Undercover Pursuit Read Online Free PDF Page A

your dress and while I’m at it, maybe I can also plan your honeymoon—
    Everyone just needs to calm down. Her own words. She breathed them in as she stood at her balcony in the warm air. She could get used to the ocean, so many shades of blue. On the ferry, she’d watched the mainland shrink, turning her gaze to the ocean floor as it slid by. The coral reefs, ledges and ripples seemed so close she wanted to dip her feet in. She’d pushed up her sleeves, letting her white skin see the sun for the first time in months.
    She’d get a tan here, no matter what it took.
    Sitting on the bed, she toed off her Uggs. The tile floor cooled her boiling feet. She probably needed a nap.
    Or a shower.
    She picked up the cute towel swan on her bed, holdingit in her hand. She could get used to this place. Maybe she could find a job here—after all, after ten years of temping, she knew how to fit in, make things happen quickly.
    A skill, apparently, that had netted her this fun-filled weekend.
    And no matter what anyone else said, she wouldn’t call her reluctance to get a “real” job an inability to commit. She just liked change, that was all. And, well, she’d never found the one thing that she truly loved to do.
    The shower cleaned from her the grime of the last sixteen hours. She found a blue sundress, one she’d worn maybe once and grabbed in a hurry, crumpled at the bottom of her carry-on. Maybe she could order room service. Or better, she’d venture out, under the glow of the stars, to the all-inclusive seafood dinner at the cabana. Then she’d park herself under one of those grass-covered umbrellas by the shore, under a tiki lamp, and lose herself in a book. Again.
    She didn’t even want to think about what Luke, her overachieving plus-one, might be doing.
    Off her balcony, twilight had just begun to darken the ocean to an inky blue. Unseen seagulls cried against the surf. The smell of the sea drifted inside.
    A night made for romance. Of course, her novel was the only romance she could count on. Not that she really wanted romance, but wouldn’t it be nice if she could have a happily-ever-after? With a real-life hero, the kind she might find in her novel? Someone charming and strong, who saw her for the girl she wanted to be—if she could ever figure who that was?
    The sultry air had clearly overheated her brain.
    She put on a little makeup and was tying up her still-damp hair when she heard the knock.
    Maybe Bridgett had returned and gotten her message.
    As she opened the door her breath stopped, right there, caught in her chest.
    So. Luke didn’t play fair.
    He stood under the glow of her porch light, looking freshly showered, his burnished golden-brown hair still wet, clean shaven and wearing a pair of black dress pants and a white silk shirt open at the neck. And he even smelled good.
    â€œWhat?” Oh, she had a nicer side, really. She softened her tone. “Sorry. I mean, can I help you?”
    He grinned, as if she should be expecting him. “Hey. I know you probably thought we weren’t on for tonight, but I got a note from the bride. She wants us to meet her on the boat.”
    â€œShe does? I called and left her a message—the cruise already left.”
    â€œI know, but I found us a ride out to the yacht.” He held out his arm. “Would you be so kind as to accompany me to dinner, Miss Scarlett?”

THREE
    S carlett sat in the back of the motorboat Luke had hired to take them out to sea, his words lingering like a song she couldn’t get out of her mind.
    Would you be so kind as to accompany me to dinner, Miss Scarlett?
    He’d turned on the charm, and for a second there, she’d just about let his voice go right to her head.
    Yes, Luke. Thank you. Had she really taken his arm? She’d walked an entire ten feet before she came to her senses.
    This wasn’t a date. She wasn’t living in her romance novel,