HEAT Vol. 3 (Master Chefs: HEAT Series #3)

HEAT

Master Chef: HEAT Serial

VOL. 3

Kailin Gow

 HEAT (HEAT: Vol. 3)

Published by KailinGowBooks.com

And theEDGEbooks.com

Copyright © 2015 Kailin Gow

All Rights Reserved. No part of
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First Edition.

Printed in the United States of
America.

He
went to Paris to study the culinary arts and also to sample the sensual
pleasures of the women he would find abroad, but Bobby Cummings, the bad boy of
Brooklyn and the baby brother of Chef Taryn Cummings, didn’t expect to fall for
an innocent virgin named Lilly Cooke from a convent, who happened to be his
food science teacher at culinary school.  Their chemistry is hot, but so is
everything else, including someone from Lilly’s past, which may change
everything.

HEAT Vol. 3 is part of the HEAT Series

Vol.
1 can be found here.

Vol.
2 can be found here.

Vol. 3 – you’re reading it!

Vol. 4 – Will be out in April 2015.

HEAT is a standalone series, but features Errol,
Taryn, and Bobby from the
Master
Chefs Series
.

To be notified as soon as the next parts are released,
please join Kailin Gow’s Newsletter at
http://www.kailingowbooks.com
.

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Prologue

Lilly

I
’d always had a lot of love in my heart to
give, even as a girl growing up at a convent.  I loved broken things and hurt tainted
creatures. I once fell in love with a stray puppy who’d wandered into the gardens
there, took in a rabbit who’d escaped from the farm down the road when I was ten
and even tended to a scraggly goat when I was twelve.  My heart always swelled
with so much love that Sister Anne had often call me a heart on two legs, an
image that always made me smile. But, as loving and kind as I was as a little
girl, I never really knew what love was until I fell in love with a young man a
year younger than me and was my student at the International Culinary School.

Funny
when I thought back to how we met that night all those weeks before; that
awkward young man who didn’t know how to handle a little alcohol; that poor
lost soul who was playing an endless stream of girls. The playboy alpha bad boy
from New York studying abroad in Paris, who always got under my skin and burned
through my inhibitions, was forbidden in so many ways. It would have been so
easy to just forget all about him after that first meeting, and I would have
forgotten him if we hadn’t bumped into each other again at the institute. 
Sometimes I wonder how we ended up falling in love.  We were such different
souls, with different destinies.  So much was against us, and so much could
have pulled us apart, yet we made it.  That was the important thing.

We
made it and I was more in love with him than ever.  Life had been so good, so
perfect.  Maybe too perfect.  Is that what happens when things are too perfect…
something has to go wrong?  Because something definitely did.

A
chill ran up my spine and my skin prickled with goose bumps and I wondered once
more why I’d followed the instructions of that fated phone call.  I could have
ignored it.  I could have called the police.

I
should have told Bobby.  I bit my lip, thinking of him and how angry he must
be.  How could I ever explain Rial to him?

Rial. 
After all this time, after all these years, he’d called me, ordered me to meet
him in a deserted and abandoned warehouse, and now…

I
hated the position he’d put me in; trapped in that warehouse with a man who
seemed to hold sanity by a thin and frail thread. He was filthy dirty, yet
beautiful and sexy.  I felt vulnerable, angry, frustrated and helpless.

I
wanted to cry.  I wanted to scream. I wanted to lash out at this man from my
past, a man I didn’t even remember, a man who was making claims that didn’t
make sense… that were impossible.

That
man whose touch made me quiver with unexplainable sudden desire.

His
stories about me, my father, broken promises, an arrangement between
families…they were all lies, weren’t they?

Or
were they?

Chapter 1

I
stared at the two brothers, these tall
handsome men who faced each other with such venom.  While the family
resemblance was there – their stature, their handsome faces, their thick, dark
hair, their strong, muscular builds – it was clear the brothers didn’t share
the same personalities.  Quite simply, one was sane and the other one was not.

“Fancy
meeting you under these circumstances,” Rial said.  He seemed cool and
confident… sure of himself.

Still
confused and unconvinced, Errol looked at his sibling.

“Just
think what a perfect opportunity this will be to get acquainted, dear brother,”
Rial said with a cynical chuckle.

It
was clear he lacked Errol’s refinement.  Where Errol was elegant and charming,
Rial was crude and rough.  Where Errol was finely tailored and perfectly
styled, Rial was rugged and untamed.  Rial was a brute, a brute who’d kidnapped
me, while Errol was the hero who’d swept in to save me.

Could
two men be more different?  And more importantly, could they possibly share the
same blood?

“I
don’t really see that happening,” Errol said.

Rial
cocked his head to the side.  “Really?  No curiosity at all regarding your long
lost little brother?  No lingering questions about your parents?”

Errol’s
eyes suddenly flashed with interest.  He licked his lips and looked at me
apologetically then back at Rial.

“Ah,”
Rial said.  “Now I have your attention, don’t I?  You do want to know what
happened to your loving mother and hard-working father.  I don’t blame you.”

Pain
flashed in Errol’s eyes and his fists clenched.  “Nana told me very little
about them… only that they had died when I was very young.”

“Oh,
they’re dead all right.  Why don’t you buy me a cup of coffee someday and I’ll
tell you all about it.”  He tugged at my wrist and pulled me closer to him, as
if afraid to lose his hold on me. “For now I have quite a bit on my hands, but
surely we can set a date.  My calendar is wide open.”

“Lilly
has nothing to do with this… with us.  Why don’t you deal with me man to man? 
Why don’t you act like a man?  Let her go and we can discuss our past like
grown men.”

“Ah,”
Rial sighed.  “Spoken like a true gentleman.  Is everything always so easy for
you, dear Errol?  Is everything a docile conversation… over tea and biscuits
perhaps?”

“You’re
making a big mistake hanging onto her.  Kidnapping is a serious offense.  Do
you really want to risk your freedom?”

“Freedom? 
You think the life I’ve led has been free?  No.  I’m now making the wisest
decision I’ve ever made.”

“Why? 
What good can come from holding her?  If you let her go now, I’m sure she won’t
lay any charges against you, but keep going, and…  You could end up
inadvertently hurting her.  Then what?”

Rial
cleared his throat and gave his brother an annoyed look.  “I was hoping we
could have that conversation at another time… like over that cup of tea.”

Growing
impatient, Errol took a menacing step forward.  “Why don’t we just get that
over with now?”

“Fine,”
Rial said with a shrug.  “But it’ll lack all the drama it deserves.”

“Spill
it already.”

“You
know, I’ve had to fend for myself for a long time now.”

“Haven’t
we all?”

“No,
you don’t understand.  I’ve had to fend for myself since I was very young… too
young.  A boy shouldn’t have to go through what I went through.  I should have
had a loving family to surround me, a doting father to protect me.”

“Cry
me a river,” Errol said as he set his fists on his hips.

“I
would have had that doting father to protect me if it hadn’t been for your
lovely friend’s father.”

Errol
frowned, and I’m sure my face reflected his confusion.  I felt suddenly chilled
and was certain the blood had drained from my face.

“Her
demented and ambitious father killed ours in cold blood.  How do you like
that?”

Without
even taking in a breath, Errol rushed Rial, grabbed the front of his shirt and
twisted until Rial turned a deathly shade of red.  “You’re making very serious
and, I’m sure, erroneous accusations, Mr. Rial.  Spewing such rubbish could get
you in a lot of trouble.”

“You
may not like what I have to say,” Rial said as he wiggled for breathing space
under Errol’s fist.  “Sometimes the truth isn’t pretty, but there it is all the
same.  And now that I have my father’s murdering offspring in my hand, I’m not
going to let her go.”

“Your
accusation is far fetched at best, but even if there is a speck of truth to it,
Lilly still has nothing to do with it.  Her father’s sins aren’t hers.  Surely
you're smart enough to understand that.”

Rial
looked Errol up and down, examining the fine clothes, the perfect haircut, and
expensive leather shoes.  “Being orphaned hasn’t affected you much, has it? 
Life’s been good to you, Errol King.  If you want to understand what hardship
is, you should take a few steps in my shoes, Errol, and then tell me what you
understand.  Tell me that you understand how this girl’s father single handedly
ruined my life.”

“Look,
you obviously have a lot to talk about.  You’ve been through a lot.  Why don’t
we drop all this kidnapping business and have a serious talk, a real man to
man.”

“Oh,
so now you want to talk.”  His grip on my arm tightened.  “We’ll, I’m not sure
I want to open up now.”

“Stop
acting like a child.  Let the girl go and let’s sit down to a real
conversation.”

“I’m
not letting this girl out of my sight, no matter what you say.”

Errol
looked at me and winked.  It immediately soothed my nerves and I knew
everything was going to be all right.  Rial might have been a little off his
rocker, but with Errol there I knew no harm would come to me.

“Fine,
we’ll bring Lilly.  We could grab lunch and talk about everything that comes to
mind.”  He looked over his shoulder as a door opened in the distance.  “Bobby,
in here.”

Bobby
rushed in.  “Lilly,” he gushed with a smile.  Happy and relieved, his eyes
quickly darkened as he took in Rial.  “What’s going on?”

I’d
never seen him so angry, so dark.  The happy go lucky guy I’d fallen in love
with faded and was taken over by an angry beast.  He took a step toward us, but
Errol stopped him. 

“We’ll
deal with all this, but not here,” Errol said.

“You
better believe we’ll deal with this.”  He shrugged Errol off and took a
threatening step toward Rial.  “If I find the slightest bruise or cut on Lilly,
I’ll beat the living crap out of you.”

Rial
flinched then jutted out his chin.  He seemed prepared to argue with Bobby, but
thought better of it and just stood in silence for a long moment.

“Release
her now.”

Pulling
in a deep breath, Rial pulled back his shoulders and found his voice again. 
“Who is this clown?” he asked Errol.

“This
clown,” Bobby said, “is her boyfriend, and if you know what’s good for you,
you’ll release her… now.”

Rial
nodded, slowly and deliberately.  “Now, that’s very interesting.  Dating, are
you now?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry
to be the one to give you the bad news, buddy, but this girl’s already taken.”

“Come
again?”

“Yeah,
little Lilly Cooke is already promised to someone else.” Rial grabbed my wrist
and raised my hand in the air.”

“That’s
ridiculous.”  Bobby stared at us.

Threading
his fingers through mine, Rial brought my hand to his lips, his dark eyes
steadily on Bobby.  I wanted to crawl into the gutter.  I wanted to peel my
skin off and give it a good shake.  “I should know, because I’m the one she’s
promised to.”

“Ha!”
Bobby let out.  “You're hallucinating.  You're on something, buddy, and on
something strong.  Get sober before you make a fool of yourself.  You think you
can just grab some random girl and make her yours.  Welcome to the millennium,
buddy.  Girls aren’t promised to lame guys.”

Errol
put a calm hand to Bobby’s shoulder and pulled him back.  “Let’s all head to my
place.  We’ll have lunch, we’ll sit down calmly, and we’ll figure all this
out.”

While
I wanted to trust Errol’s judgment, I couldn’t understand his calm in light of
this strange man’s proposition.  It made no sense.

But
as I looked at the two men again, these two long lost brothers I wondered if
Errol wasn’t so eager to reconnect with a member of his family that he couldn’t
see the danger; he couldn’t really see how unpleasant this family member was.