Asking For Trouble
Take a cozy bed-and-breakfast, a missing guest and a mysterious stranger…throw in a pile of bones, a past-due bank loan and the cops…and it's no wonder innkeeper Beth Randall needs a vacation from her life!Her dizzy aunts mean the world to Beth, but could their dabblings in the occult have finally gone too far? Now handsome Dr. Brad Donovan has arrived on her doorstep looking for his missing father-last seen here at the Two Sisters Ordinary. Sure, Beth would love to explore the sudden attraction between them-but not if it means implicating her family in murder! Dating the doctor could be fun, but it's probably just, well…asking for trouble.
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Praise for the Work of Millie Criswell
No Strings Attached
“The popular and funny Criswell turns in an enjoyable light romance.”
—Booklist
“Criswell offers another great blend of romance and laughter.”
—The Best Reviews
Body Language
“For an amusing and heart-warming story, be sure to check out Body Language.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“An entertaining…second chance at romance starring a delightful protagonist….
Readers will enjoy this love at the UN tale.”
—Harriet Klausner, reviewcenter.com
“Simply a joy to read.”
—Kathy Boswell, The Best Reviews
Everyone loves Millie!
“For charming, outrageous fun, read Millie Criswell!”
—New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips
“A book by Millie Criswell is better than chocolate. Don’t miss it!”
—USA TODAY bestselling author Leanne Banks
“Romantic comedy has a new star, and her name is Millie Criswell.”
—New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich
Also by Millie Criswell
From HQN Books
No Strings Attached
Body Language
Other Millie Criswell books from Harlequin
Suddenly Single
Staying Single
A Western Family Christmas
“Christmas Eve”
The Pregnant Ms. Potter
The Marrying Man
The Wedding Planner
To Karen Solem
Thank you for your kindness, generosity of spirit, support and most of all, your brilliance!
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
IVY SWINDEL WAS ADDICTED to porn.
While most seventy-eight-year-old ladies were crocheting afghans or sipping tea from china cups, Beth Randall’s great-aunt was viewing Internet pornography. The fact that the spinster’s father had been a Methodist minister and the old lady still referred to sex as “matters of the flesh,” made her behavior seem outlandish, if not downright abnormal.
But then, no one ever accused Ivy or her younger sister, Iris, of being normal. And at any rate, Beth considered normal to be highly overrated.
“I found the most interesting Web site this morning,” the older woman stated at breakfast, blue eyes sparkling, and grinning like a naughty schoolgirl. “It’s called ‘Balls of Steel.’ Isn’t that colorful?”
Since Beth assumed the Web site had nothing to do with bowling or baseball, or any other kind of vertically played sport, she smiled tightly. Her focus shifted to her great-aunt Iris. She felt somewhat relieved that the woman’s only addiction seemed to be Earl Grey tea, though she did harbor a worrisome fascination with witchcraft, which had the gossip-mongers in town working overtime. But even that didn’t seem nearly as disturbing as the one Ivy had for naked men.
Her great-aunt had never admitted the reason she was so fascinated with male genitalia, but Beth suspected it had something to do with her desire to recapture her youth. The old woman had been the wild child of the Swindel family, and the bane of her father’s existence. She had never lacked for male companionship, or so she claimed. Ivy had admitted in a roundabout way that she’d sown her share of wild oats—a shocking concept in her day and age, when women were expected to be circumspect and ladylike—but had never found a man she deemed worthy enough to marry.
Apparently, Ivy was still looking.
Since that fateful day last year when Beth had given Ivy her old computer and she’d discovered the Internet, Ivy had become fascinated, then obsessed, and finally incorrigible, not to mention unrepentant, about visiting pornographic Web sites. And no matter how many times Beth had teased, cajoled and begged her not to, Ivy hadn’t listened. Fortunately, she seemed interested only in naked men, nothing more sordid.
One had to be grateful for small favors, if one had an elderly aunt into porn.
Beth placed a plate of hot scones, fresh from the inn’s kitchen, on the small round mahogany table in her aunts’ suite of rooms on the fourth floor. Sipping the hot tea, she felt lucky to have these wonderful ladies in her life.
The Two Sisters Ordinary, named in honor of her aunts, had been the Swindel sisters’ former home. Iris and Ivy had encouraged Beth to turn the historic Victorian into an inn so that others might enjoy it. She, in turn, had given them a life estate.
As was her usual custom, Beth proceeded to fill her aunts in on the day’s upcoming events. “We have a new couple checking in today. The Rogers are from Columbus, Ohio. He’s a dentist. They’re coming to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.”
“How wonderful! Will they be staying long?” Aunt Iris asked with no small amount of enthusiasm. Her aunt was an intriguing mixture of Mary Poppins and the Wicked Witch of the West and was quite possibly the most upbeat person Beth had ever met, though she was a stickler for the proprieties. Good manners were expected, as was circumspect behavior, which usually created problems where Ivy was concerned.
