Lush
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Heart of Darkness
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03
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“Fresh, fun, fast- paced paranormal romance, spellbinding magic,
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a wry- humored, gutsy heroine and a sexy-as-sin hero put the charm on this witchy new series from multitalented, always fabulous Lau-06
ren Dane!”
—
Lara Adrian,
New York Times
bestselling author
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“Dane always delivers a steamy, exciting ride . . . she leaves me want-09
ing more!”
—Larissa Ione,
New York Times
bestselling author
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“Unputdownable . . . Great characters, wonderful world- building
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and, as always, a delicious romance. If you pick this book up, make sure you’ve cleared the afternoon.”
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—Ann Aguirre, national bestselling author
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Further praise for Lauren Dane and her novels
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“[It] just might fry your circuits.”
—
The Best Reviews
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“Scintillating . . . A roller coaster of emotion, intrigue and sensual 20
delights . . . I was hooked.”
—Vivi Anna, author of
Glimmer
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“Erotic . . . Sure to keep you reading late into the night.”
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—Anya Bast,
New York Times
bestselling author
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“In a word . . . amazing.”
—
RT Book Reviews
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Berkley Heat titles by Lauren Dane
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Laid Bare
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Coming Undone
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Inside Out
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Never Enough
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Undercover
Relentless
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Insatiable
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Mesmerized
Captivated
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Tart
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Lush
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Berkley Sensation titles by Lauren Dane
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Heart of Darkness
Chaos Burning
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Going Under
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Anthologies
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Three to Tango
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(with Emma Holly, Megan Hart, and Bethany Kane)
Cherished
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(with Maya Banks)
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Specials
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Laid Open
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01
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LUSH
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LAUREN DANE
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HEAT | NEW YORK
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THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
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Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, 06
England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia 07
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi– 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, 08
Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa), Rosebank Offi ce Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North 2193, South Africa •
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Penguin China, B7 Jiaming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road North,
Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offi ces: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England 11
This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
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This is a work of fi ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s 13
imagination or are used fi ctitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third- party websites or their content.
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Copyright © 2013 by Lauren Dane.
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Cover art by Tony Mauro.
Cover design by Rita Frangie.
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All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of 18
copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
HEAT and the HEAT design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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publishing history
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Heat trade paperback edition / April 2013
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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Dane, Lauren.
Lush / Lauren Dane.—Heat trade paperback ed.
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p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-425- 25608-4
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1. Erotic fi ction. I. Title.
PS3604. A5L87 2013
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813'. 6— dc23
2012031812
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printed in the united states of america
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
28S
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This one is for Ray.
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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
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A special thank- you to all the musicians whose art kept me com-
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pany and on track throughout the writing of
Lush
: Lykke Li, Kings of Leon, Garbage, Neko Case, Foo Fighters, and many more.
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Mary, Fatin and Renee—thank you three for being the best
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beta readers anyone could ask for.
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Leis Pederson, my wonderful editor— thank you for all your
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hard work to make me better at this.
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Thanks, as always, go to my agent and friend Laura Bradford.
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Friends— Megan Hart, who always appreciates a good beefcake
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link. To my Secret Author Illuminati Ninjas at the List That Shall
Not Be Named— thank you all so much for your support, for the
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laughs, the indignation and the endless information and education
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on all things writing, publishing and other important stuff like hot 25
dudes.
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But let there be spaces in your togetherness and
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let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
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Love one another but make not a bond of love:
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let it rather be a moving sea between the
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shores of your souls.
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—khalil gibran
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D
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amien clapped his buddy Adrian on the back. “Thanks
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for the invite.”
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Adrian Brown tipped his chin. “Glad you were in
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town to come. Least I could do after you’ve been in the studio
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with me so much.”
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Adrian had needed a drummer. Damien was a drummer. End
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of story. Plus it had been awesome to work with someone he
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respected as much as he did Adrian and his sister Erin.
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He’d been in a band with his brothers since they were nine-
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teen, twenty and twenty- two. They’d made a lot of music
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together, they knew each other well, worked magic most of the
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time. But it did something good for his soul to work with other
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Lauren Dane
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He’d met Adrian several years ago and they’d clicked. Hell,
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they even shared a manager and a record label.
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Plus, he liked Bainbridge with its small- town appeal, though
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it was just across the water from Seattle.
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Tonight was Adrian’s engagement party. He was set to marry
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the lovely Gillian in one month, something else Damien would
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be back for.
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“Come on through. I’m looking for Gillian and I’ll bet you
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she’s in the kitchen trying to dislodge Jules or Mary.”
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The gorgeous old farmhouse the party was being held at was
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the backdrop to the yard, which was dotted with tables and
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conversation areas. There were little tented areas in case of rain, 13
which thankfully had missed them that day. Pretty lights in the
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trees and candles fl ickering all over the place.
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It was pretty. Simple. Full of friends and laughter. It reminded
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him an awful lot of the ranch his family lived on.
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“I go to parties like this one very rarely. I wish it was more
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often.”
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Adrian gave him a lopsided grin as they moved through the
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front room toward the kitchen. Damien heard feminine voices
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and laughter and quickened his step.
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“The road has its charms. Nice hotels— well, a lot nicer than
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in the old days anyway. Travel to lots of places. Swanky parties.