Learning Curves. Joanne Rock

      

      Madeline Seduces a Man, Part Two, was about to begin

      She slid across the front seat to squeeze close to Cal’s side.

      Their thighs converged, hip to knee, bringing her barely-there stockings into contact with his denim-clad leg. A rush of heat blazed through her making her more determined to seduce this bad boy.

      She whispered softly in his ear, “Don’t I get a second-date kiss?”

      He refused to meet her hot gaze.

      She grazed her lips against the scratch of his cheek, stole a quick taste of his warm skin.

      He let out a low whistle. “Honey, you don’t know what that does to me.”

      “I wish it did more.”

      He turned to her suddenly. “Do you mean that, or are you just tempting the hell out of me as some kind of social experiment?”

      “I want you, Cal.” Maddy trailed a fingertip down his cheek. “I want to see how fast we can go from zero to sixty in that back seat of yours.”

      Dear Reader,

      What good girl doesn’t occasionally dream of letting her inner wild woman run free? If you’ve ever entertained the idea of really letting your hair down, I bet you’ll like reading about sociology scholar Madeline Watson, who can’t wait to undertake the study of human mating rituals for her dissertation. Too bad the university thinks upstanding Madeline has spent too much time in the ivory tower to undertake such an earthy subject. Now she needs to shed her good-girl image in a hurry, and she knows just the man to help her!

      I hope you enjoy seeing how Madeline leads the campus on a steamy, wild ride that turns their lives upside down. Learning Curves is set at my alma mater, the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Although I didn’t have quite as much fun there as Maddy does, I loved every minute spent at that venerable institution in pursuit for my master’s degree.

      If you like Learning Curves, don’t miss my first Harlequin Blaze title in February 2002, Silk, Lace & Videotape. Visit me at www.JoanneRock.com to learn more about my future releases or to let me know what you thought of my story. I’d love to hear from you!

      Happy Reading!

      Joanne Rock

      Learning Curves

      Joanne Rock

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      To Dean, for ensuring we’ve always taken the road less traveled. Thank you for the adventure!

      Contents

       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

      1

      “IF YOU’RE FREE Saturday night, would you mind initiating me in the rites of womanhood?”

      Thunking herself on the forehead, Madeline Watson slumped down on a bench outside the business department’s faculty lounge to wait for her quarry. All the come-on lines she concocted were too stuffy. Head in her hands, she stared down at her penny loafers and wished she’d paid more attention when other women discussed their dating adventures. Why had she spent the past ten years with her nose buried in books? She had no idea how one went about propositioning the sexiest man in town—or any man for that matter.

      Wouldn’t it be simpler to invest in a killer red dress and a pair of stiletto heels?

      She cleared her throat and tried again. “What would you think of taking our relationship to the next level?” A nearby giggle alerted her to the new wave of students tromping through the University of Louisville’s echoing marble corridors on their way to evening classes. Great. All Madeline needed to cap off this hideous day was to have a student report her for trying to pick up imaginary men in the hallway.

      The embarrassment would be well worth it if her proposition worked, however. No man had ever sent her hormones into overdrive the way Cal Turner could with one lazy smile.

      The door to the faculty lounge swung wide and Madeline plastered her back to the wall as if she could root herself to that very spot. A handful of university professors poured through the door, balancing heavy textbooks, steaming cups of coffee and overstuffed briefcases. Their sudden appearance forced Madeline to recall that the object of her quest was no imaginary male. Cal Turner might look like a fantasy, but those drool-worthy pecs were as real as the grading curve.

      Madeline rose, praying she wouldn’t lose her nerve to face the lone man who would be left in the lounge in a few minutes. She nodded to the handful of professors she knew from her years on staff as a graduate assistant, but most of the coffee-clutching crowd was business faculty, a breed far removed from the social sciences department that Madeline called home.

      The old Mae West line ran through her head as she waited. “How’d you like to come up and see me sometime?” But that one didn’t really apply to her…she lived in a one-story house just outside of downtown.

      She needed something modern. Something direct and aggressive to go along with her quest to be more daring. If she was