Up Close and Personal

Joanne Rock

Look what people are saying about

Joanne Rock…

“Sizzling chemistry with a splash of seductively intense suspense—fabulous Joanne Rock always delivers a page-turning read!”

—RITA

Award winner Catherine Mann

“Filled with a complicated plot, as well as excellent, unexpected characters, and stirred with steaming-hot sex, Don’t Look Back is the kind of wonderful mix readers would expect from Joanne Rock.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

“Filled with adventure, spicy sex, and a smidgen of danger, Up All Night is romance at it’s best.”

—Romance Reviews Today

“Rock’s snappy style of writing is perfect for a sexy, sassy contemporary romance.”

—Booklist on The Pleasure Trip

“Strong, attractive characters with serious heat…”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Silk Confessions

“Joanne Rock does it again! The suspense is so deftly braided with the romance and hot hot hot love scenes…. If you love a hint of danger with your romance, this is one book you won’t want to miss.”

—Romance Junkies on Don’t Look Back

Dear Reader,

As a Blaze writer, I think about sexual situations a lot. It’s part of my job, and let’s face it, that’s pretty fun! But when it came time to write Jessica’s story, I discovered a character who didn’t always have fun thinking about sexual situations. Because of a difficult past, sex had become problematic for her.

But because I’m a Blaze writer, I needed to help her out of that dark corner, and that’s where Rocco Easton comes in. I loved writing about this hero whose career was stolen out from underneath him yet he still found a way to channel his talents into productive work. Rocco has faced plenty of dark corners himself.

I hope you’ll enjoy Jessica’s journey to new healing and her path to reclaiming her sensuality.

Happy reading!

Joanne Rock

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Joanne Rock

TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After testing out careers in public relations, teaching, acting and journalism, Joanne Rock became a fiction writer to maintain sanity while sitting at home with three small children. Writing books quickly went from a temporary mental exercise to an addictive passion. After more than thirty books she hopes her sanity has been duly maintained. Joanne is a three-time RITA® Award winner, and her stories have been reprinted in twenty-four countries and translated into nineteen languages. She pens medieval historicals and sexy contemporaries from her home in the gorgeous Adirondack region of upstate New York, where she lives with her husband and sons. Learn more about Joanne and her work by visiting her at http://joannerock.com or at http://myspace.com/joanne_rock.

Books by Joanne Rock

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

108—GIRL’S GUIDE TO HUNTING & KISSING* (#litres_trial_promo)

135—GIRL GONE WILD* (#litres_trial_promo)

139—DATE WITH A DIVA* (#litres_trial_promo)

171—SILK CONFESSIONS** (#litres_trial_promo)

182—HIS WICKED WAYS** (#litres_trial_promo)

240—UP ALL NIGHT† (#litres_trial_promo)

256—HIDDEN OBSESSION†† (#litres_trial_promo)

305—DON’T LOOK BACK‡ (#litres_trial_promo)

311—JUST ONE LOOK‡ (#litres_trial_promo)

363—A BLAZING LITTLE CHRISTMAS “His for the Holidays”

381—GETTING LUCKY

HARLEQUIN HISTORICAL

749—THE BETROTHAL “Highland Handfast”

758—MY LADY’S FAVOR

769—THE LAIRD’S LADY

812—THE KNIGHT’S COURTSHIP

890—A KNIGHT MOST WICKED

To Renee Halverson, whose dedication to writing

has always been an inspiration. Thank you for

being such a wonderful friend!

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

1

JESSICA WINSLOW NEEDED to arouse a room full of women.

Right here. Right now.

She took deep breaths in her small suite at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, an accommodation with no view of the spectacular oceanfront outside. She’d booked this spot as a prep space for the retre