The Player - By Rhonda Nelson Page 0,16

Ranger Security.

“You aren’t going to believe this shit,” he said in way of greeting when Payne answered his direct line. Jamie briefed his friend on recent events and waited while Payne took it all in.

“Let me get this straight. The boyfriend is the personal threat and he’s sent you in there to ‘pseudo-seduce’ her away from him?”

“In a nutshell, yes.”

To Jamie’s extreme annoyance, Payne laughed. Not just a small series of chuckles, but a gutrolling guffaw that set Jamie’s nerves on edge. “That’s c-cracked, man. I feel for you.”

“Yeah, it really sounds like it,” Jamie griped.

“Look at it this way. It’s not dangerous, right?”

If he kept his pecker in his pants, no, Jamie thought. But if he snapped and ended up giving her a real seduction, then mortal danger was almost certain. Garrett would most definitely kill him.

“Not in the traditional sense, no.”

Payne paused, evidently reading the ambiguity in that statement. “Damn. She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

Pretty didn’t begin to cover it. She was beautiful in every sense of the word. Jamie had noted those soul-soothing eyes in the photograph in Garrett’s office, but actually looking into them and feeling that calming sensation in her presence was quite…disconcerting. Garrett’s explanation as to why she was with Derrick made perfect sense. He could easily see a needy person sucking up her goodness like a greedy parasite attached to her soul.

She wasn’t seeing Derrick because she was in love with him—it was an act of self-preservation.

But Garrett was right. There had to be a happy medium. Derrick might not be draining her at the moment, but eventually her own unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the relationship would do the very thing she was trying to avoid.

Though he didn’t approve of how the Colonel had chosen to interfere—and the part he’d ultimately be playing in it—he had to admit that he could see where she’d be better off.

She needed protecting all right. She needed protection from herself.

The question was…who was going to protect him?

When he’d thought he was just supposed to guard her, he’d worried about keeping his hands to himself. He’d known that it was going to take a Herculean effort on his part to try and keep his distance. Now he was charged with the task of wooing her…with no reward. What sort of divinely twisted infernal hell was this? Jamie wondered. To seduce with no seduction?

To seduce her, of all people?

“Yeah, she’s pretty,” Jamie finally confirmed. And he was screwed.

5

* * *

Atlanta

PAYNE TOOK A PULL from his beer, then finished bringing Guy up to speed on Jamie’s current situation. He laughed. “Can you believe that shit?”

Looking just as mystified as he undoubtedly had when Jamie had told him the nature of Garrett’s “favor,” Guy shook his head and smiled faintly. “You know, I fully expected him to utilize our skills, but that was one of Jamie’s I would have never dreamed Garrett would risk putting into use. Especially with his own granddaughter.”

“He’s got a helluva lot more trust in our friend than I do,” Payne admitted. “He said she’s pretty.”

Guy winced. “Damn.”

“I know.”

“I smell trouble.”

He did, too. It was like turning a bloodhound loose, then telling him not to follow the trail. Furthermore, he’d heard a bit of I’m-screwed misery in Jamie’s voice that definitely didn’t get his vote of confidence. Garrett undoubtedly was banking on Jamie’s ability to take an order—or take one for the team—but this was different.

Jamie wasn’t a Ranger anymore.

He was still a man of his word, but more than one man had broken a promise when it came to a woman. Sex did something to a guy. Made him weak in a way that nothing else could. Payne’s lips quirked. Hell, his father was a perfect example of that.

Which was why he’d never be.

Guy shot him a considering look. “Makes me wonder what he’s got in store for us.”

Him, too. Payne had been certain that Garrett had planned to use them for Uncle Sam. He’d never dreamed that the crafty old bastard had planned on cashing in those favors for himself. Point of fact, it shed a completely different light on things. He paused, tracing a bead of moisture down the side of his beer, and re-evaluating. Not that it would have changed anything—they would have agreed to his terms anyway. They’d wanted out at any cost. Still…

“I know,” he finally said. His lips curled into a grim smile. “Let’s just hope like hell he doesn’t have any more relatives in need of rescue.”

“Oh, I don’t think