Just finished INSIDE OUT and have the end of book brain slump (not pretty, but at least my house is a lot cleaner and I manage to make real meals and stuff for the brood) So I saw some fabulous excerpts and thought, why not an excerpt from INSATIABLE?

PHANTOM CORPS: INSATIABLE by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2010, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, The Berkley Publishing Group
Releasing July 6

“Daniel.” She poked him. “Wake up.”

“Why?” he mumbled.

“Three hours are up.”

“No. I had another short dream. I had time left.” He rolled to sit up, and the cold air got under the blankets.

“I don’t think so. Maybe time moves differently in your ’Verse. But here we use chronos. Mine says our three hours have passed.”

He got out of bed, grabbing his pants and pulling them on.

“And even if you did have a short time left, you needn’t be so cross.”

“I have a very good internal chrono.” He went to wash his face and noted his skin had gone very pale and his hair very dark. After the pills kicked in, his eyes had gone from green to brown. He added a scar on his neck, leading up to his ear.

She barged around the corner to continue pestering him. “You’re a pain in the—” Her eyes widened. “You’re very good at this disguise part of the job. I should cut my hair, don’t you think?”

His gut cramped at the thought. “It’s very beautiful,” he said before he could say something sane and professional. “I mean, you’d still be beautiful with short hair and—”

She put two fingers over his lips and froze, before moving her hand away. Then she pressed her mouth to his. He hadn’t expected it, but he couldn’t step away either.

Her lips were sweet, sweet as the kiss was. A soft exploration of his mouth with hers. At first. It wasn’t so much innocent as it was unexpected. It snared him, much like her taste had. She was warm against him, relaxed, obviously trusting him more than any rational woman should have. His blood surged with need for her, with want, demand for more.

He fisted his hands to keep from hauling her against him, from stroking the elegant curve of her spine down to her ass. A groan bubbled from deep within his gut at the memory of the fantasy he’d had the day before. She sighed, taking it into herself.

It was when she stepped closer, her fingers digging into the front of his shirt, molding herself to his body and her tongue sliding into his mouth, that he finally found his sanity about a meter from where all the blood in his body had gathered.

“Seven hells,” he gusted as he set her back from him, holding her upper arms firmly. “That can’t happen again.” Her mouth called to him, those luscious lips just so slightly swollen.

“Why?” She licked her lips, and he groaned.

“Stop that. Carina, this is a bad idea.”

A smile played on her lips as she realized the extent of her power. Gods, he was in trouble now.

“Why? Really? You kissed me back. You’re attracted to me. I can see it. I can taste it.” She pressed fingers to her lips, and he struggled to breathe.

“You’re my cargo. You have something that could save the lives of millions. You’re . . . I bet you’re untouched, aren’t you?” He forged on without an answer. “I’m not. I’m not a nice man. I kill people. All the time. You need a nice man. A gentle man who can give you the life you were bred for.”

She waved a hand as she turned. He took advantage of her distraction and headed back out toward the main room.

“Where are you going? I need your help with my hair,” she called out.

“Tell me when to come back there.” He scrubbed his hands through his hair, standing it on end.

“Now. Gods, did your mother drop you on your head a lot as a child?”

“You’re pretty mouthy,” he mumbled as he headed around the corner and found her in little more than sheer underclothes. “Hey!” He turned his back. “You’re naked. I said when you were ready.”

“You’ll get hair in my clothes and it will itch. Cut it short.” She handed him shears as he turned back around and tried in vain not to look at the shadow of dark pink nipples against the pale material.

“Are you sure about this?” He sifted fingers through it, so long and soft. Beautiful and feminine. “If you braid it, you can tuck it into a watch cap, and no one will know the difference. Women of all ranks have long hair. You don’t have to cut it.”

She turned, so close she brushed against him. “Women of all classes have short hair, too. Do you like it?” Tossing her head, pale burnt-sugar hair tumbled around her shoulders.

The scent of her choked him in the best kind of way. This chemistry between them was so very delicious, even if he knew anything else between them was totally impossible.

“It’s lovely. It’s up to you.” He tried to step back, but he was boxed in, and she knew it.

“I am a virgin, you know. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have desires.” She leaned in, brushing her cheek against his chest. His cock ached, the pulse as he got harder and harder was an angry throb. “I do. Have desires, that is. I’ve never had the opportunity to express them and certainly not with anyone like you. There’s no one quite like you, Daniel.”

“You’d do well to remember that, Carina.” He pointed to the stuff he’d left on a ledge near the basin. “You’re my sister again. We’ll call you Carrie, and I am Neil. We’re itinerant workers, looking to get on with the grain shipments. Do you know anything about wheat? It’s a crop brought from Earth, and I know it’s grown out here. We’re from Suerte.”

He managed to step neatly away once she’d turned to look. “I always wanted blue eyes.” She began to plait her hair into two long braids as she spoke. “I’ll keep it long for now. And I’m very well aware that there’s no one like you. This isn’t over.”

She wanted to laugh when he scurried from the room. An altogether new sort of power surged through her veins. Her allure as a woman wasn’t new, not really. But this sort of romantic chase, the sensual dance they did as he pretended to resist her, was something she’d never imagined, and it was thrilling.

If she had to risk her life, leave her family behind and hare off into new territory with a man like him, she planned to enjoy every moment of it.

I’m so thrilled to announce that COMING UNDONE is now available in trade paperback or digital format!

COMING UNDONE
Berkley Heat
ISBN: 978-0425232705
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance: Related to Laid Bare
Length: Novel

Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Books A Million
Also available in digital formats (from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the sony ebook store) and Books on Board!

Brody Brown has always been responsible for others. After his parents’ death, he gave up a promising artistic career to care for his younger brother and sister. Now, with his siblings grown, Brody owns his own business, has a nice house, makes a nice living, and for the first time in years he’s on his own.

Elise Sorenson has come to Seattle with her young daughter to find peace. After years as a world-famous ballerina—(and just as many years in a marriage-gone-bad)—she’s looking for neither love nor attention. But she finds both in the handsome, honest man who befriends her with no strings attached.

More than friends, Brody and Elise discover in each other what they need—wild, physical passion without commitment. But it’ll take a shadow from Elise’s past to make them look beyond what they need—to what they truly desire.

I’m in a few places today if you should like to pop in and say hello (and just perhaps win a book):

BRODY is interviewed at Leontine’s place

Fatin has me talking about series

I’m over at Seductive Musings as well, guest blogging and I’m part of a week filled with great authors and book giveaways:

I came to reading romance relatively late in my life. I was in my thirties before I truly started reading the genre. At first tentatively and then in great, heaping wadges of author bingeing. I read historicals of every stripe before I came to the realization that I prefer Regencies that are more wallpaper than instructive. I like pretty gowns, rakehell dukes and ballrooms. Whether or not everyone was a duke, I don’t care, LOL, I like what I like and that’s just fine with me.

I discovered contemporaries of all types, but was especially drawn to unconventional stories and storytellers. I’ve been addicted to Anne Stuart from the first title I read, her dark heroes with broken edges, Elizabeth Lowell’s men so alpha that in the hands of anyone else, I’d have tossed the book, but she made them work for me. I love Jennifer Crusie’s funny, funky and flawed characters.

I’ve always loved paranormal stories – vampires and werewolves, the fae so it wasn’t a huge stretch for me to glom on new authors and to devour plenty of backlists.

I wish there were more sci fi/futuristic romances out there as they’re genres I love and crave more of (though I write them, I want to read more! Thank goodness for Ann Aguirre, Anya Bast and Megan Hart!).

Sometimes romance readers are accused of liking tropes and that’s when I say, so what? Who cares if we do? And who doesn’t? Come on! Who doesn’t return to themes that resonate with them on some level? For comfort? For the simple pleasure of returning to a storyline you fall into again and again?

For me – it’s small town contemporary romance. I love it! Whether it’s got a decidedly modern and sexy twist like Victoria Dahl’s HQN series, small town stories with a paranormal twist like Charlaine Harris’ Shakespeare Arkansas books or her Sookie Stackhouse series, or whether it’s homey and warm like Lori Foster’s Buckhorn County books – I love the sense of community and connection conveyed through those pages. I love quirky characters when they’re not written as buffoons. I love main street and apple pie, what can I say?

What about you all? Do you have any tropes you return to over and over?

So I looked up suddenly and saw it’s nearly DECEMBER. As in, it will be DECEMBER tomorrow. Jeez. This year has been crazy in so many wonderful ways it’s hard to quantify them all. It was a year ago tomorrow that my very first NY single title book came out - Undercover. In the twelve months since then, I’ve contracted more books for my futuristic series - Relentless came out in May and then Insatiable will be out in July of 2010 (working on my revisions now!).

Laid Bare came out in August and I’ve been so grateful at the response! I can only hope Coming Undone is received as well. I’m grateful that Inside Out, the next book in the contemporary series I have with Berkley, will be out in November of 2010 - I’m writing it now and so far so good.

I’ve sold some books, I’ve written some books, I’ve started a new series at Samhain in a paranormal world. I’ve watched my kids grow from one grade to the other, my oldest is a middle schooler now! Our family has had some health problems plague us and yet, the support I’ve received has been amazing. Even through the darkest days of 2009, the good outweighed the bad and you know, I have to say, as measurements go, it’s not at all bad to be able to say that.

I’ve got to get back to work, but because I’m so happy today - how about I give some happiness to you too?

I’ve got a copy of Undercover and a copy of Relentless to give away - winner’s choice - Tell me your favorite thing so far in 2009! I’ll choose a winner at random at noon pacific on Wednesday the 2nd! Easy peasy!

*********THE WINNER VIA RANDOM.ORG IS COMMENT #2 - Fiction Vixen!*******************
email me your mailing address and choice of Relentless or Undercover and I’ll get the book your way!

sorry about the lack of comprehensive post this morning but the power supply on my desktop crapped out yesterday all the sudden and I have limited connectivity - as in all my files and stuff are on that computer and while I can write on this netbook (thank god) I can’t do much more than that.

Hence the lack of anything that fab to say, LOL!

I did post a few new reviews at my website and put up the first chapter of COMING UNDONE - should you want to run over and read! Also put up the first chapter of NO RESERVATIONS, which released just last week.

Everyone have a great week!

In 2005 there was a call at a publisher I wrote for, asking for proposals for an anthology of stories about men with dangerous jobs. I proposed one.

It got rejected, which sucked, but I was working on another series at the time so I had plenty to do anyway. A month or so later, my editor wrote me on the side and urged me to resubmit the story as a full novel because she loved the characters and the world I’d proposed. Eventually I did just that and that book was Enforcer, the first in my Cascadia Wolves series.

Here I am, years later and the series is one of my most popular! It’s funny to have that when I look back on the original rejection, though I think it’s a great object lesson about how many times a rejection is about right book, right editor, right time. I’m glad it was rejected in the original proposed format because by the time I picked it up again to write it, the story arc had changed. The Lex and Nina storyline wouldn’t have been what it is now and I’d be sad without all my wolves!

I truly love the world of my Cascadia Wolves. I love the political intrigue, I love me some alpha males and the strong women I got to write to pair them with, I love the connection and relationship between the Warden siblings and, as the series went on, the wolves from other packs to.

My absolute favorite part of writing series books is creating community. I love big families in books. I love groups of friends who are family of one’s making. I love learning my characters through their interaction with people they love and who love them.

It’s why I absolutely adore writing werewolves – a Pack is both a family and a group of people who become the family of your heart.

In Trinity, I moved from Seattle, where the Warden wolves rule, to Boston and the heart of National Pack territory. I needed to give Jack Meyers his own story, but as I started thinking on the book, this other guy kept coming to mind and that’s how Galen de la Vega came about, that’s how jaguars joined the mix of shifters in that world. And my heroine didn’t want to be a shifter either, in fact, she wanted to be a witch (another one of my favorite things to write). So I pretty much just let them have their way.

These aren’t Cascadia Wolves anymore. There are glimpses of Cade and Grace, of Dave and the wolves who came to Boston from Seattle, but Trinity is a spin off into new territory. The best part about writing paranormals – making up new stuff! I found out last week that the next installment in the story of the de La Vega Cats will be out from Samhain in July of next year! I’m working on a title now, but rest assured, you will find out the story behind Susan’s involvement in Kendra and Max’s book!

Oh and head on over to my blog - I’m running a contest to win an ARC of COMING UNDONE, my January Berkley Heat release!

One More Day! This one will release on Tuesday the 20th from Samhain Publishing!

Blurb: Renee Parcell loves her life. Her smoothie/coffee cart business is successful, and she’s deeply in love with her boyfriend, Galen. He makes her laugh, he’s gainfully employed, and he satisfies her as only a sexy cat shifter can. He even puts the toilet seat down.

Yet they both sense something in the air. An anticipation that leaves them both unsettled.

Tall, blond and gorgeous Jack Meyers, Enforcer of National Pack and one of the most beautiful men Renee and Galen have ever seen. When he stumbles into Renee’s life, the riddle of their expectation is solved—Renee is Jack’s mate. What surprises them all is when the three of them touch, magick creates an unexpected triple bond of witch, cat and wolf.

Even as they learn to navigate the steamy intricacies of their bond, a threat looms over Renee. First in the form of resurrected memories, then in the shape of darker magicks someone is aiming at her. Set on stealing her inherent powers—even her life.

Renee can stand to lose almost anything, except her mates. But there seems to be no talking them out of laying everything on the line for her…

You can read the first chapter at Samhain! You can also pre-order at Books On Board as well as checking it out tomorrow at My Bookstore and More!

I hope everyone enjoys this introduction to a new group of paranormals living in Boston as well as a visit with those characters you’ve gotten to know through my Cascadia Wolves series!

All kinds of stuff popping up round my neck of the woods!

Haven’t tried my Chase Brothers series yet? Here’s your chance - if you’re a Kindle owner, Giving Chase is a FREE download for the Kindle until October 31!

The Chase books are small town sweeter romance. Though they do have pretty racy love scenes, these books aren’t classified as erotic romance - FYI

Blurb: Together they find a special love-can it survive the threat stalking her?

Some small towns grow really good looking men! This is the case with the four Chase brothers. The home grown hotties are on the wishlist of every single woman in town and Maggie Wright is no exception.

Maggie has finally had it with the men she’s been dating but a spilled plate of chili cheese fries drops Shane Chase right into her lap. The sheriff is hot stuff but was burned by a former fiancee and is quite happy to play the field.

After Shane’s skittishness sends him out the door, Maggie realizes that Kyle Chase has had his eye on her from the start. Now that Shane has messed up, Kyle has no intention of letting anything stop him from wooing her right into his bed.

Despite Maggie’s happiness and growing love with Kyle, a dark shadow threatens everything-she’s got a stalker and he’s not happy at all. In the end, Maggie will need her wits, strength and the love of her man to get her out alive.

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, and some violent situations.

I’m now working on the third draft (near final stage) of INSATIABLE so that’ll be off to my editor this week and I’ll be switching gears and working on something totally different for a few months. This is a secret project, but hopefully I can talk about it later if/when it sells.

Here’s a short snippet from one of the early chapters in Insatiable:

She must have hit her head in the passageway. There was no other explanation for why she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the strength in his hand as he’d helped her up, the way his voice had softened as he’d told her she was doing a good job.

Ridiculous to be excited by such a rude man. Though, she thought as they ran, he was so very masculine and imposing but not at all like Hartley or her father. She killed the time and tried to ignore the fear by thinking of other things. But those other things were about Daniel.

Whatever he was, whoever he was, he’d unleashed something inside her, sent it rushing through her veins. At least she could blame any breathlessness or flushed skin on the running. If she lived long enough to stop, that was. Good gods, she’d not done this much physically intense activity in many years.

I know I have a tendency to write a lot of secondary characters. This crime has been reined in, in large part due to editors who say, “you have too many characters, cut them.” I think it’s part of my personality, I never shut up and neither does that pesky muse. There’s a constant stream of stuff flowing through my head when I start a book and characters all sort of duke it out to be in it. I have to wrestle them and my tendency to have big families in my books.

But when done well, secondary characters can add depth to your story. Some of my favorite books have great secondaries in them. And not as merely sequel fodder, but as real, living, breathing parts of the story that neither overshadow or take up room but add nothing to the story.

Sometimes characters you think are fabulous are ones no one even comments on. But other times, there are characters that pester you incessantly until you give them space on the page and they take over and you know they’re going to be in every book they can push their way into.

This is Polly Chase, the matriarch of the Chase clan. IMO, she’s the true heart of the Chase Brothers series, she’s the thread that runs through the books and she’s big and bold as brass. Moreover, she loves being that way. Polly is probably my favorite of all my secondary characters. She’s so easy to write because she just came to me so fully developed.

She click-clacked into my head with that big bouffant, those sky-high heels and that petite frame. The big purse and the 1970’s Caddy came to me as I wrote . She’s a mass of contradictory images – tiny woman, big hair, big car, big purse, big personality and big, giant sons. Who all adore her and are wise enough to know she’ll kick their butts when they get out of line, adults or not.

Because she’s such a vivid character, she’s fun to read and write. She’s one of those characters who I never have to think on their motivation at all. She loves her children and her husband. Her family means everything to her and she will protect it and love them with every fiber of her being. And she’s not above being sneaky to achieve her goals. I kind of like that about her.

In the end, she’s the emotional center of the books. She’s a secondary character but at the same time, the books would not be the same without her. It’s not that she’s not big enough to have a book of her own either, she’s a mother in every way. Both to the series and to her sons and daughters-in-law.

And to me, a great secondary character is important because even though they don’t get the page space of a primary, they still remain memorable and special, the story is better with their presence. Pushy broads!

I’m in a pretty good mood, wanna win a book? I’ll choose a winner at random from the comments at noon pacific on Wednesday 23rd - winner can choose one of the Chase Brothers books (digital or paper).

Who are some of your favorite secondary characters?

THE WINNER IS COMMENT #18 - Mary! Mary, please email me with your choice of title and whether you’d like it in print (need your address) or digital (need the format) Congratulations