The music changed, the beat slowing. Evie took a step backward instinctively, but Matt caught her hand and held it tight. She tugged once, then stopped. They faced each other across a few feet of space. Around them, couples began to slide together, fitting into each other.
Evie’s pulse beat harder. Her skin sizzled where they touched, his big hand engulfing hers, his palm calloused in a way that shocked her. He was a Girard—rich, entitled—and he had a workman’s hands.
“One dance.”
Her insides melted a little more. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
But what she really wanted to do was say yes.
His eyes were bright. “Why not? We’re adults now, Evie. No one’s getting hurt here.”
He said it like it was so easy, but was it really? Wasn’t she still vulnerable on some level? She was down on her luck right now, feeling like a loser, and here he was, the same gorgeous, cocky, beautiful creature he’d always been.
Except, no, he was more than that, wasn’t he? There was something behind his smile now. Something dark and sad. Pain flared in his gray eyes and then was gone so quickly she wondered if she’d imagined it.
It shocked her. She suddenly wanted to know what had happened to him. She’d heard about him being held captive by terrorists. How could he not be affected by something like that? Of all the things she’d expected Matt Girard to do with his life, putting himself into danger had not even occurred to her. He had everything. Why would he want to risk his life that way?
She remembered when his mother had died. He’d been twelve. Mama had taken her to the wake out at Reynier’s Retreat. There were so many people crowding the beautiful rooms of the mansion. The house was heavy with sadness and thick with grief, and it had scared her. She’d escaped to run down the wide lawn. She’d known where to find Matt. He’d been curled inside the hollow of a tree they’d found a few years before.
He’d been dressed in a black suit, his dark hair slicked back carefully, his gray eyes wide and wounded as he looked up at her. Her heart had lifted into her throat then. She’d only been eleven, but she’d felt something in that moment that rocked her world—and would continue to rock her world until she was sixteen and shattered by his casual cruelty.
But not that day. That day, she’d slid into the hollow and sat down beside him. When she’d put her arms around him, he’d turned his face into the crook of her neck and wept.
Evie sucked in a breath. How could she walk away from him now, knowing there was something behind those eyes? He was hurting again, and she didn’t know why.
“One dance, Evangeline,” he said softly when she hesitated. “Make a soldier’s night. I just got back from the desert a few days ago. I’d like to dance with a pretty woman and forget about that hellhole for a while.”
Evie swallowed. “That’s not fair.”
He grinned. “Because you can’t say no now?”
She nodded.
“Good for me then.”
“Just one dance and we go our separate ways, got it?” Because she didn’t want to feel this tangle of emotions again. This tiny blossoming in her heart that said she was going to be in so much trouble if she didn’t shut it down quickly.
“If that’s what you want.” His voice was rough.
He took her other hand then, ran his palms up her arms to her shoulders. Little sparks of sensation swirled in her belly, lighting her up like the Fourth of July. He pulled her into his arms right there on the edge of the dance floor.
Evie braced her hands against his chest, pressed back when he tried to bring her closer. It was already overwhelming to be so close to him. To feel his heat and hardness next to her body.
To feel everything she’d once wanted so much.
“I don’t bite,” he murmured. “Unless you want me to.”
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COMPLETE LYNN RAYE HARRIS AMAZON BOOKLIST
The Hostile Operations Team:
Hot Pursuit
Hot Mess
Hot Package
Dangerously Hot
Hot Shot
Hot Rebel
Hot Ice
Hot & Bothered (Coming Soon!)
Heirs to the Throne of Kyr:
Gambling with the Crown
Carrying the Sheikh’s Heir
A Royalty Duo:
Cavelli’s Lost Heir
The Prince’s Royal Concubine
The Al Dhakir Brothers:
Strangers in the Desert
Marriage Behind the Façade
The D’Angeli Family:
Unnoticed and Untouched
Revelations of the Night Before
Stand Alone Novels:
Heiress’s Defiance The Devil’s Heart The Change in Di Navarra’s Plan A Façade to Shatter A Game With One Winner The Girl Nobody Wanted Captive But Forbidden The Man With the Money Behind the Palace Walls Kept for the Sheikh’s Pleasure Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Lynn Raye Harris lives in Alabama with her handsome former-military husband and two crazy cats. Lynn has written nearly twenty novels for Harlequin and been nominated for several awards, including the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart award and the National Readers Choice award. Lynn loves hearing from her readers.
Connect with me online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLynnRayeHarris
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LynnRayeHarris
Website: http://www.LynnRayeHarris.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & NOTES
Mike, Gretchen, Anne, Linda, Crystalle, and Frauke—thanks for everything! Y’all are the best!
As always, thanks to my fabulous readers! You keep asking for HOT, and I’m happy to keep writing them. So many stories to tell! So many HOT guys to love.
A note about this story. When I first thought of Grace, I didn’t know she was a researcher. But then I came across an article about a university professor who has done something pretty much exactly like Grace ended up doing. As part of his research, he’s made flu viruses more virulent rather than less. It’s rather frightening reading, though it’s all done in the name of science and meant to help find vaccines against different strains of flu.
Of course this got my mind turning, and it became obvious to me that Grace needed to be doing something similar, and that people wanted to kidnap her for it. So, while this story is based on science, the part about terrorists and foreign governments desiring my heroine’s information is all my imagination. I’m not a scientist, but I tried very hard to get the facts of what Grace does right. Any mistakes are my own fault, and not the fault of the articles I read or the people I consulted.
I hope you were entertained!
Until next time,
Lynn
COPYRIGHT
Hot Ice
Copyright © 2015 by Lynn Raye Harris
Cover Design Copyright © 2015 Croco Designs
ISBN: 978-1-941002-03-2
All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Hot Ice (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 7) Page 26
