This Man

Young interior designer Ava O'Shea has no idea what awaits her at the Manor. A run-of-the-mill consultation with a stodgy country gent seems likely, but what Ava finds instead is Jesse Ward - a devastatingly handsome, utterly confident, pleasure-seeking playboy who knows no boundaries. Ava doesn't want to be attracted to this man, and yet she can't control the overwhelming desire that he stirs in her. She knows that her heart will never survive him and her instinct is telling her to run, but Jesse is not willing to let her go. He wants her and is determined to have her.

Jesse Ward drowned her with his intensity and blindsided her with his passion, but he kept her away from his dark secrets and broken soul. Leaving him was the only way Ava O'Shea could survive. She should have known that Jesse Ward is impossible to escape - and now he's back in her life, determined to remind her of the sensual pleasures they had shared. Ava is equally determined to get at the truth beneath this man's steely exterior. That means letting herself get close to the Lord of the Manor once more.

The Manor, the very place where their passionate love affair began, fills with guests on what should be the happiest day of Ava and Jesse's lives. She has accepted that she'll never tame the fierceness in Jesse - and she doesn't want to. Their love is profound, their connection powerful, but just when she thinks that she's finally gotten beneath his guarded exterior, more questions arise, leading Ava to believe that Jesse Ward may not be the man she thinks he is.

Life is good for Jesse "The Lord" Ward. Perfect, actually. He still has the charm, he's in great shape, and he still reduces his wife, Ava, to a pool of desire with a mere look. He's in full control, just how he likes it. But Jesse's perfect world falls apart when a terrible accident lands Ava in the hospital with a life-threatening head injury.

I don't need a relationship. I have Hux, a decadent club where I quench whatever raw desire I choose. I take pleasure and I give it - no strings attached. So when Raya Rivers comes in asking for someone cold, emotionless, and filthy...well, no man ever takes his wicked pleasure quite the way I do.