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  Copyright © 2011 Shunta Montgomery

  All Rights Reserved

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Publisher’s Note:

  Seducing the Bodyguard is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, event or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Special Thanks

  Thank you, Barb, for catching the mistakes I missed. Your assist with editing has been wonderful.

  Thanks to all of my readers for showing your support for my work by buying and reading my books.

  By Capri Montgomery

  Shadow Hills No Valentine

  Shadow Hills Fallen Hero

  Fahrenheit

  Secrets and Lies

  Returning Sheba

  Saints and Sinners

  The McGregor Affair

  Dream Walker

  The Geneva Project

  The Admiral’s Daughter

  Dangerous Obsessions

  Watch Over Me

  Murder Unveiled

  And Many Others…

  Coming Soon:

  In March: Shadow Hills: M is for Murder, book three in the Shadow Hills Series.

  In April: Vendetta, book eight in the Men of Action Series.

  Seducing the Bodyguard

  by

  Capri Montgomery

  Chapter One

  “I told you once,” Harrison snapped. “I do not need a bodyguard.”

  “Look, Harrison, be sensible. Zenya went through this. She had some crazy person sending her letters too and those letters turned into something worse, something far worse. Now don’t take this “fan adoration,” as you call it, so lightly. This woman is crazy? What if she tries to kill you? Somebody has already broken into your place.”

  “Don’t,” he said with conviction. “Don’t compare me to your cousin. She’s a woman. She had some crazy guy after her and of course she needed a bodyguard. I’m a man,” he said as if that should be enough evidence in his defense.

  Some woman had been sending letters that started off with adoration of his work, turned to comments about his “sexy” body, then to references of love. The love letters turned to erotic poetry and it had been getting steamier ever since. It was cute at first, shocking second, and downright annoying now. But crazy love, or lust, filled letters weren’t reason for him to wimp out and take on protection. Plus, there was no guarantee that this letter writer was the same person who broke into his place while he was out of town. “You worry too much Geneva. I said no to the bodyguard before—several times actually, and I’m saying no now.”

  “Drake,” Geneva tossed up her hands in frustration. “Please talk some sense into him.”

  “Your husband can’t make me change my mind. He might think he’s some super hero, but I can be just as stubborn. My no, means no!” He yelled at her, stressing his words so hard that he couldn’t believe neither one of these crazy people he called relatives could understand the words coming out of his mouth.

  “Fine, what if this woman attacks you one night?”

  “Like that’s going to happen,” he snorted. “I’m over six feet tall. I’m built like a fortress. Do you really think some little woman can hurt me?” He laughed.

  “She could cut off your dick,” she mumbled.

  “Ouch,” he placed his hands over his family jewels before he started laughing. “Doubtful though,” he shook his head. “I’m going to get going. I have a plane to get ready to catch.”

  “Your flight leaves tomorrow. Tonight you are going to meet with this bodyguard,” Geneva tacked her hands to her hips. “Please? Just humor me, Harrison.”

  “Fine,” he tossed up his hands. “But my answer is still no.”

  Drake shook his head as he walked over to the door to his home office. “You can come out now.”

  Harrison hadn’t bothered to turn around from the spot where he stood looking out the window at Drake’s backyard. He wouldn’t put up with this any longer. This was going to be the final time these two ambushed him with a bodyguard.

  “Harrison Sinclair, this is Valencia Dugan-Mishoto.”

  The feminine sounding name made him turn around. What met his eyes was something he hadn’t expected. What he expected was a hefty woman dressed in a man’s suit wearing her hair in a bun…something like the lunch lady at the private school he went to when he was a child. But what he saw was sheer heavenly beauty.

  She was beautiful, absolutely, radiantly beautiful. She had long dark hair, silky smooth like that of an islander. Her skin was a nice brown sugar meets pure honey color, and her eyes, even though they were dark as onyx they were big and shapely. The whites of her eyes were bright. The high cheekbones and moderately plump lips accented her oval face perfectly. And her body. Wow! What a body! She was short, thin, complementary curves and small breasts, but she was solid. He could tell all that from just looking at her. The perfectly tailored pants suit and four-inch heels made her lean, yet muscular, legs appear longer and sexier. What he wouldn’t give to have legs like that wrapped around him. Oh yeah; she was hot.

  “She’s kind of small,” he said looking at her. Even with the heels on he still towered over her. They expected that little thing to protect him? Laughable at best, he thought.

  “And that is where people make their first mistake,” she said smoothly. Her voice was like the voice of an angel. He wondered if she’d sing like one when he ran his tongue up her belly and tasted her smooth-looking skin.

  “Where’s that?” He forced the words out of his mouth. He could barely concentrate on business for concentrating on all the lustful thoughts going through his mind.

  “They judge the book by its cover. I’m lethal,” she assured him. “But people see a small woman, with a small voice, and youthful looks and they underestimate me. They think I can’t possibly be a threat. What they fail to realize,” she stepped closer to him, “is that even a small book can be deadly.”

  “Seriously,” he mumbled. “I doubt you can do the job. I feel as if I should be protecting you.”

  “I see,” she looked him up and down once. “Try me.” She tossed her dossier on the coffee table. “I promise I’ll try not to hurt you.”

  He laughed. Right, she would try not to hurt him. Sure, like he had to worry about that.

  It wasn’t her dare for him to try her that got him going. It was the thought of pinning that body beneath his, feeling her wiggle beneath him. He was already hard as a brick. Speaking of the jewels, “no below the belt,” he told her. That’s the first place women tried to take a man out.

  “I won’t need to.”

  “Geneva, come over here.” Drake reached for her. “I don’t want you to accidently get hurt in this.”

  “I wouldn’t hurt her. She’s my sister.” Harrison tossed a pointed look in Drake’s direction. He wasn’t a woman beater by any means and he’d feel guilty forever if he accidently hit Geneva. He would feel guilty if he hurt the cute little thing in front of him too. He could pull his punches and just use enough force to prove his point. She was too small to protect him.

  “It’s not you I’m worried about.” Drake freely admitted.

  Harrison laughed before shrugging. “Ready?” Maybe once he had proven his point he could take her back to his place and impress another point on her—or in her. He grinned just thinking about t
he fun he could have with that little body.

  “Always,” she grinned. “I’ll even let you throw the first punch.”

  He chuckled. “Baby, I’m going to hurt you if I try to punch you.”

  “Oh, how sweet. Here, I’ll turn around and you can take me however you want then.”

  He growled low. He wouldn’t mind taking her from behind at all. And what a behind it was! Shapely; so shapely he wanted to reach out and touch it.

  He wrapped his arm around her from behind, one around her neck and shoulder and the other around her waist. She did a fast run up the wall, flipped over his head making him break his hold on her, did a sweep kick to his leg, grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back as she pinned him to the floor with her high heeled boot pressed against his spine.

  “Any harder and you won’t have to worry about walking again,” she said as she eased her foot off his back, but kept his arm twisted behind him as she brought her body down on his, sitting on top of him as if she were mounting a horse. She brought her mouth close to his ear. “Would you like to try again?”

  If it meant having her on top of him, sure, he’d try again. “Let me up and I’ll make sure you don’t get the upper hand again.”

  “All right,” she dismounted him and stood, waiting for him to come at her. She took a defensive stance with one arm out toward him and silently, as if taunting him with her eyes, she beckoned him forward with a slight forward motioning of her fingers.

  He came at her hard, throwing a punch, which she blocked, then another punch, which she also blocked. She stepped back, giving him time to compose himself. Maybe that angered him more because it was as if she wasn’t even trying to defend herself. As if she thought he wasn’t worth the effort.

  With his ego bruised he started throwing punch after punch which she blocked or dodged. He tried a sweep kick and she jumped up to evade it. He grabbed her arm, thinking he had her now, but once again she just ran off the wall sideways, got around to behind him, did a quick sweep kick that brought him to the floor again. This time he hit hard. She wasn’t cushioning his fall this time and he felt every fiber of the tile floor biting into his chest.

  “Give up yet?”

  “No chance in hell,” he pushed himself up. No way was she going to win. He had to retain some of his dignity here.

  “Harrison, maybe you should stop now.” Geneva warned him.

  “I’ve got this.” He was finished playing. He was about to show this sexy vixen exactly what he could do to her. No way was he going to lose this time.

  “How would you like it, sir?” Valencia’s eyes were neutral. He couldn’t tell if she was enjoying this or not, but he thought she was.

  “Hard and deep baby,” he lunged at her, ready to take her out with a full on assault. She had asked for it. Normally he wouldn’t want to hit a woman, but this was not just a woman, she was…well hell, he didn’t know what she was, but he knew she wasn’t going to win simply because he didn’t want to hurt her.

  Instead of getting the upper hand he craved, when he grabbed her she had shifted out of his hold so fast it nearly knocked his head off. She twisted his arm behind his back again and took him down hard to the floor with another swift kick to his ankle. This time she sat atop his back pressing her weight against him. She was light. It felt as if he could probably lift six times her weight from this position, but somehow she managed to immobilize him.

  She leaned in close to him. Her face was close to his ear. “It appears a little woman can hurt you,” she nearly purred in his ear. “Would you like to continue to play? Or have I proven myself to you?” Her voice was soft like a whisper, and seductive. He had just got a world class beat down from a five foot tall, one hundred pound woman and here he was hard as stone.

  “You win,” he said. “For now.”

  She laughed as she got off top him and offered to help him up. His pride wouldn’t let him accept her helping hand, so instead of reaching up to touch those tiny fingers he helped himself up.

  “Harrison,” Geneva softened her tone. “You need somebody to look after you.”

  “Harrison Sinclair does not hire bodyguards. A man has a reputation to protect.”

  Valencia smiled. “It appears to me that a dead man has no use for a reputation.”

  “It’s not that bad. It’s nothing.”

  “It’s nearly seven months of crazy fan letters, Harrison. Please?”

  Despite Geneva’s plea Harrison just wasn’t ready to admit all around defeat. “I can’t walk around with a bodyguard—especially one like her. What will people think? The media will have a field day with this.”

  “Maybe you can just say you’re training her as a new assistant.”

  “I already have an assistant. And everybody knows after Lani Davison I’ll never go the route of a female assistant again.” He shivered just thinking about crazy Lani. His biggest mistake had been hiring her.

  “Perhaps we can come to an arrangement,” Valencia smiled. “I will play the girlfriend—in title only, and in public only, but in private I will wear only one suit, and that will be the suit of the bodyguard. To your public I will appear as just a woman by your side. But I will always be the bodyguard protecting your life. Nobody else has to know that except the people here in this room.”

  He thought about that real hard, and real long. With her playing the role of the girlfriend maybe he could get a taste of that mouth of hers, see if it’s as sweet as she sounds. He could also have that hot little body pressed against him in ways that would make him ache for more. Oh, that could be a problem. He wouldn’t be getting any release for that ache. She had pretty much made that clear with her “in title only” statement. He licked his lips as his eyes roved over her body. “Okay,” he said. “But I’m not stationary to D.C.”

  “Neither am I;” she assured him.

  “Where are you from, originally?”

  “Hawaii,” she said. “I was born there, my business is there, and my family is there.”

  Harrison’s eyes narrowed. “You guys went to Hawaii to find me a woman I couldn’t say no to?”

  “Actually,” Drake finally broke his silence. “She’s a friend of Thomas’ and I told him I needed a bodyguard. He highly recommended Valencia. She agreed to come here to see if you would be willing to hire her on.”

  He mumbled several curses under his breath.

  “I certainly hope you don’t use that language every day,” Valencia said.

  “You didn’t hear me.”

  “Of course I did. The difference is I’m a lady so I don’t need to repeat your expletive laden rant.”

  He rolled his eyes. Why was this woman even still turning him on? He should be annoyed, tired of her, ready to ship her back to Hawaii. Instead, he was ready to pay her fee. Whatever her fee was. “How much is this costing me?”

  “I’m paying the fee,” Drake said. “I figured it was the only sure fire way to get you to say yes.”

  “No, you figured getting a woman was the only sure fire way to get me to say yes,” he barked. “Fine. I leave for Scottsdale in the morning. I trust you’ll be ready to go.”

  She nodded gracefully. “Will you be flying commercially or privately?”

  “Commercially,” he said. “First class. I’m sure, even if there aren’t any seats left there, that you can find a seat in coach.”

  She grinned. “Rule number one,” she said so seriously that he thought he might just die from her lethal tone. “You will not leave my line of site. I will always be with you. So if there are no seats left in first class then we will both fly coach or we will both take a later flight.”

  He chuckled. “You’ll always be with me huh? Even in the bathroom?”

  “If it’s a public bathroom you can bet on my presence.”

  He stepped back. “Are you serious?”

  “How am I to guard your body if your body is not within my guarding range?”

  Jeez, she could guard his body any time, any day, an
d any night. “Rule number one,” he mirrored her tone. “My rule number one,” he corrected. “There are no women in the bathroom with me unless they’re helping me aim.”

  “Harrison!”

  Valencia didn’t flinch. “I was unaware that you needed assistance in that department. It is not part of my job description, but I am sure I can ask the guy next to you to do it for you, should you require such help.”

  He groaned low in his throat. This woman was a pistol. Every time he thought he had her beat she came back with something that put him back in his place. Well, maybe having a bodyguard would be fun—a new challenge. This was one bodyguard that wasn’t going to beat him at his own game. She wanted a war—she just got one. And he always played to win.

  “I guess I’ll see you at the airport then.”

  “I have my bag with me. I’ll be going home with you tonight.”

  “I thought your job started in the morning.”

  “My job started the second you agreed to protection.”

  He shrugged. “Fine. I guess it will give us tonight to prepare our cover story at least. Provided you can remember it all.” He grinned.

  “I have no problem with memory.” She picked up her dossier and tucked it between her arm and her ribcage as she recited the history of his life from grade school through high school, to his college musical accomplishments right down to present day. She gave him the abridged version, but it had all been startling accurate. “Anything else you’d like to know?”