HOT AS HELL
Kensington Brava
November 2008
ISBN 9780758222251

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She's mad as hell.
He's hot as hell.
The desert may not be big enough for both of them…

TELL ME MORE...

Lexy Stuart is nobody's fool...not since she wised up to the fact that her fiancé, Noah Paxton, wasn't just sporting the hardest bod this side of the Ironman competition. No, he was also harboring enough secrets to make a CIA operative blush. Little things he never thought worth mentioning like, oh, a previous marriage. So Lexy gave back the ring—with extreme prejudice—and made sandy tracks straight to a remote desert spa. Problem is, with a man like Noah, a girl can run, but she can't hide. Nor does she particularly want to...

Alexa Annabeth Stuart. The stuffy name couldn't be less suitable for a woman as fiery and free as Noah's Lexy. And Lexy is his—always will be—the tricky part will be getting her to realize it. Of course, Noah's always up for a challenge. Which is a good thing, since between the crazy heat at this god-forsaken “retreat” and the looks Lexy's shooting him (not to mention the shockwaves he's getting from her hot-pink bikini), winning his ex back could be one dangerous mission. But if Noah doesn't survive it, well, he intends to die a very satisfied man...

*#4 on Amazon Kindle's "Top Movers & Shakers" List (November 11, 2008)!

"Lexy and Noah heat up the pages of this race-to-the-truth mystery of murder and corporate espionage." -Romantic Times

"...definitely rates as hot." -Publisher's Weekly

"In the end, readers will be swept up in Noah’s and Lexy’s happy ending – one that is real and healthy, full of true love and understanding." -Wild On Books

"HOT AS HELL combines powerful imagery and steamy love scenes to make for a sultry and sensual read." - Romance Junkies

Dark sunglasses hid her eyes, but her dropped jaw suggested he caught her off guard. "Noah?"

She remembered his name. That was something. "Miss me?"

She settled back in her seat and smoothed out the magazine she just crumpled in her fists. "No."

"I’m going to take that as a compliment."

She flipped her sunglasses to the top of her head and squinted up at him with intense green eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Funny but the woman did not look at all surprised to see him. Probably had something to do with the fact she ruined their relationship, screwed with his career and then ran. She had to know he would track her down eventually.

"I could ask you the same question," he said.

"You already know the answer to that one. I'm on vacation."

"Uh-huh." That was all he could think to say while trying to ignore the size of her tiny pink bikini. The thing seemed to shrink the longer he stared at it, but maybe that was wishful thinking.

With the burning southern Utah heat bouncing around and searing through his long-sleeve shirt, he understood her less-is-more theory of dressing. Still, there were other resort patrons hanging in the area. As far as Noah could tell, they all had eyes.

He scanned the pool deck to make sure none of those eyes belonged to men and none were staring at Lexy’s incredible shrinking bikini. Only a few other people braved the beating sun on the pool deck. Most of them sat up to their necks in the water. All but one was female.

The male-female ratio qualified as the only positive Noah could find about the high adventure hiking spa Lexy chose as her temporary playground. Not that he knew what the hell a high adventure hiking spa even was. He read the description online three times before jumping on a plane to retrieve Lexy. Once he saw the price of the joint, he seriously considered changing careers from security analyst to spa owner.

He wondered how the folks who ran the place convinced otherwise competent people to shell out a couple grand a week to stay at a no-frills location in the middle of nowhere. The place in question consisted of a few single and two-story stucco buildings painted almost the same color as the towering red rocks ringing them.

Deep in a valley and about two hours from Las Vegas, the spa felt more like an isolated boot camp than an expensive resort. Clean with well-kept grounds but no extras. A bit too much of a throwback to his military days for Noah’s comfort.

"How did you pick this joint?" he asked.

"What’s wrong with it?"

"Aren't we touchy?"

"Let's just say I'm waiting for you to tell me whatever it is you came the whole way here to say."

He ignored that and started with the most obvious problem with her choice of bathing location. "This place is forty miles from the nearest anything. Didn’t see a restaurant or store anywhere close."

He tolerated the desert as much as the next guy, but why not enjoy it after a little gambling while looking down from a luxury room high above the Las Vegas Strip.

"That’s why people stay here," she said.

"To starve?"

"For the seclusion. Red Valley Fitness is known for its intense exercise and nutrition packages."

"You sound like a walking advertisement." Not a surprise since she was a marketing genius, but still.

She let out a little sigh. "No one asked you to come here."

Which explained why anger continued to spill through his veins at a rate that threatened to crack his spine. "I couldn’t resist."

"But you can leave."