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

Tracker appreciated certain things about women, but he didn’t trust them. And it occurred to Lucas that he wanted very much to protect Mac from getting hurt.
    “If you’re worried about her being after your money, I think you’re safe there. I ran a financial check on her. She has a trust fund of two million from her parents, but she seems to live on what she makes as a full professor at the university. And she may get an influx of money in the near future. Several biotech firms are very interested in the research she’s doing. It’s some very promising stuff on slowing the aging process at the cellular level. One of them has been wining and dining her recently. That’s all I’ve got so far, but she sure doesn’t fit the profile of a fortune hunter.”
    “No, she doesn’t.”
    “One other thing,” Tracker said. “There was a break-in at her lab at the university. Must have happened whenshe was at your place on Sunday. According to campus security, there was no damage. Whoever it was got into the safe, but she told the police none of her research was stolen. She evidently keeps it elsewhere.”
    “Who would be after her research?”
    “I figured you’d want to know, so I put a man on it. I assumed that might be the problem she wanted your help with. Look, boss, I’m going to give you some unsolicited and probably unwanted advice.”
    “Tracker…”
    “No one works harder for your family than you do. Maybe it’s time you relaxed and had a little fun. I say go for it.”
    Tracker’s laughter was still ringing in his ear when he cut the connection. He’d come to pretty much the same decision on his own. If the doc was determined to create fantasies, he might as well be on the receiving end. Hell, he’d come up with several of his own he’d like to try out. And when the time came for the fantasies to end…he’d just have to let her down very easy. It was the one thing besides business that he’d worked to develop a skill for. He knew how to say goodbye.
     
    M AC CAREFULLY CONSIDERED the two bathing suits she’d packed. The one still lying on top of her suitcase was a black tank top with a matching thong. The one she was wearing was a whisper-thin piece of silky latex in a shimmering emerald green. It covered her like a second skin from her breasts to her thighs, and it did everything that Madame Gervais said it would—revealing practically everything and suggesting more. More importantly, it fit the particular fantasy she wanted to create.
    Picking up a flowered piece of silk, she wrapped itaround herself and tied it at the waist. Then she studied herself in the mirror and nodded.
    Guilt-free sex with a beautiful, young island girl—that was the fantasy she’d chosen. She’d thought of it when she’d been talking to Sophie. It supposedly appealed to most men. Music from South Pacific hummed at the edges of her mind as she ran through the details in her mind. It would help if she could get Lucas to go into the water with her. Supposedly, men had very erotic fantasies about mermaids too. And since she didn’t have the information that the questionnaire would have given her, a backup plan was a good idea.
    Moving closer to the mirror, she ran her hands through her hair and studied herself more closely. Madame Gervais had told her that the right clothes could make all the difference. Mac was beginning to believe she was right. The outfit she was wearing did make her feel different, more confident.
    When she stepped out that door, she was going to be a young girl who’d been born and raised in a village on this island. Lania was her name. And Lucas was a stranger who had been washed ashore by a storm. A dark handsome stranger she was strongly attracted to, a man whose touch she was beginning to crave. A man who would leave her soon, unless she convinced him to stay.
    On impulse, she picked up the string of pearls she’d taken from her bag and fastened them around her neck. They fit well with the