The Contracted Fiancee

e first time she’d laid eyes on him

her gaze from her new boss’s mouth as he introduced himself as CEO of

efly if his home country’s British colonial background was respo

der that very mouth had claimed hers in a kiss that had se

her blood had suddenly heated, then rushed through her veins. The sensation m

single cut of his neatly trimmed dark brown h

twice about the cost, never had to. Nor the price of the tailored business suit that fitt

pumps boosting her height to five foot nine,

r. Warners invitation to sit down. She really needed to ga

the valentine dress she’d worn? She’d certainly recognized him although, on that night, she hadn’t

bar, she’d felt her body tingle but h

ment in the doorway, his dark costume fitted to

as the perfect foil to her Spanish lady and it hadn’t taken him lo

as the countdown to unmasking had begun. But then someone had called his nam

She would never in a million years believed she could feel s

urge that came to a rapid halting crash as she became awar

ously and fixed her gaze on

uld you repeat

urve of his lips and her internal

when she couldn’t keep her wits about her in his presence? She

t the age of thirty-one without that particular character trait, she was sure. Focused people didn’t sca

nervous?”

e surprised at my appointment, no

ce with Worth Industries. You’re what, twenty-ei

ver of longing down her spine and his accent, a little bit Upper East Side and a little

y has worked, or doe

ur brother B

o, when they were alive. They w

loyal act you’re

der that Worth Industries—I mean, Cameron Enterprises—

ce he’d been seconded to Vista del Mar short-term only to complete financial viability

an ongoing cost for both Blake and her and

onthly expenses, including the payments on the small house that had been their

could plan for a few luxuries for th

o further with your work?” he asked, lea

ild she’d had a map of the world pinned to her bedroom wall. A round red pin pressed into every

answer. Wow, way to go on impressing the new boss, she thou

now,” she said firmly and sat a

o the pit of her belly. She’d travel to the ends of the world with hi

volved in your position with

ll. I have no

ome, the habits of ten years were pretty darn hard to break. Besides, sh

g his decisions had become second nature, although she knew he somet

pushed up off the desk edge, pacing over to one of the floor-to-ceilin

urprised to be given this

surprised. For eight years she’d been virtually invisible to her peers and ce

lip for a moment, choos

ition such as this. That’s not to say that I don’t think I am capable—nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve

to convince me, Miss Raphael

efore flooding her cheeks with color. Now she’d be a blushi

er that. Since she was a little girl everyone around her

h the way he spoke with that slightly clipped intonation. Yes, as the executive

play across her face in response. . “Thank you, I do know tha

I won’t be sor