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lips quirked up before he caught himself. Then he did it. He actually smiled. It was amazingly effective. She held her breath and felt every drop of blood zing through her. He was dazzling with that slow grin. It was sexy and, yes, she admitted, made him look a great deal younger. More manageable? Maybe not that—good Lord, he would never be that—but more approachable. More human, less warrior. Did he have dimples? God, she was in trouble.
    She smiled up at him. She couldn’t not have. He seemed to be trying so hard. At what, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know…but still.
    The man wasn’t a smiling kind of guy. Or a talker. But he was a persistent man. And she was beginning to feel like an entirely different kind of prey. He wasn’t out to kill. No, he was out for something altogether different and perhaps more dangerous. He definitely wanted to shake up her world. But telling her what to buy? With her own, or Uncle Sam’s, money? No, no, Mr Big Bad Wolf.
    “And this title, retired Major Ryland, gives you authority over my MasterCard?”
    His lips quirked again at that, then he nodded, straight-faced. “Damn straight, if you’re thinking of buying something that could cut your leg off.”
    “What if it only cut up all the wood in my backyard? Then would it be out of your jurisdiction? And oh, by the way, I don’t see any ocean around here, Major Ryland. Aren’t Navy men supposed to be near it?”
    “Still no, still in my jurisdiction, and I can visit the ocean. I’m retired,” he said, his grey eyes twinkling with a bit of humour. He was enjoying this. And man, oh man, was he good. And, God help her, was she in trouble. He had that ‘dark, but you can make me light’ thing going on. That was it. That was what drew her, the ‘bad boy needing to be saved’ thing.
    “Now, let’s talk about what else you have in that cart. Why do you need a new lock? Didn’t you just get the house? Doesn’t it have a security system?”
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa there, big guy. My house and my cart are not your concern. Really, I am perfectly capable of spending my money, making my own decisions, driving and oh…all that other stuff adults do. Brush my teeth before bed, drink beer…all that adult stuff.”
    “Adult stuff?” He shifted closer, reminding her how very much bigger he was. She had to look up or get lost in how his pectorals filled his lightweight shirt. Really, were those allowed? They looked like slabs of muscle.
    “What did you do in the military, Major Ryland?” she asked sweetly, to try to calm her racing heart. He smelt good, too. Darn it. Leather, horses and some male scent only he had, she was certain.
    A slow smile slid across his face. Odd…it seemed like he was remembering how to smile and now couldn’t stop.
    “Special ops. SEALs, Sunshine. Like me better now?”
    God, that explained so much, she thought—the attraction, the attitude, all of it. She tried to keep her reactions to herself and sniffed at him, “Not hardly. But it fits.”
    His brow lifted a tiny bit. Then his eyes dipped to her breasts before he met her eyes again. Had her nipples tightened? Oh, God, that was way too exciting. This was exciting. And had to be wrong.
    “I’m sure it will,” he murmured, moving into her personal space.
    He was throwing off heat like a furnace and she was tempted to back up, but Geez, the man was intimidating enough without knowing it.
    Then his words hit home. Oh, the devil. The man had a sense of humour. He was handsome, obviously smart, deadly with weapons and funny. Her stomach did a little dip on the rollercoaster called Russ Ryland. He was bad enough at a distance, but up close? He was more sexually attractive than anyone she’d ever met. She tried not to shiver, but heck, he was the only man she had ever been sexually attracted to who wasn’t on some television show. He looked like he could chew her up, for a long, long time, then spit her out and move on without a backwards