Turning up the Heat
(Book Two of the Sweet Temptation series)
Ashley Lister
Copyright
Mischief
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
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Copyright © Ashley Lister 2014
Ashley Lister asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007579563
Version: 2014-10-09
Contents
Chapter 1
In the darkness of the deserted restaurant a hand touched hers. Trudy stiffened. Her heart beat faster. She was alone in the dark with a stranger.
It wasn’t the first time this had happened to her.
A part of her had been desperate for it to happen again.
Concentrating on smells, sounds and the shape of his silhouette against the darkness, Trudy tried to get some idea of who he was. She caught the citrus notes of his cologne, a lemony fragrance that was clean, zesty and exciting. Her senses were made more acute by the absence of proper light, and she could hear the rasp of his breathing. It was a gentle sound like the half-grumbling growl of a lion at rest. Noting the forbidding height, broad chest and manly jaw, she dared to let herself smile.
It wasn’t a stranger: it was Bill.
‘Mr Hart,’ she began.
A finger touched her lips briefly, silencing her. She trembled at the contact.
It had been a long month since they had last communicated, since she had last felt the bliss of his skin touching her lips or touching her anywhere. A long, long month.
‘Don’t speak yet, Ms McLaughlin,’ he warned.
She was obedient and said nothing.
She basked in the gruff growl of his Northern brogue.
‘We’ve both been in the wrong here.’ His broad Yorkshire accent made the words come out as wev barth bin in t’wrong ’ere. Trudy had missed hearing his impenetrable voice over the past month. She closed her eyes to hold back the tears of relief that now threatened to flood from her.
‘I can see now that I was wrong for being so