The Executive's Valentine Seduction / Valente Must Marry: The Executive's Valentine Seduction. Merline Lovelace

the years since high school.”

      She’d worked so hard to suppress her past. With deliberate intent, she’d chosen a nice, safe profession. Dated nice, safe men. Established a nice, safe routine. Not until she’d gotten together with Sabrina and Devon last year and taken a hard look at her life did Caro realize she’d mortgaged her future to her past.

      Quitting her job and joining forces with her friends to launch EBS had been a major step in a new direction. Admitting that Rory Burke still turned her on after all these years was another.

      “There,” she threw at the face in the mirror, “you’ve acknowledged it. You want his touch.”

      She wanted more than that. With brutal honesty, she could admit she wanted his mouth and hands and lean, hard body all over hers. The realization shook her right down to her core. It also made her turn to the two friends she’d come to depend on for support and advice.

      Whirling, Caro stalked back into the bedroom and flipped up the lid of her laptop. She caught her business partners at their computers, checking morning e-mail. A few clicks later, she had their faces displayed side by side. Devon’s hair lit up the laptop’s screen in a blaze of dark red. Sabrina raked a hand through her tumble of blond curls and demanded an instant update.

      “So what’s happening with Burke? Have you hauled off and decked him yet?”

      “Not exactly.”

      “I’m still available to do the job for you. So is Marco, by the way.”

      “And Cal,” Devon put in.

      Oh, sure. That’s all Caroline needed. Their two bristling males confronting a former Army ranger and all-around tough guy.

      “The situation has, uh, changed a little.”

      “Changed how?”

      She tapped a nail on the laptop keyboard. How to explain this insidious heat, this growing hunger, to friends who had watched her put her emotions on total lockdown for so many years?

      “The thing is, I’m…er…sort of…attracted to Rory.”

      Talk about understatements, Caro thought ruefully as the two faces on the laptop screen took on looks of almost identical astonishment. While they were still struggling to recover, she told them about the kiss that followed her dip in the ocean and the itchy feelings that had almost consumed her at the firing range yesterday.

      “The conference wraps up tomorrow morning,” she said. “Part of me wants to just crawl in a hole until Rory leaves for the airport in the afternoon. But there’s this other confused, completely idiotic part that doesn’t want him to go.”

      “Well,” Sabrina said after a long silence, “sounds like there’s something between you and this guy Burke. Call it unfinished business or chemistry or plain old-fashioned lust, the fact that it revved to life after more than a decade says something.”

      “I know! But what?”

      “Beats me. Dev, what do you think?”

      Devon pursed her mouth to one side. Like Caro and Sabrina, she’d made her share of mistakes, most notably the brief marriage to her jerk of an ex. She hadn’t expected to tumble into love with Cal Logan, EBS’s first big client. Dev still pinched herself every day to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Caroline suspected that’s why she took her time before slowly replying.

      “I think…I think Sabrina may be right. This unexpected reunion has stirred emotions you’ve tried to repress for years. Maybe you should get them out of your system once and for all. Or more precisely get Burke out of your system.”

      “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

      “Look, you said you’re still attracted to him. I suspect in your mind you still see the young stud who fed your adolescent fantasies. The man he is now may not live up to those fantasies, but there’s only one way to find out.”

      “Hot, mindless sex.”

      “If that’s what your instincts are telling you. Go with them, Caro. See where they take you.”

      “We all know where they took her last time,” Sabrina protested.

      “She was seventeen and a virgin. She’s a lot older this time around.”

      “Thanks,” Caroline drawled.

      “You know what I mean.”

      That was just it. She did.

      “One thing is for sure,” she vowed. “Whatever happens between Rory and me will not include unprotected sex. I’m still on the pill, thank God.”

      She’d never gone off it after nice, safe Ernie. Even then she’d insisted they use condoms. Nothing like a healthy dose of paranoia to flavor a relationship.

      “So,” Sabrina mused, “the real question is whether whatever happens between you and Burke will include any kind of sex.”

      Caro blew out a sigh. “At this point, your guess is as good as mine.”

      Five

      Rory initiated the next phase of Operation Caroline Walters early on the third day of the conference.

      This particular objective required that he get her alone. Away from all distractions. Out from under the curious eyes of his people. He’d planned a private dinner in his suite to “discuss” conference business, but the phone call he received that morning from a potential client in Barcelona provided a much better target of opportunity.

      Snapping his cell phone shut, he went looking for Caroline and Harry Martin. He found them together, conferring over yet another addition to the schedule. The kick to his gut when he noted the silky tendril that had escaped her neat twist and curled at her nape resolved any doubts about his course of action.

      Harry looked up at his approach and sensed instantly that something was up. The man knew him too well, Rory thought wryly.

      “Hey, boss. Need something?”

      “Yeah, I do. Check out a guy named Juan Casteel for me. He owns a shipping company based in Barcelona.”

      “Juan Casteel.” He jotted down the name. “What’s his angle?”

      “He says he needs more protection.”

      “Who doesn’t?” Harry muttered.

      “Casteel found out I’m in Spain and wants to meet with me. I’ve set up an appointment at his office for three this afternoon.”

      “I’ll get on him.”

      “Caroline, I need you to go with me. Casteel’s English is pretty heavily accented. I’d like a second set of ears to make sure I understand him.”

      Rory ignored the quick glance Harry shot his way. “Pack an overnight bag,” he instructed his surprised conference coordinator. “Casteel said something about dinner at his place, so I could meet his wife and see the layout of his house. If they eat as late as most Spaniards, it’ll be too late to drive back tonight.”

      Dinner or no dinner, Rory had already determined he and Caroline would not hit the road again tonight.

      “Better make hotel reservations,” he told her. “We’ll take my rental car. I’ll meet you in the lobby at noon.”

      She waffled, clearly uncertain and wary. He didn’t give her time to recover.

      “Let me know what you dig up on Casteel, Harry.”

      His deputy gave him a hard look before nodding. “Will do.”

      Harry delivered a background dossier on Juan Casteel to Rory’s suite forty-five minutes later. The Spanish shipping magnate didn’t top the list of his priorities, however.

      “Let’s