encounter. Yet there was nothing she could do but turn around and hope that one day, if he ever found out the truth, he would forgive the lie she was about to tell.
On a sigh, she slowly turned, and the moment she did so their eyes locked with more intensity than they had earlier when Vance had been present. Her internal temperature suddenly shot sky high, and every cell in her body felt fried from the sweltering heat that suddenly consumed her.
Words momentarily failed her since Ian had literally taken her breath away. He had always been a good-looking man, and today, three years since she’d seen him last, he was doubly so; especially with the neatly trimmed beard he was sporting. He’d always had that drop-dead-gorgeous and let-me-bed-you-before-I-die look. He’d been a man who’d always been able to grab the attention of women. And now this older Ian was a man who exuded raw, masculine sexuality.
When she had returned to Atlanta to take the job as one of Dare Westmoreland’s deputies, she had heard about the two Westmoreland cousins who were the same age and ran together in what women had called a wolf pack. Ian and his cousin Storm had reputations around Atlanta of being ultimate players, the epitome of legendary lovers. Storm had been dubbed the Perfect Storm and Ian, the Perfect End.
It was rumored that any woman who went out with Ian got the perfect ending to their evening, after sharing a bed with him. But all that had changed when he’d begun showing interest in her. He’d called her a hard nut to crack; she’d been one of the few women to rebuff his charm.
Instead of willingly falling under his spell like other women, she’d placed it on him to earn his way into her bed. The result had been two years of being the exclusive recipient of his special brand of sexual expertise.
The rumors hadn’t been wrong, but neither had they been completely right. She had discovered that not only was Ian the Perfect End but he was the Perfect Beginning as well. No one could wake a woman up each morning the way he could. The memories of their lovemaking sessions could still curl her toes and wet her panties. He had been her first lover and, she thought further, her only lover.
“Are you going to stand there and say nothing or are you going to answer my question, Brooke?”
Ian’s question reclaimed Brooke’s attention and reminded her why she was there. And with the angry tone of his voice all the memories they’d ever shared were suddenly crushed. Placing her hands on her hips she answered with the same curt tone he’d used on her. “I’ll gladly answer your question, Ian.”
Ian folded his arms across his chest. How could he have forgotten how quick fire could leap into her eyes whenever she got angry, or how her full and inviting lips could form one perturbed pout? Over the years he had missed that all-in-your-face, hot-tempered attitude that would flare up whenever she got really mad about something.
The women he’d dated after her had been too meek and mild for his taste. They’d lacked spunk, and if he’d said jump, they would have asked how high. But not the woman standing in front of him. She could dish it out like nobody’s business and he had admired her for it. That was probably one of the reasons he had fallen so hard for her.
“The reason I’m here is like everyone else. I needed time away from my job and decided to check in here for two weeks,” she said, intruding into his thoughts.
Ian sighed. As far as he was concerned her reason sounded too pat. “Why here? There are other places you could have gone.”
“Yes, and at the time I booked the two weeks I didn’t know you were the owner. I thought you were still a riverboat captain.”
For a few seconds he said nothing. “Hurricane Katrina brought a temporary end to that. But I’d decided to purchase this place months before then. It was just a matter of time before I came off the river to settle on land.”
He studied her for a moment, then asked, “And when did you find out this place was mine?”
Brooke gave a small shrug. “A few days ago, but I figured what the hell, my money spends just as well as anyone else’s, and I can’t go through life worrying about bumping into you at the next corner.”
She released a disgusted sigh and raked her hands through her dreads, making them tumble around her shoulders. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Ian, we have a past, and we should chalk it up as a happy or unhappy time in our lives, depending on how you chose to remember it, and move on. I heard this was a nice place and decided it was just what I needed. And to be quite honest with you I really don’t appreciate being summoned up here like I’m some kind of criminal. If you’re still stuck on the past and don’t think we can share the same air for two weeks let me know and I can take my money elsewhere.”
Anger made Ian’s jaw twitch. She was right, of course—he should be able to let go and move on; however, what really griped his insides more than anything was not the fact that they had broken up but why they had. They’d been exclusive lovers. She was the one woman he had considered marrying. But in the end she had been the woman that had broken his heart.
Even when she had moved away to D.C. to take that job with the Bureau, and he had moved to Memphis to operate the Delta Princess, they’d been able to maintain a long-distance romance without any problems and had decided within another year to marry.
But the one time she should have trusted him enough to confide in him about something, she hadn’t. Instead she had destroyed any trust between them by not letting him know that a case she’d been assigned to investigate had involved one of his business partners. By the time he’d found out the truth, a man had lost his life and a family had been destroyed.
As far as her being here at the Rolling Cascade, he much preferred that she leave. Seeing her again and feeling his reaction to her proved one thing: even after four years she was not quite out of his system and it was time to get her out. Perhaps the first step would be proving they could breathe the same air.
“Fine, stay if you want, it’s your decision,” he finally said.
Brooke lifted her chin. Yes, it would be her decision. There was no doubt in her mind if it was left up to him, he would toss her out on her butt, possibly right smack into Lake Tahoe. “Then I’m staying. Now if you’ll excuse me I want to begin enjoying my vacation.”
She went to the elevator and without glancing back at him pushed a button, and when the doors opened she stepped inside. When she turned, their gazes met again, and it was during that brief moment of eye contact before the doors swooshed closed that he thought he saw something flicker in the depths of her dark eyes. Cockiness? Regret? Lust?
Ian drew his brows together sharply. How could he move on and put things behind him when the anger he felt whenever he thought of what she’d done was still as intense as it had always been?
Moving around his desk he pushed a button. Within seconds Vance’s deep voice came on the line. “Yes, Ian?”
“Ms. Chamberlain is on her way back down.”
“All right. Do you want me to keep an eye on her while she’s here?”
“No,” Ian said quickly. For some reason the thought of someone else—especially another man—keeping an eye on Brooke didn’t sit well with him. Deciding he owed his friend some sort of explanation he said, “Brooke and I have a history we need to bury.”
“Figured as much.”
“And another thing, Vance. She’s
