Risky Business. Jane Sullivan

to come out. And once she did, he’d never let her hide herself away again.

      5

      RACHEL SPENT MOST of the three-hour drive to Silver Springs, Colorado, with her stomach in turmoil. She’d barely slept last night. Just the thought of Jack being anywhere near her, even if he was in the other room, made visions of hot sex flash through her mind. And that was the last thing she needed to be thinking about.

      Right now he was lounging comfortably in the passenger seat, as if they really were married and they really were going on a vacation, with a maddening attitude of total and complete nonchalance. But his attitude was the least of what was making her so uneasy right now. It was the physical aspect of the situation—sitting side by side with him in a closed-in space for hours—that was what was making her crazy.

      Jack stood at least six foot two, with a body that said he was no stranger to physical activity. She remembered that his construction company was a small one, which meant he probably pitched right in beside his employees. An image formed in her mind of him working in the San Antonio heat, his body glistening with sweat, his T-shirt adhering to every muscle of his shoulders and chest, his biceps bulging…

      Stop it.

      Not once in her life had she allowed herself to succumb to the cliché of swooning over a sweaty man wielding power tools, yet here she was doing it. That kind of attraction was for people like her sister, who hopped into bed with any man with a hot body and a smooth come-on. Actually her sister married any man with a hot body and a smooth come-on. After Laura’s third divorce, Rachel thought maybe her sister ought to consider that possibly she was looking for the wrong characteristics in a prospective husband, but would she listen? Not a chance.

      Still, being in such close quarters with Jack right now, Rachel couldn’t get that hunky-guy image out of her mind. Maybe that was because she knew that his work wasn’t the only thing he sweated over. She remembered a time when she’d sweated right along beside him. And beneath him. And above him. And—

      She took a deep, calming breath. She had to get a grip here. It was time to focus. To plan. To make sure she did everything in her power to keep this man under control. Thinking about what he looked like naked only complicated an already complicated issue.

      She’d coached Jack on the part he was getting ready to play, but true to his nature, all he did was make light of the whole thing, treating it as if it were a meaningless little game that her whole future wasn’t riding on. All it would take would be one slipup, and the whole world would know she’d lied about being married. And if that happened, she’d have no choice but to crawl into a hole somewhere and die of humiliation.

      “Let’s go over it again,” she told him. “We were married two years ago in Austin—”

      “We’ve been over it three times already. Once was plenty. Fortunately you don’t tell your co-workers much, so there wasn’t much for me to learn.”

      “Just remember not to get freaked out if somebody refers to you as ‘doctor.”’

      “Actually, Rachel, I don’t remember the last time I got freaked out about anything.”

      She believed that. Wholeheartedly. Nothing bothered this man. It certainly didn’t bother him to join her on this trip when she’d made it absolutely clear that she didn’t want him to come. He just smiled and said he was coming anyway, which was enough to make her wish for a handful of antacid.

      As they drove, a light, fluffy snow began to fall. She turned on her windshield wipers, slowing her speed on the winding road. Then, moments later, they rounded a curve, and The Summit came into view.

      Since her company had designed it, she’d been up here several times already, but as usual it took her a moment to orient herself to its sudden presence on the mountain landscape. The Summit was a four-hundred-room hotel that connected to a shopping mall, several restaurants and nightclubs, all within walking distance of the ski slopes. It sprawled along a steep hillside, then spilled out into the edge of the valley

      “Well,” Rachel said, “there it is. Impressive, isn’t it?”

      Jack sat up straight, the strangest look coming over his face. “Uh…yeah. I’m having some strong impressions, all right.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “I thought the mountains were supposed to be bigger than the resort. You know. Way bigger.”