Page 65 of Virgin's Stolen Nights with the Boss

They don’t make you vulnerable, Carmen thought as they headed back to the car.

After one last look at the beach as they drove off, Carmen watched the lights from a jet, glinting in the night sky, soaring away from LA.

Soon that would be her...

All the trouble at home was still there, waiting for her return. And she wanted to be ready to face it... Not giddy in lust with a self-confessed commitment-phobe who had a reputation so bad it rivalled that of her notorious brothers.

She wanted to think and to heal.

Not lose herself in his kisses.

Nor did she want to spoil things by getting too close...

Oh, and she knew she would...

Carmen knew she would fall for his charms. She would adore him, and then—because that was what he so clearly did—he would shatter and break her heart.

And his rejection would be more than she could deal with right now.

It was surely better to end things before she was abandoned.

She wasn’t a baby screaming in her cot. She was a woman now.

Elias indicated, turning into the white drive that led up to the ranch house.

‘Come in and have a drink?’ he said.

‘Thank you, but I don’t think I should.’

She would be sensible here.

He slowed the car to a stop. ‘It’s up to you, but I have to see to this lot first, then I’ll drop you back at the lodge.’

He nodded his head to the horses who were already making their way over to the fence. As Carmen got out the car and joined him she saw they were far from the prime thoroughbreds she had been dealing with.

Well, one was.

‘Who are all these...?’ And Carmen smiled as she realised she was meeting the Misfits.

There was fat little miniature pony, a very old donkey, and a beautiful roan whom Elias stroked tenderly.

‘Hey,’ he said to the handsome horse. ‘It’s night-time, my old friend...’

She watched as the roan sniffed the air, nuzzling Elias’s hand. When he turned towards her she felt a huge lump fill her throat as she saw that he was blind.

‘He’s not used to me bringing guests this late.’

‘Then it would be impolite not to introduce me,’ Carmen said, muddled by curiosity and relief as she realised that this was not a place he would have brought any of the women he’d dated.

This really was his haven.

‘Homer,’ he said to the beautiful roan. ‘This is Carmen. When I met her she was pretending to be a waitress, and now she’s trying to pass herself off as a stable hand.’

‘He’s beautiful.’

She looked next at the mini horse, and couldn’t quite say the same, because the fat pony had her tongue lolling out on one side of her mouth and eyes that were too far apart.

‘What’s this one called?’

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