Devil to Pay by Susan Napier (HP 1483)

Cressy Cross is a wildlife photographer who's just got a new assignment for a newspaper to document the tusked giant wetas (endangered insects). The book opens with her on the road, driving towards the wetas, getting more and more ill each mile she goes. Disoriented, Cressy gets her car stuck in a ditch and, feverish from her virus, she heads off towards the nearest residence in the rain wearing just a slip and carrying her favorite camera. She's so determined to get there (and out of it) that although she gets electrocuted by the security fence she doesn't let that stop her, temporarily shorting the fence by throwing an old car part at it and then climbing over. She's greeted by security at the door, but raving about a murderer (in her delirium she thinks the fence was there to kill) she bursts into a boardroom meeting. And that's how Cressy meets our hero, Devlin Connell.

Devlin's holding a top security meeting with primary resource (ie, oil, coal, gas) business leaders and some government and the immediate concern is that Cressy might be with the press (especially when they find her camera) and might not have come alone. But Dev soon realizes that Cressy's burning up with fever and the sponge baths he has to give her (along with antibiotics) make him a bit possessive...

I'm sure I'm not doing the plot justice cuz reading above it sounds like Cressy might be tstl or something which she certainly isn't, plus the majority of the book takes place once Cressy is well again or while she is convalescing. Anyway this is another excellent example of an HP – featuring a strong man and a strong woman whose lives forcefully intersect. The thing with Dev's nickname being Devil got a bit old for me, but never enough to make me annoyed. And scenes such as the one where Cressy wears her slip modified into a dress using a tablecloth and curtain tie to a formal dinner with the businessmen were always amusing enough to make up for it.