Free One Secret Night by Yvonne Lindsay Page B

thinks he needs the added protection, that is.”
    “Not from me, that’s for certain,” Isobel said firmly.
    All week Tamsyn had been passing remarks about her brother and Isobel that had been laden with innuendo, and all week Isobel had been deflecting them as carefully as she could. It didn’t help that every time she’d caught a glimpse of the man in question she’d felt her heart rate speed up while a flush of heat, and something more, spread through her body. Each member of the Masters family was charming and attractive, certainly more so than any one family deserved or ought to be, but Ethan seemed to be the only one who hit her hot button.
    “Have you met my fiancé yet?” Tamsyn asked. “Trent works for a law firm in the city—too hard, I might add. Trent, this is Isobel Fyfe. She’s the photographer I was telling you about. Isobel, Trent Mayweather.”
    “Pleased to meet you,” Isobel said, extending her hand.
    She was surprised when Trent only gripped the tip of her fingers and gave her a halfhearted shake. The action rankled with her and made her feel as if she was being treated as undeserving of the full force of his attention. Swiftly, she pushed her negative thoughts aside. The guy was probably only being polite and didn’t want to inflict a bone crusher on her. Besides, he was Tamsyn’s fiancé and the other woman was very clearly in love with the man at her side. There must be more to him than she was seeing at the moment. Maybe she’d just caught him at the tail end of a bad day.
    “And you,” he said in a voice as smooth as his GQ attire and expertly styled hair. “I followed your blog while you were in Africa last month. It’s great work you do there.”
    The guy jumped in her estimation.
    “Thanks. I do what I can to raise public awareness. I’m planning to head back after this assignment.”
    “But weren’t you—”
    “Invited to leave?” Isobel said with a broad smile. “Yes, but I have my methods. I’m confident I can get back and finish what I’d set out to do.”
    Trent nodded. “I admire your tenacity. I don’t think I’d be as brave.”
    “Actually, bravery doesn’t really enter into it,” she replied. “I’m sure you have situations in your work where you’re not prepared to back down, no matter the incentive to do so.”
    “You’re right,” he conceded. “Although the danger levels are perhaps a little less obvious in the Supreme Court.”
    Isobel laughed at his dry observation but the mirth dried in her throat as she caught sight of Ethan arriving and making a beeline directly for the beautiful Shanal Peat. As she watched, the other woman’s sea-green eyes lit up at the new arrival and her mobile lips curved into a smile of welcome. Isobel couldn’t ignore the stab of envy that pierced her as Ethan smiled with genuine warmth at Shanal and bent to kiss those lips. She turned her back on the happy reunion and focused anew on something Trent was saying. The last thing she wanted to do was be a voyeur...the second to last thing she wanted was to admit to herself why it bothered her so much to see Ethan up close and personal with another woman.
    She’d seen very little of him this week. She’d heard he’d been busy with the ferments and coordinating the cellar work, plus a Shiraz harvest from a vineyard outside the home estate, and he hadn’t even made it to dinner each evening. In fact, she’d heard more than enough about his day-to-day activities from Tamsyn whenever the opportunity arose. Now, finally in the same room with him again, every cell in her body urged her to turn around, to drink in the sight of him, to try and quell the yearning desire that simmered in her body and colored every moment of every day she was here.
    Sure, he was overbearing and a bit on the authoritative side. In most guys that was just too much. But in Ethan, especially here, in his home patch, it was simply who he was—like it or not. Each family member had their own