Julie Leto - Too Hot to Touch

To the loyal readers of Harlequin Blazethank you for ten years of joy.

And to Brenda Chinfor the same and more!

My dearest son, Miguel,

My death has come after a hard but full life. Your mother knows how desperately I loved her and I hope you know I loved you, too.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for your brothers. Daniel is lost. I have no doubt that Alejandro has just as many reasons for hating me, but he is a fine, upstanding man. He will want to know you, and I want you to know him.

I do not ask you to justify my sins to himthere is no justifiation. All that I ask is that you reach out to him as his brother and give him the legacy that he, as my oldest son, is due. The Murrieta ring must pass to my firstborn.

I know you dont believe in its power. I know you only humored my when I told you how the ring influenced my life and gave me the strength to change my ways. Alejandro is trapped by expectations that keep him from living his life with passion. The ring will free him, of this I am sure.

Do not allow him to refuse this, my last request.

I am proud of you, Miguel. Though I cannot give you the gift of the ring, I hope to give you something more valuablea brother with whom to share our pride in the infamous Murrieta name.

With all my heart,

Ramon

L UCIENNE , MAY I have a word?

Standing between his office and the main gallery of El Dorado Auction House, Alejandro Aguilar crossed his arms, blocking the uncharacteristic nervousness attempting to sneak past his defenses. He wasnt a sixteen-year-old schoolboy. He was a grown man, a titan in the art world. He assigned prices to priceless artifacts and exposed fraudulent fakes in museums and private collections worldwide. By design, his name had become synonymous with honor, integrity and control.

And yet, the woman sitting at her desk in the gallery, typing determinedly on her computer without a glance in his direction, had reduced him to a twisted mass of raw, exposed wiring in a structure marked condemned. Any minute, a spark could flare. One accidental touch, one misread innuendo and hed go up in flames.

For six weeks, he and Lucienne Bonet had worked side by side to prepare El Dorados inventory for liquidation. Hed come to San Francisco from Spain specifically to handle the auction because the man whod collected the pieces, his father, had died.

The death had meant nothing to him. Alex had not seen Ramon Murrieta since hed walked out on Alexs mother when he was three years old. But Ramons passing had given Alex something hed never had beforea brother. One who worked for the FBI and had no idea what to do with their deceased fathers business holdings. At his invitation, Alex had traveled halfway across the world, expecting to spend two months getting to know his surprise sibling while breaking up the collection his fickle father had built.

What he had not expected was meeting a woman he could no longer resist.

Lucienne?

Her fingers continued to fly across her keyboard. Shed touched him just as quickly this morning, when theyd both reached for a diamond bracelet, one of the last items left for appraisal.

The contact had lasted less than a split second, but the effect had been like the strike of a match. Her smile over his wry retort had stoked a barely banked flame. Alex had endured yearlong love affairs with less incendiary power than this.

Of course, hed slept with those women. The quickest way to burn out a fire was to smother it. But Lucienne was, at the moment, his employee. And since he never mixed business with pleasure, hed had to suffer the conflagration.

Unless he changed the circumstances, which was what he aimed to do.

He opened his mouth to call to her again, but then thought better of it. He had no idea how shed react to the indecent proposal he was about to set forthfor all he knew, shed slap him soundly and walk out. As he wasnt a man who embraced risk, he opted instead to watch her work for a minute more.