Free To Catch a Groom by Rebecca Winters

nice that in this new century, the working class can enjoy their time off at the Splendido in exactly the same way as the aristocracy?”
    She’d posed the question while he pulled a life jacket from the footlocker.
    He flashed her a mystifying smile. “That all depends on what you mean by enjoy. The worker is there on borrowed time and limited funds which adds a certain…edge to the experience.” He moved toward her.
    The first mate exuded an urbane sophistication that sat at odds with the kind of job he did. He seemed too powerful a personality, too shrewd and intelligent to take orders from anyone else.
    Though he appeared perfectly at home on the boat, she was convinced he ruled another world apart from this one.
    “I wouldn’t know.”
    “Who could blame you. After all, you were born to be the Duchess of Kingston.”
    Though his silky observation had sounded totally offhand, Greer had the sudden revelation he was after her for whatever he could get out of her. Money…jewels…her virtue.
    It shouldn’t have shocked her. This was what she andher sisters had hoped would happen when they came to the Riviera. But now that he was calling her bluff in earnest, the charade no longer felt like a joke.
    To hide her dismay, she gave a careless shrug of her feminine shoulders, drawing his attention to the periwinkle silk blouse that crisscrossed the bodice.
    His bold gaze dropped from her curves to the wide belt cinching her waist. By the time his eyes took in the line of her matching skirt which flowed from the flare of womanly hips, he’d managed to squeeze every ounce of breath from her lungs.
    “It seems criminal to have to cover up what nature has so exquisitely endowed.” Without asking her permission, he helped her into the jacket and secured the front straps.
    After the way she’d plunged into the water at the hotel, she supposed he had every reason to believe she’d thrown maidenly virtue out the window long ago.
    Little did he know her primal instinct was to slap his face. For the moment, all she could do was keep up the pretense until she could get away from him.
    Restraining herself she said, “Seeing you busy like this at your job helps me understand why you were solicitous of my needs last night. Even to the point of returning my shoes? Has anyone ever told you you would make an excellent personal valet?”
    With those words, she thought his patrician jaw hardened just a trifle. “No. You’re the first. Are you offering me a full-time job?”
    “Would you take it?”
    “I would for the right price and benefits.”
    Her pulses throbbed. “I’ll bet you’re expensive.”
    “But that wouldn’t be a problem for you.”
    “You mean because I’m a duchess?”
    His lips twisted in a subtle smile. “Some titles have no money or property to back them up. But the pendant youwere wearing last night tells me you can afford my exclusive services.”
    It all got down to the pendant.
    “Ah, but for how long?” she asked with great daring.
    “For as long as we continue to desire each other.”
    Her body trembled. “I’m afraid you misunderstood me. I was talking about valet service only.”
    “So was I. Shall we test out one of my duties to see if my work measures up to your expectations?”
    In the space of a millisecond he’d tugged on the straps he’d been tying so that she fell against his hard, powerful body. Without the life jacket separating them, her heart would have jammed into his.
    His other hand cupped the back of her head where the gossamer strands brushed his fingers. He had the kind of strength that made it impossible for her to evade the insistent pressure of his male mouth. She was prepared to fight him with all her might.
    But when that mouth closed inexorably over hers, he didn’t swallow her alive in one gulp as she’d feared. Rather he played with her lips, nibbled on them, tasted them slowly, each time coaxing them farther apart, a little more and a little more.
    After their