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Archive for January, 2017



Tales of Two Texans…
Tuesday, January 17th, 2017

I have a yuge day ahead of me (I can’t ever think that word without hearing that pronunciation now 🙁 ). I’ll be busy from the time I rise until well into the evening—starting two new projects, editing for another author, reading the last of the Blue Collar short stories… Maybe it’s a good time to remind you that I have two stories coming your way this month, both set in Texas.

The first is a cowboy story, the first I ever wrote, I think. All scrubbed up and fresh. And with a sexy new cover…

Ride a Texas Cowboy

Completely lickable, isn’t he? I wrote this forever ago for a now-defunct publisher. I didn’t know I had a cowboy in me until I wrote it, and look where I’ve gone ever since!

This one is a novella and releases on January 24th. Here’s what the story is about…

Katelyn Carter came to rural Texas to lick her wounds and start over after her failed marriage, but a sexy young cowboy seems determined to show her that love is still in the cards for this single librarian.

Sheriff’s deputy Daniel Bodine answers a 911 call to remove a rattlesnake from his new neighbor’s bedroom. What he finds is an embarrassed Katelyn, dressed in little more than her pretty pink blushes. One little omission later, and he’s working for the lady as her handyman.

Burned once by a man, Katelyn fights her growing attraction but finds Daniel more temptation than she can resist. When he shows her he knows his way around a woman’s body as well as he does a hammer and a saw, she takes a walk on the nasty side, vainly hoping she can keep her heart free of entanglement.

Pre-order your copy here!

Then there’s this one, a novel co-written with my sister, and a follow-up to Tarzan & Janine. Yes, together, we write romantic comedies. Something to Talk About releases January 31st!

What happens when Martha Stewart teams up with the Oscar Madison of radio talk shows? Sparks fly, romance blooms and their audience goes wild!

Casey Cramer is a cool, sophisticated home and garden talk show host on K-YAK 102.5 radio station. All she thinks she wants is to talk about fertilizer and place settings, while fending off her well-meaning country club parents’ attempts to push her into marriage with the “right man.”

To Casey, fellow talk show host, Rip O’Rourke, is nothing more than a rebellious, overgrown teenager flaunting his Hawaiian-shirted, ex-football player physique to “score” with anything with breasts. Proof of his perversity is the crude, but popular, hour of programming he hosts that discusses such manly topics as wet T-shirt contests and sports statistics. Casey wouldn’t spit on Rip if he were on fire, while Rip, on the other hand, wants to do more than spend time with Casey. She is a challenge to mankind as a whole and his goal in life is to see her crisp shirts and tailored slacks properly rumpled, just once.

Rip gets his opportunity when the radio station is sold to a large corporation and the station manager is challenged to come up with a prime-time show that will set the city on its ear. From one of Rip and Casey’s public arguments springs the idea for a show about the differences between men and women, and giving their audience, “Something to Talk About.”

Pre-order your copy here (more outlets coming soon!):

Amazon | Kobo | Google Play

Em Brown: Getting Naughty in Petticoats: Erotica in Historical Romances (FREE READ)
Monday, January 16th, 2017

How erotic can a historical romance get? Especially with straight-laced Victorians, prudish Puritans or proper Regency society?

When an agent asked if I could turn my Regency-set romance into an erotic romance, it turns out it wasn’t that hard. The fact that the Regency was a period where proper manners and polite society were of paramount importance made the taboo even more naughty.

The granddaddy of kinky wickedness—the “S” in BDSM—lived from 1740 to 1814. The Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and sexual libertine. One of his affairs involved his wife’s sister. Others involved prostitutes and servants. According to Wikipedia, “[h]e coerced women into performing sodomy, mutual flagellation, and other unorthodox sexual acts, and poisoned several of them with aniseed and cantharides.” His mother-in-law secured an arrest warrant, and de Sade was eventually imprisoned in the Bastille in the 1780’s. During his imprisonment there, he wrote his magnum opus, The 120 Days of Sodom.

My historical romances are mostly set in early 19th century England, and de Sade’s works were not widely published then. According to Wikipedia, the first uncensored English translation of his novel, Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue, was not published until the 1950’s. But de Sade wasn’t the only novelist writing kinky stories.*

John Cleland (1709-1789) was arrested for the 1748 publication of his novel Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. The story, featuring a young innocent woman and her sexual encounters as a prostitute, includes menage, orgies, voyeurism, flagellation and non-consent fantasies.

After reading de Sade and Cleland, I didn’t find the idea of a BDSM club set in a historical so far-fetched. (Actually, nothing I can think of can come close to the stuff de Sade wrote in The 120 Days of Sodom, which was required reading in my political philosophy class in college.) I had a lot of fun researching what was possible, and the prevailing norms of society back then only adds more tension to the erotic elements.

If you’re curious to read an erotic historical romance, you can get a free copy of my book, Punishing Miss Primrose, here. It starts off steamy but gets more wickedly wanton as it progresses.

About Punishing Miss Primrose

The Marquess of Carey intends to provide Miss Primrose a set-down she will never forget after what she did to his brother at the Inn of the Red Chrysanthemum, where members indulge in illicit pleasures. He entices the wicked harlot to spend a sennight at his estate. But when Miss Primrose enflames his passions, will she prove too hot for him to handle?

Get your free copy here!

*’Kinky’ may be far too tame a word to describe de Sade’s writings, which many find extremely disturbing.

Mia Hopkins: Hollywood Honkytonk (Sexy Excerpt + Giveaway)
Sunday, January 15th, 2017

Greetings, Delilah fans…

Today I’m sharing a sexy excerpt from my brand-new release, the erotic romance Hollywood Honkytonk. It’s a full-length novel starring Jack, a rising Hollywood star, and Riley, a country songwriter on the run from her douchebag ex. Together, Jack and Riley dodge paparazzi and battle their insecurities, finding love and lust in La La Land.

Hollywood Honkytonk is a standalone read and book two in my Kings of California series. These steamy books star the Lamont brothers, three sun-kissed boys from the Golden State. The Beach Boys may have sung about California girls, but let me tell you…California boys? *sigh* Just as dreamy.

To celebrate the release of Hollywood Honkytonk, I’m giving away a signed paperback copy of book one in the series, Deep Down. I’m also giving away a travel sized tube of “Better Than Sex” mascara from Two Faced. Is it really better than sex? I’ll let you decide. You can enter the giveaway below.

Thanks for reading!

Excerpt from Hollywood Honkytonk… 

“Tell me something,” she said.

“What?”

She shut her eyes, feeling like a high schooler. “Have you been thinking about me?”

“The truth?”

“I usually prefer the truth. As a rule.”

“Every waking moment. I’m having trouble keeping on task. Spacing out in the middle of interviews.” When she giggled, he feigned offense. “Don’t laugh at me. It’s bad.”

“What have you been thinking about?”

His voice sobered. “You’re a good girl, Riley. You don’t want to know what I’ve been thinking about.”

Riley turned off her bedside lamp and slid down deeper into the covers. “Tell me.”

“Are you serious?”

She’d never had phone sex. “Do you want to know what I’m wearing?”

“I don’t care what you’re wearing,” he said. “You’re naked underneath. That’s all that matters.”

Riley laughed softly. “So tell me.”

He said nothing for a long time. She heard his breathing over the phone, soft and even. “All right, if you really want to know.” His voice got deeper, hardening into dominance. “Do what I tell you. Everything. Understand?”

Her heartbeat sped up. “Yes.”

“Close your eyes. Touch two fingertips to your lips. Rub them back and forth—slowly. Very slowly.”

She did it. The intimate touch forced her to focus. Her fingertips were warm and dry. Her lips were delicate, filled with nerve endings that tingled as she brushed her skin gently, back and forth like he said.

“Those are my fingers,” he said. “I’m touching your mouth. I’m there with you.”

And like magic, in Riley’s brain, Jack appeared in her bed. Stretched out beside her, propped up on one elbow, looking down on her as he touched her lips.

“What are you wearing?” she whispered.

“What’s this obsession with clothing?” A little impatience touched his words. “Nothing. I’m fucking naked. Can you picture that?”

God, could she.

“Focus, sweetheart,” he said. “Are you still touching your lips?”

“Yes.”

“Good girl. Open your mouth slowly. Just a little. Press your thumb right in the middle of your lips.”

She did it.

“Now,” he said. “Rub the tip of your tongue against your thumb. Lick it. Make it wet.”

Jack’s voice filled the darkness. Heat suffused her body, gathering between her legs. Her pussy tingled as she licked her thumb. The light salt of her own skin made her mouth water.

“Rub that wetness over your bottom lip for me. Make it smooth and slippery.”

She dragged the wet tip of her thumb over the sensitive flesh.

“Are your eyes still closed?” he asked.

“Yes.” She struggled for breath, turned-on beyond all logic.

“Good,” he whispered. His voice was rough. “That’s my cock. Right there. Sliding along your pretty pink lips. Imagine it. Can you taste me, gorgeous?” Deep under the power of his voice, Riley heard the faint sound of him unbuckling his belt and pulling down his fly. “You make me so fucking hard, sweetheart.”

Her imagination went wild. Jack sitting in the shadows, slouched in an arm chair, shirtsleeves rolled back, his big dick in his hand—the image summoned a fresh rush of heat between Riley’s legs. She moaned. He was thousands of miles away. How did he make her feel this way?

“Now take off your clothes,” he commanded.

HOLLYWOOD HONKYTONK

Can their love survive the limelight?

With nothing but her dog, her guitar, and her cowboy boots, songwriter Riley Marion arrives in Los Angeles on the run from her abusive ex. A quiet job teaching music sounds perfect, but her low-key lifestyle is threatened when she reunites with a sexy old flame—now an up-and-coming celebrity who’s constantly dogged by paparazzi.

Charming and driven, Jack Lamont is a Hollywood actor on the rise to stardom. Ready to outgrow his playboy reputation, he’s happy to leave the hard partying to his entourage. Romantic entanglements? Jack’s not interested. At least, not until he gets tangled up with the one who got away—a smoking-hot woman whose memory has haunted him for the last ten years.

Available in e-Book & Print

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | All Romance | BookStrand | The Wild Rose Press | Goodreads 

About the Author

Award-winning author Mia Hopkins writes lush romances starring fun, sexy characters who love to get down and dirty. She’s a sucker for working class heroes, brainy heroines and wisecracking best friends. She lives in the heart of Los Angeles with her roguish husband and waggish dog.

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SPECIAL RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

Would you like to win a signed print copy of Deep Down and a travel sized tube of “Better Than Sex ” mascara from Two Faced? Enter the Rafflecopter by clicking here.

What we do when we’re not writing/reading…
Saturday, January 14th, 2017

Maybe you’re curious about the authors you “hang” with… We must lead these glamorous lives, right? Huh.

Here’s a rundown of a typical day for me.

6:00 — The alarm goes off and I toodle upstairs to relieve my daughter, Kelly, who slept on the couch with her phone alarm going off every two hours to wake her so she can check on my grandma who is still recovering from breaking her back, but who doesn’t think she needs help to the potty (she does!). I sit at the kitchen table and work on whatever portable, paper thing I printed to get a head start on today’s work.

7:30 — I dress grandma and help dad prepare breakfast. Afterwards, I do the dishes and then head to my office to get some work done.

8:30 — I prep my blog, review my emails, get dressed and straighten up.

9:15 — I walk across the road to my dd’s house for a cuppa in the quiet (no kids other than the 3-year-old). We love our time together, so it’s our time to gossip.

10:00 — I begin whatever editing/writing tasks I have planned for the day.

4:00 — I’m done with work. I head over to my dd’s, hang until dinner in the chaos with all her 4 kids. After dinner, we might watch a movie or catch up The Magicians or The Big Bang Theory.

8:00 — I head back home to answer more emails, maybe do some more editing, until my dd comes over at…

10:00 — to stay the night. (She does that 5 days a week, I have one night, and my aunt the other). We hang for an hour, gossiping, checking out celebrity gossip, looking at art or food pins on Pinterest.

And that’s a typical day. Not very glamorous. When my dd has appointments or games or whatever with the kids, I babysit. We take care of each other and the people we love.

And sometimes, we carve out adult time, something fun. Like last night. I organized an art night in my messy, cluttered art room with my mom, dd, and our friend Christi. We ate from cheese and veggie trays while we worked on projects — Christi painted votive candle glasses with alcohol inks; Kelly drew cartoons in her art journal; my mom worked on a watercolor painting; and I cut circles out of an Arizona Green Tea can to make earrings with and painted some dominoes.

Me, Christi and Kelly. Fluorescent lights aren’t very forgiving! LOL

Afterward, Christi, Kelly and I headed to a restaurant in town to drink daiquiris. When I came home later, I worked a little longer on decorating my dominoes…

Something mindless and relaxing, because this morning, I began the cycle again…

So, that’s my glamorous life. What do you do when you’re not writing/reading?

Jennifer Kacey: Elite Elements is Coming (Giveaway)*
Friday, January 13th, 2017

UPDATE: The winner is…Jen B.!

* * * * *

Elite Metal and Elite Ghosts are two HUGE labors of love that a group of my favorite people and I put together over the last three years. It’s a shared world of three groups of military men and women brought back from the “dead” to catch a wolf. Red Wolf. Revenge against the baddest of the bad is what drives them, and to take back the lives he stole from each of them.

Elite Elements will be the final book in this epic trilogy. This is the story of the men and women who saved Elite Metal on the snow covered ground in Moscow. These are the men and women from around the world who don’t exist and pulled Elite Ghosts into the shadows with them. These are the soldiers who gave up everything to take down a wolf. And in this book…everything you thought you knew reaches the point of no return.

Elite Elements will be here in February. I. Can’t. Fucking. Wait.

In case you haven’t found Elite Metal and Elite Ghosts yet….let me blow your mind. https://www.jenniferkacey.com/books/elite-metal.html

For decades the US Marines funded a top-secret unit known as Elite Recon. A deadly group of men and women sent to infiltrate dozens of countries completely undetected. Mission objectives so extreme casualties were not only probable, but expected.

The current batch of operatives had returned from hundreds of assignments unscathed…until one mission went horribly wrong. Several men lost their lives and the group disbanded. The remaining leathernecks were scattered in the wind with new identities. They were told to blend in. Be normal. Or face being forever silenced just like their fallen brothers.

Now, two years later, each living member of the group is kidnapped and given a chance to make things right. But this time they’re no longer under the thumb of Uncle Sam. A mysterious private backer who knows about their past has brought them back together. No longer are they forced to turn a blind eye to the lost and forsaken.

Duty is their salvation.

A new life. A new future…Elite Metal.

Amazon Buy Link

 

Then we have Elite Ghostshttps://www.jenniferkacey.com/books/elite-ghosts.html

For more than two years they’ve been ghosts. Nothing but names on empty tombstones. Men and women forced to fade into the background after being pulled from the rubble. Dead Marines saved from a fate worse than death, but ordered to stand down while their lives disappeared all around them.

Some knew it could happen if a mission exploded. Double crossed by more than just Red Wolf. But now is their time to be reborn from the flames of a Phoenix. No longer imprisoned in the shadows. A half-life between them and their future. To make things right coming back to life is their only option.

Loyalty is their salvation but damage is always more than skin deep.

A new hope. A new family. Elite Ghosts.

Amazon Buy Link

In honor of the above awesomeness I’m going to have a HUGE giveaway! Three print books and lots and lots of other swag and kinky goodies! Plus a mug and tea and a pretty WIP bag to hold it all!

**GIVEAWAY – US ONLY**

Look at all the awesomeness you could win!! So tell me if you’ve ever read any of the Elite Warrior stories!! And if you have – what you’re most looking forward to in Elements!!

I’ll pick a winner on Monday the 16th!! Good Luck!!

Decadently Yours,
Jennifer Kacey

 

About the Author

Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her miniman in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

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Megan Westfield: To make your 2017 resolutions a reality, try multitasking your workouts (Giveaway)
Thursday, January 12th, 2017

Hello Delilah readers,

I’m so excited to be joining you here today.  I’m Megan Westfield and I know Delilah through a group of female military veterans who write romantic fiction. (Thanks for the opportunity, Delilah!).  My very first book, Lessons in Gravity, came out in October and is a new-adult rock-climbing romance set in Yosemite National Park.

Since we’re just a week past the new year, resolutions are still strong on my brain. For me, it seems like the meeting of resolutions always comes down to time: the fact that there is never enough of it.  As an author who has a day job and two young children to care for, there’s no way I’d be able to get everything done if not for multitasking, and one of most effective ways I multitask is by doubling up my workouts with other things.

So whether you’re a person has resolved to be more active in 2017, or a person who is amply active wants to eek out more time in the day to focus on other resolutions, here are a few ideas for multitasking your workouts.

  1. Listen to an audio book.

All of us Delilah blog subscribers all have this in common: we love to read.  My suggestion is to play an audio book on your phone, grab a pair of earphones, and head out the door for a walk.  Or go ride a stationary bike.  Or hit the bouldering wall at the climbing gym.  This concept can be combined with many of the suggestions below for triple-tasking credit.  J

  1. Workout on your lunch break.

This has been a habit of mine since my military days when I’d combine my allotted workout time with my lunch break so I could do a long road bike ride or go swimming at the base pool. Some private companies offer a fitness perk similar to this, but if your company isn’t one of these, an hour lunch break is plenty of time for a 30-40 minute cardio workout with a shower afterward.  Alternately, if you have a shorter lunch break or don’t have access to a shower, you could do a low-impact workout: one where you don’t get drenched in sweat and therefore don’t need to change clothes beforehand or shower afterward (ex., going for a walk, or doing high-repetition, low-weight strength training).

  1. Walk your errands

I do not live in what is considered a “walkable” neighborhood, but there is a strip mall about a mile from our house with good sidewalks the whole way.  I save time by making the day’s workout be a walk down to the grocery store to grab a few things for the evening’s dinner, or to run a different errand at one of the other stores.

  1. Take your kids on your workouts

For me, this means using a double jogging stroller, or carrying one kid on my back and pushing the other in a single jogging stroller.  Kids love to be outside and joining in on parents’ activities, so not only are you doubling up on the tasks of taking care of children and getting some exercise, the kids are getting a “win” as well.  My daughter is just old enough to start riding her strider bike alongside me, so this has been a fun variation for us.  And don’t forget that many gyms offer free child care!

  1. Make your workouts a group activity

This is the same principle as #4, but instead of taking your kids, you arrange to meet up with a friend for a workout rather than of doing something sedentary. The multitasking element is that you’re having fun and maintaining connections while also being active.  My best conversations with friends happen during long jogs and walks!  Triple up by meeting with a friend for a weekday lunch-walk.

  1. Walk or jog your errands with kids in tow

This combination of #3 and #4 is a triple-tasking method that I do almost daily. Since my kids are small enough to ride in a stroller, the basket in the bottom comes in handy for holding groceries or other goods, but a backpack works just as well.  If you live somewhere that’s truly un-walkable, you can always drive to an area that is, like a nice park that adjoins  shopping area.

***GIVEAWAY***

Let’s get a conversation going so we can share even more ways to gain more time by doubling up daily tasks with workouts.  See below!

Book Trailer

https://youtu.be/RirUUEW8rjg

Back Cover

All eyes are on Josh Knox…

Fearless. Guarded. Cut-to-perfection. Daredevil rock climber. The best in the world.

This time he’s poised to scale Yosemite’s notoriously treacherous Sorcerer Spire, with Walkabout Media & Productions filming every move.

April Stephens’s dream to be a documentary filmmaker rests on her acing her internship with Walkabout, and that means getting the abrasive Josh to give her more than one-word answers in his interviews.

The problem is, with every step forward professionally, she and Josh are also taking a step forward personally, and after watching her stunt pilot father die in a fiery crash, a guy who risks his life for a living is the last person she should be falling for. Especially because in one month her internship will have them dangling three thousand feet in the air from the side of the Sorcerer. She’ll be filming. He’ll be climbing without a rope.

Amazon  |  B&N  |  iBooks  |  Kobo  |  Goodreads

About the Author

Megan Westfield has dabbled in many hobbies and pastimes over the years, ranging from playing the cello to cake decorating (i.e., icing-eating) to a dozen different outdoor adventure sports. Eventually, she discovered the only way to do it all was though writing—her first and strongest passion. She grew up in Washington state, attended college in Oregon, and lived in Virginia, California, and Rhode Island during her five years as a navy officer. Megan is now a permanent resident of San Diego where she and her husband count family beach time with their two young kids as an adventure sport.

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***THE GIVEAWAY***

Post a comment below about how you double up daily tasks with workouts (or write about a fitness barrier you find especially challenging) and I’ll enter you in a drawing for an e-copy of Lessons in Gravity at the end of the week. Triple-tasking suggestions welcomed, too!

Lizzie Ashworth: The Dane’s Bride (Free Read)
Wednesday, January 11th, 2017

January 2017! A new year and new adventures, hopefully good ones, await us. Best of all, for the not so good days, we’ve got books! Reading takes us away from the present moment and immerses us in pleasure. My mission today is to provide a time of reading pleasure for you.

One of my personal favorites in writing and reading romance is a steamy historical. Men wielding swords, their warrior bodies muscled and scarred—whew, what’s not to like? More than the allure of warriors, though, I enjoy being transported to another time and place. Plus there’s the actual glimpse of history—what did our ancestors face in their struggle to survive? How did the relationship between a man and woman differ from what we experience now?

All those ideas and more course through a writer’s thoughts as she creates a historical romance. For myself, reading actual history or other works of historical fiction helps put me in the mood as well as instructs me on details I need to make my story rich and factual. In the story below, for example, I had read Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon series, which I highly recommend. This series is popular, so you can usually find it in your local library.

Here’s the opening scene to my story, “The Dane’s Bride.” And here’s a coupon code WQ54S you can use to get the rest of the story FREE at Smashwords. (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/610250)

Aetherlin stared at the man through the leaping flames of the firepit. Hrald, Jarl of Dunholm. Her hands clenched in want of a weapon. Taut muscle quivered in her legs, eager for escape. Breath hitched in her throat.

Fire cast his shadow to the far wall as if he were a denizen of Hell itself, his tall frame looming and pale eyes glittering in the orange-red reflection. He wore fitted leather leggings and an open vest over his muscled chest. Lengths of dark hair brushed his wide shoulders. Gold bands wrapped his biceps and forearms, badges of his prowess in battle and the respect of his tribesmen. His forehead creased in his determined expression, although the quirk of his cruel mouth bespoke lascivious thoughts. About her. And what he would do to her.

In spite of the message of anger and resistance she sent with her glare, he did not relent in his survey of her. His gaze lingered over her red marriage dress with its scrolling needlework and golden thread. Her attending lady had wept as she dressed her in the clothing ordered by her father Aetherwulf, Earldorman of Gloucestershire. These were not garments Aetherlin would have chosen, cut low to reveal the curve of her breasts to present her body as if a fattened goose. But then, she would not have chosen this day, this man. Or perhaps any man at all.

“Loose your hair, maid,” Hrald commanded, his deep voice echoing through the empty hall.

Her body stiffened. Again she thought to refuse, to turn and run. But the great hall had been emptied and the door barred. She had been given to him, to be his chattel just as the hall itself, the trenchers and tables, the servants moving in the adjacent kitchens and storerooms, his pledged warriors and lesser vassals going about their evening tasks in the courtyard, the stables. Who was she, a mere woman, to fight off this hardened warrior?

In a fury, she yanked off the narrow silver band holding the linen scarf and flung them to the floor. Her thick braid took more time as her numb fingers combed through the long wavy strands, separating and spreading them over her shoulders and chest. Golden glints of firelight reflected on the red-blonde hair. Aetherlin could not look at him, but she knew his gaze stayed on her—it burned like coals on her skin.

He said nothing for a time. The fire’s crackle barely matched the noise of her heart thudding in her ears. Did he mean to possess her here, in the public hall?

“Now the dress,” he demanded.

His voice had taken a husky tone. That recognition startled her. She wished it did not matter whether he cared about what she did. Surely he did not want her, but rather embraced the power, lands, and wealth that came with the marriage. Still, his reaction caused her to flush.

Her glance flew to his face. What did he intend, forcing her to undress in the main hall? Anyone could enter, even though he had dismissed them all. Would he shame her? What man treated his bride so coarsely?

A fiend, that’s who, she answered her own question. A filthy, bloodthirsty Dane.

His eyes had narrowed and his body leaned slightly forward so that the spiraling patterns carved into his leather vest picked up more of the fire’s light and seemed to move of their own accord. Likewise, the inked design of dragons rippled over his muscled arms as if alive. His dark hair brushed at his wide shoulders, casting his clean-shaven jaw in shadow.

Why did he not simply rip down her clothes like the ravening beast he was?  The sudden thought of such an act caused her heart to leap against her ribs. Her fingers stumbled at the clasps. The heavy woolen dress fell to the floor around her ankles. She stood in the linen shift, waiting, her breath shallow and fast.

“Do you think I wish only to see your undergarments?” he questioned in a hard voice.

“I think you wish to lower me, so that I am the least of all possible things,” she snapped back. “Expose me to your savage acts, like a village girl at the hands of your men.”

Today I sit in the snow-clad wilds of the Ozark Mountains watching the woods with my cats and hound dogs snuggled near the wood stove. I’ve been writing my entire life and can’t express how wonderful it is to share stories with readers like you. Nab more of my exciting romance short stories, novellas, and novels at your favorite bookseller.

Sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter, Liz’s Hot News. It’s a free monthly newsletter with excerpts, freebies, pre-release deals, and much more. No obligation, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at https://eepurl.com/bHOyS9

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