Ashley Lister - Turning Up the Heat

Mischief

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

77–85 Fulham Palace Road,

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.mischiefbooks.com

Copyright © Ashley Lister 2014

Ashley Lister asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007579563

Version: 2014-10-09

Contents

Cover

Title Page Turning up the Heat (Book Two of the Sweet Temptation series) Ashley Lister

Copyright Copyright Mischief An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.mischiefbooks.com Copyright © Ashley Lister 2014 Ashley Lister asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 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. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 HarperCollins. Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007579563 Version: 2014-10-09

A few months earlier

Today

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

More from Mischief

About Mischief

About the Publisher

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 resolute about your involvement with Sweet Temptation,’ he admitted.

The situation had been messy. He had issued an ultimatum. She could either work with him at his restaurant, Boui-Boui, or she could try to pursue a career in online catering with her friends in their start-up business, Sweet Temptation. Bill had vowed they would have no relationship if she attempted to do both.

‘I was in the wrong,’ she insisted. ‘I should have told you that Donny was no longer involved with Sweet Temptation. I should have made that clear.’

‘We’ve both been in the wrong,’ he repeated. Wev barth bin in t’wrong.

She sniffed back a tear when she realised how much she had missed hearing his voice. It took an effort of will not to reach out for him, hug him and hold him and promise that they would never be parted again.

‘I think there’s a way for us to make amends,’ Bill confided.

He flicked a switch. Trudy was momentarily blinded by the excess of light. Blinking, her eyes became used to the brightness and she saw he looked as handsome as she remembered. There was a familiar steel-grey shadow bristling his lantern jaw. He looked comfortable yet smart in the sports jacket he wore over his T-shirt. His diamond-blue eyes sparkled as he smiled down at her.

In his hands he held a large wooden spoon.

‘There’s a way for us to make amends,’ he repeated. ‘I think one of us needs to be punished.’

She beamed.

The familiar thrill of arousal and excitement was already fluttering slickly through her sex. Her heartbeat quickened as she understood what he was suggesting. She stood up, turned around and bent over the table. Her backside was pushed out, ready for him. She glanced over her shoulder and stared meaningfully at the wooden spoon in his hand.

‘Punishment?’ she murmured coyly. ‘Yes, please, Mr Hart.’

She could see another woman in Bill’s arms. No. Not just one other woman. There were six of them. She clenched her teeth and pretended to smile.

Trudy had not been happy to see six near-naked women in Boui-Boui. They all had slender waists, long long legs and far too much bare flesh for Sunday afternoon in a Michelin-starred restaurant. It was a display of thongs, bellybuttons and nipples that should never have been visible in public. Trudy wrinkled her nose as she watched Bill trying to accommodate all six of them in his embrace. With three on either side, blonde-brunette-blonde to his left, blonde-redhead-blonde to his right, his grin was broad, tooth-filled and transparently false.

Her muted mobile buzzed. The display screen said she’d received a text message.

She ignored it. She was in no mood to communicate with anyone while she endured this torment. She couldn’t even concentrate on the half-consumed coffee and pumpkin-pie-spice muffin in front of her. And the muffin was a quandary that had been puzzling her for the best part of a month.