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  With a growl, he turned her, flopping her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and his big hand spanked down on her butt hard. “Behave yourself.”

  She let out a screech of outrage, pounding futilely on his broad back. Her fists bounced off his muscular body like snowflakes. He didn’t even seem to notice.

  He carried her inside the cabin and closed the door behind him, stopping to lock it. From her upside-down position, she saw worn linoleum floors and an old eat-in kitchen. He turned to stride into the living room, giving her a view of threadbare carpet and some old, overstuffed furniture. The window she’d almost succeeded in entering stood half open. He stalked over to it and shoved it back into place.

  Striding to the center of the room, he unceremoniously dumped her on her ass on the floor. He scowled down at her. “Explain.”

  Gazing up at his intense, scowling face, she felt like spitting. In a fierce glare, she took in Nick Maxwell’s appearance, thinking that he looked a world different than she’d imagined. He held himself more like a boxer than the brain she’d expected because of his chosen profession. She recognized his sandy brown hair and good looks from the photographs she’d seen of him in a computer magazine that’d done a feature on the computer wizard. But the intensity in his chocolate brown eyes caught her off guard.

  She crab-crawled away from him as fast as she could scurry until she butted up against the sofa, where she ran out of escape room. Trapped, her outrage won out over any initial fear. “What the hell have you done with my brother?” she spat up at him.

  In response, he gazed at her like she’d lost her mind.

  She wasn’t buying his innocent act. “Michael Barnes? Your business partner? Any of this ring a bell?”

  “You’re Mike’s kid sister?” he asked with a sudden smile.

  “Yes.”

  She wasn’t surprised at his astonishment. She didn’t much resemble her Hispanic half brother. They shared a slightly scatterbrained but very loving mother who’d gone through three husbands and had recently married number four. She was off on her honeymoon cruise now, and Jessie hadn’t wanted to worry her about Michael’s disappearance, so she hadn’t told her.

  “What have you done with Michael?”

  His eyes narrowed as he frowned at her. “What do you mean, done with him? What’s happened? Is he’s missing?”

  She scowled. “Yeah, he’s missing As if you didn’t know. And, by the way, I’m not alone.” She followed her bluff by a quick check for the nearest exit. Then she scanned the living room, connected to the kitchen, for any signs of Michael’s presence.

  A royal blue laptop on the kitchen table caught her eye. Michael’s laptop! It had to be. She jumped up and ran toward it, skidded on the snow-covered linoleum in her equally wet boots. With a crash, she hit the cabinet with her head. She just barely her own groan as her world went dark.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Coming Soon