have on him upon meeting her in person. He’d meant to be friendly and begin to gain her trust.
Instead he’d been blown away. Her cocoa-brown eyes had danced with light and life and he’d been captivated on the spot. Adrenaline had kicked in the second he’d heard her soft voice, and surrounded by her fragrant scent of vanilla, his body had come alive. He’d backed off, but not soon enough. Even a cold shower hadn’t lessened the effect of Grace Montgomery.
Small consolation but at least he’d made substantial progress on the assignment, and in less than a week’s time. When Emma called for her daily report—in about five minutes, he noted, glancing at his watch—he’d be able to tell her he’d met her granddaughter.
Ben paced the floor of the apartment. No need for the older woman to know he’d been enchanted and completely caught off guard. The picture hadn’t done Grace justice and Ben knew for certain if he wasn’t careful, he’d fall hard and fast for Emma Montgomery’s free-spirited granddaughter—a woman far out of his league and the subject of his investigation to boot.
Perhaps because of his father’s careless ways, Ben’s work ethic was strong. He worked hard, provided for his mother, saved for the future when he could, and made certain his clients were happy enough with his services to secure a referral for future cases. His work ethic did not include playing around with a client’s granddaughter.
He had to focus on his job and, in fact, he’d made quite a bit of headway. He had Grace’s routine down pat. Not only did he know she had a full-time job at a photography studio uptown, but he knew she spent her lunch hour and weekends frequenting a park that bordered a seedy neighborhood.
Ben knew all about neighborhoods where trouble lurked. He’d grown up in one and knew just how tempting a woman like Grace could be to a guy from the wrong side of the tracks. Hell, he knew how she tempted him now.
He had no problem putting Emma at ease about how Grace was earning money to survive, but he’d hold off before revealing the rest. Ben needed to do some more digging into other areas of Grace’s life to find out why she was hanging around questionable parts of town, camera in hand. The faster he got the information, the faster he could get the hell out…before his rapidly beating heart was broken by a woman who’d undoubtedly grow bored with her new life.
She might be living on her own, and he admired the attempt, but sooner or later, Grace Montgomery would miss the family she’d left behind and desire the easier lifestyle she’d grown up with. The expensive decor of her apartment proved she hadn’t completely left the life behind.
Ben didn’t begrudge her that life. He just had no intention of being a casualty when the novelty of making it on her own wore off.
GRACE STEPPED OUT of the dark subway station. The freedom she felt walking into the fresh air, camera in hand, the breeze warm on her arms and the sun hot on her face, was liberating. She passed by the boarded-up building that once held a restaurant, waved to a bunch of neighborhood kids she saw on her daily trips to the park and rounded the corner leading to the playground she loved.
As usual during lunch hour, the basketball courts were crowded with kids and she paused in front of the wrought-iron gate. Clutching the cold metal in her hands, she peered through the open spaces and watched the games from the sidelines. The smack of the ball against the blacktop mingled with the low strains of male voices. With most of the players in white T-shirts, Grace was hard-pressed to tell them apart…until she caught sight of the guy in gray.
She couldn’t mistake the jet-black hair hitting his shoulders as he ran or the physique she’d memorized the day he’d moved in. But it was the distinctive sound of his voice over the dull roar of the other players that sealed her certainty. She didn’t know what Ben Callahan was doing down here, and she intended to find out. But not until she’d captured this moment on film.
She hadn’t seen him for a week and she had no intention of letting the opportunity to feast on his good looks and masculinity pass her by. She flipped off the lens cap and raised the camera to eye level. At the same moment, play on the court stopped, the guys hitting the benches to take a break—except for Ben and a lone player who remained by the hoop. Though Grace stood in the shade of the buildings’ shadows, Ben stood bracketed by sunlight.
Her week of deprivation was at an end and she paused to revel in the sight.
He wiped a hand over his forehead to remove the sweat and grime from the game—a typically masculine move, but there was nothing typical about Ben. His sexy mannerisms, his powerful stance, the muscles in his legs visible thanks to his nylon shorts, set him apart from the other men in the world. And Grace appreciated it all as she began to capture his movements on film.
His body language mimicked those around them. He spoke to the kids as if he knew their language, as if he were accepted. Yet she’d never seen him here before. Grace wondered who he was and why he’d shown up now. Did he know the neighborhood residents because he worked in the area or did he have family down here? she wondered.
But first…with the easy adjustment of her zoom lens, she zeroed in. With each click of the shutter, she became one with Ben, and as she seized his every nuance, every undercurrent on film, she began to feel. Her heart raced as if she’d run the court and her pulse pounded in time to the dribble of the ball smacking the ground.
As he gestured and moved, explaining something to the youth beside him, she couldn’t draw her gaze from the ripple of muscle in his arms and the strength in his calves and thighs. Thanks to the sun’s strong rays and his hard play, damp stains darkened his T-shirt. She snapped the shutter automatically, not missing a beat, but her body continued a rampage of its own. Her back grew damp and her shirt stuck to her skin, while a fine sheen of perspiration dotted her face. She lowered the camera and inhaled deep, drawing an unsteady breath.
Grace had been searching for clues to what kind of woman lay inside the polite female created by her judge father and well-bred mother. Now she knew seething sensuality lay dormant inside her, just waiting to be unleashed. And Ben was the man to take her on the next part of her journey of self-discovery.
Everything he made her feel was honest and real, so opposite to the artificial world she’d grown up in—a world where people hid their feelings, married for show, cared little for their children, and worst of all repressed their sexuality—unless they were cheating on a spouse. Except for her brother Logan, who’d defied the family political tradition and had also married for love, the Montgomery world was a phony one.
The opposite of the real world Ben inhabited.
She could only imagine the strength and beauty of the photos she’d just taken—photos for her personal album, not a stepping stone in her career.
Another glance at the court, and she saw Ben once more, hand on the kid’s shoulder, apparently explaining the finer points of the game. Not many men cared enough to work with the kids in this neighborhood, kids who needed guidance. Grace admired not just Ben’s physique but the obvious goodness he possessed inside.
She headed around the gate and came up behind him. “Hey there, neighbor.”
“Grace?” He turned toward her, surprise in his voice, disbelief in his gaze.
“The one and only.” She sprinted onto the court to join him.
He tossed the ball to the young boy. “Get to work on those jump shots. I’ll be with you in a second.” He pivoted back to her. “What are you doing here?”
Was
