Maneater available December 14 at Ellora's Cave

Hey all! Wishing you all a fantastic holiday season. I can’t believe it’s December already! This month I’m talking quickly about my upcoming release December 14, MANEATER. MANEATER is a crazy little novella that started off my Special Investigations Agency series at Ellora’s Cave www.jasminejade.com. It was in the Winter Warriors Anthology and is being released again December 14 as a single novella download. The Special Investigations Agency is a secret government agency that deals exclusively with paranormal threats. In this first story we meet Mac Tudor and Destiny Tremayne, who’ve been hot for each other for a long time. This story features danger, adventure, humor, bizarre goings on, romance, and of course…seriously hot sex. Here’s an excerpt to suck you in. WARNING: This excerpt is explicit NC-17.

Destiny hesitated at the gym interior entrance with her hand resting on the doorknob. She frowned at the goofy Santa someone had plastered on the door. She could return to the locker room and dress and then leave.

Sure. Then Quinton will put in papers for your transfer, and you know he doesn’t threaten if he doesn’t mean it.

Annoyed with her conscience, she took a deep breath and twisted the door knob. She’d come this far and tangled wits with Mac Tudor on more than one occasion since the first time she saw him. Working with Mac would be bad enough, but their cover story made Destiny consider jumping off a ten-story building.

Buck up. You’re an SIA agent.

Right. She walked into the room.

A man stood with his back to her as he completed the graceful movement of T’ai Chi. Every flowing position defined muscles in his arms and legs. He finished and swung around, an alert cat-like grace in his big, muscular body. Like a man used to taking down the enemy with economic, lethal force.

When his deep brown eyes captured hers, the same thing happened that always occurred whenever she saw him.

Her heart almost stopped, her breath seized up, and her knees felt weak.

Damn it.

He advanced, his stride assured and not the least hurried. She swallowed hard. A dark blue muscle shirt covered his chest, but left his arms and stomach bare.

No man on this planet deserved to have such a gorgeous body. Wide, muscular shoulders commanded attention. The short cut of his shirt revealed a sprinkling of hair down over his rock-hard abs and into the waistband of his shorts. Without remorse she allowed her gaze to wander over his body. Mac also possessed the best-looking muscular legs she’d ever seen.

Oh, yes. She understood why the section secretary couldn’t keep her eyes off him.

Destiny had felt his muscular legs brush against her when they’d danced last Christmas. She’d also felt the undeniable arousal pressed against her stomach as he’d moved her about the dance floor. More than enough evidence that, although he couldn’t stand her, his cock liked her very much. Worse than that, she’d wanted his spike-hard cock buried inside her. Thrusting.

To her mortification her face flamed.

“Tremayne.” His voice rumbled, husky, deep, and sexy enough to curl a woman’s toes at fifty paces.

God, how she hated him.

She started toward him and they met near a punching bag. Barely a foot and a half separated them. She tilted her head up a little to look at him. Although she was five feet eight inches tall, he must be at least six feet four inches.

Her gaze snagged on those disgustingly dazzling eyes ringed with thick lashes. Bedroom eyes, hell. Tudor’s gaze said he could make her come anywhere, anytime, and she couldn’t do a thing about it.

Orgasm by remote control.

A smile escaped her lips before she could stop herself.

“What’s so funny?” he asked softly.

She shrugged one shoulder, unconcerned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

A curious, but unwilling-to-give-into-it expression touched his face.

And, oh, that face.

Craggy didn’t describe his countenance. No one would dare call him merely handsome, because the description didn’t do justice to his presence. He was too hard, too rough-and-tumble. Too masculine to ever be thought of as a pretty boy.

Combine Mel Gibson and Hugh Jackman, throw in a little Colin Farrell for good measure, and you got Mac Tudor. His short hair waved, and she imagined if it grew longer it would explode out of control. Tudor possessed a beautiful nose, neither too large nor too small. His mouth was made for kissing, the lower lip the tiniest bit bigger than the upper. Perhaps to show a little defiance toward convention, he often kept a little five-o’clock shadow along his firm jaw. Today was no exception.

His hot, admiring attention slid over her breasts, down to hips, to her legs. She could feel the burn in his devouring look right through her clothing. A flush spilled into her stomach at the heat in his perusal. She swallowed hard, determined not to be the first one to speak again. She realized with a shock they had stared at each other almost a full minute without saying anything.

Mac gave her a crooked smile that probably sent lesser women into a faint. “Looks like you’re stuck with me for the long haul, Tremayne.”

He edged closer. She sucked in a slow, deep breath to calm her reaction. “Unfortunately. Don’t think I didn’t try to get out of it.”

“I’ll bet you did.”

“Since Quinton thinks we’re the best pairing for this case, we’ll have to accept it and proceed.”

He nodded. “Then let’s get it on.”

Destiny wanted to scream at his penchant for double entendre. She could tell him where he could shove it. Maybe if she hacked off Mac enough he would leave, then she could go to Quinton and say Mac made the decision not to work with her. Once Mac transferred out of Colorado, she could breathe easier.

Sure. Like that would happen.

“I’m not fighting you today,” she said.

“Could have fooled me. It looks like you’re dressed to kick some major ass.”

She wore her usual workout attire of T-shirt and shorts, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I’m here to work out.”

“So let’s work out.” A teasing grin touched his mouth, and he started to circle her like a lion homing in on prey.

“What are you doing?”

He continued to walk around her, and his warm, spicy scent teased her nose. “Maybe you’re afraid to fight me.”

Every alarm went on a high alert status. “What did you just say?”

His swagger owned complete assurance. “It’s understandable. I’m stronger and quicker. I’d win easily.”

Warning, imminent blast likely.

Common sense told her she couldn’t allow him to goad her into taking up his challenge. “Of course you’re stronger, but that doesn’t mean you’re the better fighter.”

“So you’re saying you can beat me?” He kept circling her, the space between them getting smaller and smaller. “I think you’d get hurt.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you.”

“Oh, but I think you need to verify something to yourself.”

She’d fought men before and won, but never another SIA-trained agent, and never a man as powerful as Mac.

But she couldn’t turn her back on his challenge, or give Quinton a reason to send her to the outer reaches of Mongolia.

She attacked.

Mac blocked her arm movements, coming in with a quick feint that sent her sailing over his shoulder. She flipped and landed on her feet.

“Oh, baby,” he said as he whirled around, his eyes turning hot with danger. “Do that again.”

**

Stop by my website at www.deniseagnew.com for another excerpt and my monthly contest. Once again, wishing you all a fantastic holiday season! To all a wonderful New Year. See ya in 2010. Wow, it feels weird saying that.

Hello all!  Long time no talk :)  It’s good to be back.  So… what defines winter to you?  Is it the cold? The date on the calendar? The holidays? Well, for me it’s snow.  I love snow… well, mostly the first big snowfall of the year and holy smokes we are so getting it right now.  Winter storm Allison has now arrived in Wisconsin and wooo hooooo! We’re supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow.  Yes, you read that correctly–8 to 12 inches of snow!

Luckily I’m off work so what I’m going to do is curl up with a good book on the sofa and watch the flakes fall… that is, after I do some more of my Christmas shopping online :)  I so love being able to do the majority of my Christmas shopping online… but I don’t do it all because I’d miss the hustle and bustle of the crowds.  I do love the crowds… but only one time during the Christmas season–go to the Mall and browse and enjoy the decorations, the kids sitting on Santa’s lap, even the people… but any more than once and I might have to get  hostile

I hope you all have a happy holiday season–Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I wish the best to you and your families.  Hugs!

So it’s December 1st and Holiday Crazy Time is nigh. I already have four events booked in early December for myself and my daughter. She’s three and this will be the first year I think she’ll really *get* Christmas. I’m taking advantage of that and intend to have as much holiday fun this year that we can.

It helps that I just met two crazy deadlines (although I have two more starting as of today). So, while I will have work in December (working never ends), I’ll be able to take time off here and there for festivals and Christmas related charity events. I’m really looking forward to it.

Of course, that means lots of venues packed with stressed parents and children who can feel that stress and are reacting to it. Now that I’m a mom I’m plunged right into lots of events like that. It’s just chaos, pure and simple. What I see a lot of at festivals are moms and dads desperately trying to enjoy the day while also refereeing arguments between siblings, dealing with tantruming toddlers, and trying to wrest objects out of little grasping fingers. Been there, done that, got the badge of honorable conduct in parenting warfare.

I remember this one time (in Band Camp. I can never say this one time without adding in Band Camp to it anymore. *sigh*) a mother wanted to take a picture of her son, who looked miserable, so she basically demanded that he stand up straight, smile, and look like he was having fun, damn it! The little kid looked ready to burst into tears by the time she snapped the photo.

Now, I totally get losing your patience with children, especially if you’re leading around four or five of them. And I’m really not much for crowds. They make me tense. So I get that too. But all day long at these events I look around me and see people looking harassed instead of happy and I keep wondering…if you’re not going to enjoy it, why do it?

I don’t mean to get preachy, but this moment is unique. It’s never going to happen exactly this way ever again. Don’t blink, (you know, metaphorically), or you’ll miss it. Every single event has beauty and, if you’re open to it, you’ll be able to see it. Even if your child is cranky, your feet hurt, and some random lady just halted her stroller in the middle of the pathway right in front of you for the. five. hundredth. time.

Because you never know when your moments are going run out. Don’t take these you’re having right now for granted.

Please, y’all, do me a favor and wallow in at least one moment for me. Do it after you’re done reading this post. Seep into right now. Close your eyes if it makes it easier. Don’t think about the past or the future. Don’t think about what you need to get at the grocery store or how so-and-so just really pissed you off. Just concentrate on being exactly where you are at exactly this moment in time. Concentrate on what you hear, what you smell. Concentrate on your body in your clothes and your feet in your shoes. Note it, let it go, and float. See the beauty in it.

For anyone willing to play, tell me about your experience in the comments.

And, oh!, can’t forget to announce the winner of the contest I posted the last time I blogged here! The winner of my book trailer contest for a copy of Wicked Enchantment when it releases next month is… Fedora! Congrats! Please drop me an email at anyabast (at) gmail.com, Fedora!

Last year around this time I was fresh off selling my first book deal. A total newbie and excited about EVERYTHING! One year later I can honestly say, I’m still excited about EVERYTHING. Well, almost everything…the waiting in this business still sucks big time! And I think I can safely say that all authors feel the same way!

This journey is not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. There are rejections from agents, editors and publishing houses. There are reviews, including the ones that are sucky. There can be some nastiness in the cyber world as well. BUT, for those strong enough to stick through all of this the payoff is wonderful!

For me personally, I’ve landed an agent who I adore and respect. All of her clients (of which most are now participating in this blog and they’re listed to the right) are an amazing bunch of women. I’ve been able to ask them questions and they answer, no matter how stupid or silly. The support has been incredible and I’ve never felt alone in this journey. My editor at Avon/Harpercollins is way cool and I’m looking forward to working with her for a very long time.

I’ve met an amazing group of women, The Sirens and Scribes, and am grateful to call them friends. It’s amazing to watch them grow and begin to sell their work and work toward their goal of publication. So yeah, it’s been quite a year and next year promises to rock my socks off. HIS DARKEST HUNGER releases from Avon in April, while HIS DARKEST EMBRACE releases in November. I’ve also started a time travel series for Samhain and this is the lovely cover I just received. BLACK LEGACY releases from Samhain on February 2, 2010.

She’ll make sure he survives the night…even if it costs her heart.

Black Opals, Book 1

Frankie Black is a woman in need of a mission. For a Black Opal—a warrior woman who shifts backward or forward through time in order to, well, save the world—the last six months of downtime have left her bored. Restless. And with a feeling that something is about to hit the fan.

Finally, an assignment: save the life of Dekkar James, an infamous rock god living three hundred years in the past. Tattooed, ruggedly handsome and perfectly imperfect, one look at him and it’s as if her sleeping body springs to life.

One minute Dekkar is having the most mind-blowing sex of his life. The next, goons are breaking down his door, and he’s on the run with a woman who turns from lover to warrior in the blink of an eye.

Dealing with the New Order, operatives who manipulate time without regard for the consequences, is nothing new for Frankie. But this time their tactics have a more personal edge—they’ve found a way to seek out the Opals’ predestined mates.

Unless she can save Dekkar’s life, her future will be the first casualty in a battle for the fate of humankind.

Warning: Contains one hot dude with tattoos, a woman who won’t take no for an answer, steamy sex, an ancient Harley and a little bit of time travel.

So, a lot has happened in the last year and I’m so pumped for 2010. I’d love to hear what everyone else is celebrating? What has happened to you that has totaly rocked your socks off? What are you looking forward to in the next year?

The decorations are up, presents are kinda/sorta wrapped, and I’ve been seeing Chevy Chase on TV every night this week–that definitely means it’s holiday time!

So, first…a little holiday cheer from the ladies at the Bradford Bunch.

Yes, for your viewing pleasure, that’s me (Cynthia Eden), Juliana Stone, Elisabeth Naughton, Shelli Stevens, and Jess Granger.

***

December is proving to be a busy month for me. In addition to the usual holiday madness, I’ve got two releases this month.  The mass market re-release of HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT officially hit store shelves yesterday. (Gift idea–go, hurry, buy for a romance reader! Hmmm…not a real subtle push, huh?)

And, right after Christmas, I will launch a new series with Kensington Brava–my Night Watch series. The first book in this series, ETERNAL HUNTER, will be available on 12/29/09.  The Night Watch books focus on a group of paranormal bounty hunters–and they were so much fun to write!

The premise of the Night Watch books is that, sometimes, it takes a monster…to catch a monster.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.  Enjoy the time with your family and friends. Eat lots of delicious treats. Sing classic carols.  And take time to relax and savor the magic moments.  Speaking of those magic moments–what are you looking forward to the most this holiday season?  I can’t wait to see my son’s expression when finds all the presents Santa has waiting for him. Oh, I’d better have that video camera ready!!

Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT–mass market re-release 12/1/09
ETERNAL HUNTER–available 12/29/09 from Kensington Brava

I’ll admit it, I’m a cozy-holic. The holiday season is prime time to indulge in some favorites. I love walking in from the bitter cold to meet friends in a fire-lit restaurant, curling up with a book and an electric blanket, the scent of pine and the sound of carols in the distance.

As you might guess, I also really enjoy a holiday-themed romance. Here are some favorites: The Magical Christmas Cat (Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, Linda Winstead Jones), A Rose in Winter (Kathleen Woodiwiss), Tidings of Great Joy (Sandra Brown) and the classic The Gift of the Magi by O.Henry.

Course, it’s nice to have your heart warmed but it’s even better to indulge in some serious holiday steam.  I wrote my first Christmas themed story this year, and had a ton of fun doing it.

Holiday Bound is out today from Samhain. Here’s a bit about it along with a short excerpt. Leave me a comment about your favorite holiday-themed books. I’ll give an e-copy of Holiday Bound to one commenter later this afternoon (December 1).

 The Oedipal Complex has never been so sexy…

Alex Carradine can’t believe his father wants to come and visit his ski resort. Could it be that after so many stormy years, “slick Mitch” Carridine wants to offer an olive branch? Maybe the old man is mellowing, settling down with the new lover he’s bringing along.

 
Then Alex realizes the acid truth. This is no warm family visit. His father’s latest conquest is none other than the woman of Alex’s sexual fantasies, meant only to dangle tauntingly in front of his face. At least an unexpected blizzard has frozen his father out of the picture entirely.

Angeline Kastakis was looking forward to taking the next step in her relationship with Mitch. Too late she realizes she’s been led into a familial battle zone. Now it’s Christmas and she’s marooned in a blizzard with an insolent, gorgeous hunk of man whose blazing blue eyes tell her loud and clear he wants her in his bed. Preferably tied to it with a bow.

There’s no escape in sight. But as Alex stirs her secret longing to be mastered by a man, escape is the last thing on her mind…

Excerpt:

She jumped slightly when, after several moments, he spoke.

“Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.”

For a few cowardly seconds, Angeline considered pretending she was asleep. But Alex was nothing if he wasn’t honest. She found she had no interest in playing games with him.

“Yeah,” she murmured, unmoving.

“I don’t have a Christmas tree here. There’s a big one up at Heavenly View.”

Angeline opened her eyes and stared as snowflakes danced around the dark window, their frantic movement calling to mind her rapidly skipping heart.

“A real one?”

“Yeah. A fifteen-foot Douglass Fir. I cut it down myself. Put it up in the Great Room of the Lodge. Macy—she’s the manager of the hotel—complained that she found a couple birds’ nests in it when she was decorating.”

Angeline imagined his shapely lips, set off to perfection by the short, dark goatee, tilting into a small smile. She recalled how she’d wondered if he could keep an employee, his manner was so surly.

But he sounded like he was fond of Macy the Manager. Maybe it was just Angeline who brought out the worst in him? Wasn’t that all the more reason for her to enjoy a casual conversation with him?

Only it wasn’t casual. Nothing about her interaction with Alex Carradine had been casual since he’d first barked at her while she sat in the SUV. Angeline knew all that, but she couldn’t stop herself from trying to make a connection with him, no matter how tenuous that connection was.

“My mom and dad put a real one up every year. They smell so good. I went with my dad every year to cut it down until I went to college,” she said in a hushed voice.

“What about your place in the city?”

“I put up a small one. Fake. I still like it, though. My mother gives me an ornament on Christmas Day. It’s a tradition. So I like to put them up every year. This will be the first year I’m not spending Christmas with my parents.”

“You were going to spend it with my dad, instead.”

The flames crackled in the taut silence that followed. If she’d let herself think about what she said next, she’d never have done it in a million years. But she wasn’t thinking. As she lay there in front of that fire with Alex, she was just feeling. And she was doing it more than she’d ever done in her thirty years of existence.

“Alex?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never slept with your father.”

Sweat popped on her brow in the strained silence that followed. She felt a drop of it run between her breasts. How could she possibly have been nearly frozen less than an hour ago when her flesh now throbbed with heat? She closed her eyes when she felt his hand on her shoulder.

He rolled her onto her back. She opened her eyes. He’d scooted over in his sleeping bag and leaned down over her, bracing himself on his elbow. She stared, mesmerized, at flame-gilded muscle. His face looked rigid and stark as he stared down at her.

Something fell into place deep inside her, like the last tumbler turning to spring a lock.

“Angeline?”

“Yes.”

She groaned at the impact of his mouth taking possession of her own. She’d thought she was hot, but Alex was fire itself, his sleek tongue a fierce, demanding flame. A fever possessed her, burning away rational thought.

Purchase Holiday Bound

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!

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.

**

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.

So this is my inaugural post on The Bradford Bunch. Kind of intimidating to be amongst my colleagues, peers, peeps - the ladies whose writing I adore and whose careers I cheer. Oh and did I mention they’re completely faboo? Funny how I sound like a fan girl. LOL. I am, but I also admire the amazing things these ladies have done.

I think I should start by letting everyone know who I am. My name is Beth Williamson and I am a romance novelist. I have twelve novels in paperback, number thirteen is being released December 29th. I also have seven novellas and various short stories, some of which are published in four paperbacks. Although I’ve been published for five years, I still feel like a newbie. My first NY book was only published this year in March and it’s been a wild ride, let me tell ya.

I’m a forty-something wife and mother with a mortgage, an eco friendly Toyota Prius and a full-time job in the technical writing field. I have two teenage sons who make my life very interesting (to say the least) and I live in horse country in rural NC. I wasn’t published until I was in my late thirties so I’m a late-comer compared to some authors. Yet I made it and I plan on sticking around for a very long time.

My books are mostly western historicals, very hot westerns with ah, hard alpha men and strong, kick-ass women. I also write contemporary erotica that make me wiggle when I write them. *snort*

I’m thrilled to be here on The Bradford Bunch and would love to get to know the entire world, so I hope the world is reading this. Let’s see, for my first post, how about everyone who posts gets entered to win a copy of The Education of Madeline - my first NY book.

So say howdy, tell me you have no idea who I am, ask me what the heck I was thinking writing westerns, or even, what was the weirdest thing my teenage sons ever did.  Ready, set, go!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in America. It’s one of those holidays most people look forward to, while others dread it because it usually means something to test your holiday spirit.

Traveling and Relatives.

I happened to be going to my sister’s house about 30 miles from my house. A short drive and not a big loooooooong drive. Since my mom lives about 130 from me, it’s not half-way between both of us, but close enough. Of course twice in the same year when we drove to my mother’s house, my husband got a speeding ticket. Erp.

Then there’s the Thanksgiving we flew up to CT. Oh yeah, it was fun sitting in the airport for an extra three hours. Then I could partake in the canned yams, squished up saltines in creamed corn and dry turkey. Not that I don’t love my MIL, because I do, but the woman is not a very good cook, not enough to enjoy the airport delays and snow.

This year apparently it’s going to be a big honkin’ mess with my sister’s mother-in-law, my parents, teenagers and young people, and lots of drama. I mean, who doesn’t have a holiday without drama? Yet, when we finally get the food on the table (gluten free, soy free, milk free, sugar free - oh yeah, we go there), and take hands to say grace, well, then things change. My sister always asks everyone to say what they’re thankful for.

It makes us all a bit retrospective about things, such as what has happened since the last Thanksgiving. I lost my editor, Kate Duffy, way too soon. Yet my first Kensington book hit the shelves before she got really sick. Then I got my first Berkley deal, which I’m very thankful for.  A scare with my son’s heart turned out to be nothing, and each day I think about how much I love my kids.

Yeah, it’s about being thankful.

Relatives, weird food and traveling aside, it does make me close my eyes and think about what i do have, what I cherish, what’s really important to me. So yeah, I’m thankful.

How about y’all? What are you most thankful for? (And if you’re traveling at this moment, I’m sorry for any bad events that may befall you!)