No Risk Refused Read online

  From Newly Wedded magazine: “This castle in upstate New York is the stuff of fantasies! And a kiss under the arch might make your love—or lust—last forever...”

  Indulging a family request, CIA agent Cam Sutherland has returned to Castle MacPherson for the first time in years to investigate a decades-old theft. But more importantly, it’s the place where—in a brief moment—Cam very nearly lost his heart and soul to wedding planner Adair MacPherson.

  And Adair is still as bewitching as ever. When Cam finds a seven-year-old erotic story written by her—and starring him—his blood damn near boils over. The only solution? To prove to Adair that fantasies are best made into realities...and the best magic happens between the sheets!

  Nobody can write Forbidden Fantasies like Cara Summers!

  Of Led Into Temptation

  “Sensationally sensual…this tale of a forbidden, guilt-ridden love is a delight. Brimming with diverse, compelling characters, scorching hot love scenes, romance and even a ghost, this story is unforgettable.”

  —Romancejunkies.com

  “This deliciously naughty fantasy takes its time heating up, but it’s worth the wait!…4 ½ stars.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  Of Taken Beyond Temptation

  “Great characters with explosive chemistry, a fun intrigue-flavored plot and a high degree of sensuality add up to an excellent read!…4 ½ stars.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Filled with intrigue, mystery, humor, sizzling hot love scenes, a well-matched couple,

  a surprise ending and a ghost, this story is unforgettable and definitely a winner.”

  —Romancejunkies.com

  Of Twice the Temptation

  “Well written!…Fans will be delighted to see their favorites return for brief appearances…4 stars.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Cara Summers has penned two tales in Twice the Temptation which will not be forgotten, but will live on in the reader’s fantasies.”

  —Cataromance.com

  Dear Reader,

  I love writing Forbidden Fantasies for Blaze, and so getting the chance to write three in a row is a real treat!

  Seven years ago, spurred on by their father’s wedding, a bottle of champagne and a serious case of lust for their new stepmother’s gorgeous sons, Adair, Piper and Nell MacPherson each wrote down their most secret sexual fantasies about their “ideal” man and buried them in a stone arch on their family’s estate. Then they forgot all about them. Almost.

  Now, one by one, the Sutherland triplets, Cam, Duncan and Reid, are being drawn back to Castle MacPherson, not only by the erotic fantasies penned all those years ago, but also to right a wrong and restore a stolen bride’s long missing dowry to its rightful owners.

  I hope that you enjoy Cam and Adair’s story, No Risk Refused, and that you will look for No Holds Barred in July and No Desire Denied in August. All three books feature an amazing dog named Alba who currently resides at the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, Massachusetts, but is waiting for her forever home. I hope you fall in love with her just as I did.

  For news on my future releases, visit www.carasummers.com. And for more information on the Northeast Animal Shelter and the Blaze Authors’ Pet Project, visit www.blazeauthors.com/blog.

  May all your forbidden fantasies come true!

  Cara Summers

  Cara Summers

  No Risk Refused

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Was Cara Summers born with the dream of becoming a published romance novelist? No. But now that she is, she still feels her dream has come true. And she owes it all to her mother who handed her a Harlequin romance novel and said, “Try it. You’ll love it.” Mom was right! Cara has written over forty stories for the Blaze and Temptation lines, and she has won numerous awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award for Series Storyteller of the Year from RT Book Reviews. When she isn’t working on new books, she teaches in the writing program at Syracuse University.

  Books by Cara Summers

  HARLEQUIN BLAZE

  188—THE DARE

  192—THE FAVOR

  239—WHEN SHE WAS BAD…

  259—TWO HOT!

  286—TELL ME YOUR SECRETS…

  330—THE P.I.

  336—THE COP

  342—THE DEFENDER

  396—A SEXY TIME OF IT

  413—LIE WITH ME

  437—COME TOY WITH ME

  474—TWIN TEMPTATION

  480—TWIN SEDUCTION

  511—CHRISTMAS MALE

  540—LED INTO TEMPTATION

  547—TAKEN BEYOND TEMPTATION

  555—TWICE THE TEMPTATION

  593—TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

  622—TAILSPIN

  655—SEXY SILENT NIGHTS

  To get the inside scoop on Harlequin Blaze and its talented writers, be sure to check out blazeauthors.com.

  To my sons, Kevin, Brian and Brendan. As you’ve grown into fine young men, I’ve seen you do everything you can to protect and cherish the ones you love. In short, you inspire my heroes. Thanks! I love all three of you.

  And special thanks to the best editor in the world—Brenda Chin. You have once more pulled one of my stories out of the darkness and into the light.

  Contents

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 17

  BPA

  Prologue

  Glen Loch, NY

  Summer 1812

  THUNDER CRASHED AND lightning ripped through the sky while rain lashed at the stone arch over Eleanor Campbell MacPherson’s head.

  Perfect, she thought.

  It was one of her dreams that had awakened her. She’d heard Angus’s voice again. The sound of the wind had drawn her out onto her balcony and when she’d seen the clouds roll in over the lake, blacking out the stars, she’d known it was time to begin her mission. To right a wrong that she’d done so many years before.

  Slipping out of the castle, she’d raced the rain to the stone arch and reached it just as the skies opened. The dreams that had been recurring since her husband’s death had centered here in the place that had played such a powerful role in her life and in Angus’s.

  Her sons and daughters-in-law, who loved her dearly, would not be happy that she regularly sneaked out of the castle in the dead of night. Even less happy that she was here in the stone arch on a night like this. And she doubted they would approve of her plan.

  So she would make sure that they didn’t know.

  All her life, she’d been good at keeping secrets. But since the death of her husband a year ago, one of those secrets had begun to weigh on her. And the dreams had begun. Angus was sending them to her. He’d known her so well, and he’d known that the Stuart sapphires she’d carried with her to the New World had troubled her conscience.

  Thunder roared and lightning flashed so bright and fierce that for an instant, Eleanor saw everything clearly—the garden, the elegant facade of Castle MacPherson, the cliffs beyond and the roiling waters of the black lake below.

  Home, she thought. Whatever mistakes she may have made, coming here with Angus Daniel MacPherson fifty years ago was not one of them. She’d turned her back on her home in the highlands of Scotland, the pride and expectations of her family, and a man who’d claimed to love her very much. And she’d never looked back.

  Not th
at Angus had given her any choice.

  The memory made her smile and set her mind drifting back to that night in Scotland so long ago, when he’d asked her to run away with him to the New World. She’d been shocked at the idea, thrilled and frightened at the same time. They’d been standing beneath a stone arch in the gardens of her family’s home. Its location in an isolated part of the garden made it a perfect place for them to meet in secret.

  And secrecy was essential. She shouldn’t have even talked to him. Even though their families’ lands shared a common border, the MacPhersons and the Campbells had been blood enemies for years.

  And she’d been promised to another man.

  But once Angus had kissed her beneath the stone arch he’d completely captured her heart. Her mother and older sisters had warned her about the legend surrounding the stones. They carried a power from ancient times, and the man you kissed beneath that arch would be your true love forever.

  And she hadn’t just kissed Angus once. Each time she’d met with him she’d kissed him again and again. And each time she’d promised herself it would be the last time.

  The night of Angus’s proposal, her family had thrown a ball to formalize her upcoming wedding to her betrothed. She was wearing her future husband’s gift to her, the legendary sapphire earrings and necklace that had been bequeathed to his family for service to the Scottish court during the reign of Mary Stuart. The queen had worn them at her coronation, so they were priceless. He’d insisted she wear them tonight as proof of his love for her and as a symbol of the union of their two families.

  When she’d slipped away from the ball to meet Angus, she’d planned to say goodbye.

  She’d been repeating the little speech to herself all day. She was betrothed to another man, she couldn’t go back on her word, and their situation was impossible. There was no way that their families would allow them to marry. In fact, her father would probably inflict bodily harm on Angus.

  Eleanor slipped her hand into her pocket and closed her fingers around the leather pouches where she kept the sapphires. The only time she’d worn them was for her wedding portrait that hung in the main parlor of the castle. The jewels always reminded her of the man she’d betrayed and left behind. Everyone had always believed that they were her dowry, and she’d kept silent all of these years.

  If only she’d left the necklace and earrings behind with the man who’d given them to her. At least their families would have had the sapphires. But there’d been no time. Angus, impatient, impetuous, irresistible, hadn’t allowed her any. And when she’d initially refused to go with him that night, he hadn’t taken no for an answer. He’d simply carried her away.

  Thank God.

  Her heart tightened as she thought of how he’d completely swept her up in his belief in their future.

  Lightning flashed again, illuminating the visual reality of that belief. Angus had promised to build a castle and gardens for her in a setting that would remind her of all that she was leaving behind in Scotland. He’d kept his word. The lovely lakes and mountains in the Adirondack region had kept her from getting too homesick during those early years. He’d kept his promise to build a replica of the stone arch in her family’s garden. He’d even brought some stones from the original, and when it was complete she’d stood with him here just as she’d stood with him beneath the one in Scotland.

  That was when the legend of Castle MacPherson’s stone arch had begun. Over the years she’d lost count of the number of times Angus had told and retold the story of how she’d captivated him, heart and mind, that first time they’d kissed beneath the stone arch in her family’s garden. And the story had spread, being told and retold throughout the community. Her children had believed in it and they’d each married their mates right here.

  The little pain around her heart increased. In the year since he’d passed she’d missed him so much. But she always sensed his presence when she stood here in the place where they’d laughed and loved and dreamed together so many times.

  And the stones had played a part in the dream she was sure that Angus was sending her. In them, she always saw the same thing. A young woman with reddish curls dropping to her knees at the side of the arch and lifting a leather pouch out of a pile of loose stones. Inside, the young woman always found one of the earrings. Not the pair or the necklace.

  Eleanor tightened her fingers around the pouch she held in her pocket. As she did, she heard Angus’s voice in her ear, just as clearly as she heard it in her dreams.

  “Her name is Adair. She believes in the power of the stones enough to bury her own dreams and fantasies beneath them. You must hide one of the earrings in the stone arch for her to find. When she finds it, the Stuart Sapphires will begin to find their way home. You can finally rest easy. Trust me, Ellie—just as you did on the night we ran away.”

  The rain had stopped, and a few stars had reappeared in the sky. With Angus’s words still in her mind, Eleanor stepped out of the arch and began to work some of the stones loose. And when the earring was safely buried and she returned to the castle, she slept peacefully.

  1

  Glen Loch, NY

  Summer 2012

  AN AFFAIR TO remember.

  That had been the guarantee that Adair MacPherson had given to Rexie Maitland and her parents when they’d signed the contract to hold their daughter’s wedding and reception at Castle MacPherson.

  And she intended to deliver. She had to. There were already two big X marks in the failure column of her life. She didn’t need a third one.

  Adair pressed a firm hand to the nerves jittering in her stomach. The first step on her way to her goal, the wedding rehearsal scheduled for today, had gotten off to a rocky start. The high-strung bride had gone into a panic attack when the groom-to-be hadn’t arrived on time. But Adair’s aunt and business partner, Viola MacPherson, had warded off a full meltdown with a cup of herb tea. And the tardy Lawrence Banes, a suave, sort of George Clooney look-alike with a good fifteen years on the bride, had finally arrived, full of apologies.

  Pulling off the Maitland/Banes wedding on Saturday was crucial to the launch of her new business plan, one that would establish the reputation of Castle MacPherson as a premier wedding destination in the heart of New York’s Adirondacks. Adair swept her gaze around the garden.

  The setting was perfect. The gray stone castle she and her sisters had grown up in stood on a rocky promontory at the far eastern end of Glen Loch Lake. Three stories high and rectangular in shape, it sat tucked between two mountains, boasted spectacular views, and its gardens, thanks to her Aunt Vi, had graced the pages of several gardening magazines.

  The Maitland/Banes wedding would take place beneath the stone arch her several-times-great-grandfather Angus One had built for the stolen bride he’d brought here from Scotland. Now the tardy Mr. Banes was standing beneath it flanked by the minister and his best man. The maid of honor and the flower girl had lined up just behind the arbor that marked the entrance to the gardens. The mother of the bride, Bunny Maitland, had taken her seat in the first row of chairs, and just in front of the stone arch, Aunt Vi sat, her bow poised over her cello, ready to play on signal.

  Everything was perfect, except that the bride-to-be was holding Adair’s hand in a death grip.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” Rexie whispered.

  Ignoring her plummeting stomach, Adair took a deep breath and spoke in her calmest voice. “This is only a rehearsal. You have to save those nerves for Saturday.”

  “I know.” Rexie, a pretty twenty-two-year-old blonde and heir to the Maitland fortune, smiled tremulously. “I can’t seem to help it. I need to know that I’m doing the right thing. I have to know that the legend will work.”

  “It will.” The power of the legend and the stones was the one thing in her life that she still had absolute faith in. She might be a bit shaky on her ability to keep this wedding on track, but she had no doubt that the stone arch her ancestor Angus One had built for Elean
or Campbell MacPherson had the power to bring true loves together.

  This was the young woman’s second go at matrimony. A little over a year ago, her first husband had left her to return to his family’s horse farm in Montana. Then Rexie had met Lawrence and six months ago, after reading an article on the history of the MacPhersons and the legend in the New York Times, she’d contacted Viola to ask about scheduling her ceremony and reception at the castle because she wanted a guarantee of success this time around.

  The Times article had created quite a buzz because it had dug up all the rumors that had circulated over the years about the missing sapphires that Eleanor MacPherson had worn in her wedding portrait. The writer had even reprinted an image of Mary Stuart wearing a similar necklace and earrings at her coronation and posed the theory that Eleanor’s dowry of jewels had been given to her by the Queen of Scots.

  Adair could have kissed the Times writer for stirring everything up and giving her the idea for a new business plan.

  She took Rexie’s other hand in hers. “You are not going to fail this time.”

  That was the mantra Adair recited to herself each morning. Not that she’d ever failed at marriage—she hadn’t had the chance. Six months ago she’d come home to Aunt Vi and the castle to lick her wounds, and they were still fresh. The five-year plan she’d so carefully crafted when she’d finished her MBA had gone south. One day she’d been on the fast track, and the next, the company she’d worked for had downsized and derailed her. Her pink slip had been quickly followed by an email from her boyfriend, Baxter DuBois, terminating their personal relationship, as well.

  That’s when she’d moved back to the castle. Now with her aunt’s help and the power of Angus One’s stone arch, she was determined to turn her family home into the wedding destination spot in upstate New York.

  And the success of Rexie’s wedding was key. Mr. and Mrs. Winston Maitland III resided on Long Island but also owned homes in Boca Raton, Florida, and Vail, Colorado. They had the kind of social contacts that could make the reputation of Castle MacPherson.