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father?”
    “At Ruth’s.”
    “Ew, he spends the night?”
    His ripped chest shook with laughter, the thatching of muscle contracting with each whoop. Magdalena swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth.
    “He’s been staying over a lot lately.”
    “Fine,” she said, halting any elaboration with a thrashing hand. “Where’s Baine?”
    “Away on business.”
    “Right. I’m going to figure you two out one of these days, but not today. I’ll get out of your hair, so you can finish whatever it is you’re doing.”
    Mags went to grab her bag, but Law’s thick fingers curled around the strap and hoisted it effortlessly. His chin nodded toward the door. “Sorry, but you’ll have to stay in the main house tonight. The water is shut off and I won’t be able to finish until tomorrow.”
    “Fuck.”
    “Anytime,” he said.

5
    A s far as tactics went it wasn’t the nicest approach, but it seemed to have the desired effect. Magdalena’s body stiffened like she’d been hit with a low voltage Taser. She’d label him an ass in fifty different ways, but that he could handle. What he could not manage was her attention. Her body.
    The sweet way her shapely contours had melded into him knocked Law with a blow rivaling his HELO crash in Nanyuki, and another hit he couldn’t think about. His reaction to the impact of her gaze and the lusty intent that twinkled in her eyes had been a testament to his wherewithal. He should still be laid out ass-over-elbows from it, but the need to get her the hell away from him broke rank over his raging hard-on.
    Thank holy hell.
    Magdalena rallied, plucking up a duffel. She rushed for the door. Her sloppy mane brushed over her back and shoulders. It cascaded down her front and the memory of her peek-a-boo cleavage assailed him then combined with his imagination. He pictured Magdalena’s sand-blonde locks teasing the ample swell of her breasts, revealing only hints of her tight little nipples underneath. Law swallowed hard against the dryness of his throat and cursed himself for the unnecessary torture.
    When they exited the house and the moonlight caught on her perfect apple-round bottom as it swayed from side to side in her effort to outrun him, Law’s heart skipped a beat.
    “How long are you planning to stay?” The nonchalance of his tone disguised the desperation for her speedy exodus.
    Her delicate hands choked at her sides and she swung them like tiny battering rams on her way across the gravel to the main house. She slowed at his question, cocking her chin to the sky. “Judging by the moon, I’d say three or four hours tops.”
    Law’s perception had been correct. She had some kind of trouble on her hands, but he dismissed the urge to help her. No, urge wasn't the right word for the hulking, primal need to protect the woman before him. The sassy sway of curves screwed with his already chaotic state. He banded the hunger in solid restraints to save himself guaranteed heartache.
    With two swift strides Law beat her to the rear entrance and opened the door. “After you.”
    Magdalena skirted him warily, slipping as closely as possible along the frame and as far away from him as she could get.
    “I won’t bite you, Magdalena.”
    Her head snapped toward him and her emerald gaze pinned him to the door. Her expression was meant to rebuke, but the soft sea-green drew him. As did the moue of her already pouty lips.
    “I might bite you ,” she warned.
    And I’d like it way too much.
    Law compressed his lips together to keep a smile at bay, and her glower seemed to intensify. She slung the bag in her grasp up her arm and settled it onto a shoulder. With an exaggerated kick of her hip, Magdalena settled a hand at the small of her waist and thrust her other hand at him.
    “Give me my bag.”
    Since it was best for them both to retreat to their separate corners, he kicked the door shut with his boot and complied, handing over the luggage. When Magdalena accepted the weight she