He stuffed his hands in his pockets as she closed the door. A flush spilled over his cheekbones. "I saw you with that man in the alleyway near the community center."

"Ronan Kieran?" She put her hands on her hips. "I don't know if I like you spying on me."

The flush increased, easy to see with his pale skin. "I wasn't spying. When I drove away I saw you there with him. I noticed him at the meeting, and when I asked a couple of people about him, they didn't know who he was. So when I saw you with him it worried me."

She crossed her arms. This was getting better and better. "Yet you left the parking lot.

You didn't stop and check on me."

Guilt crossed his features. He licked his lips. "I figured you'd pull one of your independence routines and yell at me."

Not impressed, she twisted her mouth into a semblance of a smile. "You're probably right." She sighed. "Ronan is visiting friends in town. He's harmless."

"You knew him before you came back to town?"

"It's a long story, Jim."

His eyes took on a harder mien, as if he didn't quite like what he heard. "I also saw him give you the fanny pack you lost at the graveyard."

She rubbed a hand over her face and decided to tell the truth. She reported a quick run down of the mugging in the graveyard and the fact Ronan came to her rescue.

Jim didn't say anything for a second, then he leaned back against the dresser and shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me last night at the community center what happened?"

She decided being candid again would be the answer. "Because I was tired. I didn't think it was important."

His frown reminded her of the night they'd broken up not long before she left Pine Forest. She saw the same stubborn expression. Twelve years ago they'd fought about her beliefs and what she saw in the future for Pine Forest. She knew for certain things couldn't be different between them.

When he didn't speak, she said, "Jim, this isn't going to work if you're intrusive into my personal life."

As he nodded, he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "I know our breakup went pretty badly. But we can start fresh."

She made a small sound of disbelief. "A professional relationship only. And I'm not even sure if we can have that."

His eyes narrowed. "We're not the same people we were then."

She glanced at the digital bedside clock and it read eight-thirty in the morning.God, she hadn't slept this late in a very long time. "Can't we talk about this later? I've got to take a shower and get dressed. Can I call you?"

"Sure." He didn't sound too pleased. He gave her his cell phone number and she scribbled it on a hotel message pad on the small desk.

She opened the door for him, and he turned as he stepped out. He took her hand in his and grasped her wrist for a moment as if he couldn't stand to let her go. When his fingers tightened in one of those sharp, man-doesn't-know-his-own-strength ways, she winced and pulled her hand from his grasp.

Without another word, he went down the hallway. She flipped the lock when she closed the door, then leaned back against the cool surface and closed her eyes.

Just wonderful. Barely a day in town and two men seemed intent on driving her batty.

She ran her hands over her face and yawned. She needed to get moving but she still felt exhausted. Falling face downward on the bed, she groaned. This expedition to Pine Forest had started with a bang. Maybe, if she was really lucky, nothing more exciting would happen.

If she could only believe that.

She rolled over on her back and sighed. Tiredness won out and she fell asleep again. She didn't know how much longer it was before she realized someone was in the room with her. On the bed.

Her eyes popped open in panic.

Ronan Kieran's face appeared in her line of vision, and she flailed at him instinctively.

With one hand he pinned her wrists above her head, then put his other hand over her mouth. He used his leverage to hold her down.

"Quiet," he said with a low, soft voice. "Someone will think you're being harmed."

Oh, myGod! How did he get into my room?

As if sensing her compliance, he took his hand away from her mouth and released her wrists. Even with his immobilizing grip he hadn't hurt her.

When she dared look at him, his eyes burned with a fiery gold more breathtaking than anything she'd seen. She moaned as a strange sensation slithered through her midsection, then bolted straight between her legs. In an instant her senses went on high alert. Her breathing quickened, her skin heated. His musk, a combination of his leather coat and something uniquely male, made her heartbeat stutter. Every long, hard muscle in his body seemed to touch her. She could feel his chest moving, his body poised on the verge of action.

Danger, she'd heard, could heighten the sexual appetite, and this man spelled perilous in capital letters. He must be throwing hormones off in spades, because all she wanted to do in that one, startling moment was to spread her legs for him.

Sharp and breathtaking, the instantaneous sexual feelings upset her more than his appearance in her room. When she'd encountered him twice yesterday and experienced the same insane excitement, she thought maybe her imagination played tricks on her.

Yet he appeared in her bedroom, almost lying on top of her and she liked it. No, shecraved his warmth and hardness and unbelievable musculature pressed along her body.

He shivered against her and whispered, "Mother Mary, that's incredible. So hot and new."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Your sexual needs. I can feel them in my body." He closed his eyes, and his sinfully thick, dark lashes fanned downward. "You haven't had a man in a very long time."

Astonished at his straightforward, outrageous statements, she gaped at him. "I beg your pardon?"

He opened eyes. Without smiling he said, "You sound like an outraged virgin."

A gasp escaped her before she could think how it sounded. "Ridiculous. I may be outraged, but I'm not a virgin." Her face blazed with embarrassment.Damn him all to hell.

A laugh, half-mocking, half-enjoyment, slipped from his mouth. "Some would say I'm already in hell."

Shock silenced Clarissa better then a slap in the face.He read my mind.

Heat flickered in his eyes and restarted that stunning fire deep in her groin. Whether she liked it or not, whether she wanted it or not, it seemed this man attracted her on a deep, primitive level.

He frowned. With a feather-light touch, he brushed his fingers over her jaw line.

"There's a tiny bruise here. Does it hurt?"

"No."

Feral intent erupted in his eyes, vengeance clear in the tilt of his mouth. "I might reconsider harming the pirate that did this to you."

Fear jumped past the arousal, and she twisted on the bed and tried to knee him in the groin.Growling low in his throat, he settled his long, powerful leg over both of hers, drawing her thighs together in a tight grip.

"Stop struggling," he said near her right ear. "I'm not here to hurt you."

She trembled as genuine fear struck inside her body like lightning. She swallowed hard.

He twitched one eyebrow and she knew he'd thought of it already.

"If you're not here to hurt me, why didn't you just knock on the door?" she asked with venom.