She winced, not liking the way her treacherous body responded, then pulled back. “I won’t be persuaded. Not even if you pull out all the stops.”

He grinned. Certain. Cocky. Threatening.

“Fifteen minutes,” he said for the second time. “Be ready to fly.” Obviously dismissing their conversation—his veiled threat and hinted promise—he pivoted and strode away, long legs gulping the distance to the outbuilding.

Her shoulders sagged against the plane. She hadn’t counted on her pilot having an explosive personality, hadn’t counted on the fact she might run into opposition even before she stepped foot on the Central American island near Belize.

Not one to wallow in useless thought, she pulled herself together and decided to freshen up. Standing on her tiptoes, Nicole reached behind the seat. She bit out a quick curse when she couldn’t shove Ace’s duffel off her bag.

Knowing she could make do with the few cosmetics in her briefcase, she grabbed it from the floor. Nicole snapped the latches open and took out a picture of the plant.

WorldNet’s client blended the plant with the island’s natural beauty. They’d spent millions of dollars on the state-of-the-art plant. It hadn’t been until they were ready to start hiring that the trouble started.

She shook her head.

Saving the account would save her client. And WorldNet.

Nicole allowed the full-color glossy to flutter back into place. After digging out the cosmetics bag, she reached for the box of motion-sickness pills. She shook out the foil pouch, then sighed when seeing each piece of foil jaggedly torn. She had another box...in her unreachable luggage.

Nicole glanced around for her pilot, but didn’t see him anywhere. And her allotted time was ticking away. For a few seconds she fought against her conscience, which told her not to rifle through his belongings, even though he’d earlier given his permission. Realizing she had no other options if she was to be prepared when he dictated, she closed the briefcase, set it on the floor, then knelt backward on the passenger seat.

She grasped the small zipper tab. The rasp of the zipper sounded unnaturally loud in the summer silence. She groaned when she noticed everything was tightly packed, with no evidence of the first-aid kit. If she wanted the Dramamine, she would have to dig for it.

Inserting her hands down the sides, she discovered nothing but the various textures of fabric—rough and smooth. Trying again, she came across a razor, obviously not used recently, a tube of toothpaste squeezed from the middle and a nearly empty plastic bottle of after-shave. On her third attempt, she grabbed the folded kit. When she pulled it out, a piece of clothing snagged on a torn end of the vinyl.

Nicole tugged on the clothing, suspiciously soft, like satin. She pulled it free, holding it in her hand. “Pinocchio?” she whispered in disbelief. He didn’t seem like the type. She pursed her lips. She couldn’t believe she’d entrusted her life to a man who carried a knife and wore Pinocchio underwear.

Embarrassed by the intimacy of handling the material that wrapped, probably snugly, around Ace’s hips, she gingerly took the nose between her thumb and forefinger and pulled it free from where it had snagged. It was at that second she noticed Pinocchio’s nose was designed to accommodate a certain part of Ace’s anatomy. With plenty of room for growth.

“Oh my God.”

Heat chased up her cheeks. As if they’d singed her fingers, she threw the briefs back into the duffel bag, yanking the zipper shut. The man was too much.

Pulling her professional demeanor around her as a protective barrier, she raided the first-aid kit, leaving it on the seat between them.

She climbed down the plane and hurried to the rest room. By the time she had resculptured her cheekbones with an artful sweep of blush and pulled her hair back into a chignon, she was in control. Unshakable.

Even by Ace and his less-than-civilized tendencies.

He’d kept her off kilter so far, but she could handle it. Except for the missing polish on his veneer—the crude language, unshaven chin and well-worn blue jeans—he was exactly the same as every man she’d ever met.

An unfamiliar nagging voice reminded her of the long silky nose that had hung between her fingers, Pinocchio’s ridiculous eyes wide with delight and mouth smiling devilishly. Of the two men she’d been involved with, one had worn baggy boxer shorts and the other had worn white briefs with standard apples and grapes on the tag. No, Ace wasn’t like any man she’d known.

Nicole squared her shoulders and left the bathroom feeling confident and composed. Ace was signing the bottom of a fuel invoice when she reached the plane.

He handed the attendant the clipboard, then flicked his gaze over her. “I liked your hair the way it was.”

She fingered the secured knot. “I prefer it up.”

“Yeah.” He took mirrored aviator shades from the breast pocket of his ragged denim jacket. “You would.”

She felt a moment of regret when he put on the glasses, blocking out the intensity etched in his gray eyes. Simultaneously, she was glad. He saw too much.

“Ready?”

“Anytime you are,” she answered, shoving aside the unwelcome thoughts of his all-knowing eyes. Nicole opened the passenger door and saw a half-dozen or so airsick bags on her seat. She didn’t know whether he was being courteous or cautious. Cautious, she decided, moving them to the map compartment. Ace wouldn’t have done anything for her comfort, only his.

After a Learjet cleared, Ace taxied into position on the runway, and opened the throttle, giving the engine full power.

She wasn’t sure why, but this takeoff didn’t traumatize her as much as the first one had. Ace nudged the nose into the air, then leveled off, and her stomach only twisted with sporadic pains. She marveled at the sensation and told herself it had nothing to do with the pilot’s obvious skills.

Many hours later, following another brief landing for fuel at a scary-looking airstrip near a small Mexican village, the sun splashed its majestic array of colors across a vivid blue backdrop, then dropped on the western horizon.

She craned her head to look out the window, seeing the world in a new way. Invariably, on commercial flights, she lowered the window shade so she wouldn’t be forced to accept the reality of flirting with clouds while the land beneath her melded into a solid mass of potential crash sites.

Magenta swirled with purples and mauves, and she realized it was the first time she’d seen a sunset in over two years. Her job, first as Daddy’s assistant, now as sole owner, consumed every available hour and even a few that weren’t available. “It’s beautiful up here,” she said, nearly ten minutes later, after the sun had given a final wink, casting sparkling shimmers into the Caribbean.

“There’s no place like the sky,” he agreed over the engine’s roar.

For a moment, the grooves around his eyes relaxed, and Nicole glimpsed the real human being buried beneath layers of hard exterior. Was it possible...?

Instantly the softening disappeared.

The next few hours passed in a blur to her.

“We’ll be landing soon.”

Butterflies leapt to life, bringing her out of her silent plans for the meeting with the governor.

“You might want to take some more Dramamine.”

“I’ve already taken some.”

“You got them out of the bag?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I met Pinocchio.”

“Pinocchio?” he echoed, seemingly confused.

“The underwear in your bag.”

Ace laughed, and the sound was every bit as rich and vibrant as she’d thought. Like Kahlúa and cream splashed over big chunky ice cubes. And every bit as potent.

“They were a gag gift,” he said. “At the bachelor party I went to a couple of days ago.”

“I could hardly care what you dress in, Mr. Lawson.” Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how they would look on him.