Cara Summers - Taken Beyond Temptation

RITA® Award Nominee CARA SUMMERShas written more than thirty books. She has won several awards, including an Award of Excellence, three Golden Quills, and two Golden Leaf Awards. She has also been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. She loves coming up with stories—from Gothic romance and mystery adventures to romantic comedies. When Cara isn’t creating new stories, she teaches at Syracuse University.

Cara Summers

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To my editor Brenda Chin who continually inspires me

to write better stories. thanks for always encouraging

me to take on new challenges. And thanks for your

never-wavering and never-ending support.

You’ve made me a better writer.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever had a secret fantasy that you’ve never shared with anyone? I’d forgotten mine until my editor suggested I write a story for Blaze ®‘s FORBIDDEN FANTASY series. Then I ended up writing three books!

When interior designer Jillian Brightman and her sisters buy Haworth House and turn it into an exclusive hotel, they fulfill a dream that they’ve shared since they were children. But they get more than they bargained for, including a former resident who tempts them to unearth their most secret and forbidden fantasies …

Jillian’s purpose in visiting Haworth House is strictly business. Pursuing a fantasy, no matter how tempting it might be, is not on her agenda. Until she meets him. Posing as a writer, ex-CIA analyst Ian MacFarland’s goal is to investigate the series of disturbing incidents that have been plaguing Haworth House. But once he meets Jillian, all he can think about is fulfilling any and every fantasy she has.

I hope you enjoy Ian and Jillian’s seductive adventures, and that you’ll look for the other books in this series. Reese will find her fantasy in Twice the Temptation later in the year. Please visit me at www.carasummers. com.

Happy reading,

Cara Summers

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Author

Title Page

Dedication To my editor Brenda Chin who continually inspires me to write better stories. thanks for always encouraging me to take on new challenges. And thanks for your never-wavering and never-ending support. You’ve made me a better writer.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Copyright

Fourteen months earlier

THE MOMENT JILLIAN STEPPED into the tower room, she knew she wasn’t alone. It wasn’t just the steady dip in the temperature as she’d climbed the circular iron staircase. Although that was a big clue. According to the research she’d done, haunted houses were known for those cold spots.

Another big clue was she suddenly had goose bumps and the hairs on the back of her neck were snapping to attention like soldiers at the first sound of reveille.

Jillian peered into the gloom. The grime on the windows that circled the outer wall cut down on the amount of sunlight. But there was definitely someone else here.

“Hello?”

The only answer was the muted sound of the Atlantic sweeping into the rocks below.

“I’m not a trespasser,” she said. “The real estate agent gave me the key.”

No response.

“She gave it to me because I’m one of the new owners. My sisters and I put in a purchase offer and it was accepted today.”

The air shimmered. She was certain of it. Encouraged, she took another tentative step.

Sensing the presence of an incorporeal being was a first for Jillian. And it kicked up her heartbeat considerably. A ghost-buster she wasn’t. Or at least she never had been.

What she had been was an avid reader of the Nancy Drew mysteries when she was a child. She’d always admired Nancy’s fearlessness and her ability to take on challenges. At one point in her life, she’d wanted to be Nancy Drew. Right now, she’d settle for a little of the teenage sleuth’s luck.

Because there was a ghost in Haworth House, and Jillian was sure she was here in the tower. Hattie Haworth was her name. Belle Island’s top real estate agent Vivian Thorley had told her the story when she’d given her a tour of the property and Jillian had asked why the door to the tower levels was boarded up.

Vivian’s tone had been prim and proper. “I’m bound by full disclosure to let you know that the second owners of Haworth House believed that the place was haunted.”

The original owner, Hattie, was a successful silent-film star who’d been dropped by her studio and her husband when she’d failed to make the transition to talkies. According to Vivian, Hattie had sought refuge at Belle Island and had lived in seclusion at Haworth House before she’d passed away.

“And ever since the tower room was boarded up, there haven’t been any complaints,” Vivian had assured her. And she’d quickly steered Jillian back into the sunny open courtyard at the center of the old stone mansion—where the view of the Atlantic could work its magic.

Drawing in a deep breath, Jillian moved a little farther into the tower room. When the agent had told her the story, she’d felt an instant empathy for the silent-film star. “I think it’s awful that they’ve kept you boarded up all of these years.”

Of course, she hadn’t mentioned the ghost in her phone calls to her sisters. Why muddy the waters? The important thing had been to sell them on the idea that Haworth House was the perfect spot for their business venture. And she had.

Nerves danced in her stomach as she glanced around the room again. She’d taken risks before, but never one this big, and never one that had involved anyone but herself.

Still, she’d known from the first instant she’d seen the stone tower rising into the sky that this was the perfect place for them.

Now, all she had to do was convince Hattie Haworth. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I wanted to give you a little heads-up. My sisters and I plan on turning Haworth into a luxury hotel.”

No response.

“We’ve had this dream of going into business with one another since we were in our teens. In fact we took a vow to do just that.” And turning Haworth House into a hotel would allow the Brightman sisters to fulfill that vow.

Naomi had been a senior in high school, applying to colleges, when she’d come up with the idea that they should go into business together one day. Her older sister had been four, she’d been two and Reese had been a baby when their father had left them with the nuns who ran the boarding school.

It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement. He was still recovering from their mother’s death, and he needed some time. He’d been on his way to collect them when his car had gone off a cliff near Monte Carlo. The nuns had kept them, and she and her sisters had grown up inseparable. But Naomi, always practical, had foreseen that their career paths were going to separate them. She’d chosen business and law, Reese had already known she wanted to be a chef, and Jillian’s heart had been set a little more vaguely on travel and art.