The Tycoon's Very Personal Assistant. Heidi Rice

>

      She smoothed her hands over the silk of her dress and sat down. ‘Better than a bathrobe, then?’

      His lips quirked. ‘Depends,’ he said, ‘on what you’ve got on under it.’

      With his emerald eyes hot on hers and his devastating face relaxed in a challenging grin, Kate felt all her good intentions shoot out of the window. ‘Gosh, are we talking about your knicker fixation already? I thought you’d at least get me a drink first.’

      He barked out a laugh. ‘Okay, let’s get you a drink.’ He summoned the waiter and she ordered one. ‘But I’ve got to warn you,’ he continued, ‘this fixation is fast becoming an obsession.’

      ‘Really, Zack?’ The corner of her mouth inched up. ‘Maybe you should stop sending underwear to women you don’t know.’

      ‘That might work,’ he said. ‘Or maybe I should just get to know her first.’

      He reached across the table and stroked his thumb across the back of her hand. The light touch had heat spearing up her arms and across her chest.

      ‘As long as you’re not talking about getting to know her in the Biblical sense…because that’s just going to bring us right back to your knicker problem, isn’t it?’

      He arched one black brow, the heat in his gaze undimmed. ‘It won’t be a problem for long, Kate. I guarantee it.’

      Heidi Rice was born and bred and still lives in London, England. She has two boys who love to bicker, a wonderful husband who, luckily for everyone, has loads of patience, and a supportive and ever-growing British/ French/Irish/American family. As much as Heidi adores ‘the Big Smoke’, she also loves America, and every two years or so she and her best friend leave hubby and kids behind and Thelma and Louise it across the States for a couple of weeks (although they always leave out the driving off a cliff bit). She’s been a film buff since her early teens, and a romance junkie for almost as long. She indulged her first love by being a film reviewer for the last ten years. Then two years ago she decided to spice up her life by writing romance. Discovering the fantastic sisterhood of romance writers (both published and unpublished) in Britain and America made it a wild and wonderful journey to her first Mills & Boon novel, and she’s looking forward to many more to come.

       Recent books by the same author:

      BEDDED BY A BAD BOY THE MILE-HIGH CLUB

       Dear Reader

      With Mills & Boon celebrating their centenary this year, I wanted a really special love story for my first book of 2008. While it didn’t take me quite 100 years to create Zack and Kate’s story, it seems the two of them have been waiting to have their story told for almost as long.

      It all began four and a half years ago, when my best mate Catri and I were on one of our biannual road trips to America. We were staying at the fabulous Flamingo Hotel in Vegas when I got the inspiration for Zack Boudreaux. A gorgeous ex-gambler turned hotel tycoon, Zack was a guy who knew something was missing from his life, only he didn’t know what—and it was frustrating the hell out of him. Unfortunately, it frustrated the hell out of me, trying to think up a heroine for Zack, so he got left to brood alone for several years.

      Then last year Catri and I started planning a trip to California, and I discovered Big Sur. Its raw, timeless, elemental beauty captivated me, and had Kate Denton popping into my head. Smart, sassy, impulsive and fiercely independent, she was the perfect woman to captivate Zack, show him what he was missing—and then drive him nuts while he tried to grab hold of it.

      After finally finishing Zack and Kate’s story, I went to Big Sur and watched the sun set over the Pacific. It lived up to all my expectations. I hope this story does the same for you—and helps to keep Mills & Boon’s torch burning bright into their next century.

      I love to hear from readers, so if you want to chat about Big Sur, or Vegas, or even my latest book, you can contact me through my website at www.heidi-rice.com

      Cheers

      Heidi x

      THE TYCOON’S VERY PERSONAL ASSISTANT

      BY

      HEIDI RICE

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To Chessie Welker, my American dialogue coach, for telling me that rubbers went out in the fifties and rich guys don’t drink cheap beer!

      CHAPTER ONE

      ‘I TOLD YOU I’m not a working girl.’ Kate Denton shifted on the stiff leather chair and shot the man sitting on the other side of the mahogany desk her don’t-mess-with-me look. Jet-lagged, shaken and as good as naked under the hotel robe she had on, Kate knew the look wasn’t one of her best.

      He didn’t reply. The insistent tap of his pen against the desk blotter seemed deafening in the silence. Bright Vegas sunlight shone through the wall of glass to his right and cast his face into shadow, making it impossible to tell his reaction.

      Oh, goody, Kate thought grimly. After the most humiliating experience of my entire life, I get interrogated by a hotel manager with a God complex.

      Apprehension slithered around in Kate’s stomach like a hyperactive snake. Why on earth had she demanded to see the hotel manager in the first place? It had seemed like a good idea when the concierge had started making noises about calling the police, but once she’d been whisked up to the penthouse suite of offices and ushered in here, she’d started having serious doubts. The guy wasn’t behaving like any hotel manager she’d ever met.

      She felt more intimidated now than before.

      Obviously hotel managers had a much higher profile in the States. This guy’s workspace would have made the Oval Office look tacky. A lake of luxurious blue carpeting flowed to floor-to-ceiling windows, showcasing the hotel’s enviable position towering over the Las Vegas Strip. The view wasn’t the only thing giving Kate vertigo. The room was so big it accommodated a separate seating area with three deluxe leather sofas, and Kate had recognised the striking canvas on the far wall as that of a modern artist whose work now went for millions. She’d also noticed the guy had not one but three secretaries standing guard outside.

      No wonder he had a God complex.

      ‘A working girl? You mean a hooker?’ His deep voice rumbled out at last, sending an annoying shiver of awareness up Kate’s spine. ‘I don’t recall saying I thought you were a hooker, honey.’

      Kate heard the hint of amusement and her jaw tensed. ‘Who gave you permission to call me honey?’ she said, grateful for the crisp note of condescension in her voice.

      ‘I don’t need permission,’ he replied dryly, ‘when the lady in question was trying to break down a door in my hotel wearing nothing but a bra and thong.’

      Kate swallowed. Okay, there was that.

      ‘It’s not a thong. I have proper knickers on,’ she blurted out, and then winced.

      The memory of getting caught by the bell captain and bundled into a robe flooded back to her. Embarrassment scorched her cheeks. The fact she had something slightly more substantial than a thong covering her bottom suddenly didn’t seem all that relevant. That she’d mentioned it to him was mortifying. She’d yet to get a proper look at the guy and already he knew far too much about her underwear.

      The metronome taps of his pen interrupted her thoughts. ‘Proper panties or not, you were causing a disturbance.’

      The heat in Kate’s cheeks soared. What was this guy’s problem? She was the one who’d been manhandled. So she’d raised her voice and kicked the door a little, but wouldn’t anyone who got stranded in a hotel corridor practically naked?

      ‘I was trying to get back into the room.’

      ‘Yeah,