High Tide [Paperback]

Jude Deveraux's sizzlingNew York Timesbestseller is a page-turning mix of thrilling sensuality, warmhearted wit, and hot-blooded suspense.
A rising corporate star, Fiona Burkenhalter is a New Yorker through and through. When her boss sends her to the Florida Everglades to accompany a wealthy new client on a rustic fishing expedition, it may as well be another planet to city slicker Fiona. She's more than a little steamed at this detour from the executive fast track -- until she meets the expedition's larger-than-life guide, Ace Montgomery.
Entirely out of her element, Fiona becomes mired in a maze of hair-raising circumstances the moment she arrives in Florida. Inexplicably pegged as the prime suspect for a shocking murder, Fiona finds that her only ally is Ace. As an irresistible chemistry flares -- and with their lives and hearts on the line -- they turn up the heat in their desperate search for a killer.
Take off on a wild ride withHigh Tide, and discover once more why Jude Deveraux's spellbinding novels soar onto bestseller lists -- and win the hearts of millions -- time after time.Chapter 1

I refuse to accept it in that condition, Ace said, glaring at the man who was holding out a clipboard and expecting him to sign the acceptance papers.

Look, mister, I'm just the deliveryman, and nobody said anything about busted crates. So just sign it so I can get out of here.

Ace kept his hands at his side. Maybe you can't read, but I can, he said. The fine print on that contract says that once I accept shipment, it's my responsibility. That means that if it's broken, then it's my problem. But if I find out that it's broken before I sign, then it's your problem. Got it?

For a moment the man stood there opening and closing his mouth. Do you know what's in that thing?

I most certainly do, since I'm the one who ordered it. And paid for it, I might add.

The man still didn't seem ls*