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a white, military-style shirt guided the boat toward Cardinal’s private island.
    Behind her the lights of the beachfront hotel began to wink into existence. A tiny village that skirted the
    hotel dotted the beach with a few more lights, but there was little else to relieve the darkness. This portion
    of the Mexican coastline was uninhabited for long stretches. It was an area the government was just
    beginning to develop for tourists, and as yet there were few signs of civilization near the resort.
    Angie had decided to wear a yellow-and-turquoise silk chemise tonight. When she saw the crisply
    attired launch pilot, she was glad she had. Alexander Cardinal was clearly a man who valued a certain
    degree of formality. Beside her, Flynn was dressed in his usual fashion: an open-throated shirt and
    close-fitting pants. The shirt was black tonight and the pants were charcoal gray. He had on the familiar
    worn leather belt and moccasins. The only concession to formality was the light-colored sports jacket that
    lay flung over the seat in front of him. Perhaps moccasins and a sports jacket were de rigueur in the various
    places around the world where he went to make his living.
    In that moment Angie didn’t care what he wore. She was just glad he was along for the ride. None of
    her uneasiness was diminishing as the launch approached Cardinal’s island. When she felt Flynn’s hand
    close lightly over her fingers, she realized he was aware of her wariness. She turned her head to smile at
    him.
    He smiled back, but didn’t try to shout above the roar of the launch’s motor. The balmy breeze rippled
    the black pelt of his hair. Angie reflected briefly that with his dark hair and eyes he might have had a
    Spanish ancestor somewhere on the family tree.
    She felt the impact of the dark gaze as he watched her and found herself flushing a bit. Firmly she
    focused her attention on the small island they were approaching. Matters had been friendly, polite and
    casual between herself and Flynn all day today. She knew it was best to keep them that way.
    But knowing that that was the wisest course had not deterred her from thinking about him for a long
    time before she went to sleep the night before. The memory of his large, strong hands on her body had
    ignited a sensual warmth in her that had taken a long time to fade. Her curiosity about what it would feel
    like to have him touch her had been partially satisfied, but the answers had only created more wonder and
    more curiosity.
    She was relieved that he had been so willing to allow her to call a halt in the garden. A part of her had
    been uncertain of just how cooperative he would be in a situation such as that. After all, a man in his line of
    work undoubtedly had to take his pleasures where he could or risk losing them.
    His line of work. The words echoed again in her mind as the launch pilot guided the boat into a small,
    shallow bay on Cardinal’s island. It was strange how neither Flynn nor herself ever mentioned his work
    directly in their conversations. He had told her about his visits to some strange, troubled places, but he hadn’
    t actually mentioned what he did while he was there.
    Angie hadn’t asked. She had guessed his profession soon after meeting him. There was a toughness in
    him that she knew intuitively went to the bone. The sometimes cynical, often laconic, fundamentally
    unyielding expression in his dark eyes was not the look of a stockbroker or interior designer on vacation.
    Everything about Flynn Sangrey warned that he knew too much about the violent side of life.
    And since Angie didn’t want to think about how completely separate his world was from her own, she
    didn’t ask him directly about his profession.
    She wondered if it was hypocritical of her to have asked Flynn for his services this evening.
    Before she could struggle with the ethics of the situation, the pilot had the launch tied up at the dock.
    Nearby rocked a gleaming white yacht that must