The romantic vs. the cynic
Chemistry is all they have in common!
New York lawyer Ash has moved to London to escape his demonsâand one red-hot night with gorgeous stranger Essie is the perfect distraction! Heâs ready to forget about her entirely...until she walks into his office for her first day at work. Sheâs a romantic, seeking her happily-ever-afterâheâs a distrustful cynic who canât commit... Could a sexy fling be the best mistake of their lives?
âDARE is Harlequinâs hottest line yet. Every book should come with a free fan. I dare you to try them!â
âTiffany Reisz, international bestselling author
If you liked Playing Dirty, why not try
My Royal Sin by Riley Pine No Strings by Cara Lockwood Playing Dirty by Lauren Hawkeye
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
ISBN: 978-1-474-07124-6
ONE NIGHT ONLY
© 2018 JC Harroway
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a âLicensed Deviceâ) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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To E
for inspiring the fun, bubbly, caring Essie. x
CHAPTER ONE
IF THIS SETTING, so far from the wreckage heâd left behind in New York, couldnât provide ballast, nowhere could. Ash Jacob closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath and focussed on the sun warming his back, the hypnotic chatter of English birdsong and the continuous distant hum of London traffic.
âShit!â
The violent exclamation pulled him up short. So he wasnât the only one having a bad day. His vision hazed as the bright July sunlight hit his retinas once more, his surroundings sharpening into focus. He stretched one arm along the back of the park bench, the wooden slats of which dug into his fatigued musclesâa reminder that heâd spent twelve hours on a plane yesterday, largely bent like a pretzel despite his first-class seat.
âBloody, buggering, shit.â
What a charming turn of phrase.
His mouth twitched and his mood lightened. She stood a short distance away from his secluded spot in St Jamesâs Park, her short, flowery dress revealing bare, shapely legs; golden hair streaked with enough russet to turn her long ponytail to fire in the right light; a small denim backpack slung over one shoulder, which made her appear younger than what he estimated as mid-twenties.
A student? A tourist? A fellow soul, far from home?
One delicate finger jabbed at the screen of her phone, as if she could poke it back to life by dogged persistence alone.
Intrigue and a flicker of lust made Ash sit up straighter. Her quirky English accent and endearing choice of expletives reminded him that New York was a long way away. And yes, the women in his exclusive, affluent circle had the kind of polish and poise that this beguiling stranger seemed, at first glance, to lack, but the effect of the jut of her pert breasts and the cut of her fine-boned features in profile on his jet-lagged libido equalled, if not surpassed, his usual level of interest in the opposite sex. An interest that circumstances had shaped into two simple rules: oneâon his terms; and twoâone night only.