Free Snowbound with the Boss by Maureen Child

were, as a species, fairly suspicious, waiting for a woman to get that white-picket-fence gleam in her eye. A man had to stay wary just to make sure he had time to make a clean getaway.
    Sean had had it happen to him too many times to count. Every casual relationship he’d ever been in had eventually become a tug-of-war centered around marriage. He knew what the women were thinking—a wedding. Kids. Access to Sean Ryan’s fortune. Was it so surprising then that he immediately assumed that Kate was no different?
    But, of course, she was, he told himself grimly. Not only was she not interested in snagging him into some kind of relationship, but she also found the very idea laughable and that just annoyed hell out of him.
    â€œThe snow’s getting to you,” he muttered. It was the only explanation, Sean thought. “Being trapped with a woman like Kate is bound to make a man a little nuts.”
    She was like no one he’d ever known. She filled his thoughts, tormented his body and, at the moment, was working him like a slave driver. Sean was used to running meetings, winning over clients and snagging huge market deals. He had meetings. Dinners. Drinks with a client at some exclusive restaurant.
    What he wasn’t accustomed to was swinging a hammer. He’d already helped her pull up linoleum in one bathroom, tear down some hideous paneling in what would eventually be the first-floor game room and now he’d been tasked to tear up some—God help him— shag carpeting in one of the upstairs suites. He tightened his grip on the worn, wooden handle, slid the claw top beneath the edge of the faded floor covering and pried it loose.
    Carpet tacks gave, and Sean tossed the hammer aside to grab the rug with both hands. He pulled it up as he backed across the room and coughed at the years of dust flying into the air. It was hard, dirty work, and he was getting a new appreciation for the men and women who did this kind of thing daily.
    Women like Kate. When he first met her a week ago, Sean had seen only the coldly efficient shell of the woman. She knew her job and wasn’t afraid to stand up to Sean when she believed she was right. He’d admired that even while arguing with her.
    Now he knew more. Knew the heat of her, the passion bubbling right beneath the surface. Knew that even while she gave herself to him, she kept parts of herself locked away. It surprised him to realize how much he wanted to know what she was hiding. And why. She would close him out expertly at the slightest threat of getting too close.
    Like you? his mind whispered.
    Scowling, he told himself that everyone had secrets. Everyone had pockets of regret or guilt or misery tucked away that were rarely brought out to be inspected. His were his own business—hell, even Mike didn’t know about them—and so he would leave Kate with hers.
    What lay between them was desire born of convenience. That was it. So he’d work, he’d sleep with her and then when they finally got the hell out of this damned hotel, he’d go home. Where he belonged and where he could put this whole situation into perspective.
    â€œNice job.”
    She moved quietly. He turned to look at Kate, standing in the open doorway. Sean didn’t want to admit, even to himself, what seeing her wearing a damn tool belt did to him. She looked confident and too damned sexy for his peace of mind. Her worn jeans hugged her legs, the hem of her tunic sweater hung to her hips and her boots were as scarred as his own. The tool belt that was currently driving him insane fit her as undeniably as diamonds might another woman.
    Man, he was losing it fast.
    â€œThanks,” he said wryly. “But pulling up old carpet doesn’t take a lot of finesse.”
    â€œJust time and effort,” she agreed, then walked into the room and skirted around him and the roll of carpet. She went down to one knee to examine the wood floor that had been