Lady Be Bad

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Authors: Elaine Raco Chase

Tags: #Arts & Photography, #Historic Preservation, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Romantic Comedy, #funny, #funny secondary characters, #american castle, #models, #Divorce, #1000 islands location, #interior design, #sensual contemporary romance, #sexual inuendos, #fast paced, #Architecture, #witty dialogue, #boats, #high fashion, #cosmetics

BOOK: Lady Be Bad
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Chase

 

Lady Be Bad

"Chase blends some wonderfully comic scenes
with several more serious issues. Chase's writing is so distinctive
and her characterizations and dialogue so sharp, that she carries
it off."

Chicago Sun-Times

 

Calculated Risk

“Another first – Elaine gives us a
rib-tickling tale of the older woman. All readers with teenage
children will split their sides over the descriptions of life on a
high school date!”

Romantic Times Magazine

 

Special Delivery

“The dialogue and verbal sparring is a
standout with sexual tension in spades.”

Reviewer - Cathy Sova

 

Designing Woman

"This is the funniest book we've ever read
and the love story is terrific. Plugging it with Kleenex to wipe
tears of laughter."

Barbara Critiques

 

Video Vixen

"A real sizzler. A marvelous conjuror of
provocative and delicious situation comedy. Elaine has worked her
magic again in Video Vixen."

Romantic Times Magazine

 

Coming soon to an eBook near you by Elaine
Raco Chase

Double Occupancy, Dare the Devil, Rules of
the Game, Best Laid Plans and more of her #1 romance novels!

An excerpt from Lady Be Bad:

 

"Because I'm not going to defer. I'm
accepting your challenge."

"Mimi, it won't work."

His authoritative tone increased her courage
and strengthened her determination. "Oh, yes, it will." Her lashes
lowered in a dark sweep. "I bet I could seduce you right now."

Noah moved to cross his arms over his chest,
then suddenly stopped to examine his hands, holding them for her
inspection. "See these withered, prune-like fingers, that's an
exact duplicate of another part of my anatomy. Besides, I'm
exhausted from seducing you all night."

Marlayna might have demurred if Noah hadn't
capped that blatantly macho comment with a patronizing grin.
How
like a man to take full credit for a night of pleasure. How clever
of
a
woman to make him think just that!
Dipping
the loofa sponge back into the percolating, steamy lather, she
marshaled every clever wile she possessed and decided to flex a few
feminine muscles. "Oh, Noah, you poor man. Here I've been babbling
on and on about utter nonsense when you needed ministering."

Startled by her sudden turnaround, Noah
inspected her with suspicion. His wariness, however, rapidly
dissolved with just one glance. She looked so soft and vulnerable.
Her skin was blushing like a dew-kissed pink rosebud; the humidity
had tightened her hair into shiny sable and amber ringlets that
sculpted her head. A cherub. He gave her a dreamy smile. She was a
delightful mix of child and woman with a sweetly innocent face and
a gentle, melodic voice.

"Maybe this will help, darling." Shifting her
position in the jetted tub, Marlayna took possession of Noah's left
foot, the one with a direct line to his heart, and balanced it on
her bent knee. "I read an article that said invigorating the feet
through massage can help eliminate body fatigue and actually
revitalize a person's entire system."

She used both hands, making sure they were
always wet and soapy. Her thumbs massaged firm circles along the
callous footpad, moving slowly down the edge of his foot to the
thick-skinned heel.

"Mmm, that does feel wonderful." Closing his
eyes, Noah exhaled a grateful sigh and slithered his shoulders
further under the water. "My therapist used to do this a lot."

Marlayna began to make subtle changes in her
therapeutic technique. The clinical touching became a much more
sensual kneading. The tips of her fingers gently rotated over
Noah's sensitive arch, her nails whispering across his skin. She
continued the feather-light stroking until his toes began to wiggle
and his leg tensed.

Noah's brain was late in acknowledging that
the hospital therapists had never been able to sensitize his entire
body by massaging his foot. He wasn't quite sure what Marlayna was
doing, but he was certainly enjoying it. As a matter of fact, he
craved even further exploration. Craved! Noah hastily tightened his
leg muscles and tried to stiffen and strengthen his resolve.

He vaguely began to wonder whether she was up
to something. Noah opened one eye to check but saw nothing more
than a woman concentrating all her effort and attention on his left
foot. Toes, actually. Her thumb and forefinger were caressing each
digit. Caressing and stroking and rubbing and… No. No, came his
sharp mental directive.
It's just therapy. Imperson
al.
Hands on feet.

He silently chided himself. After all, no one
in his right mind could get excited over a foot massage. There was
nothing erogenous about a foot. Noah swallowed hard as another
little current snaked up the back of his leg and ended up giving
his solar plexus a pleasant jolt.

She ran the natural sponge across the bones
on top of his foot. "I can feel the ridges. Didn't they set
well?"

"No." He cleared his throat when that word
came out an octave too high. "The doctors didn't pay a lot of
attention to my feet." Noah dropped a few medical terms here and
there while he watched her hands slide along his calf.

The more her fingers caressed his
well-muscled flesh, the more incoherent Noah became. Marlayna's
nails danced playfully against the sensitive back of his knees then
began tracing the tendon that tensed in his thigh.

Noah tried to swallow a guttural moan, but
his pleasure was too exquisite to control. The childlike play that
he had always associated with bubbles suddenly turned very adult in
this sultry, steamy oasis. He felt her palms move firmly against
his hair-roughened, flesh, her fingernails drawing delightful
squiggles on that particularly susceptible area high on his inner
thigh.

Marlayna decided to diversify and readjusted
her position. With the loofa in hand, she swirled the sponge over
his flat belly, traveling the path made by the whorls of dark hair
that forested his sinewy torso. "You've got the body of a young
athlete."

Her hands replaced the sponge, spreading the
shimmering lather on his chest and shoulders. Slowly, her wet palms
rotated against the tough masculine terrain, the soft pads of her
fingers lightly pressed into the whipcord pectoral muscles. "Mmm,
very strong, Noah."

He didn't think it was possible to be
destroyed and restored at the same time, but Noah could feel it
happening. His entire body trembled. With every word she spoke, her
throaty voice conveyed a seductive message. Her hands roamed all
over his body, moving from one spot to another, surprising him by
going exactly where he wanted them to.

He pulled her closer, his large hands
sculpting her body. Fingers and palms slithered wetly, tracing the
lush curves of her torso, finally settling in the indentation of
her waist. Marlayna floated just above him; her full breasts glided
against his flesh, the rosy peaks teasingly hidden beneath a lacy
cap of bubbles.

"God, woman, you're driving me crazy." His
hands moved to the satiny globes of her derriere and pressed her
rightly into him. "I didn't think it was possible." Noah scattered
urgent kisses along her jawline to her mouth.

Marlayna turned her face slightly, putting
her lips a scant inch away from his. "You didn't think what was
possible?" Came her purring inquiry.

Noah nuzzled her neck; the delicate scent of
jasmine and roses teased his senses. "You know . . ." Groaning
words were mumbled as his lips sampled the dewy swells of her
breast while the lower part of his body tried to merge in a more
vital connection.

"Hmmm . . . yes, I do know," she whispered
into his ear at the same time that her feet began to shuffle
backward. "But do you
know
that I just seduced you and you
didn't laugh once." Her forefinger tapped his nose. "You didn't
even chuckle." Delight bubbled in her throat. She watched his
lambent brown eyes widen in silent acknowledgment. "I think I'll
give the rest of my plan a try."

"Hey!" He made a grab for her but missed.
"Wait! You can't go off and leave me like
this!"

Marlayna eyed him over her shoulder while she
wrapped a pink bath towel around her dripping body. "Oh . . . poor
Noah..." Her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth. "That's
the same line you used in the back seat of your Maverick when we'd
go to the drive-ins." Her lashes lowered in a provocative sweep.
"It didn't work then and it won't work now."

 

 

 

Lady Be Bad

 

By

 

Elaine Raco Chase

Smashwords Edition

 

eBook Editions Published by Elaine Raco Chase
on Smashwords

 

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you
share it with.

If you’re reading this book and did not
purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you
should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank
you for respecting the author’s work.

©1984 by Elaine Raco Chase Original
Silhouette Desire Romance #138 ISBN 0-671-46228-8

©2011 by Elaine Raco Chase Updated with new
scenes and dialogue

All of the characters in this book are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental.

 

A note from the author:

 

Yes, there really is a pink castle on Dark
Island, part of the 1000 Islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway. You
can take a magical tour of Singer Castle by going to:
www.singercastle.com

Noah's renovations are of course fictional,
but oddly enough you can see the renovations that are currently
going on to the boat house. The furnishings in this book have been
taken from a host of castles around the world but the interior of
Singer Castle on Dark Island does make for jaw-dropping wonder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

A new record! Five pieces of mail in two
weeks! I
restocked the fridge and left a dozen cheese
Danish. Mr.
Wingate and Miss Davies called to
say
they'd be over later. Congratulations too on
what's underneath!

Pearl

 

Marlayna O'Brian smiled at her housekeeper's
exuberantly scrawled message. The curve on her lips turned wistful
five pieces of mail in two weeks, and that was after living and
working in Manhattan for nearly six years. It seemed that her
initial goal of becoming lost in a city of eight million had been
reached.

Sliding the yellow legal-sized paper to one
side, Marlayna viewed the cover of
Vogue
that had been so
carefully shielded and saw herself. "The lost has been
discovered!"

One professionally sculptured eyebrow arched
slightly, almost mockingly, as she studied the full-face shot. Cool
blue-gray eyes stared at a pair of more cosmetically enhanced
duplicates, traveled upward to the sophisticated sable and bronze
highlighted curls that frothed a high forehead before focusing on
the coral-tinted Mona Lisa smile that the photographer had
coaxed.

The woman in the photo looked mysterious,
provocative, and earthy -- nothing more than a slick, colorful,
glossy lie. "I'm sure they are all thrilled." Marlayna played with
the zipper on the navy jacket of her jogging suit before tossing
the fashion magazine back on the glass foyer table. Her white
sneakers maneuvered an oversized nylon travel bag soccer-style into
the quiet apartment while she examined the remaining four
envelopes.

The power company requested a hefty amount
for keeping her cool during the thirty-one hot and humid days of
July; the telephone company was billing her for the usual monthly
minimum -- no extra charges for long distance or information calls;
and American Express asked that she not leave home without sending
them their allotment. The last piece of mail seemed to demand to be
opened by something a bit more elegant than her marauding, albeit
perfectly manicured, thumbnail.

Marlayna high-stepped over her luggage, then
skipped across the delicately patterned Oriental carpet, around the
cream sofa to the petite oak ladies desk in the alcove. Centered on
the leather blotter was an ivory-handled letter opener. An
irreverent grin formed. Her fingertips smoothed the rich parchment
envelope and outlined the raised
K
embedded in the black wax
that sealed the silver-banded flap.

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