But she was in no condition to judge accurately after the devastating discovery in suite 5-C. Or rather, in the storage closet next to suite 5-C. She had knocked on the door by mistake and heard a low-voiced yes at almost the same moment. And she’d opened the door.

Her fingers tightened on her cold, empty glass. All she could think was payback time. Someone richly deserved it. She couldn’t figure out how, exactly, not just yet. But she would.

The man who needed her had stopped to talk to a pal. He didn’t nod in her direction or give any indication that they were together, for which she was grateful.

She was still somewhat numb, basically unable to form a coherent thought. Or maybe stunned was a better word. The intensity of her attraction to this well-built stranger was affecting her ability to reason, on top of everything else.

Raw emotion was no balm for her hurting heart. Unless she was just experiencing a powerful physical reaction and nothing more.

She did want him that way. The feeling was new and wild. She’d never wanted a man just physically before in her whole life.

At the moment, he seemed to be unable to extricate himself from an unwanted conversation. He finally did manage a reassuring glance at her over his friend’s shoulder. He was coming back.

He cared. Good enough. If this encounter lasted a grand total of an hour, start to finish, he still cared enough to treat her right.

Mary Beth was all about doing right, first and foremost. Above all, she believed that you took care of your family and loved them best. Next to that was her work. She genuinely cared for the young students who came to talk to her in confidence. As a school social worker, she knew a lot about life that she hadn’t personally experienced.

She had convinced herself that she loved her fiancé and that she was ready to take the huge step of starting a family of her own. At least she was sure she hadn’t accepted his proposal for any of the wrong reasons.

She didn’t need him to be financially secure. She didn’t have to have a man around the house just because she’d been so close—and still was—to her widowed father, Harold Caine.

No. She’d gotten engaged because it was the logical next step in her orderly life, a perfectly reasonable idea that had shattered into a million pieces when, by mistake, she opened the closet door next to the suite the guys had used to change into formal wear.

In seconds, her whole damn life had changed. There was no going back.