A Dash of Temptation - Jo Leigh

A Dash of Temptation by Jo Leigh, is number 72 in the Blaze line by Harlequin and was released in January 2003. It's one of the earlier novels in the line and is well worth picking up if you stumble across it.

Tess Norton is a down to earth woman with dreams of owning her own store, and eventually finding a man to settle down with. Someone in her own league, who understands hard work, scrimping with the pennies and putting their all into everything they do. So she's all too well aware that Dash Black is way out of her league, if he's even on the same planet. She looks after his houseplants, and that's not a way to begin a relationship.

So when the sexy media king asks her to be his date to a party she was going to anyway, she jumps at the chance. What harm is there in a fling with a man as sensual and alluring as Dash, even just once, before she finds Mr. Down to Earth and settles with him?

But Dash has never spent time with a woman like Tess. She's everything the media hound women he's spent time with before, are not. Not only that but she's hot, sinfully sexy and it isn't long before she not only finds a place in his bed, but his thoughts and heart as well. But Tess is well aware that at best he's a man to do, never a man to marry.

Tess and Dash are characters that jump off the page. Their lives are opposite ends of the spectrum. She's from small town Texas and he grew up at the center of the glitz and glamour media filled world. Yet they're drawn together. Despite the actions of one cold hearted, ego filled little madam who is determined to ruin things for Tess, not just on a personal level, but a professional one.

Ms. Leigh has written, with this novel, a sexy, spicy and delicious romance. I fell in love with Tess. Dash was almost a sorrowful character putting up a mask for the rest of the world, but with Tess the mask came down. He was able to be who he wanted to be, not what others expected him to be. A man more at peace with playing music and curling up watching re-runs with his girl friend than one strolling down the red carpet for yet another function.

Well done Ms. Leigh.

ISBN 0-373-79076-7