by Lauren Dane
Enjoy the following excerpt for A Man for Marley:
Hunter watched the scene with a mixture of curiosity and repulsion. Almost like one would view a car wreck. He’d wondered what the mysterious Vivian looked like. The reality was almost frightening.
Marley stood behind the bar, clutching a dishtowel like she was holding on for dear life. Her eyes were wary, and she made no move to come out from behind the safety of the bar.
Hunter looked back at the woman whom Marley called mother with such distaste. On first impression he could see why. He had seen her type around the racetrack plenty of times. She had to be in her late forties, early fifties, but dressed like she was in her teens.
Vivian wore skintight Capri pants in a leopard print and high-heeled sandals. Her black shirt was at least two sizes too small for her sagging figure and it had an oval cut out to show off her cleavage. On a younger woman the shirt would have been suggestive. On Vivian all it did was emphasize her losing battle with gravity.
There was no resemblance between mother and daughter that he could see but it was hard to tell from the amount of cosmetics Vivian wore. She looked like she’d applied her makeup with a trowel. Her eye shadow was caked up to her viciously tweezed eyebrows and she had fake eyelashes that would make a drag queen proud.
Her hair was bleach-blonde, sprayed and teased to about a foot above her head. Hunter wondered what miracle of modern chemistry could keep that much hair standing so high in this heat and humidity. His mind kept coming back to the mystery of how this woman could have produced a daughter like Marley.
“Aren’t you going to give me a hug? I came in person to offer my condolences because I couldn’t get you on the phone.” She clattered her way into the pub. Hunter could smell her musky perfume before she got within three feet of him.
When she got to where Marley stood behind the bar, she dropped her enormous pocketbook on the counter and leaned over as if to embrace her daughter. Marley stood stiff and frozen and made no effort to return the gesture.
“So what can I do for you, Vivian?” Marley’s voice was ice cold.
“Oh, nothing, I just wanted to see how you were holding up now that the old man is six feet under.” She opened her purse and dug around in it for several seconds, missing the look of pain and suspicion on Marley’s face. Hunter didn’t.
“I’m holding up fine so far. Now why are you really here?”
“Is that any way to talk to your mother?”
“It wouldn’t be, if you were a real mother. But I know you and you don’t do anything without a reason. So I’ll ask you again, Vivian, why are you here?”
“Not a real mother? Now that’s a fine how do you do! You know I didn’t have to have you, didn’t have to ruin my figure carrying you around for nine months.” She dug a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and put one to her heavily painted lips.
“Do you think it was easy raising a kid all by myself? Hell no, it wasn’t easy, ungrateful brat. Always ‘Mommy, I’m hungry’ or ‘Mommy, I need clean clothes’ or ‘Mommy, when are you going to be home?’ Nag, nag, nag. That’s all you ever did as a kid and when I come to see you in your time of sorrow, how do you treat me? Like I’m some beggar on the street. I don’t have to stay here and be treated like this you know. I should just walk right out of here without looking back.” She made no move to leave.
“No one’s stopping you. It wouldn’t be the first time you left without a second thought.”
Hunter couldn’t believe the drama unfolding. Everyone in the pub carefully kept their eyes averted from the scene but he could almost feel their ears straining to hear every word. With the way Vivian was carrying on, they didn’t have to strain hard.
“Oh God, can’t you get over that already? So I kicked you out. You landed on your feet didn’t you? It was probably the best thing I ever did for you. They even have a name for it now, ‘tough love’.” Vivian dug around in her purse some more.
“Hey, sugar, do you have a light? I can’t seem to find mine.” Vivian gave a syrupy smile to Hunter.
It was enough to make him queasy. He reached into the ashtray between the two of them and slid the pack of matches her way.
“Thanks, handsome.” She took her time lighting the long cigarette despite the no smoking laws. “I didn’t come here to fight with you, Marley. I’ve missed you. You don’t come around, you don’t call, how am I supposed to know how you’re doing if I don’t stop by where you work?”
“Come off it, Vivian. How am I supposed to visit you even if I wanted to? I never know where or with whom you’re living. The only time you ‘miss’ me is when you’re between boyfriends or out of money. Which is it this time?”
“That hurts.” Vivian wiped her eyes, although Hunter noticed that no tears marred her makeup. “How can you say something like that to me? Your own flesh and blood. I came here for you and you treat me like this?”
Vivian turned to Hunter again. Tom had made an escape to a nearby table. Close enough to help but out of the line of fire. Hunter wished he had been as quick as the old codger when Vivian addressed him.
“Do you hear how she’s talking to me? Would you treat your mother like this?”
“I think this is between you and Marley,” Hunter said, trying to stay out of the argument.
“Nonsense, I make it a point to always listen to an attractive man. So tell me, when you see your mother, do you insult her and treat her like dirt?”
“My mother’s dead.” He hoped that would be the end of the conversation.
He hoped in vain.
“Oh you poor thing!” Vivian tottered over to him and pulled his head to her ample bosom with surprising strength.
Hunter peeked at Marley, pleading silently for help. It was a battle not to suffocate from an overload of the woman’s perfume. The more he tried to pull away, the harder she pressed him to her pillow-like breasts. He couldn’t think of a tactful way out of the situation, and he was starting to get desperate.
“Would you let him go for heaven’s sake?” Marley snapped, the disgust in her voice clear. “He’s young enough to be your son.”
“Some men like mature, experienced women,” Vivian said, letting Hunter up for air. “Anyway, I was just offering him my sympathy.”
“That’s not the only thing you were offering,” Marley muttered loud enough for Hunter to hear. “So what’s it going to take this time?”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean?” Vivian sniffed with an air of one who’s been sorely injured.
“Come off it. How much money is it going to cost me to keep you from making more of a scene at my bar?”
Can KD convince Kelsey they were made for each other before she marries the wrong guy?
Born Again Virgin
© 2007 Sami Lee
When she started a new life in the small town of Holly Hill, Kelsey Simmons made a vow to give up sex until she found The One. Now, finally, she has Mr. Right set firmly in her sights. She’s got the perfect plan to catch him. Trouble is, her intended target dodges cupid’s arrow and it hits Mr. Wrong smack in the rear.
KD McKinley isn’t looking for love. He’s just renovating Kelsey’s house to help out his ill stepfather. But smart and sexy Kelsey proves impossible to resist. Pretty soon, KD is reconsidering the whole white-picket-fence thing. However, his Miss Right thinks he’s all wrong and KD isn’t sure he can convince her otherwise…
Enjoy the following excerpt for Born Again Virgin:
“Kelsey?”
“I’m here.”
He turned at the sound of her voice and she emerged from the shadows on the front porch. Even with barely a skerrick of moonlight, he could tell by the way she held her arms around herself that she wore that red dress. The sensuous swish of fabric and the delicate waft of her perfume teased his senses. His heart took off again and he prayed for more light. Where was a full moon when you needed one?
“Thanks so much for this. I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d t
old me where to go when I rang.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” It hadn’t been an option. Not once she’d said those magic words, I really need you. Even if it was only for a bit of routine home maintenance, the fact she needed him made something swell uncomfortably in his chest.
Jeez, McKinley, don’t get fanciful. It’s not your chest that’s swelling. His discomfort was lodged firmly in his pants.
“I guess I knew that,” she said, an odd note of surprise in her voice. Then she warned, “It’s really creepy under the house.”
“I’m a big boy.” He squeezed his eyes shut. Now he sounded like he was big-noting himself. “And I have a flashlight. I’ll just head down and check things out.”
KD’s boots thudded on the stairs, getting farther and farther away. Kelsey felt like slapping herself. What had she been thinking, asking him to come out here? She should have just crawled into bed and tried to sleep without the comfort of hot tea and jazz. Now she had to deal with the nerve-racking notion of KD at her house after ten at night and her still wearing her designed-for-seduction dress. Not to mention he would know dinner with Stefan hadn’t led to a night of passion. A major embarrassment, after the way she had played up the date for his benefit.
Cursing her idiocy, Kelsey wandered back inside. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark enough that she could find her way down the hallway to the kitchen, where she sank into a chair and put her head on her hands.
She didn’t wait long. In a few minutes the sound of the fridge purring to life alerted her to the fact the electricity was back on. She stood and flicked the kitchen light switch, giving a little cheer when it came instantly to life.
Maybe she’d have time to change before KD returned. Or at least throw a T-shirt over her plunging neckline dress. She’d sweat like a hog in this heat, but she didn’t want KD to think she’d called him out here for anything other than a fuse.
She had raced into her bedroom and switched on her bedside lamp when KD returned. From her doorway he announced, “All fixed. I’ve replaced the fuse, but you should probably get an electrician to check things out, just to be safe.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“These old places can have tricky wiring.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Hadn’t she said that already?
Nerves fluttered in her stomach. He had made no secret of his desire the past week or so, but now his expression was neutral. After this afternoon, she could hardly be surprised. He’d treated her to a perfectly nice lunch, had even included Gabby’s kids with good humor, and she’d ended it by throwing her relationship with Stefan in his face and stamping on his foot like a five-year-old.
“How’d the date go?”
His question seemed to surprise him as much as it did her. His jaw set in a hard line, as though wishing he could take the inquiry back.
Kelsey wasn’t sure why she still felt the need to lie. Self-protection, probably. “It was fine. Nice.”
“Can’t have been that nice. You’re here alone.”
She could have done without him pointing it out. “Not every successful date has to end in sex, you know.”
“I guess that depends on what you’re aiming for.”
“I suppose that shows what your aim of any date with a woman would be.”
“Sugar.” That slow, insolent smile spread across his face and made her insides quiver. “If I went on a date with a woman like you, dressed like you are, she wouldn’t be home trying to fix a busted fuse on her own.”
“Really?” She’d tried for disdain. It came out sounding more like an invitation to elaborate.
He took a couple of steps toward her, breaching the threshold of her room. Instinctively, Kelsey backed up, wishing she had the mettle to stand her ground. She could retreat no farther when her legs came flush against the bed. Disoriented already, she fell onto the mattress with an undignified plop.
Oh great. She was sitting on her bed now. Talk about sending a man signals.
“If I’d taken you out tonight, I wouldn’t have been so easily turned away at your door.” Moving closer with the unhurried calm of a predator who knows his prey is trapped in an inescapable situation, KD knelt before her. At her level, his eyes smoldered with a rapacious hunger that took Kelsey’s breath away.
“I’d have had to kiss this sexy, pouty mouth of yours.” His hand came up to hold her chin, his thumb idly tracing the line of her lower lip. “Red lipstick suits you, sugar. Bold and hot and seductive. You look so damned amazing, I just couldn’t have left without touching you.” He drew a line down her throat with his fingertip. “Here.” He moved his touch to her shoulder. “And here.” With a skillful tug, he slid the thin spaghetti strap of her dress down her arm.
Kelsey sucked in a shallow breath, feeling as stunned as though he had bared her breast. But the dress clung to her flesh, catching on the hardened bud of her nipple. Closing her eyes, she didn’t move as his knuckles brushed feather-light across the distended peak.
His next question brought her eyelids, which felt weighted down, flying open.
Gruffly, he demanded, “Did he touch you?”
He was serious, a possessive gleam in his blue eyes. He was actually asking about Stefan? Now? Through her brain-addling lust, Kelsey felt a surge of annoyance. “That’s none of your business.”
“I need to know if he touched you,” he insisted. “Where he touched you, dammit. If you let him. If you liked it.”
Kelsey was too outraged to speak. Almost. “You’re acting like a Neanderthal. I do not belong to you.”
“You do tonight.”
She sputtered in astonishment. “You are way too sure of yourself, KD.”
With deliberate slowness he cupped her breast more fully in his hand, gently kneading the flesh. A moan escaped her lips without her consent, evoking a knowing smile from KD. “I don’t think so.”
Together they find a special love—can it survive the threat stalking her?
Giving Chase
© 2006 Lauren Dane
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 fiancée 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.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Giving Chase:
He pulled her close. “What are you up to, Red?” His voice was a lazy purr and suddenly, she felt a bit like prey.
“Nothing, it’s just a bit warm,” she said breathily. His nearness affected her, sped her heart. Warmed her from the inside out.
The corners of his mouth tugged up. “Are you teasing me, Red?”
She shook her head slowly. “I’m promising you.”
“Good lord, woman. You trying to kill me?” He nuzzled her neck.
“Huh uh.” It came out slow and soft as her head lolled back to give him more access. “I’ll need you later. Or now.”
“Are you saying what I think you are saying?”
She sat up and laughed. “Sheesh, Kyle, I know you’ve slept with like a hundred women. Haven’t any of them teased you? Or am I doing so poorly at it that you don’t get it?”
“There’s the Red of my dreams. I love it when you go all sassy on me.” He pushed his face into her cleavage and breathed her in. His goatee tickled the sensitive skin there and shivers of delight and a
nticipation broke over her.
“I was hoping you meant you wanted to make love. But I wanted to be sure because I respect you so much. I just don’t want to push past where you’re willing to go.”
She leaned over and pressed her lips to his ear. “Kyle, can you respect me while you’re inside me? Because I really—and I mean really—need you to fuck me.” She knew she was blushing but it felt so good to say what she’d been thinking.
She saw the shiver run down his skin and he moved to look into her face. “Do you know how sexy you are? I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted anything as badly as I want to make love to you.” Standing up, he held out his hand to her and she took it. Hand in hand, he led her up the stairs to his bedroom.
Closing the door behind them, the rest of the world felt far away. While she stood and watched him, he pulled out some matches and lit the candles that ringed the room.
“They’re new. I bought them thinking about how you’d look with the candlelight flickering off your skin.”
“Dude, you say the best stuff. You’re so getting lucky.” Smiling, she grabbed hold of the bottom of her pullover and yanked it over her head.
He blinked a few times. “Damn it, woman, you’re gonna kill me. Just full of surprises, aren’t you?” With a grin, he reached to turn off the overhead light. “Yeah, just what I thought. You and candlelight—a very sexy combination.”
“I’m sexy? Kyle Chase, do you look in the mirror very often?” Maggie went to him, reaching out to slowly unbutton his shirt. She gloried in the feel of his skin as she slid the shirt down his arms and off. The warmth of his body and the scent of him hit her face. She closed her eyes, leaning in to take a deep hit of him.
Drowning in hormones she stepped back to take a long look at him. His upper body had the long lean muscle of a runner or a cyclist. He was hard and packed but not bulked.
“Dear lord, you’re beautiful.” Leaning back toward him, she flicked her tongue over one of his nipples, delighting in his hungry moan. The heated salt of his taste set her taste buds on fire. She wanted more of him. All of him.
