Within His Embrace, available at Liquid Silver Books
Okie dookie all. Some of you know that the last story in my HEART OF JUSTICE SWAT series came out this last Tuesday at Liquid Silver Books www.liquidsilverbooks.com. Hope you’ve had a chance to pick up your copy. I have to admit of all my characters in this series, the hero in this book is probably my favorite. He’s the most rough around the edges, and I had to work hard to smooth him out. He’s a little too overprotective, and the heroine isn’t taking it well. 
I think he deserved a heroine who was a bit of a spitfire, a bit harder to deal with, with some rough edges of her own. I hope you enjoy their adventure and seeing how they help each other work through issues. This story definitely is hot, and it has some suspense and danger.
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Though they hadn’t finished discussing the list, she snapped closed the portfolio and placed it on the coffee table. She crossed her arms and turned toward him. “Oh, you do? Fine. Tell me everything you think you know about me.”
God, Leigh, do you honestly want to know what he thinks?
Part of her didn’t. The other part egged him on with sheer delight. “Go on. Tell me, Mr. know-it-all.”
An answering rebellion filled his gaze. She’d hit something raw inside–she could tell. He turned toward her as well, his gaze seeking and finding her eyes, her mouth, and back to her eyes in a way Leigh found intimate. Disturbing in a sensual way that brought her awareness of him to a height she couldn’t ignore.
“You’re intelligent as hell. Quick. You don’t forgive and forget. You’re fast to judge, and even faster to apologize if you think you’re at fault. You like planning over spontaneity. You prefer whisky over wine. You wear a lot of green. I’d say more than any other color. You’re self-conscious about your hair. I notice you fuss with it a lot.” He stopped. “Should I go on?”
Uncomfortable with his dead-on assessment, she narrowed her eyes. “Okay, so you’ve watched me closely. That figures. You’re a cop. You’re paid to observe.”
“I was that way before I was a cop. But I have to admit I would have noticed you anyway.”
She dipped a toe into the waters, unsure she wanted to hear why. “Oh? Why is that?”
“You’re hot.” His voice held a sexy undertone she couldn’t ignore.
Pure, delicious excitement flowed through her body. Her heartbeat quickened, her mind swirling in disbelief. Only two words would escape. “Thank you.”
“Just because we don’t see eye to eye doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re pretty.”
Satisfaction made her smile. She’d gotten him to admit he thought she was hot. Now that she knew it, her body reacted even more strongly. Heat filled her face.
She cleared her throat. “We’re off track. Way off. Here’s what we need to do.” She ticked off items on her hand, finger by finger. “You were worried about me picking up the cake from Helga Swanson’s right?”
“Yeah.”
“Celeste is going with me. So it’ll be fine.”
He crossed his arms. “Okay.”
He sounded halfway relieved, if not totally satisfied.
“And, like I said before, you can help with the bachelorette party. You can be the bouncer.”
He leaned nearer, the amusement in his eyes evident. “Why the hell do you need a bouncer?”
She smiled. “I’m teasing. But you said you were up for the challenge with helping, so you can help with the party.”
His expression looked mutinous, as if the idea of hanging with a bunch of women at a girly party offended his sensibilities. “I could back out.”
“But you won’t.”
For a half second she wondered if she’d pushed him too far. “I sense you don’t like this stripper thing.”
“Let’s put it this way–you’d never catch me doing it.”
“Of course not.” An idea, a wicked, wicked idea flitted through her head and demanded a voice. “You might not for a bachelorette party, but would you do a private striptease for a woman?”
Crap. I can’t believe I asked that.
Craig’s eyes turned hungry, immediate in their interest. Yet he didn’t say a damned thing.
“Forget I asked,” she said.
Right. The guy’s too uptight to really let loose like that.
She sighed. Damned shame.
A vision of Craig slipping out of his sheriff’s uniform and revealing his chest, stripping his pants off, his briefs, to reveal…
Her body responded violently to the fantasy, her nipples turning berry hard, a burning need glowing red hot within her. Suddenly she became even more aware of him, every nuance of his virility slamming her from all sides. She tried to imagine any red-blooded woman ignoring him and couldn’t. Swallowing hard, Leigh shifted to her feet and closed the portfolio with a snap.
Embarrassment, an emotion she rarely experienced, caught up to her with a vengeance. She’d lost her cool. Lost her edge. And that pissed her off. Losing the edge made her feel too vulnerable. And she wasn’t going that route again.
Deciding to cut and run before she said another stupid thing, she hurried to pick up her purse. “I’d better head out.”
“Leaving so soon?” His voice was dark velvet, sending warmth spreading through her body in a tingling wave that settled low. “I’ll walk you to your car,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because my mother taught me right.”
“Uh-huh. That protective streak of yours again.”
“Sue me.”
Her plan had backfired. Sure, she’d wondered what would make him lose control. He hadn’t.
“I don’t need a man to escort me everywhere.”
He crossed his arms. “Are you one of those women who thinks a man wanting to protect a woman is Neanderthal?”
“Yes.”
His face went hard, as she imagined it would before an interrogation…narrowed eyes and a tough-guy voice.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Did a guy in your past overprotect you?”
“I’m not getting into my personal life.”
“Or maybe he did more than protect you; he used it to control you. To make you feel inadequate and inferior. Maybe you had a boyfriend who verbally abused you?”
Her mouth dropped open. He’d hit far too close to the mark, and a tiny panic blossomed inside Leigh.
“If you were in a relationship, would you still scoff at his protection?” he asked.
She hoisted her purse over her shoulder. “It’s time for me to leave. I’m not a criminal and under your arrest, MacGilvary.”
She stalked toward the door.
He followed, and the implacable look on his face told her he wouldn’t back down.
Within a few seconds they were in the elevator.
Leigh stared at Craig, her tension ratcheting into the double digits as he met her gaze. His protectiveness raised her libido higher even as it ground against her independence. His eyes penetrated, demanded, searched with a searing attention that screamed sexual interest.
No way. Arrogant, cold, uptight Craig MacGilvary was not sizing her up for sexual conquest. At the same time, she wondered how she could be wrong about him. She hated the confusion. She hated not knowing his intentions.
“What are you staring at?” His question came out specific, with a frosty, almost belligerent tone.
She leaned back along the cool elevator wall and refused to look away. Yeah, he was probably used to people cowering under that intimidating stare. Leigh had never lost a staredown with a man. Never. She wouldn’t start now.
“I was just wondering why you believe you can intimidate me. Why you dislike me so much,” she said.
His eyes widened only a fraction before narrowing, lips turning tight. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t dislike you.”
She smiled, skeptical. Right buddy. Crossing her arms, she hooked one ankle over the other. “That’s you liking me? Giving me icy, confrontational stares at every opportunity? Running like I’m poison whenever I get within a few feet of you?”
He mocked her stance, his arms crossed. Eyes hot, he scanned her slowly. “You’re mouthy.”
Not surprised by his admonishment, she grinned. “I haven’t always been that way.”
“What changed you?”
“I acquired a taste for it.”
His gaze traveled over her hungrily, and she soaked up the attention. Lingering on her breasts, skimming down her legs, his interest gave no illusion. The man had a serious male appreciation for her figure, even if he liked nothing else about her.
Time to call in the heavy artillery, as her sister would say.
She walked toward him, half thrilled, half scared to bits. After all, from her first meeting with him, he’d given her an A-number one brush off.
The lights flickered wildly.
The elevator plunged.
Leigh’s life didn’t pass before her eyes. There wasn’t time for that.
How’s this for timing. My latest from Ellora’s Cave, Beast Master, will be released the day after Thanksgiving. (That’s Nov 27 in case you’re planning to do some post turkey online book shopping instead of the whole Black Friday madness, hint, hint)
