Wendy Etherington - Irresistible Fortune

So if she was a little bitter toward vultures like Loff and Fortune, Brenna figured she had a right.

As Sloan returned to the desk, though, Brenna tried to set aside her personal prejudice and think logically. She wouldn’t give a student a hard time just because his parents were rude. Maybe she’d wrongly stereotyped Fortune. She wasn’t delusional enough to think good looks equated stupidity. Sloan didn’t look like anybody’s vision of a librarian, but she was brilliant at her job.

Though Fortune was still an ass.

There had been a fleeting moment when she’d thought she’d been wrong about him. When he talked about Captain Cullen, she’d sensed something in his tone. Excitement, maybe?

Then he’d admitted he’d simply read about it on the flight from Miami. He probably had a team of research assistants who culled together the facts he’d need to get through a press conference.

So what about the name change? Who had he been before? Why was it so important to protect that background? And why had he lied about his degrees? If he even had any?

No doubt being a brainiac didn’t fit with his barefoot-with-a-ponytail, beer-drinking, hard-loving image.

“Did I mention I’m throwing a party tomorrow night at my house?” Sloan asked as she took her spot behind the counter.

Brenna struggled to drag her focus away from Gavin Fortune. “Party?”

“Yeah. Just the society, some of the supporters and the mayor. It’ll be a social strategy meeting kind of thing.”

“Sounds fun.” And on a Friday night. See, Dr. Fortune, I have plenty of fun. She’d bet anchovy pizza wasn’t on the menu, either. How had he known about that, anyway? “Can I do anything to help?”

“Yep.” Sloan grinned, and for some reason Brenna didn’t like that smile one little bit. “Don’t go crazy on Gavin Fortune and his team. They’re the guests of honor.”

“You’VE NEVER HEARD the expression about catching more flies with honey? ”

Despite the fact that Sloan was digging her fingers into her arm, Brenna still wasn’t leaving the kitchen. There was no way she was facing that man.

Guest of honor indeed.

“‘The only way to have a friend is to be one,’” Brenna said in panic.

Sloan stopped trying to drag her to the doorway long enough to ask, “Yeats?”

“Emerson. I’m also rather fond of ‘Thou shalt not betray your friends for the sake of hot maritime archeologists.’”

“Is that in Deuteronomy or Numbers?” Sloan asked sarcastically.

“The Gospel according to Brenna.”

“I thought you said he wasn’t hot.”

Andrea Landry, another friend and Palmer’s Island High alum, pushed open the door. “No luck?” she asked, her gaze skipping over Brenna and going to Sloan.

“She’s stronger than she looks.”

“Should I get the sheriff?” Andrea asked.

“Is that really necessary?”

Both women ignored her, but Brenna was encouraged by realizing the sheriff probably had better sense than to get in the middle of a chick fight—even if he was married to one of the participants.

True enough, the next person through the door was Sheriff Tyler Landry, who took one look at the fierce expressions on Brenna, Sloan and Andrea’s faces and headed right back out again.

And he used to be a marine.

Not deterred in the least, her friends simply picked Brenna up and carried her through the doorway and down the hall.

Sometimes it really sucked being small.

After setting her down in the foyer, they nevertheless kept a tight hold on her arms as they inched into the front parlor. “Now remember,” Sloan said, waving at the mayor as he walked by them with a loaded plate of food. “We’re the bees, you’re the honey and he’s the fly we want to catch.”

Brenna shifted her stare from one friend to the other. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Not at all,” Andrea said calmly.

Sloan nodded sagely. “Without the metaphors, he’s a hot guy who likes hot girls.”

“And you’re a hot girl,” Andrea added, in case Brenna didn’t get the reference.

Brenna got it all right. But she didn’t want to. She didn’t like Gavin Fortune and didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

A picture of his damp, shirtless body flashed before her eyes, and her stomach clenched. She couldn’t be attracted to him.

It wasn’t fair that the only man who’d gotten her motor running in the last two years had the morals and character of a starving hyena.

“Sloan has bigger boobs,” Brenna returned, her heart racing with panic.

“The only hot, single girl,” Andrea reminded her.

“I don’t think he has too many standards in that area.”

“But Aidan and Tyler do,” Sloan said.

“Friends should come before husbands,” Brenna said, as her gaze flitted around the room in search of Gavin Fortune. She finally spotted him in the corner of the parlor, surrounded by—who else—a group of smiling women. And one of them happened to be Penelope Waters.

They couldn’t let him get his hands on an innocent like Penelope.

But why did she have to be the one to sail to the rescue? “Helen and Courtney are single.”

“But he’s interested in you,” Sloan said.

Brenna’s eyes widened. “So you want me to seduce him into meeting our demands?”

“I don’t know if you need to go that far …” Andrea began.

Sloan grinned. “But it couldn’t hurt.”

“We wouldn’t want Brenna to compromise herself.” Uncertainty slid across Andrea’s face, and Brenna felt a surge of hope.

“Who’s talking about compromise?” Sloan argued. “I bet he’s great in bed.”

“His body certainly seems fit,” Andrea said slowly. “And he doesn’t lack for confidence.”

Sloan sent Andrea a knowing look. “Seducing the man of your dreams worked for you.”

“Hellooo? Guys?” Brenna’s tone rose in alarm as she dug in her heels and brought them all to a standstill. They really were going to throw her at the wolf’s feet. “Remember me? Don’t you think I should have some say in this plot of yours?”

“No,” Sloan said at once. “You’re too emotionally involved.”

“And you’re the one who was so passionate about this project,” Andrea added. “Don’t you want to save The Carolina and her treasure?”

That was hitting below the belt. “Gavin Fortune is not the man of my dreams!”

“You wound me deeply with your barbs, fair Irish queen.”

Brenna’s gaze shot to the circle of women where Gavin had been standing only moments before. The women were there, but no Gavin.

He was standing right behind her.

She whirled, and her sudden movement caused Sloan and Andrea to drop her arms. She was finally free, and she longed to run, but she found herself rooted to the spot, caught by the laughing hazel eyes of Gavin Fortune.

How much had he heard?

“I’m great in bed, by the way.” His smile turned wickedly inviting. “I’m an avid swimmer, and you know, it’s all about stamina.”

And despite comments like that one, her body leaned toward him. It was humiliating.

Hadn’t she laughed at him the last time she’d seen him? Hadn’t she vowed he’d killed her attraction with his ridiculous lies about his credentials?

But were they lies?

When she remained furiously mute, Sloan and Andrea introduced themselves. The three of them exchanged pleasant chatting while Brenna’s blood pressure rose, and she fought to remind her libido that she wasn’t hard up enough to remotely consider throwing herself at her enemy. Even to protect priceless treasures. Even though the fact that he was within touching distance made her fingers tingle.

Along with other, more intimate body parts.