To the Brink by Cindy Gerard Read Free Book Online

didn't beat around the bush, did he?
     
    She could think of a hundred reasons to say no. Starting with a self-confidence that made no bones about his plans for her and ending with the peal of her internal alarm system warning that he was a big juicy bite of something that might taste great but would be a whole lot more than she could chew.
     
    My God, the man was potent. And arrogant. And tempting.
     
    No wonder the ambassador had felt the need to warn her.
     
    And no, she thought again, Ethan Garrett was not the most stunningly handsome man she'd ever met, but she'd been right about the compelling part, because she was actually thinking about what an affair with him might be like.
     
    To compelling she added dangerous.
     
    "I believe the place cards have already been set out," she said at long last, not knowing whether the little skip of her heart was prompted by relief or disappointment that she'd come up with an excuse.
     
    "Place cards," he repeated with a frown.
     
    She nodded. "Afraid so. I imagine it's a little too late to adjust the seating now."
     
    "Ah, well." He smiled—another one of those devastatingly intoxicating smiles that did unreasonable things to her body temperature and respiration.
     
    With a nod and a respectful, "Ma'am," he left her in the middle of the room.
     
    Feeling like she'd been hit by a tank.
     
    When Darcy entered the dining room with Sandy Jankowski—a coworker in the vice consul's office—an hour later, it came as no surprise that the lieutenant was already seated at the table.
     
    "Who's the hunky SF lieutenant with the gorgeous baby blues?" Sandy asked with a grin. "And why does he look like he wants to eat you alive?"
     
    Sandy was a petite brunette with big brown eyes and an irreverent smile. She and Darcy had become fast friends in the year since they'd started their PCSs in Lima.
     
    "Ethan Garrett," Darcy said, and felt her pulse spike under his blatant scrutiny. "And to answer your second question, I have no idea."
     
    Sandy laughed at the bewilderment in Darcy's tone. "Were I you, I think I'd be finding out."
     
    "I don't know," Darcy said. "He might be a little too much for me to handle."
     
    "Sweetie. Those are the best kind. Now go forth and flirt before the poor guy busts a vein."
     
    Sandy gave her a gentle nudge in the lieutenant's direction and took off across the room.
     
    Inertia more than a conscious decision propelled her in his direction. He rose when she walked toward him, watched her with those hungry eyes. She felt an instant and alarming shock of an answering need.
     
    Oh yeah. This guy is colossal trouble.
     
    "Miss me?"
     
    She smiled, because for God's sake, what else could she do? "You're very confident of yourself, aren't you?"
     
    "Confident that I know what I want when I see it."
     
    She tilted her head. "I think I was right. You have been in the jungle too long."
     
    He chuckled. Like his voice, the sound was deep and throaty and embracing. She managed to stay on her feet, but it felt like her bones had just liquefied.
     
    "Well, would you look at this." He pulled out the chair beside his, feigning surprise. "What a nice coincidence. We seem to be seated next to each other after all."
     
    She glanced from him to the place cards that sat side by side amid fine china and polished sterling and paper-thin crystal and did, for a fact, have their names printed in gold script. She had no doubt that he was responsible for shuffling the seating arrangement with a nifty bit of sleight of hand.
     
    "Tell me, Lieutenant Garrett," she said as she took a seat. "Are you always this resourceful?"
     
    He bent down as he pushed her chair in for her. His warm breath whispered across her ear. "When compelled, yes."
     
    She stalled a shiver and smelled— "Cherry? Do I smell cherry?"
     
    He sat down beside her and reached into his breast pocket. She actually salivated when he produced an open roll of cherry Life Savers.
     
    "Oh my God. I