Temptation is a Kindle Daily Deal!

 I'm thrilled to announce that Temptation Has Green Eyes has been selected by Kindle as a Big Daily Deal!
on the 8th May, it will be listed as a Daily Deal with a big discount, so if you haven't picked up a copy yet, now is a good time to do it!
Get your copy here!

Newsletter, May, 2015

 Well, I’m on my annual pilgrimage to Texas! I’m sitting here looking out at a glorious Texas afternoon, the sun blazing down on the ranches and vineyards, fluffy clouds in the sky and it’s all good!

Next week, I’ll go to Dallas and look around a bit, before the RT Convention. I’m so excited about RT, but I am every year! If you’re near Dallas, or if you’re coming to RT, come and see me there! I’m at the Convention and the Round Up, and I’m there to chat!

Texas is so different to what I’m used to. The same but different. Slightly different terms, all those trucks and pickups on the roads, small farms and huge, huge ranches. And the bikers, of course, sporting lots of hair and a “What are you looking at?” attitude.

I’m in the German part of Texas, visiting places like Fredericksburg and Luchenbach. The bakeries are a sore temptation, of course!

But I’m still writing, and getting a little work done. This month I have another reprint to offer you, this time it’s the last Department 57 book, Diamonds of Ice. A male Sorcerer has to find his way in the world after he is deprived of his powers. He finds a vampire, but a very unusual one! “Diamonds of Ice” is set in the world of London advertising agencies, a world I used to work in several moons ago.

Look for the first in a new series, “Agents of CAT,” coming out soon. This is a brand new, never seen before book, and it’s a contemporary paranormal. I am so excited about this book, I can’t tell you! I’ll be able to show you the cover soon, but I’ve seen a preview and it’s fabulous!

The anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo is getting closer, and preparations for the two novellas from me to commemorate the event are inching nearer. Two very different sets of heroes and heroines are preparing for their entrance to your hearts. The first is a surgeon, and his lady is an assistant, the only one who can do her work without flinching. The second is about an officer called “Lucky” by his men and the Duke of Wellington, but the last thing he feels is lucky, and the wife he left behind when he went to battle. They barely know each other, and yet they are supposed to get together and make an heir. I love marriage of convenience stories!

Then the month after, sees the next Emperors of London historical romance. I am really pleased with the way this series is turning out, and with the readers’ enthusiasm for the series. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to make this series a success!

I’ll be on Twitter and Facebook as much as I can during RT, so please keep in touch.

See you next month!

Extract and New Release – Diamonds of Ice

Read an Extract and Buy the Book
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Sorcerer Fabrice Germain lost his Talent when he was assaulted, but he still has his job. Relocating to London seems like the answer, and then he meets Gemma, who works for his rival. She’s a vampire. That’s two reasons to avoid her, but Fabrice and Gemma still end up scorching the sheets one Saturday night.
Then the world goes to hell. Fabrice ends a weekend of passion and tragedy as a converted Talent – a vampire now, like Gemma. One who has sworn to avenge two murders, and is back as an agent with Department 57. After that, he’s happy to die.
Except there’s Gemma. Fabrice really wants Gemma.
Gemma doesn’t want Fabrice to surrender to the blood phobia that threatens to take his life. She wants him for longer than a night–in fact she thinks she might never get enough of him. When they’ve caught the murderers, what is there to stop him starving to death? Only her.

Extract

Fabrice looked down at the screen of his cell phone. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll get a minicab.”

“It’s Friday night,” she pointed out. “You won’t find one for hours.”

He looked up. “You’re right, but I don’t want you to do anything you feel uncomfortable with. I can manage. I’ve enjoyed this evening. I don’t want to spoil it.”

“But?”

“But…” He breathed and, as if he couldn’t bear it any longer, shoved his phone in his pocket and took her in his arms. It felt good, so good—his hard body under the luxury fabrics surrounding her, male heat. Instinctively she lifted her face and met his eyes, still brilliant blue in the dim light. “I’m ready.”

They had to have a physical connection for her to flash them, she recalled, quelling her pang of disappointment at her first assumption that he wanted to kiss her. She entered his mind and saw the flat, small and crowded, a table under the window covered in books and a closed laptop, a cheap bookcase crammed with paperbacks and hardbacks, a rug in the center of a tiled floor, and a big bed covered with a plain cream throw. She concentrated on the rug and flashed.

They arrived in a flurry of movement, still clasped together. It would be polite to break apart at that point. But he didn’t let her go. Instead he drew her closer so her breasts crushed against the hard planes of his chest, and he brought his mouth down to hers.

A good-night kiss. Okay, she could do that.

It went on a bit longer than usual for a good-night kiss. A lot longer. She heard a thump as something soft hit the floor. Then his embrace tightened around her. Slowly he lifted his head. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“No, we shouldn’t.”

“You don’t sound sure.” When she said nothing, he continued. “I’m sure I want you, Gemma, but I don’t want you to regret anything. I won’t.”

“So we have to agree not to talk about work?”

“Honey, I don’t give a fuck about work. As far as I know, we’re only rivals on one account, and that’s over now. The decision’s up to the client.” He swallowed. “But whatever you decide about us, make it quick. Please. I’m dying here.”

She wriggled her hips provocatively against him, letting the delicious heaviness of his erection push against her stomach. Too much. “I can’t resist either.” This might get him out of her system so she could relegate him to a pleasant memory and get on with her life. Yeah. Sure it would.

Laughing, he swept her up and took the two steps to the large bed that dominated the room. As she landed on the mattress, bouncing, she laughed too. What a great way to finish a tough week.

He smiled and let himself fall on top of her, but caught most of his weight on his arms. He was in shirtsleeves, and she realized the gentle thump earlier must have been his leather jacket falling to the floor. He lowered his head to take her lips, but where she had expected passion, she received tenderness. He kissed her gently, his lips just caressing hers as though they had all the time in the world for just one kiss. She curled her arms up around his head, sliding her fingers into his hair, feeling the silky texture in the sensitive notches between her knuckles. Nothing had ever felt so fucking good before.

When she opened her mouth to him, he took his time, running his tongue around just inside her lips, exploring an area she never knew could feel so sensitive. He touched her, smoothing his hands up to rest under her arms, at the sides of her breasts, and where another man might have taken instant possession, he stroked gently. Then he entered her mouth with one deep penetration of his tongue, and she gasped, taken so high she felt the damp warmth between her thighs increase. She lifted her legs, running the sensitive inner surfaces along the fabric of his pants.

He finished the kiss and lifted, looking down at her. “Much as I like you in this top, it’s time for it to go.”

Her breath in her throat, she sat up just enough to let him grasp the hem of the silk and draw it over her head. The top prevented her from seeing his expression at her lightweight, lacy bra, but she heard his gasp and his low groan. When he cleared her head and cast her top aside, she brought her hands down to his shirt and began to unbutton it. Each revealed portion of tanned skin came as a new revelation, another step in their journey to paradise.

The scant hair on his chest was, like his brows, a midbrown, softly curling, softening the hard muscles set into relief by his pose, arms supporting his body so he didn’t squash her. Perversely she wondered what it would feel like to support his entire weight. It would feel wonderful, she just knew it.

Newsletter for April, 2015

 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 US Amazon presale link is here.

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 19^th. 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

Buy and read excerpt here:
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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.”

New Release! Arrows of Desire is out no

New Release:

Arrows of Desire: Even Gods Fall In Love Book 3

When the God of Love falls for a nymph, all seven hells break loose
Finished with the tutoring that taught him how to be an immortal, Edmund, otherwise known as Eros, steps off the packet onto English shores, and stumbles head over heels in love.
There’s something different about Perdita Seaton and her secretive family, but for now a bigger dilemma looms. Revealing he’s the Duke of Kentmere could cut their courtship short. Yet abandoning his heritage means leaving his beloved sister at the mercy of the Titans.
Even as Edmund steals Perdita’s breath with the speed at which he sweeps her down the aisle, she feels safe in the irresistible tide of passion. Her father, head of a smuggling empire, is Oceanus—and she is a nymph.
Disaster strikes when Edmund races to London to rescue his sister, and doesn’t return. Desperate, Perdita follows him, only to find no light of recognition in his eyes.
Now she must choose. Admit defeat, or fight to break the enchantment keeping Edmund’s heart prisoner—and risk the wrath of a jealous goddess who’d be all too happy to snuff her out.

Extract:
“Miss Seaton.”
            The words, though softly spoken, nearly made Portia drop her candlestick. A hand came around her and steadied her arm, and the heat of a male body warmed her back.
            Belatedly recognising the voice, she spun around, facing him. Mr. Welles wore a robe over his shirt and breeches, but he’d removed the dazzling coat and waistcoat. His stock had gone, leaving a disturbing trace of male skin visible through the open collar of his shirt.
            So close, his presence stunned her. In the dim, flickering light, his face was almost otherworldly, his eyes glittering with untold promises.
            At least she hadn’t shrieked and roused the house. “Mr. Welles, this isn’t proper!” she hissed. Not that she cared very much about propriety, but she had to say it. Otherwise, what would he think of her? This was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in forever. She thrilled to have a male body so close to hers. Especially his.
            “I beg your pardon, ma’am, but my room is close to yours. When I heard someone moving about, I feared for you and your sisters.”
            Did she believe that? No. “You mean you heard someone and you thought you’d investigate?”
            Was he lurking? As if a man with his looks and wealth needed to do that!
            He met her eyes and her heart stopped. Then it started again. As if it knew something had just begun. Fanciful, yes, but she had reason, being an immortal in a world of mortals. That was normal for her. Meeting a handsome stranger was not. And if she handled this right, a kiss or two might be coming her way.
            Her mother would lecture her for hours if she discovered Portia’s transgression. The notion made the prospect even more enticing. If she got into trouble, a scream would bring everyone running. She could enjoy the deliciousness of a clandestine encounter, however brief, without the danger.
            Or just enough danger to add spice, at any rate.
            They gazed at each other for what seemed like forever. She wasn’t sure who reached for whom, or who put the candle down on the nearest window ledge, but she was in his arms and he was kissing her in an instant.
            His mouth opened over hers, and she followed suit, eager to learn this new way of kissing. She’d only shared guilty, closed-mouth kisses with men—boys—before this. He cradled her close, then cupped her face, guiding her to the position he wanted her.
            She’d have stayed there forever, but someone coughed and they broke apart. Her breath shortened and her heart, already beating harder than usual, threatened to burst out of her chest. Thank goodness, the cough came from within one of the bedrooms, and they were still alone.
            The sound reminded her of their lack of privacy. Standing in a corridor kissing a stranger—what was she thinking?
            Retrieving her candlestick, she took the two steps to the door of her room and glanced back at him. She kept her voice very low when she spoke. “Sir, I wish to speak with you, but you should know I won’t—”
            “I know.” He was with her in an instant, opening the door. Then he closed it before she could go in. “My room, I think. At least I have chairs.” Taking her hand, not offering his arm in the formal way, he led her to the next room along. Her wicked heart thrilling, she went with him. Already she trusted his word, although she should not.
            A fire flickered in the grate, welcome on this chilly night. The sheets on the bed were turned down, an intimate sight that made her shiver with possibilities. Those things could not happen, but that wouldn’t stop her dreaming.
            He led her to the low couch at the foot of the bed and with gentle hands drew her to sit next to him. “You are safe with me,” he murmured. “I swear it.”
            “I hope not,” she said before she could control her recalcitrant tongue.
            He stifled a laugh against her shoulder. His hot breath heated her neck, and then his tongue as he pressed a kiss there. “You are, madam, irresistible.”
            “Good.” So was he, though she’d keep that to herself for now.
            Gently, he turned her head, with two fingers under her chin. Then he kissed her again. This time they were sitting. Just as well because she might have fallen down had she been on her feet.
            Her legs tingled, at the top, where she sometimes explored herself furtively under the covers.
            When she leaned her head against his shoulder, he moaned against her lips. He moved away a little to murmur, “Open for me, sweetness.”
            Yes, oh, yes. She opened her mouth.
            Immediately he was back, tracing her lips with his tongue, before plunging inside. He licked deep, stroked her tongue with his. Nobody had ever dared go this far with her before. His hands held her steady, but didn’t venture further than her back, as she accustomed herself to the thrust of his tongue, a rhythm her body welcomed. When she moved closer to him, he made a sound low in his throat, like the purr of a big animal. She didn’t do it for him. Her breasts ached, and she needed pressure to ease the sensations she didn’t know what to do with.
            With a growl he pressed her closer, supported her with one hand spread across her back. She flung her arm around his neck, giving herself to him with wild abandon, but that was when he chose to draw back. He peppered little kisses on her lips and her nose.
            Gazing at her, he smiled. “I never expected so much bounty. I cannot go further, or I’ll lose control.”
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What a lot of links!