An Honourable Seduction. Brenda Jackson

there had been more than enough money left to buy a little storefront. It had been a good investment because of its location. Some days were busier than others. This had been one of those busy days.

      Now she was ready to wind down for the evening. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and eased her feet into her favorite flats before heading to the kitchen for a glass of wine. As she did so, she couldn’t help but think about her first customer of the day.

      David Holloway.

      He was a cutie, she had to give him that. And the memory of those eyes had stayed with her most of the day.

      David Holloway had come into her shop to buy a birthday gift for his mother. How sweet. His mother was lucky. A lot of men didn’t even remember their mothers’ birthdays. She’d dated quite a few of those men and never developed lasting relationships with any of them. She figured if a man didn’t treat his mother right, then there was no hope for a girlfriend.

      As she opened the French doors to step out on the patio, she again remembered those blue eyes and how she’d felt whenever she’d looked into them. No man’s eyes had ever made her feel that way before.

      The effect was unsettling.

      Okay, so what was wrong with her? Cutie or no cutie, she normally didn’t get caught up over a man. She dated when it suited her, but she would admit that no one had suited her lately. At least not since her best friend, Candy, had left Key West to go live in Boston. Candy had refused to live on the island with her ex and his new wife—the one he’d married before the ink had even dried on the divorce papers.

      Refusing to dwell on how shabbily Donald Knoll had treated Candy, Swan looked out at the water. It was calm tonight. When she had evacuated due to the hurricane, she hadn’t known what to expect when she returned. Between her home and her shop, there had been some damage, but not as much as she’d feared.

      The thought of losing her home had been devastating. This was where her father had brought her mom after they’d married. This home held so many childhood memories—of her father leaving on his missions as a Navy SEAL, of how happy she and her mother would be whenever he returned.

      But then he hadn’t returned.

      Swan felt a knot in her throat as she recalled that day. She’d never seen that sparkle in her mother’s eyes again. Swan recalled her mother telling her once that when you met a man who could put that sparkle in your eyes, then you knew he was a keeper.

      Swan often wondered if she would ever find her keeper.

      She had plenty of time. Besides, she needed to rethink her opinion about men first. If what Don had done to Candy wasn’t enough to keep her single, all Swan had to do was remember William Connors, the businessman she had met while working at the hotel.

      At the time, he had convinced her he was a bachelor without a care in the world but claimed that he wanted to make her Mrs. William Connors one day.

      For some reason, Candy hadn’t trusted him. She had a friend who worked for a private investigator check him out. Swan had been devastated when the investigation revealed there was already a Mrs. William Connors, along with three Connors children.

      William had been playing her. He had been a lesson well learned. Her only regret was that she’d shared her body with him. She’d been young, naive and impressionable. He had been her first and he should not have been.

      She was not naive now and she went into relationships with caution and even a little mistrust. Her mother once told her that being mistrustful wasn’t a good thing. Swan knew she would have to learn how to trust again.

      She took another sip of wine. Unfortunately, she hadn’t gotten there yet.

      * * *

      “So how did things go, Flipper?”

      “Have you met her yet?”

      “Does she have a traitorous face or just a pretty one?”

      “Do you think you’ll be able to prove she’s innocent?”

      Flipper heard the questions coming at him nearly all at once. While unpacking, he had placed his mobile call on speaker to engage in a five-way conversation with his SEAL teammates.

      “I think things went rather well, Mac. And yes, I met Swan Jamison today, Viper. I went into her jewelry store to purchase Mom a birthday gift.”

      Flipper eased open the dresser drawers to place his T-shirts inside. “She doesn’t have a traitorous face or just a pretty one, Coop. The woman is simply gorgeous. Beautiful beyond belief. And yes, I hope to prove she’s innocent, Bane, because Commanding Officer Shields and Admiral Martin truly believe she is.”

      “What do you believe?” Viper asked.

      Flipper leaned against the dresser for a minute and thought about Viper’s question. “Too early to tell.”

      “Did you ask her out on a date?” Coop wanted to know. They could hear Coop’s two-year-old son, Laramie, chattering in the background.

      “No, not yet.” Flipper’s attraction to her had been instant. He’d felt it the moment he looked into her face. Discussing her now wasn’t helping matters. All it did was force him to recall what a beautiful woman she was—a woman he would have to spend time with in order to discover the truth.

      “Then how do you plan to see her again if you don’t ask her out?” Mac wanted to know, interrupting Flipper’s thoughts.

      “I ordered a pair of earrings to go with the necklace I bought for Mom. She has to make the earrings and I’ll make my move when I pick up my purchases in two days.”

      “And if she turns you down?” Viper asked.

      “Not an option. I now have less than thirty days to get this all straightened out.”

      “We should be there with you, watching your back,” Bane said.

      “No, you guys are just where you need to be, which is home with your families. I’ve got this.”

      “Well, some of our families don’t appreciate us being home,” Mac grumbled.

      Flipper rolled his eyes. They’d all heard the complaints from Mac before. After every extended mission, their teammate went home to an adjustment period, where he would have to get to know his wife all over again and reclaim his position as head of the house. Sometimes the adjustment didn’t go over well. Mac had a strong personality and so did Mac’s wife, Teri. “Do we have to send both you and Teri into the time-out corners?”

      “Hell, I didn’t do anything,” Mac exclaimed.

      Flipper chuckled. “Yeah, right. You better get your act together, Mac. No other woman is going to put up with your BS.”

      “Whatever. So what did you notice about the place today?”

      Mac was changing the subject and Flipper decided to let him. “Everything matched the architectural report I was given. Even with the repairs due to the hurricane, there were no major changes. Front door. Back door. High windows. Glass storefront. No video cameras outside. There are several rooms in back. One is being used as a tattoo parlor. I didn’t see the person who runs it. I think I’ll go out tonight and do a little more investigating,” he said, sliding into a black T-shirt.

      “Be careful, Flipper,” Viper said. “Although you might not have seen any video cameras, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.”

      “I know. That’s why I’m wearing my Pilf gear.”

      Everybody knew how much Flipper liked digital technology. In addition to all the futuristic developments the military used, Flipper had created a few of his own high-tech gadgets behind the scenes. Some had been so impressive the federal government had patented them as Pilf gear to be used by the military. Pilf was the name Flip spelled backward. On more than one occasion, Flipper had been offered a position with the Department of Defense’s Research and Development Department and