Thirty days to love

couldn't shake the image of fierce dark eyes and defiant shoulders from his mind. The coffee shop barista who'd looked at him

is mind off the impossible ultimatum. Thirty days to find a fiancée. Twenty-seven days now, if he was counti

with that careful expression she wore when delivering news he

cel

u've canceled today. Mr. Hendricks

slipped just enough to show hurt, and guilt twisted in Damien's chest. She'd worked for hi

d him dinner at Nobu with my apologies. And..." He hesitated, vulnerable feeling

. What kind of

r. I need someo

his desk. Marcus Kane, Private Investigations. Discretion Guaranteed.

-the coffee shop's location, a physical description that he tried to keep clinical despite the w

his retainer check with practiced efficiency. "

ospitalized at Cedars-Sinai with stage three lung cancer. No criminal record, no significant debt beyond medical bills, no romantic

it was the photo that stopped him cold-a candid shot of her leaving the hospital, exhaustion written in every line of her

visiting the unemployment office daily for the pas

ege-a drunk driving charge his family's lawyers had negotiated down to picking up trash in Griffith Park. The fluorescent-lit

'd once had careers, dignity, purposes. Now they clutched folders of paperwork and stared at num

ere sh

in this place designed to crush the human spirit, she possessed something indefinable. The way she held herself straight despite the exhaustion, the g

full of people who'd been beaten down by circumstances, she

xperienced in the coffee shop. Her expression shifted from confusion to surprise to somethi

possible problem was sitting twenty feet away, vulnerable and desperate enough to

lled a bored voice from

digital display. Number thirty-one was curr

and walked toward her with the confidence that had carried him through boardrooms and hostile takeov

gnation. When he stopped in front of her chair, she tilted her head back to meet hi

ed, clearly tryi

e gestured to the empty

ew one. Do rich guys often cruise une

seemed to surprise them both. "I'm here because I

don't have problems that r

ather i

Elena's face went white, then red, fury re

dare

nt he needs costs a quarter of a million dollars." Damien kept his voice level, professional,

the floor, drawing glances from nearby stranger

arched. There's

have been tears. "You violated my privacy, invaded my life, j

asn't how he'd planned this conversation, though he c

he said quie

shoul

means walking away from the

negotiations, pressuring competitors until they cracked. But seeing Elena's face crumble,

laced by exhaustion that seemed to age h

u an offer. A busi

ot for

Miss Torres. The only

et her keep her pride and her dying father and her impossible situation. But Marcus's mock

pable of handling high-society events and media scrutiny. Someone who can

ke fi

Long enough to secure my position, then a qu

he'd suggested they rob a

but he heard it. Heard the defeat

Enough to set you up for li

opened them again, the fire was

o think a

You have my number. But Elena?" He used her first name deliberately, intimately

unemployment office. But he could feel her eyes on him until the automatic doors closed betw

ther he'd be able to live