maneuvered himself closer to the couple. Corrine’s gaze met his and she seemed to want something from him. He looked closer at Mark and realized the man was drunk. Rand knew better than anyone how too many drinks could change the world around a man.
“Kiddo, you feel like using your power as the CEO’s wife?” he asked Angelica.
“How?”
“I’m going to cut in and rescue Corrine from a man who’s had one too many.”
“I get to dance with a drunk. Boy, Rand, you sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
“As you just pointed out, that’s not my job anymore.”
“You’re right. Who is it?”
“Mark something, I think.” He turned them so Angelica could see the man.
“Mark Jameson. His wife left him on New Year’s Day—what with it being Valentine’s Day—he hasn’t been the same since then.”
“Can you handle him?”
“No problem.”
Rand spun them neatly into Mark and Corrine’s path and tapped the other man on his shoulder. “May I?”
Mark’s eyes were blurry and he looked a little confused. Angelica stepped into his arms as Rand tugged Corrine free. He heard Angelica use her most soothing voice as she took the lead in the dance and moved Mark to the edge of the dance floor.
“Thanks. I owe you one,” Corrine said.
“I think I’ll collect now,” he said, even though he knew he should be escorting her off the dance floor and then collecting his keys from the valet and heading home.
“What do you want?”
That was a loaded question. “Don’t walk away again.”
She glanced up, obviously startled. “Ego problems?”
“Do you think I’m that shallow?”
“Yes,” she said.
He laughed. There was a part of him that was shallow, and he did his best to make sure that was the only thing people saw.
“Maybe I just wanted to hold you for the three minutes or so that the song lasts.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“It’s the truth.” God, he wished it weren’t, but his body had already decided that there was no way Corrine was going to be a hands-off client. She called to parts of him that he’d put away a long time ago. Nothing was going to be normal until he’d mussed up her cool exterior. Until he had her blond hair spread out on his pillow and was buried deep in her sweet body with her legs and arms wrapped around him.
“We have a working relationship, Rand. It can’t be anything else.”
“I’m aware of that,” he said. He’d been working with Corrine on the new training module he and Corrine were developing at Tarron.
“Why’d you bid on me tonight?” he asked. It was out of character for the woman he knew her to be. She’d given not only him but most of her co-workers the cold shoulder. She was cordial and polite, but she kept a distance between herself and others. The only person he knew who’d gotten past her barrier was Angelica. But then, Angelica had a way with people.
“You looked lonely up there.”
He stopped dancing and glanced down at her. This was the second time she’d sassed him tonight. “Are you saying pity motivated you?”
“Well…yes.”
“Darling, I seem to remember a brisk bidding before you finally won me.”
“Cling to that memory,” she said with a laugh.
He joined her, even though she was having fun at his expense. There was something warm and almost adorable in her eyes that made him want to protect her. Much the same as he’d wanted to earlier when he’d realized she was trapped on the dance floor. But he’d never been anyone’s protector except Angelica’s. And she’d been safe because Rand couldn’t really fall in love with her. And he’d been doing it to pay back a debt. Business was the one thing he’d always been good at.
He was a loner by nature and he didn’t want to get too involved with Corrine. He let his arms drop, and the music ended a second later. There was confusion in her eyes. He knew he had to get away before he gave in to the temptation to take everything she had to offer. Because the woman he’d just held had a softness that she didn’t usually let the world see.
And that softness called to everything masculine in him. Made his chest swell and his muscles flex. It made him want to defend and protect her from everyone except himself. And Rand Pearson was no woman’s hero.
He’d learned that the hard way.
He pivoted to leave.
“Is this payback?” she asked.
He stopped and took her elbow to escort her off the dance floor. He’d never forgotten his manners before. He prided himself on always being a gentleman. Something his parents had instilled in him since he’d first known the difference between boys and girls.
He stopped at the edge of the dance floor and turned to thank her for the dance. But those gray eyes of hers made the words die unsaid.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
He walked away from her, knowing that he was going to need more than the words “never let the client get personal” help him this time. Because there was something about Corrine Martin that made him want to forget rules and lessons learned in life. And he was old enough to know better.
Two
Corrine neatly managed to avoid spending time with Rand until her first official date. She’d even corresponded with him through e-mail instead of calling him. His last e-mail had been brief to the point of seeming curt, but that didn’t bother her. She regretted the impulse that had led her to bid on him and wished that she had some way to go back in time and change things. Although she knew that time travel didn’t exist, she wished she could go further back than Rand Pearson’s appearance in her life and make some huge alterations.
Today was a sunny Saturday in March, and Paul Sterling, Tarron’s CEO, was having his annual staff party on his yacht moored in West Palm Beach. It was a two-hour drive from Orlando and Rand was picking her up.
She’d suggested meeting him there, but he’d sent back a reply saying only that he’d pick her up at ten. He pulled up at five till, and as he climbed out of his car and came toward her front door she wished again she’d never bid on him. Her pulse hammered, and everything feminine in her came to life.
She didn’t have time for this. She’d wanted to have an escort to social functions because she always seemed to be the only one alone. And it made her stand out. She hated to have attention drawn to her. She liked blending in
