A Little Surprise for the Boss (Mills & Boon Desire) Read Free Page B

out of a sound sleep. Cursing, he fumbled for the device on the nightstand and sent it clattering to the floor.
    Damn! He could’ve sworn he’d turned that phone off before collapsing into bed last night. And he would never set the ringer up to its full, earsplitting volume. What the devil was going on?
    Grabbing the phone from the floor, he pushed the answer button. “Hullo?” he mumbled.
    “Where’ve you been, Buck?” As always, Diane’s voice scraped his nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. The worst of it was, between the daughter they shared and the chunk of his company she owned, he’d likely be hearing that shrill voice for the rest of his life.
    “Sick.” He forced the word through a throat that felt as if he’d swallowed glue.
    “Well, get unsick. It’s almost noon. Did you get my voice-mail messages? I must’ve left you three or four.”
    “Haven’t checked.”
    “I’ll save you the trouble—I need you to pick up Quinn.”
    His daughter’s name jarred him to alertness. “Weren’t you supposed to bring her here?”
    “I’ve got people coming for a retreat. I could bring her up next week, but she’s all packed and ready to go. If she has to wait, she’ll be so disappointed.”
    “Fine. I’ll send Evie Redfeather down in the jet to pick her up.” Evie was his personal pilot. Quinn knew and liked her.
    “You can’t come yourself?”
    “Like you, I have other commitments. Tell her Evie’s coming. She’ll be fine with that.” Buck ended the call before Diane could think of some other way to pull his strings. This last-minute change of plans was typical. Diane would have known about her retreat for weeks and could have made arrangements for Quinn earlier. But why do that when she could create a little drama?
    Diane had been a Vegas showgirl when he’d met her ten years ago. After a hot weekend in her bed, he’d flown home without giving her a second thought. But then she’d shown up pregnant on his doorstep, and he’d done the honorable thing. For a while they’d tried to make the marriage work, but it had been doomed from the first “I do.” After a nightmare divorce settlement, she’d moved to Sedona, Arizona, and opened her own new age ashram.
    The experience had left Buck with a bitter taste when it came to marriage. But at least he had Quinn. Quinn had been worth it all.
    The phone shrilled again. Knowing it was Diane, Buck turned it off and lay back on the pillow. He’d come home last night with a pounding migraine. Feeling like roadkill, he’d taken some pills, undressed and fallen into bed, hoping to sleep through the pain. It had worked. He felt better today.
    Especially after that crazy, sexy dream he’d had.
    Closing his eyes, he tried to recall it in detail. He’d had erotic dreams before, plenty of them, but this one had been different. It had seemed so… real . The warm silkiness of skin against his body. The taste of that luscious mouth. Even the sexy aroma of her skin. He could remember everything about the woman—except her face.
    Damn! He’d gulp down a whole bottle of those blasted pills if it could bring the dream back. His climax had been an explosion of sheer sensual pleasure, so powerful he’d probably drenched the bedding underneath him.
    He frowned, struck by an odd notion. He should be lying in a damp spot now. But the sheet beneath him felt perfectly clean and dry.
    Perplexed, he sat up, moved to one side and ran his hand across the mattress. Nothing. He shook his head, as if trying to clear out the cobwebs. What in blazes had happened here?
    That was when he noticed something else—a subtle fragrance rising from the bottom sheet. Pressing his face to the fabric, he inhaled the sweet, clean aroma, trying to identify it. This wasn’t the softener the hotel laundry used. And it wasn’t one of the expensive perfumes his sexual partners tended to drench themselves in. It was something else, something fresh but somehow familiar. It was her