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Scandalous Mistress: Double Take / Captivate Me / My Double Life
Leslie Kelly
Joanne Rock
Kira Sinclair
Getting under her skin…When her research about orgasms goes viral, sex therapist Lindsey Smith needs a place to lie low. Substitute teaching on Wild Boar Island, Michigan, promises not only privacy, but an opportunity to not think about sex. Which, thanks to the town's too-tasty police chief, lasts exactly one second.After the dangerous streets of Chicago, Mike Santori figured the island was a safe, sane place to settle down. Getting hot for the new teacher wasn't in the plan. Especially when he discovers that Lindsey is more than she claims to be. Mike decides to use every sexy trick in the book to strip Lindsey of her defenses and reveal all of her secrets. It's a wickedly sensuous journey, one that pushes both of them beyond their limits…to the heart of their desires.
Scandalous Mistress
Double Take
Leslie Kelly
Captivate Me
Kira Sinclair
My Double Life
Joanne Rock
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#ub519e234-d08c-5b00-bff1-7dbca8072bdd)
Title Page (#u5799b147-458d-5615-b25a-85f06605f2fb)
Double Take
About the Author (#uc4deeb8d-4a8f-5dfc-a1c6-d5f204b5fac0)
Dedication (#ucd5d67c4-f97a-51a1-83c4-e0b81b719650)
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Epilogue
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Captivate Me
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
My Double Life
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Double Take (#ubaaa0557-c95f-5ea4-8a18-7c09d0b19ab3)
Leslie Kelly
Since the publication of her first book in 1999, LESLIE KELLY has become known for creating books with memorable characters, sparkling dialogue and outrageous humour. When she’s not writing light, sexy contemporary romances for Mills & Boon, Leslie flips to the dark side and creates dangerous, thrilling romantic suspense novels under the pseudonym Leslie Parrish.
Leslie currently lives in Maryland with her husband Bruce, three daughters and two spoiled-rotten dogs.
To my dear old high school friends Lori, Kim, Linda, Rick, Ed, Chris … and so many others.
I’m so thankful for the memories we made so long ago and the new ones we’re creating today.
Prologue (#ubaaa0557-c95f-5ea4-8a18-7c09d0b19ab3)
“WE’RE ASKING YOU to take an extended leave of absence.”
Lindsey Smith flinched, even though she had expected the words. She had, in fact, steeled herself for them before she’d taken a seat across from her boss, eminent psychotherapist Walter Ross, of the Ross, Riley and Wilhelm Wellness Center. She had to wonder if the other two partners had drawn the long straws, leaving Ross to take care of “their little problem.”
“It’s not that serious,” she argued, but in her head she was screaming, This is so serious, your reputation is crap! “It will die down.”
“So you’ve been saying, Dr. Smith. But that was before you became the subject of a Jeopardy! question.”
Well, in her opinion, being on Jeopardy! had been kind of awesome, though she wasn’t going to tell her employer that. “But...”
“And today I was informed you’re the subject of a me-me.”
“A what-what?”
Ross pushed a sheet of paper toward her across his desk, using only the tips of his fingers, as if the paper offended him.
She scanned the sheet. Huh. She was the one who should be offended. Her picture appeared on the page, over and over, each time with a witty—but so not funny—quip. She read, “Had an orgasm while blinking,” and, “Comes when going,” before snapping, “It’s pronounced meem.”
“However you say the word, it reflects badly on us all.”
“You read my dissertation before you hired me.”
He nodded. “I know. It was fine research. Your work with patients with sexual disorders has been outstanding.”
But not outstanding enough for them to defend her when she caught some unpleasant attention. Oh, sure, at first her bosses had enjoyed the publicity when excerpts of her dissertation on women’s ability to climax merely via mental stimulation had hit the media. But when the Today show got on it, followed by the tabloids, they’d tensed up.
Things got worse when the internet fell on her head. “Thinkgasm,” the word she’d used to describe mind-initiated climax, had trended on Twitter and she’d become a laughingstock.
Now, because of a game-show question and a stupid meme, they were abandoning her to deal with it on her own. During her “leave of absence,” they’d undoubtedly be watching like Big Brother to see if she could stay “clean” enough to renew their association with her sometime in the future. All because she took seriously what so many found funny: female orgasms.
So much for being a champion for women taking control of their lives, their bodies and their sexuality. Her own life was spinning out of control, courtesy of the man in front of her and other men just like him. It infuriated her.
If there was one thing Lindsey hated, it was being made to feel powerless to shape her own destiny. Been there, done that. She’d fought hard to make sure nobody had that kind of dominance over her. Only to come to this.
Ross pasted on his calm, therapist smile. “It’ll be all right, Dr. Smith. Just try to stay out of the limelight, and in a couple of months we’ll revisit things. Why don’t you go away for a while? Leave Chicago. Go somewhere quiet, remote, where your name isn’t going to grab such immediate attention.”
“Where might that be?” she asked, not hiding her sarcasm. “The dark side of the moon?”
It seemed everybody and his uncle had heard her name, and cracked-up over the silly idea that a woman’s imaginings could be enough to give her physical, sexual pleasure. Could there be a place left in the country where she wasn’t a joke, where she could live in anonymity and protect her privacy from prying eyes and gossipy rumor mills?
She honestly didn’t know. But considering she was temporarily unemployed, heartsick and living under a spotlight, it was time to find out.
1 (#ubaaa0557-c95f-5ea4-8a18-7c09d0b19ab3)
Three Weeks Later
THE REDHEAD in the green raincoat would be very pretty if she weren’t about to lose her lunch over the side of the ferry. Hell, not just pretty, beautiful, with those wide-set eyes, the high cheekbones, the curvaceous figure and that stunning head of long, flowing red hair.
Right now, though, her face was about the same shade as her coat. Her mouth was a tight little knot of agony. And her hands clenched the railing as if she couldn’t decide whether to throw up or just jump overboard and put herself out of her misery.
Eyeing her from a few feet down the railing, to which he was also clinging with only slightly less desperation, Mike Santori offered her a look of commiseration and sympathy.
