Feel the Heat Runner-Up Felicity Roger’s Synopsis!

It’s time to reveal another winning entry from Mills & Boon’s Feel the Heat writing competition! Next up is Felicty Roger, with her story “Sleeping with the Enemy”. Here’s her synopsis, with the first chapter and editor’s feedback next week. ~Amy

Sleeping with the Enemy by Felicity Roger

Josie Campbell has a secret. In fact, she has more than one. And Jack Horton is determined to find out what they are.

When Jack meets Josie at a cocktail party he is positive they have met before. There is something very familiar about her. Is it those pouty just-been-kissed lips, or those green eyes that deepen with intensity when her emotions flare? He is not sure, but as they will be working closely together, you can be sure he is going to find out.

But not if Josie has anything to do with it.

Four years ago, Josie’s entire life was decimated because she trusted the man she loved. And just because Jack Horton is not that man, she knows from past experience that he is cut from the exactly the same piece of over-indulged and over-moneyed cloth. She also knows that if Jack remembers that she was the paid entertainment at his birthday party three years ago, it will be an easy task for him to join-the-dots and uncover her horrible truth.

So she decides that the best way to keep the truth and Jack separated is to distract him, and sets about executing the performance of her life. During the day, she courts Jack with her business head and then at night, she distracts him with everything that sits below it. Whilst he tries to put his finger on just why Josie is so familiar, she uses her fingers, hands and her body to sidetrack him, willing him to leave the past behind and to concentrate on the present.

But as their business and personal lives intertwine, Josie realises that she has misjudged Jack. She discovers that in both business and pleasure, he is her perfect compliment. In business, he is shrewd without being short-sighted and that they are united in their vision for the Company’s future. She also discovers that in an effort to prove to his father that he can make it on his own; he has made a substantial investment in their venture. Jack works hard and plays even harder and even though it was Josie who instigated their sexual forays, Jack has certainly taken his place at the helm next to her. They are equal partners in every way. He is the ying to her yang. As they draw closer, Josie realises that if Jack discovers the truth, she stands to lose a lot more than just her career.

Initially, Jack is determined to uncover the truth about Josie, but as investigations dead end and he and Josie put their rocky start behind them, he decides to let sleeping dogs lie. After all, what is there to know? They work together extremely well, both in the board-room and the bedroom. Josie is the perfect partner in business and – dare he say it – life.

But then, their business takes them to Sydney, where Josie’s past and present collide. At a society party, a white lie that Josie told Jack is exposed. Jack begins to ask questions and the truth begins to unravel. Josie realises that for her and Jack to have any kind of future, she needs to tell him the truth; for better or for worse. But her decision comes too little, too late. A Horton family friend recognises Josie as being Josephine McCabe, the girl whom he sentenced to prison for misappropriation of funds four years ago.

Jack’s life is thrown into a spin. In anger he asks Josie to leave. Then he decides to do the one thing he should have done in the beginning; to find out the truth, the real truth. It does not take him long to discover that four years ago Josie had been no more than a fall-guy.

He tracks Josie down and woos her back into his arms with a performance she cannot resist. So this is where we must leave Jack and Josie to their own devices and although they might not be able to manage ‘til death do us part’ they are working very hard on ‘to have and to hold from this day forward.