Zuri Day - French Quarter Kisses

Can this celebrity chef keep his past hidden?

Not with a beautiful society reporter uncovering his secret desires!

Pierre LeBlanc is a triple threat: celebrated chef, food-network star and owner of the Big Easy’s hottest restaurant. Journalist Rosalyn Arnaud sees only a spoiled playboy not worthy of front-page news. Their sizzling attraction tells another story. But when she uncovers his secret, their love affair could end in shattering betrayal...

ZURI DAY is the national bestselling author of almost two dozen novels, including the popular Drakes of California series. Her books have earned her a coveted Publishers Weekly starred review and a Top Ten Pick out of all the romances featured in Publishers Weekly Spring 2014. Day is a winner of the Romance Slam Jam Emma Award and the AALAS (African American Literary Award Show) best romance award, among others, and was a finalist for multiple RT Book Reviews Best Book Awards in Multicultural Fiction. Book six in the Drakes of California series, Crystal Caress, was voted Book of the Year and garnered her yet another Emma Award in 2016. Her work has been featured in several national publications, including RT Book Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Sheen, Juicy and USA TODAY. Find out more at zuriday.com.

Also By Zuri Day

Champagne Kisses

Platinum Promises

Solid Gold Seduction

Secret Silver Nights

Crystal Caress

Silken Embrace

Sapphire Attraction

Lavish Loving

Decadent Desire

French Quarter Kisses

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

French Quarter Kisses

Zuri Day

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08486-4

FRENCH QUARTER KISSES

© 2018 Zuri Day

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Roz found herself studying his face, his profile.

His hair wasn’t all black, she discovered, but was more a deep brown with errant gold highlights here and there. Was that natural? She thought so, and felt the same about the perfectly arched brows above those gorgeous hazel eyes, now hidden by lids sporting ridiculously long eyelashes that curled at the ends. His nose, thin and aquiline, was perfectly proportioned. For the first time, she noticed the merest hint of a mustache and a tiny mole just above and to the right side of pinkish-tan tinted lips.

You are one fine brother.

Pierre opened his eyes. Suddenly, unexpected. Roz was busted.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s what we journalists do, always examining, looking, probing...”

Pierre eased off the wall and took a step toward Roz. Then another. Roz’s heartbeat increased as she watched his gaze take in her face, then move lower to her lips as he licked his own.

He stopped in front of her, separated by inches.

“What are you doing?”

“Examining, searching.” He leaned forward, brushed his lips across hers. “Probing...”

Dear Reader,

In 2014, there were back-to-back romance conferences in New Orleans—the perfect excuse to spend almost two weeks in one of the world’s liveliest cities. Most activities happened in the fun, famous French Quarter. But what I found even more interesting, and disturbing, was the city that lay outside of those seventy-five square blocks.

Five minutes from the state’s biggest tourist attraction and I was quickly reminded of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the fifth deadliest in our country’s history. Ten minutes away and blocks looked much as they did days after the storm. The cameras are gone. The

world has forgotten. But many natives, like this book’s Pierre LeBlanc, cannot forget because they are still recovering from what happened when the levees broke. Trying to repair their lives. Homes. Hearts. That’s where love, and heroine Rosalyn, enter the story. Love can rebuild it all.

Have a zuriday.com!

Zuri Day

If you have faced storms and survived.

Came back stronger and better and thrived.

It was life’s catalyst, like a lover’s first kiss,

That helped you move past fear and fly!

Acknowledgments

A huge thank-you to my fans, the beautiful Daydreamers, who read and support my work. I appreciate you!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

Few knew this, but on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept Pierre LeBlanc away from New Orleans on a wave of destruction and despair. Today, more than a decade later, the entire city and, via television sometime later, the entire country, would witness his hometown return amid a flood of bayou-styled fanfare, good wishes and well-deserved praise. It was the Fourth of July weekend, but the festivities felt more like February’s Mardi Gras. Drinks steadily flowed. Good times rolled. After experiencing unprecedented success at a Houston-based restaurant called New Orleans, Pierre had finally followed his mentor’s advice and opened up his own space. With its innovative take on traditional cuisine, his restaurant, Easy Creole Cuisine, was poised to become the new jewel in the crown of New Orleans’s famed French Quarter district. Along with being a new restaurant owner, the onetime shy, almost invisible outcast was now an internationally recognized Chow Channel star and a popular energy drink spokesperson who at the moment was seated on the back of a Rolls-Royce convertible offering slow, easy waves to the throngs of zealous fans welcoming him home.