Don't Tempt Me Read Online Free PDF

anyone close to home. It was also why she'd felt safe returning to Corpus Christi. People here knew a few vague facts, but nowhere near the whole truth. Would involving herself in a ship excavation change that?
    She turned the problem over in her mind throughout the night.
    By the time the first light of dawn seeped through the windows, she knew she had two choices: go quietly bankrupt and lose the Pirate's Pleasure , or risk everything she'd built over the past eight years for the chance to win financial security. She didn't care about great wealth, but she did care passionately about making an honest living.
    Now wouldn't her buccaneer ancestors have a great laugh at that? Either that or moan in shame. The question was, had she inherited enough of their courage and daring to take a risk this big?
    ~ ~ ~
    Adrian lounged in the hotel chair, his bare feet propped on the unmade bed, a cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper spread in his lap. The headlines barely registered, though, as he tried to figure out where he'd gone wrong last night. Normally he had a knack for reading women, but Jackie confused him at every turn.
    She wasn't after him.
    She didn't need rescuing.
    She didn't even want to be friends.
    In fact, she didn't seem to want anything to do with him. That was a first, and perhaps the reason she intrigued him more than any other woman ever had.
    When women wanted him, he knew how to judge how much they expected and if they could part as friends. If the answer was no, he kept his hands to himself. If the answer was yes, he made sure they both had fun and that things stayed light.
    When a woman needed him ---for encouragement or outright rescuing ---he knew when to give advice, when to shut up and offer a shoulder to cry on, and when to step in with action. In fact, he knew how to handle nearly every sticky situation a woman could throw at a man, situations that sent most men into states of pure panic.
    But he didn't know how to handle Jackie.
    The one thing he did know was that he'd blown it last night. And his failure was going to devastate his sisters. They'd all become single-minded about recovering the necklace. When initial attempts to work with Jackie had failed, they'd decided to send Adrian down to Corpus to charm her into helping. He'd arrogantly believed he could do it, no sweat ... but instead he'd blown it.
    Was it the flirting? he wondered.
    No, Jackie didn't take that any more seriously than he meant it. Not that he wouldn't like to mean it. From the moment he'd met Jackie Taylor, he'd wanted to sleep with her. She'd slammed the door on that idea by making it clear she wasn't the least bit interested in him.
    The question was, could he make her want him? Now that might prove a delicious challenge. And if he'd blown the business deal, nothing stood in the way of giving it his best shot. His body warmed eagerly to the idea. He could stay one more day and take her out again, but this time forget the teasing and go for all-out seduction. Then he'd bring her back here, taste those luscious-looking lips, peel away her clothes, and ---
    A sharp rap came at the door, jarring him from thoughts of Jackie naked beneath him. He waited for someone to call, "Housekeeping." When it didn't come, he set the paper and coffee cup aside and went to the door. A peek through the spy hole revealed Jackie standing in the hall with her hands thrust into the pockets of a foul-weather jacket.
    His first thought was that she'd changed her mind about the business deal, which would thrill his sisters but put a halt to his newly hatched plan. Then he noticed the determined set of her jaw. The bill of a ball cap hid the rest of her face, but her stance said she'd come to do battle, which did not bode well on any front.
    Braced for anything, he stepped back and opened the door. "Jackie, what a surprise. I didn't expect you so early."
    Jackie's response stuck in her throat when she found herself eye level with Adrian's bare