Free Intent to Seduce & a Glimpse of Fire by Debbi Rawlins, Cara Summers

had. He would never marry because he already had afamily—Sophie and the stepbrothers his father had left behind.
    MacKenzie Lloyd had seemed to understand and accept that. But maybe it had been the beer. Either way, she’d made him an offer he was finding it very difficult to refuse. The whole idea of researching men’s fantasies and then offering to make them into a reality for some lucky guy was…almost irresistible.
    When his cell phone rang, he put down his cloth and pulled it out of his pocket. “Yeah?”
    “As far as I can tell, Sophie Wainright is somewhere in this damn spa,” Tracker said.
    “As far as you can tell?”
    “I’m about fifty yards from the gates right now. The guard on duty says Sophie Wainright registered about three o’clock yesterday afternoon, but the people who run this place are a bunch of amazons who clearly have an aversion to men. If you have a Y chromosome, you can’t set foot on their sacred ground. I’d feel more certain if I could get in there and see for myself.”
    “A little paranoid, are we?” Lucas asked.
    “I’d prefer to think I’m being thorough,” Tracker said. “I don’t like that she pulled that switch on me, and I’d like to make sure she hasn’t pulled another one.”
    “Your pride is wounded.”
    There was a slight pause at the other end. Tracker’s drawl when it came was laced with humor. “Could be that. Could be the challenge too. I haven’t figured a way in yet.”
    Lucas grinned. “I told you your policy on not hiring women would come back to bite you.”
    “No way, boss. I only hire people I can trust, and I don’t trust the female of the species.”
    Lucas’s grin faded. “Should I be worried about Sophie?”
    “Not yet. If I thought she might be in danger, I’d go in there, grab her and get her out. And if you’re worried about Falcone, he and his son have both flown to California. I’ve got a man on each of them. If there’s any problem, I can be at the airport in an hour. Unless you want me out there right now.”
    Lucas considered it for a moment. “No. As long as you’ve got Falcone covered, you can indulge yourself with the challenge of getting into that all-female spa.”
    “Go ahead. Rub it in. What about the little doc? You find out what her problem is?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You want me to do something about it?”
    “No.” The sharpness of his own tone surprised Lucas.
    “You want me to butt out.”
    “Yes. No,” Lucas said on a sigh. Tracker was a man he’d trust with his life and the only man he’d ever trusted with details of his business deals. “I think I’m going to have to tackle it myself.”
    “It’s personal, I take it.”
    The delight in his friend’s voice had him frowning. “It’s complicated. And…it’s confidential.”
    “Goes without saying.”
    Lucas kept his gaze on the cabin as he tried to think of the best way to summarize Mac’s plan. Finally he began, “Long story short. She’s done some research on how to keep a man pleased…” His frown deepened. “No, pleasured is a better word. In bed. So far all her data has come from books and interviews, and now she wants to put it…into practice.”
    “On you.”
    “Or on some other volunteer.”
    There was a beat of silence at the other end of the phone. Then Tracker said, “What’s the problem?”
    “Maybe it sounds too good to be true.”
    Tracker laughed. “You got a point there. Your little scenario has just moved to the number-one spot on my favorite-fantasy list. If you turn her down, please mention my name as a backup.”
    “No.”
    Tracker gave an exaggerated sigh. “Hands off. I get the picture.”
    “It’s not that.” But Lucas was all too afraid that it was just that. For some reason, he didn’t like the idea of Mac taking her proposal elsewhere. It was bad enough to picture her with some anonymous man that one of her research contacts fixed her up with. But when he pictured her with Tracker, it was even worse.