“Not yet,” he said, grabbing her arm. “I want to know what my mother has to do with you being here.”

“All right,” she said as she tried futilely to pull away. “Sally said you’d be gone during the conference and that I would be more comfortable in a suite than a regular room. She told your manager to give me the key.”

Her words sent icy tendrils of pure dread down Cameron’s spine. Yes, he’d originally planned to stay up north another two weeks, but he’d called Sally yesterday to tell her his plans had changed and he was coming back tonight.

His mother had set this whole thing up.

Did Sally really think that Cameron would take one look at this woman, fall on his knees and beg her to marry him? If so, then Mom was doomed for disappointment.

But as Julia squirmed to pull away from him, Cameron’s lower body came to life in a big way. Did it really matter, in that moment, what his mother had done? No. He’d deal with Mom later. Much later.

Right now he had his hands on a lovely, skimpily dressed woman. A sexy woman he’d once known in the most intimate way a man could know a woman.

Holding her close, he again caught that intriguing fragrance of orange blossoms along with something deeper, something exotic. He’d never forgotten her, never forgotten her scent, despite his every effort to do so.

He could still remember meeting her that first time. Talk about lust at first sight.

It all happened after his mother had discovered Cupcake, Julia’s bakery in Old Town Dunsmuir. Mom had tried her pastries and cupcakes and had insisted that her sons try them for themselves. They all agreed that her products were incredible and soon thereafter, the Duke resorts began carrying Julia’s line of pastries, cookies and breads.

Julia had been invited to attend a one-day vendor orientation at one of the Duke resorts up the coast. She’d planned to stay through the long weekend as a guest of the Dukes. That was where Cameron first saw her, walking across the lobby on her way to the hotel lounge. He’d approached, she’d shown equal interest, and they’d ended up spending that long weekend together.