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account... and Kincaid is willing to pay anything to get you."
    All right. Fine. So he'd help his brother out of this pinch. But he wasn't going to be anyone's damn bodyguard. Instead, he planned to pull a quick in-and-out, scare the little princess into running home to Daddy—which was what Kincaid wanted anyway—and call it a wrap. End of story. Or so he'd thought.
    He glared toward the closed bedroom door where, down the hall, Jillian Kincaid slept in her bed.
    She hadn't freaked out like she was supposed to. She hadn't flown home to the nest. Which meant he was stuck doing the job he'd been hired to do: protect her.
    Restless, he sat up in her fancy bed, dropped his feet to the floor. Stiff-armed, he buried his fists into the mattress at either side of his hips and fought a wave of panic as the undeniable reality of this situation sank in.
    His brother was counting on him. Darin Kincaid was counting on him. And whether she liked it or not, Jillian was counting on him. On a freaking hero if you read the papers. A U.S. Army Airborne Ranger. Ex-Ranger. Past tense. Past life. Only the regrets had followed him into the present. He stared at the far wall and steeled himself against the irony. Bodyguard. Him. What a fucking joke. Yeah. He'd helped out at E.D.E.N., Inc., in his misspent youth. All of them had. A little surveillance now and then, but nothing heavy. Nothing like this.
    When in the hell had everything gotten so fucked up? Especially tonight.
    Nolan had thought Kincaid was exaggerating when he warned him that his only daughter was stubborn. She'd been terrified, but she'd stood her ground. Grudgingly he admired her for that. And for the spirit, if not the pride, that had prompted her to try to realign his jaw. It still throbbed like a bitch.
    "She's refused my offer to provide a bodyguard," Kincaid had said when they'd briefed earlier that day at E.D.E.N.'s suite of offices at the Forum on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. "She's not going to want you there. Make no mistake—I don't care what she wants. What I care about is keeping her alive.
    "It's up to you to figure out a way to convince her that you're a necessary evil. And I don't care how extreme your methods are. If you have to scare her half to death, do it. Just make sure she understands and accepts that either she comes home where I can protect her or you're there for the duration.
    "And Garrett, if anything happens to her..." Kincaid's voice had broken.
    Nolan had looked away, letting the man gather himself, recognizing, with an uncharacteristic kernel of empathy, that he'd just witnessed the publishing giant at his most vulnerable.
    "I'm counting on you to keep her safe," he'd finished, unnecessarily.
    No lie. Kincaid was paying E.D.E.N., Inc., megabucks to ensure Jillian remained in one piece. Nolan was still a little staggered by the figure Ethan had named.
    The vivid image of the stark terror etched across Jillian's face when she'd seen him step out of the shadows brought a small pang of guilt. But Daddy had said extremes. If there was one word Nolan understood, that was the one.
    He'd wanted her at her most vulnerable—hair wet, face void of makeup. That she'd been naked had been an unexpected bonus.
    Ok yeah. The woman was a walking wet dream.
    He dragged a hand over his face, stalling the thought before it got any further. He was only human. He'd had to endure her slow, unconsciously sensual strip while he'd hidden like a rat in her closet. Getting hard.
    He hadn't intended to play voyeur, but it hadn't mattered where he'd looked. There were mirrors all over the damn place. Was he supposed to cover his eyes when she turned that sweet little ass his way? Blush like a choirboy at the sight of those centerfold breasts?
    He got hard again just thinking about it. She'd been a gymnast once—Olympic quality according to her file. It showed in the slim lines of her hips, the flex of smooth muscle in her strong thighs and tight, high ass. Her breasts were