His Ultimate Temptation

His Ultimate Temptation
Susan Crosby

LONE WOLVES BEN a.k.a. THE PROTECTORHe'd only loved one woman in his life, but his fierce overprotectiveness hadn't meshed well with her strong independent streak. So they'd parted, as "just" friends. And now their life together was but a distant memory. Or was it? On Christmas Eve, Ben and Leslie O'Keefe were stranded in a secluded mountain cabin with their willful daughter, who more than noticed their lightning attraction.Then they all began to hope for… the impossible. Powerfully drawn to the fragile, haunted look in his beloved's eyes, this lone wolf's primitive desire to protect - and to succumb to his ultimate temptation - became nearly impossible to resist… .THE LONE WOLVES: Meet the sexiest, most stubborn males a woman could ever hope to tame!

Praise for Susan Crosby’s series, (#udf1c93e1-63a3-5a03-b939-0b5cb0c241d5)Letter to Reader (#u6c036adc-14e7-5b97-ae02-87df71ab13c4)Title Page (#u64c4208e-afc9-50ff-9775-5ea1c6483795)SUSAN CROSBY (#u2bab5ca2-0532-5ad4-8867-dbfabb417b43)Dedication (#u2e1d2c5d-05c4-52d2-8b89-d9c081ec6f5b)Chapter One (#u8aa8d78d-8c50-5fb5-8204-959d562e6441)Chapter Two (#uc6cb3340-9de3-5c8c-86b2-a2a28df23152)Chapter Three (#u8e498b19-62aa-58ee-9b92-be36eed709b4)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)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)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Teaser chapter (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise for Susan Crosby’s series,

HIS MOST SCANDALOUS SECRET (SD 7/98):

“A simply wonderful storyteller. Ms. Crosby brings

us all of the trembling joy and fiery magic of falling

in love for the first and the last time.”

—Melinda Helfer, Romantic Times Magazine

HIS SEDUCTIVE REVENGE (SD 8/98):

“Ms. Crosby dishes up a spectacular

reading experience in which pure magic

shimmers on every page...a love story that has

‘instant classic’ written all over it.”

—Melinda Helfer, Romantic Times Magazine

Now get ready for the next heart-stopping

Lone Wolf. Ben O’Keefe is fiercely protective of

all those he holds dear. But only one woman will

prove to be HIS ULTIMATE TEMPTATION.

Dear Reader,

All of us at Silhouette Desire send you our best wishes for a joyful holiday season. December brings six originals, deeply touching love stories warm enough to melt your heart!

This month, bestselling author Cait London continues her beloved miniseries THE TALLCHIEFS with the story of MAN OF THE MONTH Nick Palladia in The Perfect Fit. This corporate cowboy’s attempt to escape his family’s match making has him escorting a Tallchief down the aisle. Silhouette Desire welcomes the cross-line continuity FOLLOW THAT BABY to the line with Elizabeth Bevarly’s The Sheriff and the Impostor Bride. And those irresistible bad-boy James brothers return in Cindy Gerard’s Marriage. Outlaw Style, part of the OUTLAW HEARTS miniseries. When a headstrong bachelor and his brassy-but-beautiful childhood rival get stranded, they wind up in a 6lb., 12oz. bundle of trouble!

Talented author Susan Crosby’s third book in THE LONE WOLVES miniseries, His Ultimate Temptation, will entrance you with this hero’s primitive, unyielding desire to protect his once-wife and their willful daughter. A rich playboy sweeps a sensible heroine from her humdrum life in Shawna Delacorte’s Cinderella story, The Millionaire’s Christmas Wish. And Eileen Wilks weaves an emotional, edge-of-your-seat drama about a fierce cop and the delicate lady who poses as his newlywed bride in Just a Little Bit Married?

These poignant, sensuous books fill any Christmas stocking—and every reader’s heart with the glow of holiday romance.

Enjoy!

Best regards,

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

His Ultimate Temptation

Susan Crosby

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

SUSAN CROSBY

is fascinated by the special and complex communication of courtship, and so she burrows in her office to dream up warm, strong heroes and good-hearted, self-reliant heroines to satisfy her own love of happy endings.

She and her husband have two grown sons and live in the Central Valley of California. She spent a mere seven and a half years getting through college and finally earned a B.A. in English a few years ago. She has worked as a synchronized swimming instructor, a personnel interviewer at a toy factory and a trucking company manager. Involved for many years behind the scenes in a local community theater, she has made only one stage appearance—as the rear end of a camel! Variety, she says, makes for more interesting novels.

Readers are welcome to write to her at P.O. Box 1836, Lodi, CA 95241.

For Ken. For everything. With love.

And for Robin and Rachael, who help keep our streets

safe for our children.

One

San Francisco Police Inspector Leslie O’Keefe closed the door to the lieutenant’s office behind her, pushed her aching shoulders impossibly straighter and let the sound of voices guide her to her desk in the next room. Her heart slammed against her sternum as she passed through the doorway. Conversation skidded to a halt. Expectant eyes turned toward her.

Now what? The last thing she wanted was sympathy.

Forcing unconcern into her expression, Leslie sat at her desk, dragged a pad of paper in front of her and began writing notes to attach to her active files—the files she had to leave behind for someone else.

Within minutes the room emptied, the shift over, but curiosity was still electric in the air. People said good night as they passed by her desk, some even patted her shoulder, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t allow more than a hmm of acknowledgment. She didn’t lift her head until the room was empty, then after a minute she set her files on the desk beside hers, aligning the folders precisely.

She had to go now. Home. To an empty house. Her eleven-year-old daughter, Erin, had left that morning with Leslie’s ex-husband to spend Christmas skiing in Aspen. Leslie wouldn’t be alone for long, however. Her friends would drop by as the news spread. The phone would ring. Where could she go to escape the unwelcome sympathy? She needed to let herself give in to everything she was feeling, alone, then she could pretend she was all right.

First, she needed to cancel her dinner plans. She stared at the telephone a long time before the number she’d dialed hundreds of times surfaced in her consciousness.

“It’s Leslie,” she said when her longtime friend Gabriel Marquez answered. If he’d been single instead of recently married, she might have unburdened herself to him.