Obsession
The French Quarter: where seduction is a game…The Game: ObsessionThe Players: Josie Villefranche, notorious hotel owner; Drew Morrison, business sharkObject of the Game: Have a Cajun-hot love affair, without getting burnedBordello-turned-hotel-owner Josie has a hands-off rule when it comes to men. Too many have wanted her only for her talents in bed. But when too-sexy-to-resist Drew checks in, she decides to make an exception: use him, then lose him–no regrets.Ruthless businessman Drew has a hidden agenda: to buy the cash-strapped hotel. But he's been bedding its bewitching proprietor instead. When a murder puts Josie in both financial and legal trouble, Drew must make a choice: grab the hotel and run–or sacrifice everything for another night in her bed….
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Look what people are saying about the
Dangerous Liaisons miniseries…
About Possession…
“This is a classic Tori Carrington tale. It has all the
wonderful elements of category romance with handsome, interesting characters, a ‘bad boy,’ a ‘good girl,’ meddling parents, meddling brothers, and emotional and familial baggage galore. The sex is steamy and provocative, woven nicely into the reader’s understanding of the characters…. This book will appeal to all fans of Tori Carrington, and future books in the series, if as good as this one, will be something to anticipate.”
—The Romance Readers Connection
“The atmosphere is as thick as the
New Orleans heat.”
—Romantic Times BOOK club
“The Rogue and the FBI Agent. Possession, the
latest by Tori Carrington, is a gripping whodunit that is interwoven with hot, scintillating love scenes. Don’t miss the latest sizzling romantic thriller from the dynamic Tori Carrington!”
—BN.com
“Sexy sizzler. The Carringtons at their very best,
and a look back at the Big Easy, when it was easy.”
—The Best Reviews
Dear Reader,
When we first decided to set our DANGEROUS LIAISONS miniseries in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina wasn’t even a light breeze in the Atlantic. Now, well, after having witnessed the wrath of the storm and its devastating effects on one of our favorite cities and her many denizens, our hearts are filled with sorrow…and hope. Oh, we have no doubt that The Crescent City will rise again like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. Our hope is that the journey toward that end will be quick and as painless as possible.
In Obsession, the second title of three in the series, sexy Josie Villefranche’s French Quarter roots stretch deep into the shadowy past of the infamous area. But when handsome Drew Morrison, aka The Closer, is assigned to force her to sell the hotel and onetime brothel that has been in her family for generations, he has no idea what he’s up against….
We hope Josie and Drew’s story captures a mere fraction of what was—and will someday soon be again—sexy and unique about this wonderful city. We’ve all given to the American Red Cross. Now may we suggest we turn our attentions to Habitat for Humanity to help in the rebuilding efforts? Go to www.habitat.org for more info. And keep an eye out for the final book in the series, Submission, in May.
With warmest wishes,
Lori & Tony Karayianni
aka Tori Carrington P.O. Box 12271 Toledo, Ohio 43612 [email protected] www.toricarrington.com
We dedicate this book to the
many victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our hearts and thoughts are with you now and throughout the difficult struggles ahead…
Contents
1
THERE WERE TIMES when Josie Villefranche felt like the French Quarter hotel she owned and ran was still a brothel of legend.
Maybe it had something to do with the timelessness of her surroundings. Could be her mixed-race heritage was to blame. She was one quarter African American, like many of the women who would have run or worked in the onetime bordello over the past 150 years. Or perhaps her assistant manager was right in that one of her ancestors’ ghosts still haunted the place, an ancestor who was rumored to have been one of the most successful madams in the Quarter’s history.
Whatever the reason, this hazy Sunday afternoon was one of those times. She sat behind the check-in counter fanning herself with a starched lace fan. She’d found it among her granme’s things in the fourth-floor room Josie had left untouched since Josephine Villefranche’s death nearly a year ago.
Josie fingered the tattered edge of the fan, wondering where her namesake had picked it up. Was it a gift from a male admirer? Had she bought it herself at a local shop? And had she once sat right where Josie was sitting now, fanning herself, longing for someone, anyone, to walk through those front doors? Or thankful that all was quiet so she could catch a few moments to herself?
She released a long sigh. Of course, in the here and now, those quiet few moments were adding up, which was the reason Josie’s mind now traveled to times long ago. The hotel had been doing very little business since the murder of that girl in 2D two weeks ago.
She glanced idly toward the winding, wooden staircase leading to the room in question. A sense of unease wound through her veins. Yesterday she’d been forced to cut her only maid, Monique, back to part-time. A temporary measure, she’d called it, until she could generate some business that would give the young woman more rooms to clean and more resources with which Josie could pay her. So as owner and operator, she, herself, had taken over some of the cleaning duties.
Merely being in room 2D earlier this morning had made her feel out of sorts. As if somehow the dead woman’s soul remained behind, reluctant to leave until her killer was brought to justice, although all physical traces of her had long since been washed away.
