Tall, Dark And Daring

Maybe he could allow himself one kiss

Mitch leaned close enough to breathe in the scent that had teased his senses all day. Tessa smelled like exotic flowers and it aroused the hell out of him.

He just needed one taste. Just to see if she was as sweet as he remembered.

“There are so many potential customers here.” Her voice faltered as he hovered near. “So many opportunities.” She edged away as if that would discourage him.

Fat chance. He could tell by the agitated flick of her tongue over her lips that she wanted the kiss as badly as he did.

He skimmed his hand over her thighs. “I’m only interested in following up on one particular opportunity, Tessa.” Sliding one arm around her waist, he pulled her to him. Her breathing hitched at the contact.

When her eyes drifted shut, Mitch homed in on her mouth for the kiss he’d dreamed about since their last one. Every drop of blood in his veins surged south. At just one blasted kiss.

What made him think he could ever stop at just a kiss?

Dear Reader,

The wintry Adirondack Mountains have never seen such a heat wave as when Tessa O’Neal reunites with former snowboarder Mitch Ryder…and ends up igniting a relationship that’s too hot to handle!

Marketing maven Tessa has as much competitive spirit as the next woman. When her best friend challenges her to stay out of her old flame’s bed for a whole week, however, Tessa begins to think some bets are meant to be lost!

I hope you enjoy this steamy trip to the winter wonderland of Lake Placid, New York, as much as Tessa does. Visit me at www.JoanneRock.com to learn more about my future releases or to let me know what you think of this book. I’d love to hear from you!

Happy reading!

Joanne Rock

Books by Joanne Rock

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

863—LEARNING CURVES

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

26—SILK, LACE & VIDEOTAPE

48—IN HOT PURSUIT

54—WILD AND WILLING

Tall, Dark and Daring

Joanne Rock

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To K. Sue Morgan, friend and mentor extraordinaire. Thank you for caring about my characters as much as I do!

To the Rocks, for accepting me into their big, happy clan and inspiring my love of the North Country. And to Dean, a thrill seeker in his own right.

Contents

Prologue

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

Prologue

“WHAT WILL IT BE, Tessa? Truth or dare?”

Tessa O’Neal tossed back another Jell-O shot, the South Beach sunset twinkling rainbows through her thick crimson drink. How could she live in this paradise full of gorgeous men and still end up playing adolescent games with her girlfriend on a Friday night?

“Truth,” she answered, loud enough for Ines to hear over the salsa music and happy hour crowd at the open-air bar on Ocean Drive. Forget the dare. Ines would think of something really embarrassing for her to do.

Ines Cordova’s armful of silver bracelets jangled as she waggled a chiding finger at Tessa. Ines was more than Tessa’s boss at Westwood Marketing. The two of them had been friends since Tessa was a freshman in college and Ines had been a grad student.

“That is your third truth in row, chica. I remember a time when you did not always run from a dare.”

Tessa started to shake her head, then stopped when the thrum in her temples informed her she’d almost reached her Jell-O shot quota. “Let’s not go there.”

Tessa wouldn’t be sitting around getting toasted if she hadn’t had a colossally bad day. She’d planned this night out with Ines weeks ago as sort of a last hurrah before Tessa left Westwood to start her own business.

But the night had taken a decidedly glum turn since Tessa ended up breaking off her engagement to a perfectly great guy. What had she been thinking to give him his ring back just because he didn’t leave her breathless every time he walked in a room like a certain guy she’d dated so many years ago?

She definitely didn’t need to go there.

Where was the waiter with those shots?

“Now is the ideal time to go there.” Ines shoved the plate of nachos they were sharing in Tessa’s direction. “You say you do not know why you broke things off with Rob, but you do. The man is as much fun as a surfboard in Kansas, querida, and he is all wrong for you.”

“He’s reliable, and responsible, and he’s a grown-up.” Unlike others she’d dated, especially one playful hunk she wouldn’t forget even with a truckload of Jell-O shots.

Ines shook her head. Her long earrings hopped back and forth over her bare shoulders. “You need a man with a sense of adventure to match your own.”

Tessa leaned across the table, hoping to make her point. “I’ve outgrown my sense of adventure, Ines. Maybe racking up one divorce and one broken engagement in five years has sapped it all. But I don’t have any desire to dance on the table with a rose between my teeth or start a bunny-hop chain through the bar. It’s not me.” She pulled off the cheesiest nacho on the plate and crunched a big bite.

Ines scowled. “It was not the bunny hop, it was the locomotion, Tessa, and everyone had a blast.”

Mouth full, Tessa shrugged.

“So you’ll take a truth over a dare?” Ines asked, crossing her braceleted arms.

“Any day.” She’d much rather reveal some inane secret of her past than sing a chorus of “It’s Raining Men” on the strip.

Ines smiled. “Remember, you have to tell the truth.”

Tessa sighed. “I hope you don’t expect me to cross my heart and stick a needle in my eye and all that.”

“I trust you. You still want to take the truth?”

“Sometime today. Yes.” Tessa stared at her empty ring finger where Rob’s engagement diamond had rested just this morning.

“Are you still in love with Mitch Ryder?”

The name blasted away all thoughts of Rob and his ring.

Mitch Ryder. The first man she’d ever been with. The man she couldn’t help but compare all others to.

The wretch who’d ditched her to travel the world with a snowboarding team.

Her foggy brain realized she was taking too long to answer. “What kind of question is that?”

“It’s the kind I want an answer to,” Ines replied as she waved away their waiter.

“I can’t answer that,” Tessa returned, indignant on her own behalf. “That was eight years ago!” She waved the waiter back and ordered another round. She refused to make this a night of sappy regrets.

Ines leaned across the table when their server left. “Then you have to take a double dare.”

“Fine.” She was too annoyed to care about the consequences of a double dare.

Of course, she most certainly was not still hung up on Mitch Ryder. She’d had one husband and one fiancé since then, so how could she be? The point was, she just didn’t want to discuss Mitch with anyone.

Especially not with Ines, who could pry confessions from a priest if given half a chance.

Besides, Tessa knew she might harbor just a little affection for the guy—even if he had walked away from the hottest affair ever to scorch across the northeast.

“Are you sure you don’t want to just answer the question?” Ines prodded.

The next round of drinks arrived, and Tessa raised her shot glass full of jiggling cherry alcohol in mock salute. “That chapter of my life is closed, and I’m not talking, so bring on the double dare, girlfriend. I’m ready.”

Ines retrieved her purse from the floor and pulled out a manila file folder with the Westwood Marketing seal on one corner. “Then I’d like to reopen the book, so to speak.” She passed the file to Tessa.

A business dare? It was unlike Ines to challenge her with something so mundane and something Tessa would actually enjoy. Tessa loved a good test of her marketing skills.

Curious, she opened the file and stared at the business name on the cover sheet.

Mogul Ryders Snowboards, proprietor Mitch Ryder.

“Meet your new client, Tessa. I’m sending you to the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York for your last week on the job.” Ines sipped her shot as calmly as if she’d just announced she’d decided to paint her bathroom. “I hear there’s lots of snow on the ground.”

“What?” Tessa’s heart kicked up a rhythm so fast her blood outpaced the salsa music. Ines expected her to go back to the scene of her long-ago affair and work with the man who’d turned her world upside down? “That’s not a double dare, Ines, that’s blackmail!”

“You are right, that’s not a double dare, querida. That’s just the first part.”

“There’s more?” The file folder fell closed in her hand as Tessa waited for the other shoe to drop. She suspected the bunny hop would have been a walk in the park compared to whatever torture Ines had cooked up.

“Si.” Ines’s self-satisfied grin revealed every tooth. “I dare you to stay out of his bed for the whole week, Tessa.”

A week? Last time she hadn’t been able to stay out of his bed for three days. The man was a walking aphrodisiac.

And somehow, Tessa had the feeling she’d just agreed to a lethal dose.

1

THE LAST TIME Tessa O’Neal had set foot in Lake Placid, New York, she’d been on a quest to lose her inhibitions. Now, as she strode through the Adirondack hotel eight years later, she was determined to win back every last one of them.

Shifting the bag of Florida oranges from her father’s groves on her hip, Tessa signed her name at the front desk. She always brought a bag of fresh citrus for her clients, and she figured it would help if she pretended this was just another marketing job.

A job that pitted her against the biggest temptation of her life.

Unfortunately, the four-star Hearthside Inn had been the site of many erotic interludes with Mitch. He’d worked in the pro shop the year they’d met, just about the time his career on the slopes had really taken off. His supreme confidence, his never-say-die attitude, had made Tessa feel more alive than ever before.

“Welcome, Ms. O’Neal.” The smiling desk attendant greeted her. The woman’s cable knit sweater and turtleneck looked at home in the Adirondack lobby with its oversize stone fireplace and sturdy pine furniture. “Mr. Ryder asked me to page him when you arrived.”

“He’s here?” Tessa battled a wave of panic. She’d known he was running his snowboard business from the hotel, but she hadn’t thought he might be working on a Sunday. She definitely wasn’t ready to see him yet.

“He’s here most of the time during the winter months. Want me to ring him for you?” She reached for the phone.

Tessa almost leaped across the counter. “No!” She succeeded in laying her hand over top of the woman’s fingers to prevent her from picking up the receiver. Tessa smiled apologetically and let go. “I mean, that’s okay. Just tell me where his office is located so I’ll know.”

“His rooms are just down this corridor to the left.” The clerk pointed.

Tessa thanked her and purposely walked in the other direction. Right now, as long as she knew Mitch was occupied in his office, she’d just check out the mountain view from the patio for nostalgia’s sake.

And to see if the back deck still encased the huge hot tub where she and Mitch used to watch the snowfall and gaze at the stars. Not that she was thinking of Mitch, she assured herself, just the beauty of those starry nights and how it had felt to have snow fall on her nose while hot bubbles tickled the rest of her.

Or had that been Mitch’s fingers?

She adjusted her sack of heavy oranges one more time as she clicked her way across the hardwood floors. Rounding the corner of the downstairs bar, Tessa heard laughter from the afternoon patrons. She thought she knew where she was going until sunshine from a wall of windows blinded her.

For a moment, Tessa paused to squint in the bright light, disoriented. Where she’d expected to find a door to the deck, she discovered a new addition to the Hearthside. A massive sunroom enclosed the outdoor oasis she had remembered, encasing the former patio area in glass.

The huge, sunken hot tub rested indoors, its continuous gurgle creating a rumbling backdrop of white noise. Its steamy depths fogged up a strip of window-panes, but above the opaque area of the glass, Tessa caught her first glimpse of skiers tearing down Mount Van Hoevenberg and the towering pines that dotted the slopes.

Her interest in the scenery outside lasted all of a second, however.

Just about the time it took for a familiar laugh to draw her attention to the hot tub and three bikini-clad snow bunnies vying for the attention of one very content-looking male who sprawled in the water like a pampered Poseidon.

And no wonder the mermaid trio romped around the tub for his amusement. Even some ten feet away, Tessa took a step back from the sheer impact of the man, and she’d been semi-prepared to face him again.

Mitch Ryder—her off-limits boss for the next six days.

His eyes were closed as if in heady abandon, but the rest of his face looked as if it could have been carved from an Adirondack mountainside. High cheekbones and a square jaw made him appear fiercely male, but he smiled too often for him to look truly dangerous. Dark hair lay in one slick wave over his head.

Only his face and shoulders were visible above the water, leaving her hungry for a better view.

She recalled once when she’d sat in this same hot tub with him. He’d been naked beneath the water. The idea sizzled over her, turning her as warm and liquid as the bubbling bath. She doubted he’d be cavorting around the Hearthside naked in the middle of the afternoon, but she found herself straining for a peek into the blue depths anyhow.

Oh, no.

What was she doing?

Eight years later, she acted as moonstruck as ever around Mitch. Maybe she could sneak away now and he’d never notice. She would tell herself it had been a good thing to get her first viewing out of the way so she wouldn’t be so cow-eyed tomorrow when they officially met.

It was a great idea.

In fact, she loved the idea.

Too bad her damn high heels were glued to the floor.

Before she could unstick her feet to make her exit, he moved. In a flash of sluicing water and flexing muscle, Mitch hoisted himself up onto the ledge of the pool and took a seat.

Tessa covered the involuntary squeal that rose to her lips. Whether she’d turned into a giddy coed because she could now see more of him or because he’d opened his eyes and might see her, she couldn’t say.

But she refused to let her hormones hold her hostage.

She made a fast turn on her heel before she could change her mind, forgetting all about the oranges. The netting sack swung wide and pulled loose from her arm.

She watched in slow-motion horror as her citrus bounced and hopped in a cheerful orange beeline for the hot tub.

Tessa stood motionless as the first piece of fruit splashed into the pool right beside a redheaded mermaid. Mitch’s gaze swung toward the orange and then to the impromptu citrus parade.

And then to her.

She gulped. Maybe she gasped. She searched for words and air and a small scrap of dignity to confront him with, because she definitely wasn’t going to stand here acting like one of his groupies.

Striding forward, she managed a confident step that would have made Ines proud. Too bad Mitch chose that moment to rise to his feet.

She couldn’t have looked him in the eye if her career depended on it. Her gaze wandered a slow path upward from his long feet to his lightly furred calves. His muscular thighs to his…swimsuit. The rippled plane of his stomach to tightened male nipples.

A memory of tasting his flesh in that very spot prompted her to lick her lips.

“Mitch.” She breathed the word, unable to find her voice now that she stared into familiar gray eyes that had long dominated her fantasies.

“Hello, Tessa.” His voice raked over her senses like fingernails on a lover’s back. “Welcome back.”

The steam from the hot tub seemed to kick up a few sultry degrees. It took all of Tessa’s restraint not to loosen the belt of her trench coat.

“I didn’t expect you here until tomorrow,” she remarked, wishing she hadn’t allowed herself such a long survey of him. She’d already catalogued way too many enticements. “I thought you moved to Tahoe,” she blurted, needing to fill the sexually charged air around them with something besides her heavy breathing.

He grinned as he bent to retrieve her fruit. “Been checking up on me?”

Heat climbed her cheeks. He still possessed that slow, sexy smile. The one that had made her heart do back flips and her mouth go dry.

“Hardly.” She knelt beside him and carefully avoided any random hand brushing as they picked up her oranges and put them in the sack. “I read about your accident in the papers, and they mentioned you were moving back to the States to recover.” She wouldn’t mention she’d scanned several articles to glean that much information, or that she’d been panicked when she heard he’d taken a bad fall down some Alpine mountain. “Are you okay?”

Now that they’d finished gathering her oranges, she and Mitch both stood.

Tessa tried not to stare at the broad expanse of his glistening chest.

“I’m better now that you’re here.” He reached for a towel and slung it around his waist. “Shall we head over to my office to talk?”

She had no choice but to agree. If they were going to plow through a week’s worth of business, she couldn’t afford to avoid him. But the temptation of she and Mitch in a private place sounded very dangerous for her dare…and her peace of mind. “I’m ready when you are.”

Closing her eyes to shut out visions of Mitch’s tanned skin, she sent up a prayer for some major inhibitions.

MITCH THANKED GOD he’d found a towel when he had, or Tessa would have seen rapid evidence of just how much he still wanted her.

He hadn’t expected her until tomorrow or he never would have let her catch him lazing in the hot tub with the latest batch of bubbleheaded college girls to descend on the hotel. He’d snuck in when the pool was empty to give his knee some much needed therapy time. Could he help it if the coed crowd cornered him?

Some timing for Tessa’s arrival.

He took her elbow and propelled her forward through the bar before she had a chance to protest. He had to do something to break that provocative, lingering stare of hers—the one that turned him on as much as if she’d touched him.

Even now, electricity zinged from her body to his hand, no matter how slight his touch.

She pivoted on her heel, swinging the sack of oranges into his shin. “Sorry!” She flashed him an apologetic smile.

He relieved her of the bag before she hurt someone.

“Those are for you, anyway,” she informed him as she handed over the fruit. “Sort of a hello from the Sunshine State.”

The Sunshine State had already been more than generous to him today. “Thank you.” He took a step forward, eager to retire to the privacy of his office.

Not that he minded traipsing around the Hearth-side in swim trunks—it certainly wouldn’t be the first time—but he wanted to go somewhere quiet to talk to her, stare at her, convince her to have dinner with him…

She didn’t follow his lead. Her feet remain rooted to the hardwood floor. “Would you rather just wait to talk until tomorrow?”

He shook his head. “Now is a great time.”

Those bright green eyes of hers took a quick voyage south. “Wouldn’t you like to, um, dress?”

He bit back a grin and the urge to give her the extended tour. “Only if you find me a distraction.”

She straightened, then charged down the hall ahead of him in a staccato of clicking heels. “Not in the least.”

He didn’t know how she knew where she was going, but Mitch walked behind her, enjoying the view.

He’d bet Mogul Ryders she still had a killer body under that monstrous trench coat. Trim little ankles peeked out from the long hem. The belt around her middle nipped a tiny waist. Her face was more interesting than pretty, with full lips and a slight crook in her freckled nose. But somehow it all worked. She was the hottest thing Mitch had laid eyes on since she’d skipped out of his life nearly a decade ago.

He also happened to know she was a single woman, courtesy of her boss at Westwood. He’d been absurdly glad to learn that piece of information.

Not that he had any intention of claiming her forever. He wasn’t any closer to being the stable kind of guy she wanted now than he had been eight years ago.

Still, he couldn’t help but hope he could claim this next week.

She paused outside his door and stared at the brass nameplate. “They let you put the name on the door?”

He opened the door to usher her inside. “What do you mean they? I bought this place two years ago.”

She gaped at him while he edged past her. “You own the Hearthside?”

“Long way up from pro-shop manager, huh?” He had to laugh. He still couldn’t believe he’d wrangled this prime piece of real estate from its former owner. But he had, and this business belonged to him as much as Mogul Ryders.

“I’ll say. Congratulations.” A new light glimmered in her green eyes. Respect. “I never would have taken you for the type of person who would spend enough time in one place to run a hotel.”

That single comment brought back a wealth of memories on why they hadn’t stayed together. He flipped on his computer screen and avoided her gaze. “A management group takes charge when I travel.”

“Oh.” She apparently thought his globe-trotting ways were as irresponsible as ever.

He flicked on the gas fireplace to heat the rooms. The temperature had definitely dropped a couple of degrees since they’d walked in his office. He thought of other, more pleasurable ways to generate some warmth, but they had to talk business first. With more than a little regret, he reminded himself he needed her brains more than her body.

For now.

“Have a seat.” He pulled a dry towel off the back of his desk chair and flung it on the seat so his suit didn’t soak the upholstery. “I appreciate you coming up here, Tessa. When I started searching for marketing help, I wasn’t expecting to find you. You’ve sure made your mark.”

Tessa had told him eight years ago that she wouldn’t travel with him because she wanted to do just that. Make her mark. He wondered if she was happy now that she’d achieved her goal.

She folded her coat carefully around her and took a seat across from him. “I travel a lot for my job. The trip wasn’t a problem.”

“I mean because of our history.” He wasn’t willing to act as if nothing had happened between them. She’d affected him too much for that.

Her eyes widened just a little, but she maintained her cool. “I assumed it wouldn’t be an issue.”

“Great. How about we get together for dinner later and we’ll go over Mogul Ryders’ business plan?”

She opened her mouth, but no words issued forth. On the second try, she managed, “Tonight?”

“The sooner the better, don’t you think?”

“I haven’t finished the marketing plan yet, though. Maybe if we wait—”