down her back like curls of black ribbon, and it took all of his willpower not to lie down beside her.
His mind said no while his body had betrayed him. It took more than an hour for the heaviness to leave his lower body and with it came sleep. A deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter Four
Logan awoke as he did every morning, before dawn pierced the black cover of night, ready to run two miles before he went through his routine of preparing to go to the offices of J. Prescott and Associates.
This morning, he lay in bed, eyes closed, thinking of how different this day would begin. He planned to run the two miles, but his only contact with J. Prescott and Associates would be through the beeper, cellular telephone, laptop computer, and fax machine he brought with him when he left Raleigh.
His mouth tightened in a grim, hard line. This week was to have been the beginning of his ten-day honeymoon at a private villa on the French-Caribbean island of Martinique. All of that had changed because instead of sharing a villa with Nina in Martinique, he was waking up on a small island off the coast of North Carolina, sharing an exact replica of a Louisiana low-country house with a woman who was as different from Nina Smith as night was from day.
Nina’s mahogany-brown skin, stylized short-cut hair, slanting black eyes, and her tall, thin body had earned herthe sobriquet as the Black Ice Princess, while Caryn’s black curly hair and lush, slim body made her ripely seductive and dangerously tempting as an enchantress.
However, Nina’s unapproachable image was shattered completely once she shared his bed. And it had taken two years, a proposal of marriage, and direct proof of Nina’s infidelity for Logan to realize that he hadn’t loved the woman as much as he loved her passion. Nina was the first woman he had met whose passions were as strong as his own in their intensity.
Thinking of passions reminded him of his body’s reaction to seeing Caryn nude. The reaction was just as unexpected as it was violent. It was so powerful and violent that a cold shower failed to relieve the heaviness in his groin, and it angered him because he did not want to want her. He didn’t want to want
any woman.
Swinging his long legs over the side of the bed, he slipped into an athletic supporter, a pair of shorts, and his running shoes and made his way to the bathroom at the head of the staircase.
Less than five minutes later, he released Domino from the large cage he had placed in an alcove near the door leading to the rear of the house.
Domino jumped up and down, whining excitedly. There was no doubt he was pleased that his master had released him from his overnight captivity.
Tucking the Dalmatian puppy under his arm, Logan opened the back door and walked down the steps of the double stairway. The air was warm, signaling it would be another day of near-ninety-degree temperatures.
He lowered Domino to the sand-littered ground and began a series of stretching motions as the dog sniffed every blade of sparsely growing grass before marking his territory. Logan whistled sharply and his spotted head lifted alertly. It was the signal that he was to chase his master.
Man and dog ran leisurely along the beach, Logan slowing periodically so that Domino could catch up. He discoveredjogging on the beach was very different and much more exhilarating than jogging around the indoor track at the housing complex where he occupied a two-bedroom apartment in a self-contained private community. The housing development was one of the more successful ventures of J. Prescott and Associates.
Logan’s father, Jace, had made a name for himself in Raleigh as an astute businessman who secretly and quietly bought large tracts of commercial properties in the capital city. And as a trained architect and urban planner, Logan directed the building of malls, affordable housing developments for low- and middle-income families, and a business complex that housed not only office
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley