‘I’m not going to sleep with you,’ she blurted before she could stop herself, her nerves riding roughshod over her common sense.
He laughed out loud, shaking his head in mirth.
‘Don’t worry—I’m taking a break from seducing innocent young journalists, so your virtue is safe with me,’ he said, his mouth quirked in a playful smile. ‘I am interested in your body, Jess, but only on an artistic level.’
‘You can’t blame me for being wary when you make provocative statements. You do have a reputation for being a bit …’
‘A bit what?’
She paused, searching for the right word. ‘Wild.’
He gave her a bemused grin. ‘I promise to be on my best behaviour,’ he said, making a crossing motion over his heart. ‘And if I slip up you have my permission to lick me into shape.’
Oh, my God, the images he’d just conjured in her mind.
She really needed to get out of here before she totally lost her cool.
An overwhelming urge to pack up and go home, where she didn’t have to deal with these weird and disturbing feelings he provoked in her, besieged her. But she couldn’t leave. Not if she wanted to keep her job at the magazine. She was going to have to brazen it out and ignore the blatant innuendos he seemed so keen to tease her into a jittery mess with.
He was a player, all right, but she wasn’t about to let him play her.
Dear Reader
Who can resist the dangerous charms of a bad boy? Not me! Especially a disgustingly talented one with a body built for sin and the wits to win over the hardest of women. My heroine, Jess, is that hard woman, and Xander, my hero, certainly has his work cut out to get the better of her.
These two characters were such fun to write. They’re both headstrong, super-ambitious and broken in their own heart-wrenching way. Thank goodness they had me to throw them together and force them to sort out their lives!
I had the pleasure of sending them off to pass some quality time on the banks of Lake Garda—a place I have a great fondness for after spending my honeymoon there. How could they fail to fall in love in such romantic setting? I challenge anyone to resist the charms of the place.
This is a story of divine inspiration, a little bit of magic and some very messy artistic endeavours. I hope you enjoy it.
Christy x
PS I love to hear from readers. You can contact me at [email protected] or www.facebook.com/christymckellenauthor
Lessons in
Rule-Breaking
Christy McKellen
BK (Before Kids) CHRISTY McKELLEN worked as a video and radio producer in London and Nottingham. After a decade of dealing with nappies, tantrums and endless questions from toddlers she has come out the other side and moved into the wonderful world of literature. She now spends her time writing flirty, sexy romance with a kick—her dream job!
In her downtime she can be found drinking the odd glass of champagne, ambling around the beautiful South West of England, or escaping from real life by dashing off to foreign lands with her fabulous family.
Christy loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at: www.christymckellen.blogspot.com, http://www.facebook.com/christymckellenauthor or https://twitter.com/ChristyMcKellen
Other Modern Tempted™ titles by Christy McKellen:
HOLIDAY WITH A STRANGER
This and other titles by Christy McKellen are available as eBooks from www.millsandboon.co.uk
To the Prosecco Book Club ladies for their encouragement and friendship.
And to Clio, my fantastic editor, thanks for your positivity and unerring support.
Contents
ONE
‘The editor wants to see you in her office.’
Jessica LaFayette glanced up from the screen of her laptop to see Claire, one of the other junior staff writers at Spark magazine, looking down at her with worry in her eyes and a speculative eyebrow raised.
Clearly Claire was as concerned as Jess about what sort of news was about to be bestowed on her.
There had been rumours flying about the office recently about staff cutbacks and everyone had been on tenterhooks for weeks, desperately worried that they were the one about to be summoned to the editor’s office in order to be given the boot.
Okay, time to buckle up.
Smoothing a hand down her hair and straightening her blouse, Jess gave Claire a curt nod and stood up, balling her trembling hands into fists at her sides, before striding over to the editor’s office.
If she lost this job she was in big trouble. She’d already raced through her meagre savings living in London as an intern for nine months, before finally securing the job here—on the proviso she made it past her three-month probation period. The thought of having to pack up and go home to live back with her parents in the burbs of Leicester, after all the excitement of finally being employed in her dream job, sent a twist of panic through her.
They thought she was crazy chasing such a competitive career, but it was what she’d always wanted to do and she’d been determined to give it everything she had.
She was stubborn like that.
It had taken her two years after leaving university to land a placement at Spark, two long years of living back at home with a woman who would surely place as a top contender for ‘World’s Most Disappointed Mother.’
Jess was not the daughter Ingrid LaFayette had hoped for. Instead of a vivacious, beauty—a carbon copy of herself—she’d been lumped with kooky-looking, strong-willed Jess.
No way was she going back to the raised eyebrows and tense silences