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delicately until she squirted it again. Waving all eight legs in concerted motion, it ambled along the ridge in her direction, undeterred by the spray.
    Penelope bolted for the exit.
    Before she reached the door, it crashed open, and blindly, she bounced off Charlie’s massive chest. He grabbed her shoulders to prevent her falling, then dropped his hands as if he’d burned them. “What is it?” he demanded, glancing over her shoulder in obvious expectation of a boa constrictor, at least.
    â€œT-tarantula!” Stuttering, Penelope pointed at the shower while easing toward the other room. She didn’t care that she wore next to nothing. Without a tub, only the minuscule tile wall separated her from that hairy, fuzzy, long-legged creature. She figured it could devour her foot in one bite.
    Charlie pushed past her, crossed the room, and jerked back the shower curtain without any concern for their safety. Maybe he thought those giant boots he called shoes could stomp a spider, but Penelope knew better. Inching farther away, she prepared to bolt.
    â€œThat’s not a tarantula,” he said in disgust, turning on a blast of water and sweeping the doomed creature into the downpour of the shower. “It’s just a big spider. They eat bugs, not people.”
    Charlie turned and caught a full view of Miss Penelope standing there, gasping in terror, a bath towel barely concealing the skimpy underthings she wore beneath. She’d removed the awful glasses but hadn’t taken her hair down yet. It escaped in wispy tendrils over skin so flawlessly smooth it could have been airbrushed like a Playboy centerfold. Despite her height, she had slender, delicate bones that made her look all legs and arms, probably because he couldn’t see anything in between. Charlie wanted to see everything in between. A powerful wave of lust ripped through him, urging him to do something utterly idiotic like cuddling her in his arms and reassuring her that she would be safe with him.
    She wouldn’t be safe with him. The first thing he would do was lay her on the bed and pump into her so fast she wouldn’t know what had hit her until it was all over. And then he’d use her for his own purposes. Finding Raul was more important than romancing a skittish blue blood like Miss Penelope Albright. She would scream bloody murder and have him arrested.
    Obviously, he wasn’t safe with her . But he’d better get used to it. He needed her as his cover. Steadying his rising impulses, Charlie clenched his teeth and tried to imagine her as a shrieking shrew from a TV sitcom instead of a flesh and blood woman.
    â€œThe spider’s gone. I’m going down to the lobby to make a few phone calls.” He waited for her to ease away from the door before heading out. He didn’t dare risk touching her again. His heart still thumped erratically from the effect of her scream and the feel of all that lush female flesh in his arms.
    â€œThe lobby?” she asked, darting a look toward the shower enclosure.
    â€œThere’re no phones in the rooms,” he explained patiently.
    Her head jerked up. “No phones?”
    He almost grinned at that. “No phones, no TV, no room service without prior notice. This is a getaway vacation kind of place. Relax, soak up the sunshine, enjoy the scenery. Who needs all the rest?”
    â€œI do,” she answered sharply. “How am I supposed to call Miami?”
    â€œCable phone in the lobby.” He liked making her eyes light with anger like that. It was safer for both of them.
    â€œI see.”
    She apparently didn’t like what she saw, but that was no concern of his. Having nothing else to say, Charlie departed, whistling.
    Out of sight of her royal highness, he applied his brain to the problem at hand. Assuming Raul hadn’t absconded with his money, he had to decide who would want to harm Raul as well as empty the bank account. They’d