Six winners. Six fantasies.

Six Million Dollar SecretS…

Plain Jane Kurtz is going to use her winnings to discover her inner vixen. But what’s it really going to cost her?

She Did a Bad, Bad Thing by Stephanie Bond Available from Mills & Boon® Blaze® in July 2008

* * *

New girl in town Nicole Reavis is on a journey to find herself. But what else will she discover along the way?

Underneath It All by Lori Borrill Available from Mills & Boon® Blaze® in August 2008

* * *

Risk taker Eve Best is on the verge of having everything she’s ever wanted. But can she take it?

The Naked Truth by Shannon Hollis Available from Mills & Boon® Blaze® in September 2008

* * *

Young, cocky Zach Haas loves his instant popularity, especially with the women. But can he trust it?

For Lust or Money by Kate Hoffmann Available from Mills & Boon® Blaze® in October 2008

* * *

Solid, dependable Cole Crawford is ready to shake things up. But how “shook up” is he prepared to handle?

Tall, Dark and Filthy Rich by Jill Monroe Available from Mills & Boon® Blaze® in November 2008

* * *

Wild child Liza has always just wanted to belong. But how far will she go to get it?

What She Really Wants for Christmas by Debbi Rawlins Available in the M&B™ collection Her Christmas Temptation in December 2008

Lori BorriLL

An Oregon native, Lori Borrill moved to the Bay Area just out of high school and has been a Californian ever since. She credits her writing career to the unending help and support she receives from her husband and real-life hero. When not sitting in front of a computer, she can usually be found at the baseball fields playing proud parent to their son, Tom. She’d love to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.LoriBorrill.com.

Dear Reader,

When I was asked to write a novel for the MILLION DOLLAR SECRETS continuity series, I was thrilled. For years I’ve been contributing to my office lottery pool and have often dreamed of winning it big with my friends and co-workers. But I’ve also read enough real-life stories to know that winning a fortune doesn’t always bring happiness.

That’s what Nicole Reavis discovers when her lottery win brings more headaches than wealth, plus a slew of publicity when she moves to Atlanta seeking peace. Of course, when all’s said and done, she finds her peace thanks to a love that money can’t buy.

I hope you enjoy this continuation of the MILLION DOLLAR SECRETS series. Please drop me a note and tell me what you think of it. You can contact me through my website at www. LoriBorrill.com or mail me care of Harlequin Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.

Happy reading!

Lori Borrill

UNDERNEATH IT ALL

by

LORI BORRILL

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Many thanks to Kathryn Lye for giving me the opportunity to work on this project and having faith that I could do it.

And thanks to Leeanne Kenedy for giving me the support and encouragement I needed to see this project through. I can’t wait to return the favour!

This book is for Al and Tommy, my forever and always.

1

“OKAY, LADIES, THE NEXT man up for grabs is Evan Phillips, this handsome real estate broker for Century South.” The woman at the microphone motioned to the dark-eyed hunk on stage and added, “Evan, please tell the women in the crowd what they’re bidding on.”

While the man detailed a romantic evening starting with dinner at Atlanta’s infamous Sun Dial restaurant, Nicole Reavis turned to her friend and coworker, Eve Best. “Some days I love my job.”

Eve smiled. “As opposed to days when you’re stuck in a catfight between girlfriends?”

Nicole winced. As chief segment producer for Eve’s cable talk show, Just Between Us, much of her job involved researching topics for upcoming shows. Tonight, it was the annual Children’s Charities Bachelor Auction, a glamorous event at a trendy new club where some of the city’s most eligible bachelors auction off a night on the town for charity.

Three days ago, the job had her dodging blows between two women who’d claimed to get along beautifully even though they were both dating the same man.

Proof that in the world of daytime television, life was never dull.

“And I noticed you’ve come here tonight but were conveniently AWOL when I was screaming for security before those women destroyed our conference room.” Nicole shook her head. “Thank heavens we got them together before we put them on the air. How humiliating would that have been?”

“Hey, if I’d been there you know I would have jumped in and helped.”

Nicole smiled in agreement, knowing Eve would have come running if she’d been in the studio at the time. Though Nicole was the new girl on the set, she and Eve had hit it off right from the start. She’d hit it off with everyone on the crew, for that matter, and the catfight incident was quickly becoming known as Nicole’s official transformation from newbie into battle-scarred veteran.

“Besides, I needed to be here tonight to help make sure Penny doesn’t get herself into trouble.” Eve scanned the large crowd. “Where is she, by the way?”

Penny was one of Nicole’s new research assistants, a young woman just out of college, barely of legal drinking age, and highly naive, almost too much so for a talk show that focused on relationships and sex. But the eighteen to twenty-five demographic was a hot one, and Nicole was willing to overlook Penny’s inexperience for the perspective she brought to the show.

“She’s getting the list of participants from the organizers. It’ll be interesting to interview them after their dates to see how this sort of thing generally turns out for couples.”

“We’ll start the bidding at two hundred dollars,” the woman onstage said.

The announcement caused a swarm of hands to go up. It looked as though the sexy real estate broker would be a hot commodity this evening.

Admittedly, before she came here tonight, Nicole had faced the evening with skepticism, wondering why this group of obviously successful singles would pay such a high price for what equated to a blind date. Surely, they couldn’t expect to find their soul mates under circumstances like this.

But once inside the doors, she realized this wasn’t about finding soul mates, it was about fun and fantasy, and the organizers of this event had played every angle to that end. Every year, the auction was held at one of Atlanta’s swankiest new spots, tonight’s at a bar called Oasis. The place was high class all the way, the interiors alone surely costing the owners a small fortune.

Set up like an underwater tide pool, the walls were painted in murals that gave the feeling one was standing on the ocean floor. Art glass chandeliers hung overhead like floating squids and sea urchins, glass seashells adorned the sconces that lined the perimeter. The floor was tiled to look like sand with touches of mother of pearl embedded here and there, and the moment Nicole had stepped inside, she was swept into the surreal atmosphere.

The place was like entering the soothing realm of an underwater aquarium, deep and mysterious, the ideal canvas for the sensual prospects of what might come.

And then, of course, there was the man across the room. The one she’d been trying to ignore all evening without any success. Not that she had an aversion to sinfully gorgeous men. On the contrary, she happened to like them a lot, and this one in particular kept pulling her attention toward him like a magnet on steel.

That was the problem. She was supposed to be observing the crowd, selecting couples of interest and taking notes for the show, and she was having trouble doing that with Mr. Delicious over there tossing her thoughts between the sheets.

She was a sucker for a man in a suit, and the charcoal gray classic he wore did wonders for a body that probably didn’t need the help. The silvery blue tie matched his eyes, bringing them to life even under the dim lighting of the undersea bar. But it was his smile that did the most damage, the kind that could bring a woman to her knees: gentle but teasing, with a faint dimple on one cheek to temper his strong jaw. His dark hair was cut short and brushed back in a style reminiscent of James Dean’s rebel days.

He stood relaxed and casual, as though the suit he wore was as comfortable as a pair of old blue jeans, and he had a laugh that seemed to come from the heart. Everything about the man felt genuine, as if he was oblivious to his own appeal. There was nothing pretentious or calculating in his eyes as they scanned his surroundings, and the more Nicole watched him, the more she felt like she could stand and stare all day.

A sharp knock of the gavel brought her back to attention a moment too late, and she cursed under her breath. This was now the third couple she’d missed by ogling Mr. Delicious, and with a self-deprecating frown she turned to Eve and asked, “How much did that one go for?”

Eve chuckled. “What’s with you tonight? Too many sexy men putting you on overload?”

“No, just one,” she said, moving her gaze back to places it didn’t belong.

Eve followed her line of sight. “Which one?”

“The tall one in the middle,” Nicole said absently.

“What tall one, what am I missing?”

The question came from Penny who’d just returned with the list from the charity’s organizer.

“Nicole’s found a man to bid on tonight,” said Eve.

“What? No, I haven’t,” Nicole said. “I just find him attractive, that’s all.” Though increasingly, the thought of him being taken by another woman tonight brought her an uneasy pang of jealousy she didn’t quite understand.

Again her traitorous eyes wandered over in his direction. For nearly an hour, he’d been standing there, one hand in his pants pocket, gracefully pulling back the suit jacket to offer a peek of what looked like the rigid lines of a well-toned chest and abs. And for nearly an hour, Nicole had been trying to keep her mind on the job and off the tall stallion in the corner, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

He took another sip of his drink and moved his eyes across the room as the man standing next to him continued to fill his ear with conversation. Mr. Delicious had one ear to the conversation while he masterfully surveyed his surroundings. Nicole suspected these types of affairs, this mingling of business and pleasure were a common occurrence for him, and she wondered who he was and what he did for a living.

Once again, the man laughed, the sound reverberating through her veins and numbing her fingers, and just when she felt she should really look away, his gaze swept back over the room and landed directly on her.

Those crystal blue eyes clicked squarely with hers, growing in intensity as she noted the faint rise of interest in his brow. That soulful mouth she’d just been admiring twitched and smiled, leaving her feeling aroused and exposed.

Was she hot from lust or the embarrassment of being caught ogling? And if it was the heat of embarrassment, why couldn’t she find the will to dart her eyes away?

His simple glance paralyzed her, freezing every bone in her body to the point where she couldn’t even blink. And when he brushed his gaze down her body, it was as though a thousand fingers moved with it, touching every sensitive spot on the way.

That a simple look could heighten so many nerve endings left her anticipating what he could do with the extra sense of touch. Given the way she felt right now, she almost didn’t want to find out. If there really was such a thing as spontaneous human combustion, this man had the power to unleash it.

“Oh, if that’s not an invite, I don’t know what is,” Penny said.

It was the jab to the ribs more than the comment that brought Nicole’s attention back to the conversation at hand.

She cleared her throat and spun around, feeling ridiculous that for the fourth time tonight, the man in the corner managed to derail her thoughts. Maybe everyone was right that she’d been working too hard in light of the recent fiasco they’d all been thrown into.

As if her life hadn’t been complicated enough, Nicole and the crew of Just Between Us had recently won Lot ‘O’Bucks, the state’s biggest lottery. The one-in-a-gazillion shot had transformed the five of them from average working class to multi-millionaires overnight.

For Nicole, the win had been a sign that her move to Atlanta had been the right thing to do. Up until then, she hadn’t convinced herself that leaving her home and a promising career back in California had been the smartest decision. At the time, she’d been reeling from the news that her life had been a lie, that she wasn’t the person she thought she was, and that her real roots hadn’t even been in California.

She was actually a native Southern girl, and like an immigrant looking to make her way back home, she’d come to Atlanta to try and sort through the clutter that had become her life. She’d taken a step down in her career, seeking out the small cable show believing the slower pace would give her time for reflection.

Unfortunately, the job proved to be more demanding and hectic than she’d expected. She hadn’t had time to think, much less reflect on where she belonged in this world. She’d become uncertain, a little homesick, and began doubting her move to Georgia. Until the lottery win that changed their lives and her perspective on everything.

Nicole had taken it as Fate assuring her that though this path might be rocky, she was on the right road, and despite the media frenzy the win propelled them into, it had given her a sense of comfort that she’d been longing for.

Until Liza and her lawsuit.

Liza Skinner was Nicole’s predecessor on the show and one of the founding members of Just Between Us. She and the other four lottery winners, Cole, Jane, Zach and Eve, had been playing Lot ‘O’Bucks since they started the show three years ago. But when Liza took off without a word, the group needed to replace her, and with Nicole coming in to fill her position at the station, she thought she’d go the distance and take her place in the lottery pool as well.

At just a few dollars a month, Nicole figured, why not? And when they won, leaving them all to split thirty-eight million dollars after taxes, she was happy she had.

Unfortunately, a win this big made national headlines and drew Liza Skinner out of the woodwork. She hadn’t wasted time coming back to Atlanta to claim her portion of the prize, and though the group hadn’t felt she was owed any part of it, apparently Liza’s lawyer disagreed. Since then, their winnings had been on hold, everyone’s plans suspended, and Nicole had gone back to wondering whether or not the South was really meant for her after all.

Surely, all these things coming to a head were simply catching up with her tonight. Walking into this undersea garden and its atmosphere of sex and romance, she was simply letting the strain of the last several months carry her away.

That’s all it was.

Right?

She looked into Penny’s evil wide-eyed gaze. “You should bid on him.”

Nicole attempted to act as though that were the most ridiculous thing she’d heard, but even she could feel the weakness in the effort.

“I’m not bidding on anyone,” she replied, not sounding the least bit convincing.

“Come on. We’re researching this auction for the show. What better way to gain insight than to play along.”

Nicole glanced at Eve, who actually seemed to be going along with Penny’s crazy idea.

“She’s got a point,” Eve agreed.

Biting her lip, Nicole turned and eyed him once more. It was one thing to admire the man from afar. Heck, it would even be another to wander over and start a conversation. But to force him into a date by winning him in an auction? Could she really go that far?

Taking in another drink of the sexy stud, she wondered who she was kidding. Of course she could. In a heartbeat.

“You need to do this,” Penny said. “For the show.”

“For the show,” Nicole repeated.

DEVON BRADSHAW SIPPED HIS bourbon while admiring the sweetest thing he’d seen since his mother’s peach pie. Tall, blonde and beautiful, the woman had captured his eye with just a glance and gave him hope that this night might not end badly.

He and his brothers, Bryce and Todd, had been roped into this charity event by their sister, Grace. At the time, she claimed she hadn’t realized it was a bachelor auction, and when offered the opportunity to back out, Bryce, the sensible one, did exactly that. Devon planned to follow until Todd challenged him. The one who goes for the highest bid wins, loser has to double the winner’s bid for charity. Even then, Devon tried to weasel out of it until word of the challenge got back to Grace and the charity organizers and one thing led to another and…well…here he was, wondering what he’d end up with after the night was through.

All in all, it was good for business, just another stop in a string appearances aimed at keeping Bradshaw Investments in good corporate standing with the major money-handlers of Atlanta. As future CEO of the family business, functions like this had become one of his least favorite parts of the job.

But the stunning blonde across the room changed everything.

Slim, striking, fresh as a summer day, the woman had that special something that left him with hope. More fit and slender than plush and curvy, she had a runner’s body and light caramel skin, the type who wouldn’t look foreign in roller blades and jeans, but easily softened into a Southern belle in that pretty pink dress and heels.

He liked the contradiction, and as he continued watching her through the crowd, he wondered if the look in her eye meant this night might end on a high note.

“I can’t believe you two are really doing this.”

The whining voice of reason came from Bryce.

“Would you stop with the complaining already? Besides, I thought you’d enjoy spending the evening watching Todd’s public humiliation.”

“Neither of you should be humiliating yourselves at this auction. We should all be back at the office trying to figure out who’s stealing money from the company.”

Devon scoffed. “We don’t know that there’s any stealing going on, and if there is, we’ll get the report from accounting once they pinpoint the discrepancies in the books.”

“This is serious. We should be more hands-on about this.”

There being the statement that reminded Devon on more than one occasion that Bryce should be the one inheriting the job as CEO of Bradshaw Investments. If their father had made the choice based on who was best suited, it would have been Bryce all along. The man had the eye for numbers and the wit for business that made him the natural choice. It was only birth order that put him in the position as head of finance instead.

According to their father, William Devon Bradshaw III, who inherited the family business from his father, William Devon Bradshaw Jr., tradition had it that the next logical CEO would be the next William Devon Bradshaw. That had been the assumption from the day Devon was born, and every step he’d taken in life had been leading toward that end. He had a masters in economics and business management, had been working with the firm since his apprenticeship back as a teen.

It was all laid out for him, just as it had been laid out for all the Bradshaws before him. The only problem with the whole scenario was that he was bored to death with the job, and he’d only now come to the realization that life wouldn’t get more interesting the farther up the ladder he went.

Though technically still in charge, their father had been slowly stepping back, letting Devon handle the operation, and now that he’d finally had a glimpse of the life he was to inherit, he didn’t like what he saw. This business of investments and numbers was comatose at best, and increasingly, he doubted he could last another year, much less the rest of his life.

The only question now was what to do about it. Given their annual audit had uncovered suspicious discrepancies in the books, now was not the time to start the certain shake-up that would occur when Devon announced he’d like to make a break from tradition. When it came to investing, people were nervous and image meant everything. If there was anything shady going on within the company, they’d need to resolve that first and let the dust settle before dropping any more bombs.

And the announcement that a first-born Bradshaw had his own ideas about his future was certain to create some fall-out.

“I mean it,” Bryce added under his breath. “We have to face the real prospect that someone’s stealing from the company.”

Devon slugged back the last of his drink, deciding the only prospect he cared to deal with tonight was the blonde across the room.

Slinging an arm around Bryce’s shoulder, he led the man the few steps toward the bar. “Let me give you some brotherly advice. For the next few hours, forget about the audit. You’re better off here exuding calm confidence than hovering over the accountants distracting them from their job. They’ve got your cell phone number and if something comes up, they’ll call.”

He ordered a drink and slid a twenty across the sleek marble bar.

“I see,” Bryce said. “And while I’m forgetting about the audit, you’ll be busy working the blonde over there.”

He winked and smiled. “I like the way you think, bro.”

Bryce frowned but didn’t press. More than anyone, he knew Devon’s heart wasn’t in the family business. He only doubted Devon had the guts to admit it to their father. And who knows, maybe he didn’t.

All he knew was that tonight he didn’t want to think about futures or audits or career aspirations. There was an intriguing woman with sharp-witted blue eyes calling for his attention, and there was nothing in the auction’s rule book that said he couldn’t try to influence the buyers in any way.

He gestured to Bryce. “Who’s that she’s talking to? Don’t we know her?”

Bryce eyed the shorter brunette from across the large room.

“You know who that is?” Bryce said. “I think that’s the woman with that talk show. Between Friends, or Our Time, or something like that. I forget the name. It’s kind of a chick show, but it’s getting pretty popular.”

“Oh, yeah. I know the one you’re talking about.” He picked up his drink and took a sip. “I wonder if the blonde works for the show.”

“If she does she’s a millionaire. You heard about that, didn’t you?” When Devon shook his head, Bryce explained, “A bunch of them won Lot ‘O’Bucks. They’re all millionaires—the brunette for sure.” He added with a shrug, “Maybe they’re here to spend their fortune.”

“Deep pockets would certainly work in my favor.” Setting his drink on the bar, he added, “I think I’ll go introduce myself.”

Bryce opened his mouth, no doubt to object, but before he could speak a low voice behind them interrupted.

“Why, if it isn’t my favorite investment broker. How much am I going to have to pay for you tonight?”

The cold chill told Devon it was Abigail Westlaw, a local real estate agent with whom he, in a temporary loss of sanity, had made the mistake of sleeping with. Once. Granted, it wasn’t that he didn’t find Abbey attractive enough to go back for seconds. A fair share of heat had simmered between them. The problem was that no sooner had they finished their morning coffee than Abbey was all over town spreading every detail of the tryst to anyone who would listen.

And thanks to that, out of the woodwork came a dozen other men who’d shared heat with Abbey, all interested in comparing notes.

Call him old fashioned, but Devon had never been interested in communal sex. He preferred being the one-and-only, and if he’d taken his time and gotten to know the woman better, he would have discovered before making the mistake that Abbey Westlaw liked her men frequent and interchangeable.

He forced a smile and replied, “Why bid on used goods? Surely, you’d be more interested in someone new and shiny.”

Please?

She threw her head back in an overexaggerated laugh and slung a bony arm over his shoulder. “Devon, you were always the funny one.”

The funny one?

Wincing, he tried to remain calm, remembering there were worse things than spending a romantic evening with Abbey. Though off the top of his head, he couldn’t come up with any.

Abbey kissed him on the cheek and gave his arm a squeeze.

“If the price is right, I might go home with several prizes tonight,” she said, her expression stating she had no clue as to how bad that sounded. “I just wanted you to know you’re my first choice.”

And with that, she walked off, leaving him standing at the bar with one sinking pit in his stomach.

2

“I HOPE YOU’VE COME prepared to lose,” said Devon’s brother, Todd. “I’ve got several women in this room ready to fork out big dollars for a slice of the best looking Bradshaw.”

“I’m glad you’ve come with confidence,” Devon replied half-heartedly. He wasn’t terribly interested in engaging in another battle of egos with the baby of the family. Abbey’s parting words were still hanging in his ears, leaving him thoroughly annoyed with his brother for talking him into this mess.

“It’s not confidence, it’s strategy,” Todd said, pointing a finger to his forehead. “A good gambler knows the way to win is to tilt the odds in his favor. So while you were standing here holding hands with Bryce, I’ve been securing bidders.” He scanned the room and smiled. “And I’ve got my odds set on a sexy redhead named Tammy.”

Devon had to admit, before spotting the blonde he hadn’t considered working the room, even though most of the men here tonight had been casually mingling through the crowd. He was still a little put off by the idea of auctioning himself off like a steer marked for stud. Playing along by actively promoting himself tipped the weird meter a bit too far.

But for Todd, this kind of thing was right up his alley. The born salesman of the three Bradshaw boys, Todd could talk a vagrant out of his last dollar and leave him sorry he couldn’t give more. Add the heat of competition and the spark of a friendly wager and this night was Todd’s all around, the kind of thing he was made for.

Their father hadn’t been stupid to put Todd in charge of investor acquisitions at the firm. He loved talking people out of their money and though Devon often found his younger brother’s ego tiresome, he had to admit Todd was good at his job.

Which was why Devon showed up tonight already accepting surrender. From the moment Todd could walk and talk the family learned not to go up against him when it came to competition. Even as kids at their old church fundraisers, if someone raised twenty dollars, Todd would work double-time to raise twenty-one. The little snot would do anything to win, and it was decades ago that Devon, Bryce and Gracie all learned it was easier to not compete than suffer through the lengths he’d go to come out on top.

But though Devon had no interest in trying to beat Todd tonight, he most certainly wanted to end up on a date with the only woman in the room who perked his interest—among other things.

Still talking among her friends, she’d turned around, giving him a glorious view of one heart-shaped behind, and he clenched his hands into fists as if to ward off the desire to walk over and caress them over her ass. Just that one heated glance they’d shared had left him feeling as though he had the right, as if he’d claimed her through the crowd, and he had to forcefully pull his civility back in check.

Like a caveman considering walking over and dragging her off to his cave, the woman had somehow reached in and yanked on his most primal instinct to conquer and possess, and before he approached her, he needed to remind himself that his species had supposedly evolved.

Right now, however, it didn’t feel like it.

“How about you? You got any prospects lined up?” Todd asked.

“Abigail Westlaw,” Bryce said with a smirk.

“Yeah, you and twenty others.” Todd studied Devon as if he were sizing up the competition. “Really, no joke. You haven’t talked to any women here tonight?”

“I was about to introduce myself to a lovely blonde,” Devon said, moving his gaze back across the room.

“The blonde from Just Between Us?” Todd asked.

“You know her?” Devon asked, his interest in his brother piquing.

Todd glanced over to the blonde and the two women she was with. “Know of her. She’s one of the producers of the TV show. Eve Best,” he said, pointing to the shorter brunette, “she’s the host. The shorter blonde with them is an assistant.” He shrugged and sipped his beer. “I don’t know them. I just happened to be there when the assistant was talking to the organizer. They’re here for the show. Want to do a segment on bachelor auctions, I guess.”

“So they aren’t here to bid on bachelors,” Devon said, his hopes sinking by the minute.

“Got no idea.”

“Well, there’s one way to find out,” Devon said. He moved toward the woman, but Todd stopped him.

“Whoa, where are you going? Evanne wants us up on stage. We’re next.”

“Already? They’ve barely started this thing.”

“Sorry, bro. If you haven’t talked yourself up to the women yet, you’re out of time. You should have jumped on the chance when you had it.”

Brilliant. Up for auction and the only woman openly interested was the last woman he cared to go on a date with. He thought of Abigail and the prospect of her winning, and for once he had to agree with his brother—that moving more quickly might have helped his situation.

Now, he’d have to move to the stage and leave the outcome to Fate.

Picking up his drink for one final sip, he hoped the stars would be on his side.

“HERE’S TONIGHT’S FEATURE, ladies. Two wealthy, eligible brothers engaged in a friendly wager to benefit Children’s Charities.”

Nicole listened while the announcer introduced the crowd to her sexy stranger and the reason the two men were up there together.

Devon Bradshaw, co-chair of Bradshaw Investment Group, and his brother Todd, battling against each other to see who would go for the most money. She took the sheets from Peggy and found their names on the list along with their contact information. No matter how things turned out tonight, she had a perfect excuse to call him up and request a meeting, and circling his name, she smiled at the thought that sometimes her job came in very handy, indeed.

“Here we go, are you ready?” Penny asked, her voice nearly breathless with excitement.

“You know, I can always track him down after the auction. That’s what we’re here for, right?”

Penny looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “And interview him about his date with another woman?”

When phrased that way, Nicole didn’t like how it sounded, and the sour feeling sucked the last of her doubt away.

Rolling up the pages, she tucked the pen and note pad in her purse. “Only if I lose the auction,” she said. “And I won’t.”

There. She said it. Decision made and final. She was going to win herself a date with a torturously gorgeous man and start having fun for a change. Eve said the station would probably cover her bid, and besides, Nicole couldn’t remember the last time she let loose and had a good time. Tonight would be it. The night of rebirth. The night Nicole Reavis took a step forward instead of wallowing in her past.

For over a year, she’d been wrapped up in her problems and the turmoil that had followed. Ever since her mother had come down with cancer, things hadn’t been the same. Her parents had been forced to tell her the truth about who she was—or wasn’t, more accurately. The news that she’d been adopted had been a shock, had sent her three thousand miles east, away from friends and family and everything she’d known in search of the answers to questions that had come to haunt her.

Between making new friends, settling into a new job, moving to a slice of the country where she still felt like a foreigner, and then this lottery win, she hadn’t taken a moment to relax, let her hair down and enjoy.

A distraction might be just what she needed.

And the look from the man on stage promised all kinds of welcome distraction.

“Well, Devon surely looks like he wants you to win,” Penny said. “He hasn’t taken his eyes off you since he walked up there.”

Nicole licked her lips. No, he hadn’t. And the more he studied her with those blue eyes whispering unspoken words of promise, the more intent she was to go home the winner.

“Devon, please tell us what you have planned,” the announcer said.

He casually turned to the woman on stage and took the microphone, and when he spoke, his voice sent tingles up Nicole’s spine. He had a low, whiskey drawl that made every word sound like a private secret shared between lovers, the kind of voice that could spread velvet over your skin just by whispering sweet sensations.

She imagined that voice in the dark, his lips close to her ear, so close his warm breath tickled the hair at the base of her neck.

“We’ll hop in my vintage 1959 Cadillac convertible and head north to the new Santiago Resort and Spa in the beautiful Atlanta foothills,” he said. “My date will have a choice of how she’d like to spend the day. If she’s the outdoorsy type, they offer golf and tennis, or if it’s relaxation she’s after, there’s the full day spa or cruising on the lake.”

“Ooh, that sounds divine,” the announcer said. “And that’s a brand-new resort, ladies. I haven’t been but I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

“We’ll finish the day off with dinner at the restaurant which sits right on the water’s edge,” he said. Then he turned and set his gaze directly on Nicole. “And with the right woman,” he added raising a brow, “who knows where the night could end.”

A million-dollar smile polished off his presentation leaving Nicole weak in the knees and ready to mortgage off the condo if she had to. With no effort, her imagination picked up where his description left off, turning the afternoon date into an adventure of sun, fun and sex.

She’d visited the Santiago Resort for a recent episode where they’d given away a romantic weekend for two. She’d toured the facilities and had no trouble imagining herself in one of those suites, buried under the fluffy down comforter with Devon Bradshaw in the flesh.

The thought swelled her insides and heated her blood, the way it apparently had with the rest of the women in the room. A round of hoots and whistles erupted, and though a number of women voiced their desire for that package, Devon never pulled his gaze from Nicole.

As if to signal her intentions, she smiled and faintly nodded, and the sexy expression on Devon’s face brightened to a grin.

“He’s mine,” Nicole said, twisting the pages in her hand, and when the announcer presented the opening bid, she raised her hand without hesitation.

And so did two dozen other women, but the numbers didn’t faze her. She was about to be a millionaire, and even though she didn’t have her money yet, staring into those beautiful blues with a weekend of sex on her mind, the sky was her only limit.

The price flew up from a few hundred dollars to over a thousand, and when it hit fifteen hundred, it was only Nicole and two other women.

“I don’t know if the station will go this high,” Eve said.

“I’ll pay for it myself.”

Fifteen-fifty and Nicole raised her hand taking the bid to sixteen hundred.

“Oh, my God,” Penny beamed. “He just passed the high water mark for the evening.”

A tall, too-thin woman, who looked a lot like the animated version of Cruella Deville, seemed as intent to win Devon as Nicole was. It was the same woman she’d seen him talking to earlier, and though that fact gave her pause, Devon’s heated stare swept away any doubts. Everything about his expression said he wanted Nicole to win, the smile of promise in his eyes, the sexy quirk of his mouth, right down to the way he rubbed his thumb against his fingers as he held his hand at his side.

It was his only hint of nerves, and Nicole couldn’t help but zero in on it. The higher the bid, the faster he rubbed, the faster he rubbed, the more intensely his eyes fixed on her. It was as if he was begging her to keep going, and she smiled, thinking he didn’t have to worry.

Nothing would make her stop.

Seventeen, then eighteen hundred, and the third woman finally backed out. Now it was just Nicole and Cruella, who really needed a solid meal more than she needed the date.

Like two opponents in a game of table tennis, the bids bounced back and forth between the two.

Eighteen-fifty, nineteen hundred, nineteen-fifty. Every time Nicole took the bid the other woman took it back and the higher they went, the more annoyed she became.

Who was this nightmare ?

Nicole nearly yelled out to tell the woman to give up, now understanding the fierce annoyance that could throw a civilized woman into a cat-fighting frenzy. She felt like storming over and giving her a push.

Not that it would take much.

“That other woman really wants him,” Penny whispered.

“I’m taking her out,” Nicole replied, not at all feeling like it was the joke she’d intended. The more persistent Cruella was the more aggravated Nicole became. The woman was relentless, like a dog with its teeth clenched tightly on a sock. No matter how many times Nicole raised her hand, she just smiled and raised hers. It was becoming a ridiculous test of wills and checkbooks, and if Devon hadn’t continued to encourage her with the pleading look in his eyes, she might have backed out by now.

The price was now topping twenty-five hundred, nearing its way to three thousand, and though she could care less about the money, something about the situation stopped her in her tracks.

The contest between two brothers. The brunette talking casually with Devon before the auction. Her unfailing insistence on keeping up with the bidding and Devon’s heated encouragement for Nicole to keep going, to keep raising the price.

Was she being played?

“Nicole,” Eve warned. “This is getting pricey. You can’t count on the lottery, hon. We might not get our money thanks to Liza’s lawsuit against us.”

Raising her hand, Nicole took over the bid once more, but this time less intently. She didn’t care about the money, but the sudden flash that something here might be foul.

It was all too perfect, her attraction to this stranger, more hot and fiery than anything she’d felt before, all brought on by this undersea Eden set up to breed passion in everyone who entered. There was romance in the air, from the oysters on the half shell to the champagne to the plates of chocolate hearts on the tables.

And to find this instant connection with someone who gave her every signal he felt the very same way? How likely was that to happen? How much of this was simply the act of being swept up into the evening?

In a serious wave of doubt, her mind began spinning backward, rewinding to the first glance, her first impression, trying to recall what started all this and how she got caught up into it. Was this man sending her genuine signals or was he just trying to win the bet against his brother?

“Going once,” she heard.

Penny jabbed her in the ribs. “What are you doing? Don’t stop now.”

With a quick jerk, she raised her hand and took the bid again, now unsure exactly how high it was. Then she tried to shake the clouds from her thoughts.

This was silly, these doubts. If the man was trying to set up the bidding, he would have arranged it ahead of time, maybe with women he already knew. Not once had he approached her. In fact, he hadn’t approached any of the women here tonight. While all the other men were making contacts and getting to know the prospective buyers, he’d stood at the bar casually watching the room.

No, she thought. This was real. There was real heat here. Real attraction and she really wanted this date.

“What are you doing?” Penny asked. “You almost lost it.”

“She’s regaining her senses,” Eve said. “Nicky, don’t get carried away. Like you said before, you have the man’s phone number. You can always call him after the auction.”

“No,” said Nicole. “I want this.”

Up flew her hand to take over the bid again, the brunette still going on as if she could do this all night. And Devon still held his eyes on Nicole—that intense stare focused directly on her, the smile telling her she won’t be sorry, and that brush of his thumb caressing back and forth, prompting her to keep bidding.

To keep driving the price up so he can win the bet.

Damn, that voice of doubt. It was the same voice that had been paralyzing her for too many months now.

This was all about her parents and the situation that had stripped away her trust in everything pure and honest. And who could blame her? When the two people she should have believed in most handed her the greatest betrayal, how was she expected to have faith in a stranger in a bar? Maybe a year ago, she would have played into this without thinking twice. She would have taken everything at surface value, never considering that Devon and Cruella were conspiring to win this wager from his brother.

But when her parents were forced to admit they’d lied to her about her birth, her basic trust in human beings was destroyed.

It wasn’t even finding out that she was adopted that hurt the most. Millions of children are adopted and grow up with a solid sense of self. It was that her parents had never intended to tell her. That she’d always been led to believe that she was their natural child, that their heritage was her heritage, their culture her culture.

That she was a Reavis, and Reavis’s were doers and go-getters and survivors. It was in her blood, who she was.

And only when her mother became ill and the truth leaked out were her parents forced to confess the family secret.

Everything she had, everything she was had been a lie. And Nicole hadn’t been the same person since learning the truth.

“What are you doing?” Penny pleaded. “You’re going to lose!”

“Going once,” the announcer said.

“She’s wising up. This is too much money,” Eve said.

And in the midst of it all, Nicole’s mind went blank with confusion, halting her from taking action or knowing which way to turn. The same way it had every time she tried to make a move with her life or to find the answers she’d been seeking.

Perpetual limbo. Handed down by Don and Betty Reavis to their grown daughter.

“Going twice,” the announcer said.

“Come on,” Penny urged. “You’re going to be a millionaire. Who cares about the price? Get the guy, already!”

“I don’t…”

Nicole didn’t know what to do. Fixing her eyes on Devon’s she saw a mist of disappointment. A gentleman, he tried to hide it for the audience, but she could see the falseness in his smile. It wasn’t the same smile of expectation he had a moment ago, and she wondered if it had turned because she wouldn’t end up as his date or because the price hadn’t gone as high as he’d hoped.

Closing her eyes, she fumed. This was silly. Ten seconds ago, she was having a great time, anticipating a romantic date with the first man to warm up her insides in as long as she could remember. The chemistry was real. So why was she standing here doubting it all?

What happened to the old Nicole who went for what she wanted, reached out and grabbed the brass ring without worrying whether or not it was just worthless plated steel?

What happened to the doer, the go-getter, the woman who made things happen?

“Sold for three-thousand-five-hundred dollars!” the announcer said.

Sold to another woman, Nicole conceded, pulling her gaze away from Devon and turning from the stage.

“I can’t believe you let him go!” Penny cried.

She looked to Eve and Penny. Only Eve knew the truth about why she’d come to Atlanta, but even so, she still couldn’t explain why she could be confident one moment then a pile of hesitation the next.

Heck, even she didn’t get it. So instead, she lied.

Sticking up her chin, she pasted on a smile. “Eve was right. The price got too high.”

“But—” Penny started.

Nicole held up the crinkled pages in her hand. “I’ve got his phone number right here, remember? Let the woman have her date. I’ll catch him on the rebound.”

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