Sunday Six meets A Stranger's Kiss

It's Sunday so it's time for another "Six".

Tara Lambert, blackmailed by Adam Blackmore into working as his secretary, is finding it hard to resist the shocking attraction that flared between them from the moment they first met. Working late in his apartment, her resistance begins to unravel...

For a moment his eyes challenged her to defy him, to ignore the warmth of his body against her own, to ignore the way his mouth curved with sensuous insolence, inviting her to make the first move and risk the surging desire that had surfaced so abruptly when he had kissed her in the wine bar.

It was hard. Harder still to ignore clamour of her blood pounding with wild impatience through her veins. To ignore the way her skin was tingling, begging to be stroked by the long fingers holding her against him, teased by the broad tip of his thumb, already far too close to a betraying nipple, erect against the soft cloth of her dress.

       Another moment would have been a moment too long but without warning he stood up with her, surprising a soft cry from her lips. He smiled then, and set her gently on her feet.

If you've enjoyed this excerpt you can download a copy of A Stranger's Kiss for your ereader from Amazon, Sony, iTunes, Barnes and Noble or Smashwords - links on the sidebar.

For those new to this, the rules are simple:
1) pick a project – a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2) pick six sentences
3) post ‘em on Sunday
See? Easy. Want to play? See the site for information on how to do just that: http://sixsunday.com
If you have a Twitter account, you can add the hashtag #sixsunday to your tweets when you tweet a link to your Six Sentence Sunday post. If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us!

And you can read brief excerpts of dozens of other books at Sunday Six

Drum roll...

I'm just coming up to the twentieth anniversary of the publication of my first book. Those early books are now out of print and there aren't that many copies still around to buy second hand so it's with a very special pleasure that I can announce the reissue of A Stranger's Kiss - my fourth book, published in 1994 - in ebook format.

It's available from today - for a short period - at a special introductory price of 77p/99c - links opposite. It's also on sale for the equivalent price in Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Japan. (What I would have given to be able to download English books when I was living overseas!)

Here's a little taster to whet your appetite: -

‘I DON’T believe it! Where on earth did he spring from?’

Tara Lambert moved quickly to the door but the tail lights of her partner’s car were already disappearing into the blackness of the evening, taking with them any possibility of help from that direction.

       She glanced back to where the man was waiting across the street. He too was staring after Beth’s car, obviously wondering if she'd gone home with her partner. Well it was too late to regret refusing the proffered lift, but if she moved quickly it might not be too late to escape.

       Shrugging her raincoat collar up high around her ears she snapped open her umbrella, stepped out into the wet evening and took off swiftly down the street.

       She had gone only a couple of hundred yards when she heard her name being called from the other side of the street. Her escape bid had not, after all, gone unnoticed. With a sinking heart she glanced around her; the shops were already closed and there was nowhere to seek refuge in the shuttered street. Even the taxi rank was deserted, although no cabbie would have thanked her for wasting his time on the short ride to her flat.

       She hurried on, urging the traffic lights to stay green and keep the traffic moving, but even as the thought entered her head they flicked to amber.

       She stopped, cursing herself for every kind of an idiot. She could have stayed in the office and phoned for a taxi. Maybe it was not too late to beat a strategic retreat.

       ‘Tara!’ Her name, much closer, startled her and she glanced back before she could stop herself. He was weaving through the slowing cars and cutting off all possibility of escape in that direction.

       A burst of light shone briefly on the pavement just ahead of her and a couple emerged and ran, laughing, their arms about each other, along the road. They had come from the wine bar on the ground floor of a glossy new office development and shopping arcade. She had watched it come to life during the past few weeks but a quick glance at the menu outside had convinced her that it was far too pricey to be included on her list of lunch venues. Everything about Victoria House was expensive, but right now that was the last thing on her mind.

       The urgent sound of closing footsteps propelled her through the door before she had time to consider what she would do once inside.

       It wasn’t quite seven o’clock and it was still busy with people from the surrounding offices and shops, but there was no one she recognised. She dumped her umbrella in a stand and hung up her coat. At least there were plenty of people about, and now she was inside she would have something to eat. It had been a long, hard day and as the aroma of good food assaulted her senses she realised just how hungry she was. She would just have to choose whatever was cheapest on the menu.

       As she looked around for a vacant table the door opened behind her. ‘Tara!’

       Galvanised into movement by the sound of his voice she threw herself into a bench seat hidden from the door by a small grove of potted palms where a man whose deep concentration on a business document and navy pin-striped suit suggested a certain safety.

       ‘Please pretend that I’m with you!’ she whispered, urgently. He looked up, a frown momentarily creasing his wide tanned forehead and in that instant she knew, without any doubt, that the impression of safety was all illusion.

This is the first of three books I'll be republishing during the next few weeks. Look out for Old Desires and Dangerous Flirtation.

FREE BOOK MONDAY ON DANICA'S BLOG

Danica, or Dream as some of us know her, is giving away a copy of Reunited: Marriage in Million on her blog this week, bless her. She also has some interesting stuff to say about the writer's journey. Worth checking out.

SCARY TUESDAY

As for me, having woken up a cold sweat after a really nasty nightmare, only to discover that the stairs light had gone out so that it was totally dark, I now have to go and visit Bill, my lovely dental surgeon. He hails from New York, but has lived here in Wales for a v. long time.

One of my wisdom teeth is showing its age and needs a little attention. With a drill. Whimper...

Meanwhile the wip is still creeping along. Manda is now on terra firma -- I left that poor woman hanging around by her fingertips for far too long but she really needs to stop giving Jago such a hard time.

FINALLY

Copies of my new sheikh book arrived while I was in London. Breakfast at the Churchill in Portman Square with my editorial team from Richmond was instructive. We talked a lot about popular themes and discussed future books, but I thought it would be fun to throw this one open to my blog visitors. I'm looking for comments on what kind of stories you really love. Is it the sultry sheikh riding out of the desert? The nine-to-five office romance, with love blossoming around the water cooler? Does the word baby in the title make you reach for a book, or bride? Are you a died in the wool Cinderella fan? Will a handsome prince float your boat?

Share your reading desires with me this week and on Sunday I'll put all the comments in a hat and draw one at random to receive a copy of THE SHEIKH'S UNSUITABLE BRIDE, which won't be available anywhere (unless you're a Reader Service subscriber) until next month.