Too Hot to Handle

Too Hot to Handle
Nancy Warren

Manhattan jewellery designer Lexy Drake knew the warning signs even as she was tempted to have a fling. Charles Pendegraff III was too rich, too good-looking – and light-fingered.He had to convince Lexy he’d been framed before she’d believe that all the times they’d spent burning up the bed sheets were not just stolen nights!

About the Author

USA TODAY bestselling author NANCY WARREN lives in the Pacific Northwest where her hobbies include walking her border collie in the rain and searching out unusual jewellery. She’s the author of more than thirty novels and novellas and has won numerous awards. Visit her at www.nancywarren.net.

This is for my readers.

Thank you for your kind messages

and for reading the books I love to write.

With love, Nancy

Dear Reader,

What is it about a thief hero that we love so much? Is it that he will take what he wants without asking—and that just might be the heroine? Is it that he’s a man who lives life on his own terms and makes his own rules? Of course, the thief hero is not some thug who hits little old ladies and steals their purses. No. Our kind of thief would risk his life to protect that little old lady and make sure she got her purse back. He’s elegant, smooth, only takes things from not very nice people who can afford to lose the stuff. He’s a pro. He’s Cary Grant in It Takes a Thief, he’s Robert Wagner in To Catch a Thief, he’s Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair.

He is, in a word, dreamy. Tough, smart, a born rule-breaker, and yet the right woman can tame him. Mmmm. Too Hot to Handle is my first attempt at writing a thief hero. I’ve always wanted to and never had the story. Until now.

I hope you enjoy Lexy and Charlie as much as I did. As always, you can come visit me at www.nancywarren.net.

Happy reading,

Nancy Warren

Too Hot to Handle

Nancy Warren

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Table of Contents

Cover (#uf429cd8b-4b08-53f9-bc97-084ad31da48d)

About the Author (#ub0118fd8-2822-51e2-aa66-e4ab9b1d4bff)

Title Page (#ua086cd00-00db-588d-ad66-d7b8087aad0f)

Chapter One (#uafb23cf0-e87a-5241-b8e5-983f0d2e3f4e)

Chapter Two (#u21016f13-a6d3-51df-a841-17d1836c60b2)

Chapter Three (#u26ad4f66-8e28-5868-8158-78c88fa27915)

Chapter Four (#udf59799b-2cf7-5252-8c7a-760715f665e6)

Chapter Five (#u76ef39ac-8bbc-57bf-ba69-1007c69ce615)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ninteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

1

LEXY DRAKE LOVED CONTRASTS. Delicate with bold, hot colors with cold, new mixed with old.

Hard rock music played as she peered through the binocular magnifier and looped a string of molten gold with infinite care around a ruby.

She loved every one of the creations that were slowly making her rich—this one a pair of wedding rings for a young couple who’d come to her with his grandmother’s rings and a brooch that had been in her family so long no one knew its provenance.

Lexy would transform the old and forgotten into the new and now. It was the best kind of recycling, combining art, family history and love.