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      MILLS & BOON

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      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER ONE

      GAGE BARON was not in the best of moods.

      He’d put in a long day, riding herd on a contractor and construction crew that seemed to have forgotten the idea was to build a new wing onto Baron’s Windsong Resort, not to demolish it.

      Now he was about to put in an even tougher night, though given a choice, Gage thought wryly, he’d trade the company of the elite gathering at the Holcombs’s cocktail party for the earthy reality of the construction bunch anytime.

      But he had given his word he’d attend, which meant he had to go to the silly thing, like it or not.

      “Damn fool thing to have done, Baron,” he muttered to his reflection in the bathroom mirror. “But you did it, and you’re stuck with it.”

      Gage scraped the sharp edge of his razor across his jaw. Bad enough a man had to shave every morning but to have to do it all over again at six in the evening seemed unconscionable.

      He glanced at the gold Rolex that lay on the edge of the sink. Not six. Seven-fifteen. He was late, on top of everything else…although, now that he thought about it, being late wasn’t so bad. There’d be one less hour of standing around the Holcomb patio, pretending he was having a good time when only an idiot would have a good time at a stupid cocktail party for Liz Holcomb’s latest pet charity.

      And who did he have to blame? Gage scowled at his reflection as he rinsed the lather from his face. Himself, that was who. Himself, and nobody else.

      He’d let Natalie talk him into it. “I’ll skip the party and send a check,” he’d said, when she’d shown him the invitation. “You just tell me how big the check should be.” But Natalie had given him that look, the one he’d seen on her lovely face more and more the past few months.

      “You’re free to do that, if you wish,” she’d said in that cool and elegant voice of hers, “but I worked on the committee with Liz.”

      “Meaning?” Gage had countered, and Natalie had smiled politely and said meaning, of course, that she’d be attending the cocktail party even if he didn’t.

      Her reply had surprised him. Things had gotten off track between them lately but still, they were a couple. Weren’t they? For one long moment, he’d almost asked her that but he’d thought better of it and said, okay, if it meant so much to her, he’d go.

      “Thank you,” Natalie had said, her tone as polite as her smile, and that had thrown him off balance again, made him so damned furious he’d wanted to haul her into his arms, kiss her until she turned back into the woman he remembered.

      The breath hissed from between Gage’s teeth. He tossed aside the towel, strapped on his watch and strode, naked, into his bedroom.

      But sex was supposed to be a two-way street. And in life, just as in business, you never went into a situation unless you were pretty damn sure you knew the outcome…and who knew what would have happened if he’d tried to melt Natalie’s icy politeness with sex?

      It might not have worked. And that was a possibility he wasn’t ready to face just yet.

      On the other hand, he’d figured that maybe it was time to push for some answers. Gage paused at the door to his closet, his jaw tightening. Maybe it was time to find out if it was only his ego that wanted Natalie warm and responsive in his arms, and not his heart.

      So he’d told her that he’d be delighted to go to the Holcomb party, now that he knew she’d had a hand in the planning, and he’d even thought her polite smile had warmed a little.

      “Thank you,” she’d said, and he’d started making plans right then and there to be at his charming best the night of the party and see if he couldn’t recapture some of what used to be between Natalie and him.

      Now, those plans had gone up in smoke because he was waltzing off to the Holcombs all by himself.

      “Big surprise, Baron,” he muttered as he slid open the closet door.

      It seemed as if he couldn’t count on anything much lately. Plans, except the ones that involved iron-clad contracts and rock-hard commitments, were meaningless. People were unpredictable; feelings came and

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