A FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION – Anne Mather
Harlequin Presents #3410
ISBN: 978-0-373-13416-8
March 2016
Contemporary Series Romance

Northumbrian Coast, England – Present Day

After his wife's tragic death in a car accident, Jack Connolly has holed himself in the home he inherited from his grandmother, hoping to bury the past. However, even that is difficult to do with his deceased wife popping up in a ghostly form to taunt him about his reclusiveness and other things. No, Jack doesn't consider himself crazy, but he'd hoped that after two years he could be over losing her. One day, an old friend stops by, Sean Nesbitt, along with Sean's fiancée, Grace Spencer. While Jack isn't happy to have visitors, it is Grace who intrigues him. She's beautiful, and she's now resettled in the area to be near her parents.

Grace is no longer in love with Sean, but he borrowed money from her parents, and the only way she can ensure he pays them back is by pretending that all is well between them. She's found a job working at a real estate office and will also be working in her parents' pub. Grace is well aware that Sean contacted Jack because he's looking for another “backer.” Dare she tell Jack that he'd only be wasting his money? Jack appears to have isolated himself, struggling to get over the death of his wife, yet there is this sizzle of attraction between him and Grace. After he enlists her help in buying some local property, contact between them can't be avoided. One day, that attraction is acted upon in an act of fiery lovemaking. But Grace is still engaged to Sean…

After an absence of three years, Anne Mather has returned to Harlequin Presents and presented readers with an emotional tale that features a smidgen of paranormal with Jack's deceased wife, Lisa, hanging around. A FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION is one that both Jack and Grace are trying to avoid – he because she is promised to Sean, and she because she has already gotten involved with the wrong man and doesn't see Jack as being Mr. Right. But there is this connection between them that can't be denied. Jack has withered away emotionally after his wife's death, but as A FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION unfolds, it's clear to readers that there's more to the accident than a tragic death. With his attraction to Grace, it opens Jack's eyes to realize he needs to move on. Their friendship is fractious at times, as both want to deny there is an attraction. But in a moment of heated passion, they give in to the temptation.

Whatever Grace saw in Sean died a long time ago after he not only duped her parents out of money, but cheated on her. Jack isn't a dummy, but agrees to give Sean financial assistance, though he has the man checked out. He wonders what Grace sees in Sean, but respects their engagement. However, the desire is strong and only gets stronger the more they're around each other. Emotion and passion drives the storyline in A FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION. Jack is a good guy and Grace a woman who wants to resist the lure of the forbidden.

If you love passionate and emotional romances, then grab a copy of A FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION and find out what happens to Jack and Grace…and to the ghostly Lisa.

Patti Fischer