Part 1 (1/2)

TAKE ME IF YOU DARE.

Candace Havens.

This is going to be one h.e.l.l of a ride....

It all seemed too real. Mariska was at an island resort with a hot guy who desired her. She should pounce on him, but she needed a little time to pull herself together.

”How about we take a quick swim to work out the kinks?” Jackson smiled at her, and her pulse quickened. After what she'd seen during the ma.s.sage, she couldn't wait for another chance to see him sans clothes. The man's body begged to be touched, and she planned to do that a lot.

She reached into her bag and scooped out one of the four bikinis she'd thrown in. This one was red with tiny bows on each side. It was one of her favorites. ”Five minutes. I'll meet you out on the beach.” She heard him chuckle as she shut the bathroom door.

Mariska stared at herself in the mirror.

Live in the moment.

She'd seen the phrase on a fortune cookie a month ago. It was the saying that had inspired this trip. Tired of living in the past and worrying about what everyone else thought of her, she'd decided it was time for a real vacation. One where she could be whoever she wanted, and maybe she'd find herself.

”You better watch out, Jackson. I'm a bold woman who won't shy away from life anymore. I'm going to have my way with you...every which way I can.”

Dear Reader, I'm so excited to be one of the newest ”Blaze Babes” and I hope you enjoy this, my first Harlequin Blaze t.i.tle.

Have you ever done something impulsive or crazy that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to you? That's how my heroine Mariska Stonegate finds herself involved with an intriguing and mysterious man. She decides to give in to her instincts and finds a way to spend some quality time with a hunky stranger.

My hero Jackson Walker is a CIA agent on the run. Something has happened and now everyone is after him, and he doesn't know why. He's a good guy who has to make some difficult choices in order to survive. When he accidentally b.u.mps into Mariska, he can't help but wonder what it would be like to have a life with this s.e.xy woman. When she wants to spend a weekend making pa.s.sionate love, he can't say no to her.

Please e-mail me at and tell me what you think about the book, or you can find me on twitter.com/candacehavens as well as Mys.p.a.ce, Facebook and LiveJournal, all of which can be linked to from . I look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy!

Candy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Award-winning author and columnist Candace ”Candy” Havens lives in Texas with her mostly understanding husband, two children and two dogs, s...o...b..e and Gizmo. Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for FYI Television. She has interviewed just about everyone in Hollywood from George Clooney and Orlando Bloom to Nicole Kidman and Kate Beckinsale. You can hear Candy weekly on The Big 96.3 in the DallasaFort Worth Area. Her popular online writer's workshop has more than thirteen hundred students and provides free cla.s.ses to professional and aspiring writers.

To my editor Kathryn Lye for the encouragement, and tough love when necessary. You are the best.

Prologue.

JACKSON WAS ALIVE. At least that much he could determine from the excruciating pain in his ribs every time he tried to breathe. Testing his arms and legs. He was relieved when he could move them.

Well, there's that.

As the fuzziness cleared from his brain, he remembered exactly when everything went to h.e.l.l. The moment he walked into Vladimir's office at Club Loi in Rayong he had known his cover was blown. The gun-runner greeted him without his smarmy smile, a sign that all was not well. Vlad hadn't said a word, only motioned to his men.

Jackson fought, but he was one unarmed man against eight with a.s.sault weapons. Still he'd been able to take down three of them before someone had coldc.o.c.ked him from the left with the b.u.t.t of an XM8. That was the last thing he remembered.

His fingers found the large egg-shaped b.u.mp on his temple and he winced. Hope I at least threw a punch as I went down.

Forcing his eyes open, Jackson tried to survey the room. It took a minute to focus. Paint peeled off the ceiling and the room smelled of dirty socks. He wasn't at the Ritz.

Moving slowly, he sat up on the edge of the bed. From the stiffness and bruising it seemed like every part of his body had been pummeled. Jackson pushed the pain aside. He forced himself to move. Stumbling to the dirty window, he opened it and was a.s.sailed by the smell of dead fish. Bits and pieces of a conversation between two fighting fishermen, and a flas.h.i.+ng neon light announcing nude girls, told him all he needed to know.

”How the h.e.l.l did I get to Bangkok?” The words came out in a harsh whisper. Turning toward the sink, he stared at himself in the mirror. His cheek was swollen, lip busted, but he'd looked worse. The bloodied clothes would be a problem. Rolling his neck to loosen the tension, he glanced around the room for something he could use.

He noticed a pile of folded clothes on a chair next to the door. That wasn't what made him pause. It was the typewritten paper on top that captured his attention.

You've been compromised.

If I were you, I'd run.

”h.e.l.l.” Jackson shoved a hand through his hair. ”A d.a.m.n burn notice.” He wasn't dead yet, but he would be in a matter of hours. The Company didn't like loose ends and that was exactly what he'd become.

1.

MARISKA STONEGATE WAITED in the tropical paradise known as the Aqua Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok. The tranquil setting was in crazy contrast to the antic.i.p.ation that zinged through her body.

Less than three hours ago she'd received a case file on a missing man. Desmond Gladstone, a husband and father of a toddler, had traveled to Bangkok on business three days ago. His wife hadn't heard from him since the day after he landed. At the wife's insistence, the hotel finally checked the room. Except for his bag of clothes and toiletries it was empty. The maid said no one had slept in the bed since the guest had checked in. That's when the wife panicked.

The Thai police weren't as helpful as Mrs. Gladstone would have liked. Since there was no sign of distress in his room, they believed he had wanted to disappear, or that he was having an affair. Mariska's company, Stonegate Investigative Agency, had been hired by the man's wife to find out what happened.

The case had not been a part of Mariska's vacation plans. She'd landed in Bangkok earlier in the day ready to shop for a few days, and then she would head to p.h.u.ket Beach for a long vacation.

That's what I get for turning on my phone.

Unfortunately, she had hit the on b.u.t.ton, and now she had a case to solve before she could run away to the place of sun-kissed skin and mai tais.

It had been a tough year, and she craved time away from home, and the well-meaning friends who were constantly in her business. Her life wasn't going according to plan, not that she really had one. But she was fairly certain she hadn't spent all those years in school to work in a job where she felt like she was barely keeping her head above water.

She couldn't even go on vacation without work interfering.

Closing her eyes, she pushed the negative thoughts from her brain.

This case is a minor b.u.mp on my road to fun.

At least the gang at SIA had hired a local private detective in Bangkok to get some of the legwork done before she arrived.

Mr. Thomas had discovered Gladstone cleared customs, checked into the hotel and then disappeared. That was a start at least. The one thing that bugged her about the mistress theory was if he was in the middle of a tryst-why not stay at the Four Seasons? Room service, six-hundred-thread-count sheets, it was hard to pa.s.s up.

A call to his workplace had revealed Mr. Gladstone was on a two-week vacation and they didn't expect him back until the end of the month. Mr. G had lied to his wife.