Hard to Handle Read online

  Praise for the reigning queen of romance,

  DIANA PALMER

  “Palmer’s talent for character development and ability to fuse heartwarming romance with nail-biting suspense shine in Outsider.”

  —Booklist

  “A gentle escape mixed with real-life menace for fans of Palmer’s more than 100 novels.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Night Fever

  “The ever-popular and prolific Palmer has penned another sure hit.”

  —Booklist on Before Sunrise

  “Nobody does it better.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard

  “Palmer knows how to make sparks fly…heartwarming.”

  —Publishers Weekly on Renegade

  “Sensual and suspenseful….”

  —Booklist on Lawless

  “Diana Palmer is a mesmerizing story teller who captures the essence of what a romance should be.”

  —Affaire de Coeur

  “Nobody tops Diana Palmer when it comes to delivering pure, undiluted romance. I love her stories.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz

  Look for Diana Palmer’s new hardcover

  Dangerous

  Coming in summer 2010

  Also by Diana Palmer

  The Winter Man

  Heartless

  Her Kind of Hero

  Nora

  Heart of Stone

  Fearless

  Big Sky Winter

  Man of the Hour

  Trilby

  Lawman

  Lacy

  Heart of Winter

  Outsider

  Night Fever

  Before Sunrise

  Renegade

  Lawless

  Diamond Spur

  Desperado

  The Texas Ranger

  Lord of the Desert

  The Cowboy and the Lady

  Most Wanted

  Fit for a King

  Paper Rose

  Rage of Passion

  Once in Paris

  After the Music

  Roomful of Roses

  Champagne Girl

  Passion Flower

  Diamond Girl

  Friends and Lovers

  Cattleman’s Choice

  Lady Love

  The Rawhide Man

  DIANA PALMER

  HARD TO HANDLE

  CONTENTS

  HUNTER

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  MAN IN CONTROL

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  HUNTER

  1

  The silver-haired man across the desk had both hands clasped together on its surface, and his blue eyes were narrow and determined.

  Hunter wanted to argue. He’d protested assignments before, and Eugene Ritter had backed down. This time the old man wouldn’t. Hunter sensed Ritter’s determination before he even tried to get out of the job.

  That didn’t stop him, of course. Phillip Hunter was used to confrontation. As chief of internal security for Ritter Oil Corporation for the past ten years, he’d become quite accustomed to facing off against all manner of opponents, from would-be thieves to enemy agents who tried to get the jump on Ritter’s strategic metal discoveries.

  “The desert is no place for a woman,” he told the old man. He sat back comfortably in the straight-backed chair, looking as formidable as his Apache ancestors. He was very dark, with jet-black hair conventionally cut, and eyes almost black in a lean, thin-lipped face. He was tall, too, and muscular. Even his perfectly fitted gray suit didn’t hide the hard lines of a body kept fit by hours of exercise. Hunter was ex-Green Beret, ex-mercenary, and for a short time he’d even worked for the CIA. He was an expert with small arms and his karate training had earned him a black belt. He was thirty-seven, a loner by nature, unmarried and apt to stay that way. He had no inclination to accompany Eugene’s sexy field geologist out to Arizona on a preliminary survey. Jennifer Marist was one of his few ongoing irritations. She seemed to stay in hot water, and he was always deputized to pull her irons out of the fire.

  Her last exploration had put her in danger from enemy agents, resulting in a stakeout at her apartment a few months ago. Two men had been apprehended, but the third was still at large.

  Hunter and Jennifer were old sparring partners. They’d been thrown together on assignments more often than Hunter liked. Like two rocks striking, they made sparks fly, and that could be dangerous. He didn’t like white women, and Jennifer was unique. Her soft blond beauty, added to her sharp intellect, made him jittery. She was the only female who’d ever had that effect on him, and he didn’t like it. The thought of spending a week in the desert alone with her had him fuming.

  “Jennifer isn’t just a woman, she’s one of my top field geologists,” Eugene replied. “This is a potentially rich strike, and I need the new capital it will bring in. Jennifer can’t go alone.”

  “I could send one of my operatives with her,” Hunter replied.

  “Not good enough. Jennifer’s already been in danger from this assignment once. I want the best—and that’s you.”

  “We don’t get along, haven’t you noticed?” he said through his teeth.

  “You don’t have to get along with her. You just have to keep anyone from getting his hands on her maps or her survey results.” He pursed his lips. “The site’s in Arizona, near the Apache reservation. You can go see your grandfather.”

  “I can do that without having to follow your misplaced ingenue around,” he said coldly.

  “Jennifer is a geologist,” the older man reminded him. “Her looks have nothing to do with her profession. For God’s sake, you get along with my other female employees, why not with Jennifer?”

  That was a question Hunter didn’t really want to answer. He couldn’t very well tell Eugene that the woman appealed to his senses so potently that it was hard to function when she was around. He wasn’t in the market for an affair, but he wanted Jennifer with a feverish passion. He’d managed to contain his desire for her very well over the years, but lately it was becoming unmanageable. The temptation of being out on the desert with her was too much. Something might happen, and what then? He had good reasons for his dislike of white women, and he had no desire whatsoever to create a child who, like himself, could barely adapt to life in a white world. White and Apache just didn’t mix, even if he did frequently wake up sweating from his vivid dreams about Jennifer Marist.

  “You can always threaten to quit,” Eugene advised with a sharp grin.

  “Would it work?” Hunter queried.

  Eugene just shook his head.

  “In that case,” Hunter said, rising to his feet with the stealthy grace that was unique to him, “I won’t bother. When do we leave?”

  “First thing in the morning. You can pick up the tickets and motel voucher from my secretary. You’ll need time to lay in some camping equipment, so the motel room will be necessary the first night. You and Jennifer will be pretending to be husband and wife when you switch flights in Phoenix to head down to Tucson. That’s going to throw any followers off the track, I hope, and give you both time to scout the area before they discover their mistake and double back. Better get in touch with our operatives in Ar
izona and advise them of the plan.”

  “I’ll do that now.”

  “Try not to look so dismal, will you?” Eugene muttered darkly. “It’s demoralizing!”

  “Stop sending me out with Jennifer Marist.”

  “You’re the only man in my corporation who could complain about that.”

  “I’m Apache,” Hunter said with quiet pride. “She’s white.”

  Eugene had been married twice and he wasn’t stupid. He could read between the lines very well. “I understand how it is,” he replied. “But this is business. You’ll have to cope.”

  “Don’t I always?” Hunter murmured. “Will you tell her, or do you want me to?”

  “I’ll enjoy it more than you would,” Eugene chuckled. “She’s going to go right through the ceiling. It may shock you to know that she finds you offensive and unpleasant. She’ll fight as hard to get out of it as you just did.”

  That didn’t surprise Hunter. He had a feeling Jennifer felt the same unwanted attraction he did and was fighting it just as hard. From day one, their relationship had been uneasy and antagonistic.

  “It won’t do her any more good than it did me,” Hunter murmured. “But if she ends up roasting over a campfire, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Eugene’s blue eyes twinkled. “Okay. I won’t.”

  Hunter left and walked along the corridor with an expression so cold and so fierce that one employee turned and went back the other way to avoid him. He had a fairly decent working relationship with some of Eugene’s people, but most of them kept out of his way. The icy Mr. Hunter was well-known. He was the only bachelor who didn’t have to fight off feminine advances. The women were too intimidated by him. All except for Jennifer, who fought him tooth and nail.

  And now a week on the desert with her, he mused. He lit a cigarette as he walked and blew out a thick cloud of smoke. He’d just managed to give up cigarettes the week before. He was getting hooked again, and it was Eugene’s fault. For two cents, he’d quit and go back and raise horses on the reservation. But that would bore him to death eventually. No, he’d just have to find some way to survive Jennifer. One day, he promised himself, he was going to walk out the door and leave Eugene with it.

  2

  Jennifer Marist shared an office with several other geologists, a roomful of high-tech equipment, maps and charts and assorted furniture. On good days, she and the other geologists who worked for the Ritter Oil Corporation could maneuver around one another as they proceeded with their individual and collective projects. Unfortunately this wasn’t a good day. Chaos reigned, and when the big boss himself, Eugene Ritter, asked Jenny to come into his office, it was a relief.

  She took her time going down the long hall enjoying the glass windows that gave such a beautiful view of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the lush vegetation that accented the walkway. Jenny was twenty-seven, but she looked much younger. Her long blond hair was soft and wavy, her deep blue eyes full of life and quiet pleasure. She wore a white knit sweater with simply designed gray slacks, but she still looked like a cover girl. It was the curse of her life, she thought, that men saw the face and not the personality and intelligence beneath it. Fortunately the men in her group were used to her by now, and none of them made sexist remarks or gave wolf whistles when she came into a room. They were all married except Jack, anyway, and Jack was fifty-six; just a bit old for Jenny’s taste.

  All told, though, Jenny had given up on the idea of marriage. It would have been lovely, but despite the modern world she lived in, the only two men she’d ever come close to marrying refused to share her with her globe-trotting career. They wanted a nice little woman who’d stay at home and cook and clean and raise kids. Jenny wouldn’t have minded so much with the right man, but she’d spent years training as a geologist. She was highly paid and tops in her field. It seemed wasteful to sacrifice that for a dirty apron. But, then, perhaps she’d just never met the man she’d want to compromise for.

  She glanced around as she entered the waiting room of Eugene’s plush carpeted office, looking for Hunter. Thank God he was nowhere close by. She let out a tense sigh. Ridiculous to let a man get to her that way, especially a cold-blooded statue like Mr. Hunter. He was the company’s troubleshooter and there had been a little trouble just lately. He and Jenny had partnered up for an evening to catch enemy agents who were after Jenny’s top-secret maps of a potential new strike in strategic metals. It had been an evening to remember, and Jenny was doing her best to forget it all. Especially the part that contained him. They’d caught two men, but not the ringleader himself. Hunter had blamed her. He usually did, for anything that went wrong. Maybe he hated blondes.

  She lifted her eyebrows at Betty, Eugene’s secretary, who grinned and nodded.

  “Go right in. He’s waiting,” she told Jenny.

  “Is Hunter in there?” she asked, hesitating.

  “Not yet.”

  That sounded ominous. Jenny tapped at the door and opened it, peeking around to find Eugene precariously balanced in his swivel chair, looking thoughtful.

  “Come in, come in. Have a chair. Close the door first.” He smiled. “How’s the world treating you?”

  “Fair to middling,” she replied, laughing as she sat down in the chair across the desk.

  He leaned forward, his silver hair gleaming in the light from the window behind him, his pale blue eyes curious. “Getting lonely since Danetta married my son and moved out?”

  “I do miss my cousin,” Jenny replied, smiling. “She was a great roommate.” She leaned forward. “But I don’t miss the lounge lizard!”

  He chuckled. “I guess she misses him. Danetta’s iguana is living with us, now, and my youngest son Nicky and he are best friends already. Cabe has promised Danetta a nice stuffed one for a pet anytime she wants it.”

  Jenny smothered a grin. Her employer’s older son Cabe was well-known for his aversion to anything with scales; especially iguanas named Norman. Jenny had gotten used to the big lizard, after a fashion, but it was a lot more comfortable living without him.

  “I’ve got a proposition for you,” Ritter said without further preamble. “There’s a piece of land down in Arizona that I want you to run a field survey on. I’ll send down your equipment and you can camp out for a few days until you can get me a preliminary map of the area and study the outcroppings.”

  She knew she was going white. “The Arizona desert?”

  “That’s right. Quiet place. Pretty country. Peace.”

  “Rattlesnakes! Men with guns in four-wheel drives! Indians!”

  “Shhhhh! Hunter might hear you!” he said, putting his finger to his lips.

  She glared at him. “I am not afraid of tall Apaches named Hunter. I meant the other ones, the ones who don’t work for us.”

  “Listen, honey, the Apaches don’t raid the settlements anymore, and it’s been years since anybody was shot with an arrow.”

  She glared harder. “Send Hunter.”

  “Oh, I’m going to,” he said. “I’m glad you agree that he’s the man for the job. The two of you can keep each other company. He’ll be your protection while you sound out this find for me.”

  “Me? Alone in the desert with Hunter for several days and nights?” She almost choked. “You can’t do it! We’ll kill each other!”

  “Not right away,” he said. “Besides, you’re the best geologist I have and we can’t afford to take chances, not with the goings-on of the past month. And our adversary is still loose somewhere. That’s why I want you to camp in a different section each night, to throw him off the track. You’ll go to the target area on the second night. I’ll show you on the map where it is. You aren’t to tell anyone.”

  “Not even Hunter?” she asked.

  “You can try not to, but Hunter knows everything.”

  “He thinks he does,” she agrees. “I’ll bet he invented bread…”

  “Cut it out. This is an assignment, you’re an employee, I’m the boss. Quit or pack.”
>
  She threw up her hands. “What a choice. You pay me a duke’s ransom for what I do already and then you threaten me with poverty. That’s no choice.”

  He grinned at her. “Good. Hunter doesn’t bite.”

  “Want to see the teeth marks?” she countered. “He snapped my head off the night we lost that other agent. He said it was my fault!”

  “How could it have been?”

  “I don’t know, but that’s what he said. Does it have to be Hunter? Why can’t you send that nice Mallory boy with me? I like him.”

  “That’s why I won’t send him. Hunter isn’t nice, but he’ll keep you alive and protect my investment. There isn’t a better man for this kind of work.”

  She had to agree, but she didn’t like having to. “Can I have combat pay?”

  “Listen or get out.”

  “Yes, sir.” She sat with resignation written all over her. “What are we looking for? Oil? Molybdenum? Uranium?”

  “Best place to look for oil right now is western Wyoming,” he reminded her. “Best place to look for moly is Colorado or southern Arizona. And that’s why I’m sending you to Arizona—molybdenum. And maybe gold.”

  She whistled softly. “What an expedition.”

  “Now you know why I want secrecy,” he agreed. “Hunter and you will make a good team. You’re both clams. No possibility of security leaks. Get your gear together and be ready to leave at six in the morning. I’ll have Hunter pick you up at your apartment.”

  “I could get to the airport by myself,” she volunteered quickly.

  “Scared of him?” Ritter taunted, his pale eyes twinkling at her discomfort.

  She lifted her chin and glared at him. “No. Of course not.”

  “Good. He’ll look after you. Have fun.”