early in the morning.

  But what the hell? Who could blame him? He was a man, and she was the most inviting example of a desirable woman he thought he’d ever seen. Even if she was about to kill him.

  And that brought him back to the point. What was he going to do about this? He frowned, surveying the situation. She was female, but she wasn’t going to be easy. She knew just how to relax in a way that meant she was ready to leap at the slightest provocation. The way she sat with her arms braced on the back of the chair as she held the gun made her look solid as a rock.

  The gun. He was going to have to get serious about this gun business. He didn’t like having one pointed at him. He didn’t see any reason why she should use it on him, but you never did know. After all, maybe she was a nut case. Who knew? She could take a dislike to his face and squeeze a shot off and….

  His heart was thumping in his chest as he made the adjustments, rising to sit cross-legged, leaning against the wall with the sheet pulled around his naked hips.

  Was he scared?

  Damn right, he was scared! Who wouldn’t be with a crazy woman holding a gun to his head?

  “Why don’t you put down the gun?” he suggested quietly, surprised to hear how steady his voice sounded. “I would hate to see anyone get hurt.”

  “I know how to handle a gun,” she told him, and from her confident tone, he didn’t doubt her for a moment. “And don’t think I don’t know what’s going through your mind right now.”

  She raised an eyebrow and went into a phony voice.

  “I’m just a little woman. You’re a big old man. You ought to be able to take charge of this situation in no time.” She waited for his reaction, and when it didn’t come, she prodded for it. “Right? Isn’t that what you’re thinking?”

  Bingo, but there was no way he was going to let her know how close she’d come.

  “I haven’t woken up enough to think anything just yet,” he told her evasively instead.

  Her shrugged. “You know, maybe I ought to warn you. My daddy is sheriff of Jathra County. Two of my brothers are Jathra County Rangers. Another one is Airborne. I grew up with four brothers and nobody cut me any slack. I’m just as tough as any one of ‘em.”

  He took in the whole of her and had to agree. She certainly seemed to fit the fantasy--almost like a video game girl. Too tough to be true.

  “And lookin’ at you…” She poked the barrel at his belly button in a sudden move that made him jump and set his heart pounding again. “I’d say it’s been some time since you’ve been in shape.” She sat back and grinned at him, handling the weapon like someone who knew what she was doing. “So I recommend you think twice before trying to outdo me.”

  “I’ve been working in an office for the last three years,” he said defensively, glancing down at his exposed mid-section. It didn’t look all that bad. Did it? He sucked it in and looked back at her.

  “Don’t they give you lunch breaks at that office?” she asked, still frowning at his stomach muscles.

  He blinked at her, folding his arms across his stomach at the same time. “Sure. So what?”

  “Try getting some exercise instead of chowing down at those fancy little bistros,” she suggested helpfully. “A half hour at lunch, another after work, and you should get back into fighting shape in no time.”

  “Fighting shape?” He almost laughed aloud. This was without a doubt the most ridiculous conversation he’d ever had. A strange woman had woken him up with a gun to give him fitness tips. For all he knew, she planned to shoot in the general direction of his feet, cowboy movie style, to ‘make him dance’. Not a pretty prospect.

  He frowned at her, feeling rebellious.

  “I don’t need to be in fighting shape. I don’t really get into fights all that often.”

  “Yeah?” She looked downright disgusted. “I suppose not. You lily-livered city slicker types….”

  The insults were getting his goat. He didn’t like to be woken up to begin with. He was not a morning person. He wasn’t really sure if it even was morning yet. He’d only been in Las Vegas for a few days and he hadn’t adjusted to the play-all-night atmosphere of the place.

  But that was okay. He’d come to Nevada to be challenged. He’d just walked away from his old life as a corporate lawyer with a seat on a lot of lucrative financial boards and prime membership in the country club and an elegant Fifth Avenue fiancé—money and power. And he’d taken a pass because he couldn’t stand the monotony of it any longer.

  Couldn’t stand the life of a New York billionaire. That almost seemed it would have to be a joke, but it was real alright.

  Just a week before, he’d told Julia it wasn’t going to work out, that he had to go see what else there might be to life. He’d told her, in fact, that he’d made arrangements to crew on a sailing ship in the Caribbean—the fulfillment of a lifelong dream--and that he was leaving right away.

  She’d laughed at him—but then, when he thought about it, she’d been doing that a lot lately. Just another sign that it was time for a change. Eve
ryone had told him he was crazy, that he was throwing away a great future. But he’d finally admitted to himself that he had been feeling dissatisfied for a long time. He needed a change, a new setting, new experiences. Getting held up in his cousin’s apartment in the middle of the night, though—that was going a little far.

  “How did you get in here, anyway?” he asked her, glancing toward the door of the apartment. He thought he’d locked it before he’d gone to bed.

  “I came in through the window,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact, like it was something she did every day.

  “The window? We’re three stories up. What did you do, put on suction shoes?”

  “I climbed. There are plenty of things to catch hold of.” She shrugged. “Climbing an apartment building is a heck of a lot easier than climbing the face of a rock wall any day. And I do that for fun.”

  My God. He was face to face with an Amazon. But that was neither here nor there.

  “Would you mind telling me what this is all about?” he asked his lady captor testily.

  “It’s about you,” she replied sunnily. “As I said when you were waking up, you’re late.”

  Okay, she wanted to play games. Well, for the moment, she did hold all the cards. He would have to play along until he saw an opening to turn the tables.

  “Late for what?” he asked shortly.

  She smiled, Cheshire cat style. “You’re late for your wedding. And I’m here to get you to the church on time.”

  He stared at her incredulously.

  “Do I know you?” he asked, though he knew the answer. He’d never seen her before in his life. There was no way he could ever have forgotten someone like this.

  “You don’t know me. Not yet.” She gazed at him wisely. “But I know all about you.”

  He began to shake his head. “You know, I seriously doubt that.”

  “I know enough. Your name is Jason K. Black, you’re a dealer at the Knights of the Roundtable Casino, and you’re getting married this weekend. How’s that?”

  “Oh, Jason!” He felt a wave of relief. It was good to get this cleared up so quickly. He should have known it had something to do with his cousin. “So that’s the problem.” He started to laugh. “No, see, you’ve got the wrong….”

  “Oh, please.” The look she threw him had a pitying quality. “You’re not going to try the old ‘you’ve got the wrong man’ routine, are you? I was looking at a picture of you just last night.” She waved the gun in a way that drew his attention immediately and made him very nervous. “In fact, I’ve been staring at pictures of you for months. I think I know you when I see you.”

  “No.” He was shaking his head, still confident this could be cleared up in no time. “You want my cousin, Jason Black. I’m Michael Black. We look a lot alike but…”

  A cloud came over her sunny face and her brows drew together. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” she told him icily. “I’ve never known a man more immoral. How do you sleep at night?”

  He gazed at her, bewildered. “What?”

  “I’m not letting you get away with this, Mr. Jason Black.” She waved the gun at him again, obviously expecting some quick action on his part. “You are getting married today. So get used to it.”

  “I’m not Jason.”

  He glanced toward Jason’s bed. It was empty. He wasn’t sure if his cousin was still dealing this late or if he’d just gone out for a night on the town. The two of them had never been close and this visit had confirmed why. They weren’t even on the same wavelength. Michael had already decided to move on. Any place would be better than staying with a sleaze like Jason.

  He scanned the room quickly. There had to be something around here, some proof.

  “Okay, there’s my wallet on the dresser. Look inside. You’ll see who I really am.”

  She rose slowly from the chair and the barrel of the gun never wavered. Still watching him, she reached out and took up the wallet, then flipped it open and glanced at the driver’s license.

  “Jason K. Black,” she read, then looked back at him mockingly. “What did you think it would say? Was magic supposed to happen?”

  He frowned. “That’s not right. Let me see it.”

  She held it up but didn’t put it close enough for him to reach. “The picture looks like you to me. I don’t know what you were expecting.”

  He stared at the wallet, not believing what he saw at first. She was right. It was Jason ’s wallet. Only he wasn’t Jason .

  “What the hell?” What had Jason done this time? He’d left for work at the casino around ten, and Michael had already been falling asleep on the bed. He hadn’t noticed what had happened with the wallets. Knowing his cousin, he was pretty sure he hadn’t taken the wrong one by mistake. So what was he up to and why?

  But he already knew, didn’t he? Jason had made it clear that very evening when he’d begun to whine about how he was pretty sure Michael was rich as a gang lord—so why wasn’t he letting Jason in on some of the loot? Obviously, he’d been happy to see his cousin at first, thinking good things were coming his way.

  Well hell, Michael thought, frowning. He’d paid for the pizza, hadn’t he? But Jason wasn’t impressed.

  And neither was Miss Congeniality here.

  She slapped the wallet back down on top of the dresser and gestured impatiently. “Stop wasting time. We’ve got a chapel in the pines, just waiting for you. Let’s get going.”

  “Wait…”

  She jerked her head toward the closet. “Get up. Get dressed. We’re heading out.”

  His mind was careening from one thing to another. This couldn’t be happening. Here he was with a woman pointing a gun at him and babbling about chapels in the pines. This didn’t happen to normal people. Someone sane should come in and put a stop to it any minute.

  But as his mind cleared and focused, he began to realize that wasn’t likely to happen. Jason was probably out for the night. No one else was scheduled to arrive. She had the upper hand, at least until he did something to change that. And now she wanted him to…..

  Wait a minute. That was completely impossible. “Uh. I can’t really get up like this,” he said, pulling the sheet providing his protection more tightly around himself. “I don’t have anything on.”

  “So?”

  He blinked at her. “I mean, I have to go to the bathroom and….”

  She shrugged. “Go ahead. But keep the door open. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  He stared at her. He looked at the bathroom, and then he looked back at her. “You’re going to… I mean, you’ll still be…”

  She sighed and shook her head. Blond hair flew everywhere, catching sparks of color from the light hanging in the middle of the room. “Mister, I just told you I grew up with four great big brothers. Believe me, you don’t have anything that they don’t have.”

  He felt his ears turning red. He’d never been particularly modest before—but then again, he’d never been tested like this before. Still, more even than modesty, he felt embarrassed. In his mind, her brothers were taking on mythic proportions. And now she expected him to step up to be compared to them? No, that just wasn’t going to happen. He had to get that gun away from her.

  Sure, that was it. It couldn’t be that hard. They did it on TV all the time. If he got the gun, he could get her out of here and go back to sleep. If he didn’t, he would be parading around naked in front of her and he couldn’t feature doing that. He had to get the weapon. It was the only way.

  She was standing right in front of him, very close. He threw the ends of the sheet over his shoulder like a toga and started to rise, looking at her only out of the corner of his eye.

  She was so very close. It looked so very easy.

  He lunged for the gun.

  It was a bad move.

  Lunging for guns was something that required a little practice for perfect execution. He’d never done it before. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t remember when he’d ever had a
gun in his hand before. When you grew up in Beverly Hills, you had security firms that took care of things like that.

  At first it seemed as though it was going okay. He’d lunged for the gun and she’d pushed back and they ended up rolling on the bed together. He was bigger, stronger, and, after all, a man for God’s sake. He could take her. He could win. All he had to do was pin her and get control of that .357 magnum before somebody got shot.

  But she had artillery he hadn’t put into the equation. As they wrestled for the gun, her legs came around him—those long, beautiful, muscular legs-- then closed down like a vise, squeezing him like he’d never been squeezed before. He gasped, stunned, the breath knocked out of him. He’d never had anyone do that before and he was at a loss as to how he could fight it. If only he’d joined the wrestling team when he had the chance!

  His hands went to her thighs, hoping to pry her legs away, but the skin was so smooth and the flesh seemed to throb against his fingertips and what started out as a desperate grab became a clumsy caress. Before he knew what was happening, a surge of desire rose in him, hot and hard and urgent, taking his breath away.

  He really couldn’t breathe. He tried to break free, but it was impossible, and when he looked at her, things only got worse. In the tussle, her shirt had ripped and pulled away, and her bra was sheer and showing off a view of her beautiful, plump breasts that stunned him. The sight of those pink tips against that creamy ivory skin mesmerized him. He heard a strange, gurgling sound and realized it was coming from his own throat.

  But she was laughing.

  “Men,” she said scornfully as she released him with her legs while holding the gun to his head with both hands. “You are all so easy to manipulate. It’s pathetic.”

  She backed away across the bed, then swung her legs over the side and plunked down in the chair again. He watched while she slowly, methodically covered her breasts and pulled herself together. He felt like a man in a dream. This couldn’t be happening—it was too unreal. He’d never realized being threatened would turn him on like this. He was being kidnapped by a woman---and he wanted more than anything to make love to her. The pulse pounding in him hadn’t been this strong since he’d been seventeen. His whole body tingled. This was completely insane.