We have
daffodils springing up all over the place. I love daffodils. They shout the
spring’s news. When I was in Texas last year I saw the last of the bluebonnets,
and I guess they do much the same thing. They look a bit like our bluebells,
drifts of heavenly lavender-blue like they’re reflecting the sky.
But now
it’s very windy. Trees are toppling on to cars and roads are closed. Small potatoes
to those of you who are fighting gales, but a bit scary all the same. Our cat
has taken to hiding in people’s beds, so you have to be careful when you sit
down! He hates the wind, it drives him wild.
I’ve not
done much this month except prepare for my annual trip to the States and write.
Lord, I’ve written a lot, but for once the words have flowed. I’ve just
completed the next “Emperors of London” book, and I’m about to start Julius’s
book. We had a few problems with the title, though, and I’m waiting to hear on
that. Apparently “Born to the Purple” doesn’t scream historical, so we’ll see
which of the alternatives they like better!
Danger
Wears White is on presale. It comes out in July, and has a lovely cover. It’s
about the younger of two brothers, whose family has a difficult history. His mother
married for duty and produced the son, then when she was widowed, she married
for love. Our hero, Antoninus, is the product of that marriage. Having left the
army, he rushes off to do Julius a favour and finds more than he bargained for
in the spirited daughter of an impoverished man. He’d given all his money to
the Jacobite Cause, as so many in Lancashire did, and now she is stuck trying
to keep what remains going. She lives in the fictional version of a house I fell
in love with a long time ago, and still love it today, Little Moreton Hall.
The
other historical series is also going strong, and Samhain have been kind enough
to contract another book from me. It’s Mars’ turn this time!
And oh,
the build up to Waterloo! It’s very exciting. I’ve got two novellas coming out
to commemorate the event, so more about those next month, since they’re both
releasing in time for the commemoration on June 19th. Over here, the
commemorations are getting under way. It’s one of the dates that schoolchildren
know. 1066 and 1815. Apsley House has been gussied up, and there are special
exhibitions and websites springing up all over the place!
And to
this month’s release. Wow, that sounds as if I have a release every month,
doesn’t it?
Rubies
of Fire is a Department 57 re-release. It’s Andreas, a vampire. It seems an
awful long time since I’ve written a vampire, and I miss them!
Rubies
of Fire is a re-release, so if you have the Loose-Id version already, you’re
probably best not picking this up unless you want a brand new copy with pretty
new cover art!
Extract and New Release
Amazon
Kobo
Barnes and Noble
Note that these links may change over the next couple of days, because Amazon got the author wrong. But you can still get there with the Search function! I’ll update on my website as soon as they are available.
Vampire and full-time field agent for the CIA, Andreas’s only loyalty is his job with Department 57. Until he sets eyes on sexy Roz Templeton. He already hates his assignment to pose as the office wolf, but he hates it even more when he realizes Roz is also a vampire.
Roz is out to discover who killed two members of her family, and when she does, the culprit will die. Andreas is a distraction. And she can’t understand why she’s drawn to him, anyway–he’s a sleaze. But she can’t resist.
Drawn into a passion neither can fight, they set fire to the night, and then some. For a young vampire, Andreas is fully versed on how to keep a woman happy in bed, even one that is centuries older than he is, and as dominant and demanding as any man. From their first steamy kiss in the elevator on the way to work, to bed and beyond, Andreas and Roz can’t get enough of each other.
But that passion may be a deadly distraction when Roz’s life is on the line.
Extract
The lobby was just as nondescript. Indifferently
cleaned, tiled in fake marble, it might have been noticeable in a smaller town,
but it seemed to know it didn’t stand a chance in this city of architectural
marvels. Roz liked it. It was like her, trying to get by without drawing too
much attention to itself.
Unlike Andreas, who stood by the elevators, waiting
for the car to arrive. She was surprised one hadn’t arrived by now, but perhaps
he’d let a couple go without him. She felt targeted, and not without reason.
His smile of greeting barely creased his lips, but the warm look in his eyes
intensified. “You busy today?”
“Kinda.” Closer to him, Roz felt a prickle of
awareness. She wished she’d stayed with Nancy, but she hated the idea of lurking
around just because he was there, waiting to step into the elevator on his own.
She had as much right to use the elevator as he did.
She shifted her briefcase to her other hand, the one
closest to him. Keeping a distance.
A light ping
heralded the elevator’s arrival, and she watched the steel doors slide open.
With a sideways glance at Constant, she walked forward, and he followed. Nobody
else did. That came of getting to work half an hour early. She’d hoped to catch
up on some paperwork she’d been too tired to finish last night and to avoid the
rush when the other employees arrived.
She wouldn’t make that mistake again. She’d wait for
the rush or make sure she got in the elevator on her own.
The elevator wasn’t large, but there was room for them
to stand with half an arm’s length between them. Not that Constant even tried.
He reached across her on the pretext of pressing the button. Instead of leaning
back, he looked down and smiled. It warmed his eyes. “We have to stop meeting
like this,” he suggested, his light, musical voice tinged with amusement.
Roz didn’t smile back. “We do indeed.” Unlike him, she
meant it.
He smelled too good, something citrusy and himself, a
spicy, masculine odor she found herself drawn to. His crisp white shirt
revealed a slight shadow underneath. Chest hair and the suggestion of a nipple.
Hell, wasn’t she supposed to tempt him with her nipples? Not that there was a
chance of that under her buttoned-up suit jacket and light knit top, not to
mention the lacy but substantial bra underneath.
“Or perhaps not.” He lifted his long, strong hand and
touched her chin, urging her to look up at him. “You’re single. I’m single.
What’s the problem?”
“With what?”
“Getting better acquainted. Knox wants us to work
together, so maybe we should try it.”
Somehow, she didn’t think her boss had this in mind
when he asked Andreas to join the team.
She stared up into his eyes, hoping she wasn’t
betraying her speeding pulse and heightened senses in any way. This wasn’t what
she was looking for. Not at all.
“You’re suggesting a date?”
His slow smile spoke of sin and wickedness. He reached
over and pressed a button. The elevator came to a sudden, jolting halt, urging
her against him. He pressed a few more buttons, and she knew he’d keyed in the
code that stopped the security alarms going off. She was trapped in an elevator
with him. So why wasn’t she screaming the place down? She didn’t need to look
too hard inside herself to guess the answer.
He took the invitation she hadn’t meant to give,
curling the arm not braced above her head around her waist. “Now, don’t you
think it would help if you learned to relax around me?”
She stayed perfectly still. “I’m as relaxed as I need
to be.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Why do you think he wants to see us
first thing?”
She shrugged, or tried to. “Because something new has
turned up. Maybe he wants to take you off the assignment. Why would he want you
on the case? Your security cover is really low. You’re a grunt, a clerk.”
If she’d hoped to deflate his ego, she failed. He only
grinned and moved closer. “Because I’m the only person who’s met Cristos, been
inside Department 57. You need me.”
“Not for long.”
He laughed. “We’ll see. Cristos is a slippery
customer. He’s evaded the authorities for years. Do you think he’ll be easy to
catch? This operation could go on for a while, baby.” He touched her chin,
stroked his fingers down her throat, and paused at the base. She stayed where
she was, kept his gaze, but seethed at that “baby.” She was nobody’s baby.
“We’ve been dancing around each other for the past two months. Don’t you think
I’ve been patient?”
His heat, his closeness, all seeped into her as though
her body was just waiting to welcome him home. Yet he’d never even touched her
before, just watched her, talked to her. Roz was no longer sure if she was
excited, nervous, or panicked. No one had ever made her feel like that before.
She needed time to think.
She didn’t get it. When he lowered his head and that
sinful, sexy mouth grew closer, she rose up to accept him, almost without thought.
Natural, like breathing.
His lips caressed hers, gently moving where she had
expected fierce passion and rough treatment. His gentleness unnerved her, but
her whole being lifted to him, begging him for more.
She didn’t even like
him. Andreas Constant moved and behaved with a confidence that amounted to
arrogance, especially considering his lowly status as a clerk in the Department
of Internal Business. He probably made love the same way. The thought both
attracted and repelled her, and she couldn’t be sure which was the stronger
emotion.
Before she quite realized it, she’d opened for him and
let him taste her. His tongue slid into her mouth, his control absolute, so it
was a slow, gentle seduction instead of a fierce taking.
The kiss turned deeper, and wildness curled low in her
belly. She should have called a halt, turned in his arms, and hit the button to
start the elevator, but she didn’t. She wanted more.
She wanted him. Now. Personality, hell. The man had
the body of a god.
As though he heard her, his hand slid smoothly around
her body to her breast, pushed aside her jacket, and stroked through the thin
knitted silk and bra.
At the same time she felt something insidious slip
into her brain. She froze. That was a psychic link, small but obvious to one of
her kind. With Andreas caressing her, she had trouble concentrating, but the
small, sharp, highly skilled query had been evident for a brief moment before
the probe had withdrawn. It couldn’t have been Nancy. Roz knew her signature,
the feel of her. She wasn’t sure it was Andreas. The probe felt impersonal, and
she couldn’t get a bearing on its origin.
Besides, Andreas was stroking her to a fever of want,
the need rising inside her and starting to take over every sense she had.
When he slid the jacket off her shoulder, she gasped,
and he pulled back just enough to speak.
“You want it, don’t you?” That sounded like a
statement, not a real question. A statement of intent. And crude.
He’d given her her second wake-up call, and for a girl
fond of the Snooze button, her last. A chill swept through her when she
realized how close she’d come to screwing a colleague in an elevator. The
reminder was like a bucket of water dumped over her head. That and the psychic
invasion killed the mood and brought her back to reality. “We can’t do this.”
