Title: Tantaliser
Author: Rose Middleton
Published in 2006 by Linden Bay Romances
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic
ISBN: 1-905393-33-4
Other Books by Rose: One Foot Forward
For most girls, women, whatever age...Nicholas St. Eve was a heartthrob extraordinaire. With his brooding looks, his bad boy image, and his oozing sexuality, he has charmed young and old alike, and turned many a feminine head. Not that Charlie cared one way or another, at least so she claims. She has no need for a man in her life, especially one as ego driven, and as fickle as Nik. Oh yeah, she can't and won't deny there is an attraction there, but that doesn't mean she has to act on it, nor does it mean she has to let everyone on the planet know that it is there either. The last thing she wants is to have someone like Nik, a faithless arrogant womanizer and chauvinistic playboy, come into her life, making promises, then leaving her flat. She has seen it happen too many times, too often and too close to home. For Charlie, the tomboy act was more than just a smoke screen. It was survival. No man was ever going to treat her like dirt or abuse her again.
Life has been a series of lessons in male behavior for Catherine "Charlie" Brown, and none of them easy, clean, or simple. To date, every man she trusted, starting with her father, were specialists in cheating, letting her down, beating her, or tossing her away like some dirty rag or worse. Her lessons had been well learned until the day she took a promise and a dare from her friend Rachel and went to the auditions for drummers held by the popular and top ten rock band Tantaliser. She knew she was in deep trouble when the lead Singer, Nicholas St. Eve walked out on the audition because she was, well, a woman who would never fit into an all male band. The kiss in the parking lot had branded her, seared her soul, and left her wanting more. The competition that followed was and still is an offshoot of the flaming desire that had erupted between them after the fateful rejection. He turned her down, and now she and her band Mystique were burning up the charts. As for Nik, his late night calls, and stolen kisses were the stuff of legend, and Charlie really could be in deep trouble...
Heat oozed from every pore. Any woman standing too close was apt to get burned. Oh yeah, Nicholas St. Eve was every woman's erotic dream at its best, and in the past, although the stories about his wild behavior were encouraged, the reputation was only partly deserved. Rocketing to the heights of stardom came at a price, and it was one that Nik was not really prepared to pay. Too famous to fast, too young has nearly brought him down, crashing and burning to earth. Too many losses, some highly placed and publicized, his youthful experimentations with drugs and alcohol that nearly ended his life, his best friend, and band drummer, Bobby's death due to the same problems, and some in the background, the death of his wife and child, due to complications during childbirth. All these events have played emotional and physical havoc with Nik, both personally and professionally. No one knows the real Nik, except for maybe Casey, and he isn't explaining, and won't talk. Nik's secrets are safe with him, but it doesn't help put out the fire in Nik's veins.
He knows Charlie is not a one-night stand, and yet she claims not to be a forever person either. The enigma baffles him, and while the bad boy prances on stage, once again creating the music that made him famous, the cheering crowd is totally unaware of the struggle inside. He is a man in trouble. He swore to himself that he would have Charlie in his bed, at least once, and her reticence and outright refusal to give in to the attraction has been puzzling. He senses a deeply and tenaciously entrenched vulnerability in her, a shying away of her innermost self when any attempts are made to get close. Her best friend Rachel had interviewed Nik when he went to Sydney, and that started it all. Rachel said her friend Charlie would be just the drummer for Nik’s band, and yet she knew full well they were hunting for a male. Yet, when Charlie showed up, and he walked out of her audition, everything had changed for him. That first heated kiss against her car, the undeniable challenge she made, and the ensuing battle of the bands, her Mystique against his Tantaliser all added to his frustration. Yep, Nik has trouble brewing in one hot drummer named Charlie Brown.
Rose Middleton has penned a story of lies, deceit, and hurts from long past that come to haunt a beautiful drummer, and the man that would make her his. From her childhood, Catherine has learned to trust no man. From a father who left, only to show up years later with another wife and child in tow, to a lover who swore fidelity then cheated often, she has learned the hard way men are not to be trusted. She is an enigma that attracts Nik St. Eve like a moth to a flame. He wants one night, so he says, but to him, that is only the beginning. The problem is getting that one night, then convincing Charlie the one night can be and is the stuff forever is made from for them. While the battle of the bands heats up between Tantaliser and Mystique, few realize that the true battle waged is one of hearts. As the inferno rages between them, Nik and Charlie struggle to come to terms with each other.
In Tantaliser, Ms. Middleton pens a page-turner that is most definitely a keeper. The struggles that ensue between Charlie and Nik are engrossing, and enchanting. Through her stubbornness to see only the surface of the man, Charlie is kept blinded to the real person inside. Only if and when Nik can break through the wall surrounding her can they have even a chance for true happiness together. As their fame soars, the flames threaten so scorch them as the struggle come near to breaking them both. Tantaliser is a story of heartbreak, suspicion, raging heat, and the destiny of two lost souls that just may have a chance to find in one another the love they thought was impossible for both. If you have not read this magnificent book then you are in for a treat. Be sure to get a copy of Tantaliser at Linden Bay Romances where your heart will leap with the excitement and incredible joy found between Charlie and Nik in this extraordinary and memorable read.
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
Rose Middleton Review
Rose Middleton's Linden Bay Romances
