“Shit!”she screamed to the cavernous car. Grabbing her carry-on bag and throwing itover her shoulder, she climbed out of the car, kicking the tire as she passedto stalk down the road toward her hotel.
Afterten minutes of trudging through the mud and the rain, the gods smiled on her asshe saw the sign for her hotel. Picking up the pace, she sprinted across thedark parking lot. As she approached the front door of the hotel, she spottedMAD-1 sitting under the covered entry way. The stress of the day broke free asshe watched the young chauffeur get out of the driver’s seat to open the backdoor. Meg saw red as she headed for the man who made her wreck her lousy rentalcar. Out of the corner of her eye she watched a man and woman emerge from thecar, but her entire focus concentrated on the cocky blond driver. Walking up tohim, she put a finger in his chest and let loose.
“Youstupid, ignorant, son of a bitch,” she screamed at the startled man. “You couldhave killed me. You aren’t fit to drive a bicycle, let alone a limo. And as ifthat’s not bad enough, you leave me stuck in a damn ditch by the side of theroad in a storm in the middle of the night. I should call the police and haveyou arrested for reckless driving. I should—”
“Excuseme, miss,” a calm voice said behind her. Turning, Meg looked up into the face ofone of the most handsome men she’d ever seen in her life. Standing behind himwith her mouth agape was his perfect female counterpart—an equally beautiful,actually stunning—brunette. Unfortunately, the man’s extraordinary good looksonly deepened her fury as she took in his dry, immaculate,not-a-hair-out-of-place appearance.
“Andyou!” Meg could hear the hateful words spew from her mouth, yet she was unableto stop them. “You sit in that goddamned car like some kind of king and don’teven tell him to stop. Clearly you must have more money than brains consideringyou would hire him to drive your fancy car.”
“I’mafraid I’m not sure what you are talking about,” the man answered smoothlydespite her insults.
Furtherangered by his calm demeanor, she continued berating him. “Sure you don’t. Thatman runs me off the road not ten minutes ago and you don’t have a clue what I’mtalking about.”
Theman glanced sharply at his driver. “George, is this true?”
Lookingat his feet, the young chauffer appeared chagrined by his actions. “I didn’tknow she ran off the road.”
“Youdidn’t know? Did you pull over to check?”
“Wewere on a tight schedule,” George mumbled. “Already late.”
“Rob.”The attractive woman from the limousine was clearly uncomfortable with thecoming confrontation. “I’m going to go in if you don’t need me anymoretonight.”
“Ofcourse, Lana,” Rob replied, “it’s late. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight,” Lana purred softly before making her elegant departure. Meg had torestrain herself from rolling her eyes at the woman’s red carpet worthyperformance and the two men gawking at her pert little behind as she strolledaway.
“Andthe Oscar goes to…” she mumbled.
“Ibeg your pardon?” Mr. Gorgeous asked.
“Christ,”she muttered as all the fight left her. “Forget it. I’m wet, cold, hungry, tired and quite frankly, I don’t give a shit aboutany of this anymore. Bye.” Meg was well aware that her departure—unlikeLana’s—was less than stellar with water streaming off her now see-through pinkblouse, mud squishing between the toes of her sandals and her mass of curlyblond hair hanging in her face.
“Miss,”the elegant man named Rob called out to her, but Meg kept walking. The end ofher hellish day was in sight and nothing was going to stop her from soaking ina nice hot bath, crawling between the soft cotton sheets of her king-sized bedand sleeping until noon.
Thenight clerk at the front desk seemed to take in her dirty, wet appearance withdisdain. “May I help you, ma’am?”
“Yes.”Meg rummaged through her damp bag for her hotel confirmation number. “I have areservation. My name is Meg Williams. I have the confirmation number heresomewhere. Oh yes, here it is.” She pulled out the crumpled computer printoutpage with her reservation information.
Glancingat his computer, then at her paper and then back at the computer, the man’searlier haughtiness disappeared before he tugged at his collar and sighedheavily. Meg closed her eyes and waited for the words she’d heard so many timestoday.
“I’mvery sorry, Ms. Williams. There seems to be a problem with your reservation.”
“Ofcourse there is,” she answered woodenly. “Let me guess, my name isn’t in yourcomputer and you don’t have any more rooms.”
Theman actually flushed. “Well, actually, yes, that’s true. You have to understandCupid’s Carnival is our busiest weekend.”
“Saveit.” Meg cut him off with her hand. “Are there any other hotels nearby?”
“Thereare,” the man began, stumbling before adding, “however—”
“They’reall booked too.”
“Thereisn’t a single vacancy on the island.”
Lookingaround, Meg spotted the hotel bar.
“Howlate is the bar open?”
“Untilthree a.m.” The clerk wasclearly surprised by the fact she wasn’t arguing more.
Numband exhausted beyond belief, Meg merely nodded before walking away. All the fighthad been beaten out of her. Eros Isle had officially kicked her ass. Draggingher shoulder bag on the ground behind her, she trudged toward the bar, unableto think beyond what drink she was going to order.
Chapter Two
Robwatched the petite blonde who had attacked his driver so fiercely limp towardthe hotel bar. After she’d left him in the parking lot, Rob questioned Georgeabout the incident, only to discover that his foolish chauffer had indeed runthe poor woman off the road. George—a last minute replacement for his regularchauffer—had apparently thought to impress Rob by getting him to the hotel fromthe airport in record time. The only problem was Rob had been too tired tonotice the man’s reckless attempt. He hadn’t wanted to confess to the angrywoman he had actually been asleep during her terrible ordeal.
“Ah,Mr. Madison,” Pierregreeted him from behind the desk with a genuine smile. “Welcome back.”
“Thankyou Pierre. Itwas quite a trip, I’m afraid. Everything okay here?” Rob couldn’t help but lookback toward the bar. The blonde had disappeared inside.
Noticinghis glance, Pierrelooked uneasy. “I’m afraid the infamous Timothy has struck again.”
Robhad to fight
