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       Her insides were doing weird things at his touch, and the temptation to touch him in return was immense.

      She tried to kill the fantasy by imagining his reaction. Shock? Embarrassment? Then she remembered the feel of his lips on her fingers as he’d taken the sticky candy from them, and she couldn’t help thinking that maybe, just maybe, he’d reciprocate. Bend down and kiss her. Tangle his big strong hands in her hair and tip her head back to get better access to her lips …

      ‘Melissa?’

      Brought back to earth with a thump, she realised he was holding the car door open for her.

      ‘Sorry,’ she said, sliding into her seat quickly.

      ‘You’re a complete daydreamer, aren’t you?’ he asked, looking rather amused as he got into the driver’s seat. ‘What were you thinking about?’

      Ha—wouldn’t you like to know? Melissa felt like saying. ‘Just stuff,’ she said after a pause.

      ‘Random stuff?’

      ‘Oh, very random.’

      His lips quirked up at the corners as if he was trying hard not to smile.

      Melissa had a nasty feeling that he knew exactly what she’d been thinking about.

       Dear Reader

      This is my fifth book for Harlequin Mills and Boon^®, and I came up with the plot during a road trip from Mumbai to Goa. I scribbled out the outline while my husband drove and my kids dozed in the back seat. Then, three months later, with a deadline looming up ahead, I tried to make sense of the squiggles on the page. My laptop obligingly crashed when I was halfway through writing, and I finished the book on the trusty old laptop that I wrote my first book on. Zero battery life and clunky keyboard vs sleek lavender keys and flashing hieroglyphs where my manuscript used to be—well, the clunky laptop wins every time.

      Melissa and Samir, the two lead characters in this book, are very different from each other. Melissa is pretty in an understated, elfin kind of way, and she has a wicked sense of humour. People often write her off as a quiet, rather mousy girl—it’s only when they get talking to her that they wonder why they’ve never noticed the mischief in her eyes, and her melting smile.

      Samir, on the other hand, is strikingly good-looking, very successful, and perhaps just a little arrogant. He’s used to women chasing after him, and he’s had his share of relationships—still, he gives the impression of being cold and aloof. He’s instantly attracted to Melissa when he meets her, but he holds back so that she ends up making the first move. Both of them are carrying baggage from previous relationships, and it takes them a while for them to recognise that it’s more than sheer physical attraction holding them together.

      I’ve set the book in two of my favourite places—Mumbai and Goa—and I hope I’ve managed to capture the essence of both. Now all I need to do is explain to my indignant kids why this book is dedicated ‘just to Papa’ …

      Happy reading!

       Shoma

      Twelve Hours

      of Temptation

      Shoma Narayanan

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      SHOMA NARAYANAN started reading Mills and Boon® romances at the age of eleven, borrowing them from neighbours and hiding them inside textbooks so that her parents didn’t find out. At that time the thought of writing one herself never entered her head—she was convinced she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. When she was a little older she decided to become an engineer instead, and took a degree in electronics and telecommunications. Then she thought a career in management was probably a better bet, and went off to do an MBA. That was a decision she never regretted, because she met the man of her dreams in the first year of business school—fifteen years later they’re married with two adorable kids, whom they’re raising with the same careful attention to detail that they gave their second-year project on organisational behaviour.

      A couple of years ago Shoma took up writing as a hobby—after successively trying her hand at baking, sewing, knitting, crochet and patchwork—and was amazed at how much she enjoyed it. Now she works grimly at her banking job through the week, and tries to balance writing with household chores during weekends. Her family has been unfailingly supportive of her latest hobby, and are also secretly very, very relieved that they don’t have to eat, wear or display the results!

       Other Modern Tempted™ titles by Shoma Narayanan:

      THE ONE SHE WAS WARNED ABOUT

       This and other titles by Shoma Narayanan are available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      To Badri

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Epilogue

       Extract

      ONE

      ‘Brian’s selling the agency.’

      The words didn’t sink in at first because Melissa was busy squinting at her keyboard. Damn the O key. It was jamming up again. The last line she’d typed read as if it had a particularly nasty swear word in it—the difference a single missing o could make was amazing.

      ‘I need a new keyboard,’ she said. ‘Unless...

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