SimplyIrresistible by Evanne Lorraine Page A

the hacking. Thanks
for the thorough job and covering her on short notice.”
    “All pays the same.” Jacques sidestepped the compliment.
    “I want to add another body to the ranch’s security team.
Suggestions?”
    Jacques hesitated long enough to make his answer redundant.
“You’re not going to like it.”
    “Give me a name,” Liam muttered, already not liking it.
    “Taylor.”
    “She’s small.” But a gun makes a great equalizer and I
won’t worry about her ogling Tiana .
    “No argument there, but size isn’t everything. She’s
well-qualified, available and she likes horses.” The head of Sterling
Enterprises’ security team made sense as usual.
    The combination made her pretty much perfect for this job.
“Taylor it is.”
    “She’s good,” Jacques promised.
    “Your folks always are.”
    “When do you want her to start?”
    Liam returned to the three-year gap in Tiana’s life on the
screen in front of him, imagining her in a hospital bed. “As soon as possible.”
    “Give me a couple of hours to juggle the schedule. She’ll be
at the ranch tonight.”
    “Have her check in with Duncan when she arrives.”
    Jacques didn’t huff at the unneeded order. “I’ll call him
about the addition to his team as well.”
    “Thanks, pal.” Liam ended the call.
    He finished the background report on Tiana and stretched out
the kinks in his spine before leaning back in his desk chair. He absently
rubbed his clenched belly. Her survival had to have been a miracle of
determination. No wonder she was still skittish as hell.
    Her ex had perished in a fiery one-car crash within minutes
of leaving Tiana for dead. The bastard had deserved to die.
    Before he’d read the research on Tiana, he’d already figured
out she wasn’t a simple country girl. His visit to her place showed serious
money at work. After sifting through scant facts and making educated guesses,
he had more questions than answers. The more he learned about his new neighbor,
the more he wanted to know.
    Her combination of courage and vulnerability worked on him
like the laws of cause and effect. It took nothing more than his awareness of
her regard to arouse him. Not a good thing. Getting excited by a woman doing no
more than watching him meant trouble with a capital T. Color him crazy, he was
eager for more.
    She was so damn fragile. But he’d be a fool not to recognize
the core of steel under her silken skin. The more time he spent with her the
better he liked her. Now that he understood how much courage she’d needed to
rebuild her life, he admired her as well. Most of all he wanted to keep her
safe from ever being hurt again. The instinct to take care of those close to
him was nothing new. Feeling this protective about a woman I want is
brand-new territory.
    He shrugged off the uncomfortable insight and went in search
of Duncan, head of ranch security. Everyone who worked at the ranch helped take
care of the place. Multiple areas of expertise were the rule rather than the
exception. Inside the house, Lynda ruled. Don managed the barn and horses. The
ranch grounds and anything to do with security were Duncan’s areas. Each of
them ran their own team and all three answered to Liam.
    One of the cutting joys of running a family business was the
head of the family held ultimate authority. This had been true for his
great-grandfather, his grandfather, his father and now for him. He’d learned
the hard way, boss is lonely job. As the boys got older, he shared more of the
business’s concerns and opportunities with them, but he was still in charge.
    He caught up with Duncan on the east side of the barn. At
forty plus, the man was close to as fit as when he’d first started working for
Sterling Enterprises twenty years earlier. His laugh lines had grown deeper but
his farmer’s tan, buzz cut and light-blue eyes were exactly the same. Duncan
dipped his chin and went back to prying a broken fence post out of its hole.
    Liam snagged a pair of