His voice on the phone was like warm whiskey on a cold night, but in person Paul Rouchett was a walking steamroller who invaded Meredith Claryon's peaceful life by offering her a provocative proposition! His instincts told him that the tart-tongued nurse with the sparkling green eyes couldn't resist a challenge, and when he suggested they team up to find the embezzler who'd robbed his nightclub, the Rogue's Den, and run off with her sister, Meredith felt herself swept away by the strong current of his need. Paul was impossibly arrogant, infuriatingly bossy, and determined to direct their investigation, but Meredith was a spirited partner who hated being told what to do, even by a man whose kisses seared her to the bone! But the man who seemed to have all the answers had twice failed in making love last, while Meredith yearned for forever. Could she show Paul that only he could make her happy, that a man with two strikes could hit a homer and win it all?