Overnight Cinderella by Katherine Garbera

lead him back onto safe ground. It was where he wanted to go, and he had no idea how to get there. He owed her, and he made a mental note to return the favor soon.
    â€œNo, I wasn’t. And I didn’t want Daddy Warbucks to rescue me. I wanted to be Daddy Warbucks.”
    â€œAre you?” she asked.
    He thought about the money he earned consulting, and his career with Max in Japan. He’d teamed up with Max to save Pryce from fraud. They’d spent several years there. He had more money than most people. He lived well and from where he’d started that was enough. It sure was a hell of a lot more than he’d have made as a cop. “I’m closer than I ever was.”
    She nodded and turned to leave. “Do you know what Daddy Warbucks’s real treasure was?”
    Yes, but he wasn’t going to admit it. He thought she’d led him to safe ground but saw that there was a looming pothole in the middle of the safety.
    â€œFamily,” she said and left.
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    Cami was shaking by the time she reached her office. Even though it was after hours, most of the offices were still occupied. The employees at Pryce were dedicated to the success of the company.
    No family. She couldn’t imagine it. Her mom was Italian, and Cami had so many cousins she sometimes couldn’t keep them straight. Her dad was a Jones, one of the most popular names in the United States and a friendly group who claimed everyone for their own.
    Yet Duke had no one. She wanted to know more. Had he been abandoned as a child? Or were his parents taken away from him? Was he taken away from them for abuse? But she’d looked into his frozen gray eyes and known she couldn’t ask any questions. In what he’d tried to hide he’d revealed his inner skin. It was like the soft underbelly of a turtle—a part not protected by his tough outer shell.
    She was out of her league with Duke, yet helplessly fascinated. She couldn’t help wanting to know more about him, but he wasn’t ever going to tell her. Honestly, she didn’t think she had a right to know. Though it would make it easier to really decide if they had a chance. Which she realized she wanted more than anything else.
    Common sense said that this sophisticated man couldn’t be interested in her, but that kiss had convinced her heart of something else. Especially the way he’d acted toward her afterward.
    Her computer was still on so she checked her e-mail. Then, out of curiosity, she ran Duke’s name and the key words “car accident” through the databases to which she had access. She came up with four different sites. The first was a newspaper source data archive she had an account with. She quickly purchased the article and downloaded it.
    Ray and Sylvia Merchon of Dunwoody, Georgia, had been killed in a car accident, leaving behind their two-year-old son. He’d been asleep in the back of the car and survived the tragic accident. She read the story again and again, and knew what Duke needed.
    She knew in an instant why she’d been placed by fate in his path. She needed to share her family with him. Serendipity was more than opportunity. It was the window to which the world unfolded if you were bold. Seeing her reflection in the computer screen, she knew she wasn’t bold. She knew she was the gal with the heavy fantasy life and the slim reality touch.
    Could she be bold?
    Could she be bold enough to help Duke?
    Could she be bolder than she ever had been before and take a chance on a man?
    She needed to go home. She printed out the article and shut down her computer. There wasn’t time to answer the questions spinning in her head.She slid her shoes on and picked up the article, preparing to leave.
    She’d been subdued today. Trying so hard to be the restrained lady that would look right on Duke’s arm, but it wasn’t her. And she didn’t believe a subdued woman was what Duke needed. His life