I love fall. For me it’s a magical part of the year, a passage of time that I enjoy. It’s as if nature takes a deep breath, peace slowly settles upon the land, and leaves explode with a myriad of colors.
Nor is wildlife exempt from the changes around them. Fawns lose their spot, my much-loved hummingbirds join many birds during their annual southern migration, and some animals like, Ian, the chipmunk, begin their hibernation.
The gorgeous swath of leaves throughout the forest provide an amazing backdrop to the wildlife settling in for the winter. I enjoy each day of the beautiful colors of the leaves as soon they’ll fall to the earth rest with the arrival of winter, rest beneath a blanket of snow.
I’m fascinated by the changes in the insects during this time. Bees are hurrying around gathering pollen to make honey before the flowers wither, then they remain in their hive until the warmer days of spring. As fall progresses, instead of the blue, green, and gold dragonflies of summer, dragonflies of amber and rust shades glide through the skies.
Fall flowers bloom with flourish, their vibrant colors blanketing the ground, igniting thoughts of the warm scent of apple pies, warm cider, and freshly baked cookies. Soon winter will soon be upon us, but for this special time, I enjoy the blessed bounty given to us by the fall.
What do you like best about fall?
About the Author
A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothers series have been translated in five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.
After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothers series, The Oath Trilogy, and the first two book of The Forbidden Series, she’s now working on book #4, Forbidden Realm, of the five-book series, which will be released August, 6th, 2019.
Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.
Contest
***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on Delilah’s blog between 28 September 2018 – 6 October 2018. The winner will receive one of Diana’s mugs and a tote.
Yesterday’s offer of a free book, Stepbrothers Stepping Out: With His Pack, is still live! Get your copy here!
The Scavenger Hunt Contest is still ongoing! Be sure to enter!
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What’s coming very soon!
We’re hunkering down for a week of storms! The installation of our new heating and air systems was completed yesterday, so we’re snug and happy inside! You take for granted things like AC until you suddenly don’t have them. I can’t imagine doing without and feel for anyone affected by recent, and not so recent storms, who are still dealing with the aftermath.
I completed revising and uploading a book yesterday. I changed the release date so it will be out October 2nd. So, if you haven’t read Sin’s Gift, give it a try! It’s super-sexy and is filled with otherworldly creatures and a damaged, “gifted” cop, who’s sure she’s losing her mind.
When police officer Sinead O’Rourke returns to duty months after being shot in an incident that claimed her partner, she knows it’s not going to be easy. Despite being cleared of any negligence, her fellow officers still wonder whether she’s responsible for his death. One more problem is that everyone knows she claims to have seen his ghost. After months of rehabilitation and lying like hell about the fact she’s not seeing spooks anymore, Sin’s determined to get back into the saddle.
Jake doesn’t want to partner with Sin. Been there, done that—couldn’t keep his hands off her the first time around. She’s too much of a distraction, and her penchant for rushing into trouble scares the heck out of him. Despite wishing she’d quit her job, he’s still deeply attracted. When an armed robbery goes down and something happens that rattles Sin to the core, he’s right there—ready to cover her back and her sweet body.
Two weeks after that, Hook is coming! If you’ve been loving the Montana Bounty Hunter stories, here’s another to keep your heart pounding and the smile’s coming!
Former Army Ranger, Dylan “Hook” Hoecker, has a new job along with a new prosthetic arm. Being a bounty hunter is the closest career field he could find as a civilian that gives him the adrenaline rush that is his addiction. So, when his first solo assignment is to keep an eye on a flight risk the boss bonded out of jail, he’s not thrilled. However, he soon discovers a fresh addiction–one mouthy, nerdy redhead, who resists his attempts to keep her out of trouble.
Felicity Gronkowski is grateful for the bone the head of Montana Bounty Hunter threw her. She didn’t have the money to pay for bail, but he has a soft spot for former military, and she bartered to install a new computer system in his satellite office in Bear Lodge. Being on the outside of jail was her first imperative because she has to figure out who framed her for a series of high-end robberies while she worked installing home security systems. However, her bounty-hunting babysitter isn’t giving her any slack. Every time she thinks she’s given him the slip, he’s one step ahead of her. Either she has to find the perfect method of distraction to escape him or she has to enlist his help to clear her name.
There’s always the latest MBH-related story! Love seeing one set in Mexico? Or at least partially? Give Gina and Carson a whirl!
In Cabo San Lucas, Navy SEAL Carson “Beach-boy” Walsh is ready to live the good life. After surviving fifteen deployments in ten years, he bailed on the SEALs, figuring this cat had run out of lives. The only danger he faces now is choking on an oyster or drowning in beer–and then he meets her.
Gina Tripp is the Calamity Jane of bounty hunters, enjoying an unexpected vacation. She’s the stand-in for an absent groom on her girlfriend’s honeymoon in Cabo when she meets a cute guy with a nothing but sex on the beach in mind. As her luck would have it, her best friend winds up kidnapped, and Gina’s embroiled in a dangerous rescue that deepens her attraction to Carson.
Just when she thinks she can settle in and enjoy a few days of sin, an opportunity to prove herself to her boss lands in her lap. Now, she has her sights set on scoring a huge bounty–an ex-pat skip, hiding out in Mexico. What follows is a wild ride that leaves her feeling pretty relieved she hijacked a Navy SEAL to help her with the job.
UPDATE: The winners are…Reina Torres and Elysian Fields!
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I spend a lot of time working on this website, so it only seems fair I should expect everyone to love it as much as I do, in all its nooks and crannies. For the most part, it’s up to date—except for the “For Readers: Free Stuff” page, since I haven’t been making trading cards or updated my bookmarks in forever. But the books…? Do you know I have a sh*t-ton of stories? No? Well, in the interest of acquainting some of you with what’s on my site, I’m holding a scavenger hunt!
Now, this is important. YOU CANNOT POST ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS. If you do, you’ve done the work and shared the answers with everyone else, and what’s the point? You don’t want competition for the prize do you? NO! Send your answers to me PRIVATELY at Delilah@delilahdevlin.com!
Scavenger Hunt
Here are the questions…
What stories are currently up for pre-order on my Upcoming Books page?
At the very bottom of the Upcoming Books page is a list, without cover pictures, of titles I’m thinking about/working on. Which interest you?
Which series on my By Series page would you like to see more of?
Which series on my By Series page has the best set of covers?
Tell me which story on my Short Stories page you’d most like to read. (You might get a surprise!)
And the prize? How about a download of your choice from among my recent releases?! But, hey, everyone wins, right (see #5!)?
Series: Romancing the Seas Book 1 Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Romantic Comedy, Holiday Romance Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Publication Date: September 11, 2018
When Piper’s job sends her undercover to spy on Jack – the beyond sexy hook-up she can’t stop thinking about – she is forced to decide if her job is more important than her happiness.
HAPPINESS HAS A PRICE
Captain Jack Spencer owns and runs a whale watching company, Ahoy, Matey. When his business takes off, a jealous rival wants him and his company gone. Jack has no idea the delectable Piper Goldhirsch is tasked with scuttling everything he’s worked for – he’s too caught up in their magnetic attraction and her web of lies.
Piper Goldhirsch, head reporter for the tabloid TV show Business Buster, is all work and no play. When she and the all too tempting Jack Spencer have a one-night stand that turns out to be the greatest sex of her life, she is haunted by the powerful magic between them. Sent undercover to expose his whale watching business, she is torn between her assignment and the first man she has ever wanted. With her happiness on the line, Piper has only one choice.
She lifted her bare foot. He held her ankle with more delicacy than she’d expected from such a big man. As he slid the flat back onto her foot, his thumb grazed the indent near her anklebone. She shivered at the sensation. This close, the ocean blue of his eyes shone with intensity as he watched her. What did he look like beneath the costume and makeup? She’d noticed his sexy, crooked smile and the roguish way the corner of his mouth lifted up, as if he knew something she didn’t. His fingers wrapped around the back of her ankle, then stopped. She met his hungry eyes and nudged her leg forward into his hand. His fingers slid up an inch further, moving in a slow, barely there caress.
“I realize it’s none of my business,” he said. “But earlier, out in the ballroom…I don’t know what your friends said or did to make you upset, but if I can help at all, I’d like to.”
“I’m okay. Just shaking something off.” She took a sip from the wine bottle as she watched him. She moved her foot closer to his chest urging his hand closer to her calf. His long fingers stroked her flesh.
She closed her eyes. “Mmm, that feels nice. Don’t worry about what they said. You got a name, pirate?”
“Jack.”
His tone was serious. She looked back down at him and smirked. Two could play that game.
“Oh, of course. You’re Captain Jack, and I’m Little Red Riding Hood. C’mere.” He stood and met her eye to eye. At five feet nine, she often had a vantage point in height in the workplace, which served her well when she wanted to be intimidating, but he had well over four inches on her, easy. His big, muscular frame towered over her. She took another sip of wine and walked her fingers up the buttons of his waistcoat. “Can I level with you, Captain Jack?”
“Yes.”
She pushed aside the question of why she felt so at ease with him when all she’d wanted was to be alone and smoothed her palm over his white pirate shirt, his strong pectoral muscles firm beneath her fingers. When she next spoke, her voice broke as she remembered why she’d sought solace in the first place; she’d gotten a man and his whole family deported.
“See, I’ve had a hell of a hard year. I’ve pushed myself and made magic happen in ways I didn’t think I’d ever be able to, but that magic comes at a price, and I’m not okay with it. Every single day, people want a piece of me. And on normal days, I can handle it. But right now, all I want to do, since you’re here,” she moved closer, her lips inches from his, “and I’m here, is to forget it all and make some magic of our own I can hold onto, even if it’s just this little moment.”
His chest rose and fell as he scanned her. Clarity and kindness were evident in his eyes beneath the desire, and she knew she could have a little fun with him. She noticed that his palms clenched the more she rubbed against him. She smirked, grabbed the lapels of his waistcoat, and crashed her lips onto his.
THE WOMAN WAS unreal. Her thick, pouty lips moved against his, and no sooner had she kissed him full on the mouth than he seized her around her wasp-sized waist and laid claim. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen, and her curves were soft and perfect in his hands. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and she met him eagerly. She tasted like strawberries and wine, and he groaned as his fingers slipped into her curls. It had been forever since he’d kissed a woman. She scored full check marks in every category, and then some.
Chances were she merely wanted a nice make-out session, but his body already demanded more. He wrapped his arms around her, spanned his hand against her back, and traveled down to the curve of her delectable ass. She shivered against him; the movement went straight to his hardened cock. He nipped her lower lip as he squeezed her bottom.
“Oh, you are one big firecracker, aren’t you? Tell me your name.”
She wrapped her ankle around the back of his calf as she hauled him in close. “No names,” she breathed.
He kissed her and moaned when she rubbed her core against him through their clothes. All right, he’d play along. For now. But he would take the lead.
About Roxanne D. Howard
Roxanne D. Howard writes sizzling erotic romance with Boroughs Publishing Group and The Wild Rose Press. She is a U.S. Army veteran, and a Columbia College alumni. She loves to read poetry, classical literature, and Stephen King. Also, she is an avid Star Wars fan, musical theater nut, and marine biology geek. Roxanne resides in the western U.S., and when she’s not writing, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband, children, and furry companions. Roxanne loves to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.
Yes, I’m still writing like my hair’s on fire, but I had to pop in to post something! I think it’s been 3 or 4 years since I missed a blog date. Now, it’s a habit/compulsion. Since I don’t want to think too hard about anything except the story I have to finish this week, I’m going to let you exercise your brain matter! Here’s all you have to do to win your choice of one of my recent releases…
See the picture? I saw it on one of my frequent visits to the stock photo sites. I downloaded it with no particular purpose in mind. I’m thinking I want to do a series of shorter witchy stories. Something fun. But beyond that, I have no other ideas. So, I’m putting this pic out there for you to think about. You can offer a simple one-sentence idea or paint an entire paragraph of a story. Have fun with it. I won’t be judging your idea!!! Now, go!
Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate
“New company creates hackproof proprietary software…”
“DHS warns companies targeted on dark web”
“Hacker exploits Netgear router to nab US military drone files”
“Chinese group engaging in cyber espionage against US companies, report says”
“FBI warns hackers are targeting internet routers”
Software by Design creates new hackproof security software By Joe Mallory The Electronic Blog
In a world where suddenly nothing on a computer is safe, Liam Benedict, the wunderkind of proprietary software, is setting the world on fire with his ability to design software that will work only for one program on one system. It’s a boon for both corporations and Benedict, because the software is broken apart and reconfigured each time a client begins a new project.
Benedict says it also can protect financial information at banks, financial management firms, any entity where privacy and secrecy are more important than anything else. He has a team of trained, trustworthy experts who write code and create programs that are virtually impenetrable.
His explosion of success has come to the attention of Arroyo, a multinational conglomerate run by billionaire Taylor Cantrell and her husband, Noah. They were recently here in Tampa to seal the deal to make SBD a part of Arroyo. This reporter tried to arrange an interview with them but was told everything goes through their public relations department on San Antonio, Texas.
We did, however, learn that the company is moving to larger, more secure quarters even as you read this. There is also a rumor that Benedict’s newest client is a defense contractor who may or may not be designing a super secret project for the Department of Defense.
I’ll be doing my best to keep you updated.
Out and About Tampa Bay The blog that tells it all
Is there a romance brewing or is the tech world’s newest wunderkind in some kind of trouble? High profile, much-in-demand criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore was spotted having drinks with Liam Benedict, owner of Software By Design. Benedict is much in demand because of his firm’s ability to design software that is project specific. Defense contractors are lining up to hire him. Rumor has it he has a new client who needs the best firewall in the world for a super hush-hush project.
Alfiore, meanwhile, is smack in the middle of a very high profile murder trial, where it’s said her client may be on the verge of convicted. Don’t believe it. Alfiore always pulls a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute. The media has been covering the trial on a daily basis and every television station wants five minutes of her time.
So how did these two people find the time to meet for a drink? And look very cozy doing it?
Stay tuned for further details.
Double Deception
No one could tell who was telling the truth…
For Liam Benedict, the merging of Software by Design into the Arroyo mega-conglomerate is a dream come true—until someone on his staff screws with critical software and puts the company and its future in grave jeopardy. Suddenly life is not so euphoric for Liam. His contract with a defense contractor is in jeopardy, he doesn’t know who to trust on his staff and there is a distinct possibility a foreign power is behind the whole thing.
When forensic data analyst Eric Braun discovers who it is and how they did it, he is killed before he can tell Liam who the mole is. Framed by the killer, Liam is arrested for murder. It will take the combined resources of beautiful criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore, the woman he, loves, and the huge Arroyo Corporation to solve the riddle, but can they do it in time?
UPDATE: The winners are…Colleen, Elysian, and Buttons! *~*~*
The Night Fall series was one of my first. I still love it, and I try to add to the series every now and then, because I can’t let that world go. I wrote the first story in 2003 or 2004, and I added Big Bad Wolf last year. I’ve had fun writing them. The stories are filled with danger, plenty of sexy encounters, and humor. One of the funniest, I think, is Frannie and The Private Dick. The title came first, and the adventure spun out from there…
For a chance to win your choice from among the Night Fall stories,
answer me this…
Is there a paranormal show on TV that you adore, past or present?
Click on the covers to learn more!
Frannie and The Private Dick
Bent on catching her cheating fiancé in the act, Frannie Valentine got sidetracked by a little thing like dying. When she awakens, Frannie learns her pampered life will never be the same, so she turns to the man responsible for her undeadness and demands he take on the responsibility of giving her a little job training—in the PI biz.
Niall Keegan never intended to make himself a mate, but Frannie’s string of minor disasters, which ended with her dying in his arms, took the decision right out of his hands. While the mating part isn’t bad, making the disaster-prone Frannie a PI may just be the death of him.
Francesca Valentine had died and gone to hell. No other explanation made sense. She swam back to awareness through a molasses-thick void to find herself suddenly spat out from a dark womb into a cold, hollow space. Blind, and so still she knew she didn’t breathe, her mind turned over like a sluggish engine before revving into high gear.
Quickly, she assessed what she knew. She lay on a hard surface, covered with a scratchy square of thin fabric, unable to move a muscle. A low whine, like that of an air-conditioner, came from the opposite side of the space. Harsh light shone from above, warming her face, but hurting her closed eyes. So, she probably wasn’t blind after all. But she was definitely dead. Stone-cold. Her chest wasn’t moving in and out, but she didn’t feel starved for air.
She knew who she was and what had killed her, but hadn’t a clue what new fix she’d landed herself in. From nearby came the scrape of footsteps and a tentative humming, then…
“Bee-ooot-ee-foll Dreeeeamer, wake unto me…”
She was in hell all right. A demented spirit hovered over her, emitting an off-key warbling that set Frannie’s teeth on edge. By the rusty sound of the grating voice, her tormentor must be an ancient female, and the she-devil was trying to remove the skin from her face in slow, abrasive circles with…apricot-scented facial scrub? Frannie’d had a chemical peel the week before. The last thing she needed was a dime store product applied to her professionally maintained skin. Read the rest of this entry »
A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothers series have been translated in five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.
