Free A Seductive Proposal by Caris Roane

interested.”
    “What are you interested in?” he asked.
    Carly answered his question with the first thoughts that came to mind. “The stars on a crystal clear night, the moon, the red earth, making sure my company keeps each of its drivers working to capacity, excellent health care, taking care of widows and orphans.” Having my arms around your shoulders as far as I can get them and settling my head on your strong, muscular chest. Listening to the strong beats of your heart…
    These unwanted thoughts made her sit up straighter. She reminded herself that she wasn’t skilled at all in handling mountain lions and that the margarita had made her lazy since the greater part had been consumed before the meal arrived. “Quint, can’t you forget about the winery? I’m not selling.”
    “But I would just be leasing your property for a month.”
    She scowled. Had she heard him right? “What?” Maybe she should listen.
    “I started at the wrong place. In this plan, I would just be leasing the winery for my Napa client deal.”
    She had a sense the lease was not the whole story. “What are you proposing?”
    “One month, a hundred thousand dollars and at an additional cost I would furnish the house according to your preferences. But there’s one more thing. I would want you to work with me, to help organize the Napa visit, orchestrate a simple itinerary for entertaining the guests, and be in the house during the long weekend of the visit. In other words, we’d be business associates until the deal closes which would be the last weekend in July.”
    “Let me get this straight. You want to pay me an enormous sum to make use of the winery, you want to furnish the house, and you want my help entertaining your guests?”
    “Yes. Exactly.” His eyes were still hooded. He breathed in even draws and appeared relaxed, but she could tell his entire body was tuned into her, waiting. In this moment, he was sexy as hell, all drive and dominance. “Do you have any other questions?”
    “I need to know what you would expect me to do as your business associate .”
    She had half thought he would sidle close and whisper bad things in her ear. Okay, maybe she hoped he would do that.
    Instead, he remained in business mode, still at full attention. “I need you with me on this deal one hundred per cent, the way you went about refurbishing the winery property. I’ll be sending you profiles of all six guests so that you’ll understand each like and dislike, quirk and eccentricity, strength and weakness.
    “During the weekend they’re with us at the winery, you’ll advise me from hour to hour with perceptions and suggestions. You already know this from giving Jeep tours, that each group is a living, breathing entity all on its own, with peculiar needs fixed to the moment. Some of the continual flux can be guided. Some can’t. But a decent amount of preparation will allow for adjustments along the way.”
    Carly met his gaze aware that he had just let her into his world and into the workings of his mind. He was so seductive in ways she was certain he didn’t even understand. She had anticipated a list of duties encompassing a tour-guide-slash-hostess role. She now realized she would be playing a much more intuitive, guiding hand. “Thank you for that.”
    He lifted his brows. “What do you mean?”
    “I’m flattered that you think I could be an asset to you in the process of landing your clients.”
    He turned into her, all his strength and confidence pouring over her like a Tsunami. “Why do you think I concocted this plan in the first place? After I saw what you’d done with your property, I knew you could do anything.”
    Dizziness hit her hard. His compliment coupled with the heat radiating off his chest worked on her like dynamite. She kept feeling explosions inside her chest. She mentally checked and found that he’d done some serious damage to the stone fortifications around her heart.
    She dropped her gaze to her