a job with this kind of diversity?â
âNowhere, sir. Thereâs no doubt in my mind.â
âAll right. Nowâ¦Iâll be reachable most of next week, but primarily through my laptop. I can call you back, but I wonât have a cell phone turned on, until Iâm specifically looking for messages, so connection via the internet will be more predictable. Iâll be in Europe for the next four or five daysâIâm not sure of the exact stretch of time. It depends on what sheâs physically up for. To start off, I want to keep her away from disruptive noise as much as I can.â
âBut she canât hear, sir.â
âOh, yeah, she can. She hears too much. Thatâsthe core of the problem, Henry. The point, however, is that I canât give you a complete schedule of where Iâll be. I need to see how the next week goes with her. For her. Then some type of pattern should emerge.â
âYou donât need me for that week?â
âI need you all week. But for projects. Iâll catch a ride on the Cochran business jet.â
For the first time, Henryâs face showed expression. âYou know I can fly thatââ
âYes. I know you love flying anything. But I really need someone that I can completely trust on thisâsomeone who can keep their mouth buttoned. Youâre one of the few in the universe. This is going to take some major finagling to pull off.â
âPersonally, I think it takes a man whoâs out of his mind, sir.â
âYeah, that, too. You know, Iâm surprised the sister didnât threaten to sueââ
âShe did, Mr. Cochran.â Henry looked alarmed. âDidnât I already tell you that?
âYouâd have gotten around to it. And thereâll be more problems like that, for darn sure. Donât let it get your liver in an uproar.â
âI donât drink, sir. My liver is almost never in an uproar. On the other handââ Henry suddenly shot to an upright posture, looking in the doorway.
And there was Carolina, carrying a paperback, ablanket draped over her shoulders, barefoot, looking like a waif.
A waif.
Not a femme fatale. Not a cocky confident woman who knew her way around men and valued her own allure.
A damn waif.
Yet his pulse started slamming as if an alarm just went off.
Chapter Four
C onsidering that her entire life had turned into a massive, uncontrollable disaster, Carolina couldnât believe how well sheâd slept.
It was almost noon before she opened her eyesâand then she had to shake the clock, certain it had to be broken.
For the first time in weeks, though, she woke up chargedâmaybe not ready to climb mountainsâbut definitely in a hustle to yank on clothes and rush downstairs.
Halfway down the steps, she spotted Maguire sitting at the big table. One look, and her heart caught on a snag of emotion. Everything heâd told her last nighthad echoed in dreams, wild dreams, good dreams, all with the same underlying theme. She wasnât the only kidnappee. Maguire had had his soul kidnapped a long time ago, was stuck with an unpaid ransom just as she was. She had huge things she wanted to say to him today, huge things she wanted to do.
But abruptly she realized he wasnât alone. Another man was standing at the kitchen counterâHenry, she thought his name was. He was the man whoâd piloted the jet, but also who just seemed a critical employee for Maguire, from everything sheâd sensed and seen so far. When she called out a cheerful âHello!â though, his cheeks flushed like a boyâs.
Henry might be ultra-shy, but Maguire surged out of his chair as if jet-shot and jogged toward her. âCarolina! I was afraid youâd gone into a coma. You have to be starved. Or thirsty. Hell, I forgot, you lost your hearing again. Wait two shakes until I grab the netbookââ
She didnât sway because of