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СКАЧАТЬ remove it, but Rose’s hand covered hers.

      “Lila, it would mean a lot to me. It brought Mitch and me together. I like to think it brings love to the lives of those it touches.”

      Rose got that misty look she often had when she spoke of her deceased husband, Mitch. Though her black hair had a few shades of gray, Rose was still attractive. Her figure was slim but slightly rounded, giving way to a more matronly style of dress. Unwilling to upset her neighbor, Lila decided to keep it for today and return the brooch tonight.

      “Thanks, Rose. It is lovely. I have to go,” Lila said with a glance at her watch.

      Rose nodded, and Lila hurried out into the cold. The sun was breaking over the horizon. It was nippy but not too cold for a walk to work. She lifted her face to the sun and pretended the high for today wasn’t only fifty degrees.

      She loved the parks and trees full of fall colors. Yellows, browns, oranges and reds filled every space. Halloween, her favorite holiday, was right around the corner, she thought, attributing the extra bounce in her step to excitement.

      Usually she had some company on her walks to work. Sometimes Jayne and Sylvie walked with her, but Jayne had recently gotten married and hadn’t been up so early in the mornings. And today she was too early for Sylvie.

      Lila liked the fact that she had good friends here. It was as if she’d found the surrogate family she’d always been searching for. She really loved her life in Youngsville.

      Not wanting to be late on Nick’s first day back, she hurried. In her purse was the banana bread she’d baked last night. In fact, she’d spent every night for the last week baking.

      Lila always felt in control in her kitchen. She was the executive there and she knew her way around. It was easy for her to fool herself into believing that Nick Camden hadn’t almost kissed her while she was kneading dough and making sheets of sweet rolls.

      A car slowed behind her. The low purr of an expensive machine told her it wasn’t one of the other Colette, Inc. secretaries offering her a ride. She kept her head down and walked. She wasn’t prepared to face Nick outside the office. In fact, he’d passed her a hundred times this summer and never once stopped to offer her a ride.

      Men want only one thing from women like us, Lila. Her mother’s warning echoed in her mind. Her ex-boyfriend, Paul, had proved her mother right. She didn’t glance toward the car despite the warmth emanating from the open window.

      “Want a lift, Lila?”

      “No, thanks, I’m enjoying the crisp morning.” If only she could stop shivering.

      “Liar,” he said, not unkindly.

      He was right, she was lying. But that didn’t mean she was going to admit it. A car honked, and Nick waved the driver by. Lila wasn’t getting in the car with him, because after last week she didn’t trust herself. She’d spent all of her time in Indiana adjusting to the new community and her home, learning to be proficient at her job and making some casual friends. But she hadn’t been prepared for Nick Camden’s sexy gaze when he had turned it her way.

      She’d dreamed of him kissing her and touching her, but when he’d leaned closer to her last week in the office, she’d frozen. Paralyzed with the fear that she would disappoint him, she’d backed away. But he had a gleam in his eyes that said retreat wasn’t possible.

      Damn him. She tried to give him a reassuring smile and walked on. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

      “Suit yourself, Florida girl, but it’s a cold morning and my car is warm and comfortable.”

      He was temptation. He hadn’t been when she’d first started at Colette. But lately she’d been looking for a man who’d be serious with her. A man who wanted kids and a nice house. A husband who understood the importance of family.

      Nick didn’t even register on her scope because he changed women every week. He wasn’t a playboy, but he never seemed content to stay with one woman. He was like a hungry wolf eating his fill and moving on. Lila wasn’t interested in being his next meal. If she thought there was even a remote possibility that Nick would stay with her, she’d give in to him.

      But there wasn’t.

      Almost two years ago she’d decided that Indiana was a place for fresh starts. She wasn’t going to get involved with any man unless she knew for certain it was right. Which meant no Nick Camden. No matter how heavy he made her blood run.

      “Lila, I’ve been out of the office for a week. I need you to brief me on what’s been going on.”

      Maybe she’d misinterpreted his intentions. She shrugged, and finally gave in. “Okay.”

      She prided herself on being a good secretary and before the episode last week she’d never have hesitated to get in his car. He didn’t scare her on a conscious level, but her mind warned her to be wary of him. There was something about this very sophisticated man that wasn’t very civilized.

      She slid into the plush leather seat and hurriedly fastened her seatbelt. She closed her eyes, letting the heat seep into her bones. A warm masculine scent surrounded her and she imagined Nick leaning over her. His breath brushing her lips.

      Wait a minute!

      Her eyes flew open and Nick’s face was a scant inch from hers. There was something electric in his eyes. Something that made her pulse race and her breasts tingle. Something masculine that called to every female instinct buried deep inside her. Made her want to indulge senses she kept firmly under lock and key, let them out and experiment with this very experienced man.

      “Nick, what are you doing?” God, she could barely speak. She wanted to lean forward and taste him. To see if the sin his wicked mouth promised was as delicious as her fantasy assured her it would be.

      “Fixing your seatbelt. It’s twisted.”

      She couldn’t breathe as his fingers brushed against her breast. Her nipple tightened and she wanted to thrust her chest out so that he’d have to do more than accidentally caress her hungry flesh, but instead she bit her lower lip.

      “There we go,” he said.

      He pulled his hand away slowly and she wished she could see his eyes behind those dark sunglasses he wore. Nick was a master at seeming in control, but his eyes always gave him away.

      Her pulse was still racing and she wanted to pull him back to her, wanted to feel his hard body pressed to her own softer one. Maybe Rose’s pin was working its magic, spinning a spell around Lila and her dream man.

      Lila shook her head. If Nick wanted her it was for business and not in the way a man wanted a woman. He was too savvy to mess up a winning partnership with old-fashioned lust.

      Nick put the car in gear. Sweat broke out on Lila’s body but it had nothing to do with the heat coming from the car. It had to do with the man sitting next to her. A man that she’d decided was off-limits. A man, she suddenly realized, who’d decided she was his next meal.

      Nick knew that he’d unnerved Lila, but he couldn’t just drive by and not stop for her. It bothered him that he’d probably passed by her this summer without noticing. But not that much.

      He’d never paid СКАЧАТЬ