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man did all he could for Stone, to the point of being suffocating sometimes.
    “Yes, just me.” Stone shed the rest of his tattered clothing from the struggle in the alley and flexed his muscles. The last of the aches and pains rolled away. A glance at his arm showed no signs he’d been hooked to an IV. He rubbed the spot anyway. A nurse, he guessed, his Florence Nightingale. Sexy and beautiful, she was everything physically he could want in a woman. Was there more to her? “I want you to stay here and watch over someone for me.”
    “Watch over? Me?”
    Stone chuckled. “Aye, you.” He turned and brought a heavy hand down on his James’ shoulder. “All I want you to do is keep this particular woman from sleeping with any other man until I return. You can do that, can’t you, James?”
    His secretary’s mouth fell open, and then the fear died from his eyes to be replaced by his usual straightforwardness. “Can the lass be that special, sir? You don’t usually go in for women who are so wild that you have to worry the minute you turn your back. Most often, I have to beat them away with a stick when you’re tired of them.”
    James’ face took on a distinct look of disgust. Stone didn’t blame him, and he was right, the women Stone had taken into his bed tended to become clingy until he felt the need to break it off. No matter how much he reiterated that he was not interested in anything more than a physical relationship, they fell in love. Or thought they did. He wasn’t sure he believed it existed, so he couldn’t acknowledge their feelings were anything other than lust or infatuation.
    Stone felt the need to explain. “I have chosen her for my bed, but I haven’t taken her yet. I don’t want another man between her legs before I get there. Do you understand now?”
    Stone figured James was questioning in his mind where Stone had been all night if he hadn’t been bedding a woman, but Stone wasn’t going to tell him that part. James would just drive him further up the wall and delay Stone’s departure. Besides, he didn’t know if what happened tonight was him in the wrong place at the wrong time or if there was more to it. He’d have to investigate it when he got back.
    James bent to pick up his clothes from the floor and frowned at their condition. “Mind telling me why your clothes are this way, sir? You’re usually so well kept together.”
    “Not really, no.” Stone chose fresh clothes and tossed them on the bed. “I’m going to take a shower. Please put together a bag for me. I expect to be gone no more than a week. I’ll give you her name and address before I leave.” Stone started to close the bathroom door and paused. “James?”
    “Sir?”
    “I’m counting on you to keep her for me. I don’t care if she dates another man so long as she doesn’t take him home or he takes her home.”
    “Aye, of course, sir. Count on me.”
     
    * * * *
     
    The limo that had been waiting for Stone when he arrived at the airport rolled to a stop in front of his father’s castle. Stone shifted his shoulders and heaved a sigh. Now began all the pomp and circumstance, the self-importance that was what his father was all about. Perhaps he demanded so much of everyone around him because of his small stature, but it always grated on Stone that his parent expected him to be the same way. He was not like that. He didn’t need servants at his beck and call twenty-four hours a day.
    The chauffeur ran around the long vehicle and popped Stone’s door open. The man bowed almost to the waist. “Have a good day, sir. I’ll have your cases in, in a jiffy.”
    Stone nodded and headed up the steps to the entrance. Before he reached it, the door opened, and the butler bowed. “Mr. Hughes, sir. Good to see you.”
    “Lawrence,” he greeted the elderly man. “Is my father around?”
    “In his office, sir. He’s waiting for you.” The butler snapped his fingers, and a maid appeared to take Stone’s