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gurney while her mind replayed all the ways Ross Cooper could destroy her.
    1. He’s a player.
    2. He’s a player.
    3. He’s a player.
    And that list didn’t include shredding her professional reputation if she got mixed up with her seemingly irresistible client. For that reason, these crazy lust signals her body sent needed to be smothered. Just wiped out.
    Fast.
    “Ow,” Mrs. Miller complained.
    “Hey, guys, go easy,” Ross said in a voice that was neither harsh nor gentle and enough to let the paramedics know they’d better take good care of their patient.
    I want him.
    So much for smothering the idea . Right now, she couldn’t get enough of this man lying on the floor comforting an aging woman.
    Complication. Huge one.
    She’d been hired by Fortuna’s owner and chances were, at some point, she’d have to play hardball with Ross. His and Don’s reactions to her presence this morning already hinted their irritation. Sure they’d accommodated her, but they didn’t want a consultant picking apart their operation. Who could blame them?
    The paramedics secured Mrs. Miller on the gurney and headed toward the exit. Ross turned back to Kate and motioned her to walk with him. “Sorry about this. When her son arrives, I’ll come back.”
    And now he was worried about ending their meeting. “It’s fine. Really. I can meet with Don while you’re gone.”
    “I shouldn’t be long.”
    “Take care of her. If you’re detained, I can come back tomorrow.”
    The exit doors slid open and Kate stepped into the warmth of an eighty-degree October day. Under the awning, the paramedics loaded Mrs. Miller into the ambulance.
    Ross turned to Kate before hopping into the back of the ambulance. “I’ll be back.”
    * * *
    After close to two hours spent with Mrs. Miller—God forbid her son should take a break from the Catwoman twins—Ross entered the executive suite scanning emails on his phone while he walked.
    The man’s mother—that fierce, amazing woman—was in the hospital and he couldn’t drag himself from the Bat Cave any sooner? Unbelievable. I should have kicked his ass right in the emergency room. At least he wouldn’t have had far to go for treatment.
    Marcia leaped from her chair, grabbed her notepad and followed him into his office. “How’s Mrs. Miller?”
    “She was in x-ray when I left. The doc doesn’t think anything is broken.” Ross tossed his phone on the desk, slipped off his suit jacket and hung it in the closet. A piece of lint—at least it better be lint—caught his eye and he swiped at it.
    “Did her son arrive?”
    Her son. The insensitive dickwad.
    “Yeah,” Ross said. “Eventually.”
    He drew air through his nose, held it a few seconds then slowly blew it out. He needed to get his head back in the game here. “I expect we’ll be rescheduling the twins.”
    Marcia scoffed. “I don’t know how I’d survive without this job. Endless entertainment.”
    “Job security.” He dropped into his chair, scooped the messages she’d left on his desk and rifled through the first few. Nothing urgent. Finally a break. “What’s happening here?”
    “I rescheduled the three o’clock for tomorrow. You’re going to have a long day. Sorry.”
    He waved it off. “No sweat.”
    “I put all the meetings in the afternoon though so you’ll have the morning to catch up from today.”
    How he adored her. “You’re the best.”
    “I know. You tell me all the time.”
    “As of thirty minutes ago Ms. Daniels was with Don. He said something about the wedding chapel.”
    And he yells at me about chasing women. Ross laughed. And didn’t that feel great after this day?
    At least Ross didn’t have any ex-wives who wanted to bury his cold, lifeless body in the desert. Don harassed him 24/7 about his penchant for redheads, but when Ross left a relationship he did it on friendly terms.
    “I’m not sure where they are now. Want me to call Don?”
    “Please. Tell him I’m back and can take