It's nearly here!

It's nearly here! My 65th book for Harlequin Mills and Boon will be published on 1st February and I couldn't be more excited.

Here's our first sight of Sheikh Ibrahim al Ansari ...

‘Bram…’

Bram Ansari had answered the phone without looking up from a document that had just arrived by courier. ‘Hamad… I was about to call you.’

‘Then you’ve received the summons to Father’s birthday majlis.’

‘It arrived ten minutes ago. I imagine I have you to thank for that.’

‘No. It’s his wish. He’s sick, Bram. It’s a significant birthday. You need to be home.’

His brother did not sound particularly happy at the prospect.

‘I doubt everyone thinks that.’

‘The old man has negotiated a secret deal with the Khadri family.’

‘A deal?’ Bram frowned. ‘What kind of deal?’ The last time he’d seen Ahmed Khadri the man had threatened to cut his throat if he ever stepped foot in Umm al Basr. ‘Tell me.’

As his brother explained the secret deal his father had negotiated to enable Bram to return home the colour leached out of the day until the sky, the sea, the flowers overflowing the tower turned grey.

‘No…’

‘I’m sorry, Bram, but at least you’re prepared. If Bibi hadn’t managed to smuggle a note to her sister you would have been presented with a fait accompli.’

‘You think I can go through with this?’

‘It’s the price that must be paid.’

‘But I won’t be the one paying it!’ He took a breath. ‘How is your family?’ he asked, cutting Hamad short when he would have argued. ‘The new baby?’

‘In sh’Allah, all my precious girls are thriving. Safia sends her fondest wishes and thanks for the gifts.’ He hesitated. ‘She said to say that you are always in her prayers.’

Bram ended the call then swept the invitation from the table in impotent fury. The longed-for chance to kneel at his father’s feet and beg his forgiveness had come attached to a tangle of string that would take more than prayers to unravel. It would need a miracle.

The phone beeped, warning him that he had a missed call. He glanced at the screen and ignored it. His aide was spending a long weekend with friends in the Alps and the last thing he needed right now was a joyous description of the snow conditions.

If you'd like to see pictures of Bram Ansari, his miracle, Ruby Dance and the clothes, jewels and settings for this book, then do visit my Pinterest page

To pre-order, here are the links. :)

Harlequin

Ibooks  Barnes & Noble

Kobo
 Amazon US
Amazon UK

The SECRETS WE KEEP trilogy that I wrote with Barbara Hannay and Jackie Braun a couple of years ago is being published as a 3-in-1 in Germany at the end of April.
 
DIAMANT MEINES HERZENS von FIELDING, LIZ
Seine Frau Belle entzieht sich ihm immer mehr. Doch der gutaussehende Unternehmer Ivo Grenville ist entschlossen, um ihre Liebe zu kämpfen. Mit fantasievollen Geschenken versucht er, ihr Herz zum zweiten Mal zu erobern. Belle aber scheint das nicht mehr zu berühren …


TAGEBUCH MEINES HERZENS von HANNAY, BARBARA
Dass er Simones Tagebuch findet, ist für den gutaussehenden Journalisten Ryan Tanner ein Wink des Schicksals. Jetzt kann er der attraktiven Frau endlich ganz nah kommen. Doch dabei erkennt er: Simone verbirgt in ihrem tiefsten Innern ein dunkles Geheimnis …

LASS ES FÜR IMMER SEIN! von BRAUN, JACKIE
Endlich hatte es der reiche Unternehmer Ethan geschafft, Claire aus seinem Herzen zu verbannen. Doch nach Jahren steht seine wunderschöne Exfrau plötzlich wieder vor ihm und weckt die Furcht, erneut von ihr verletzt zu werden. Kann er die Vergangenheit vergessen?

This link will take you to Amazon wherever you are.

This reissue handily coincides with an  English language edition of Reunited: Marriage in a Million, the first book in the trilogy which you can pre-order here on Amazon.

Popular TV presenter Belle is married to gorgeous billionaire Ivo, but beneath the veneer of her perfect life is the truth of their marriage of convenience. 

High in the Himalayas on a charity trip, Belle shares a secret that haunts her with two of her companions and, as she takes a look back at the past, she realises that things have to change.

On her return to London she leaves Ivo, resigns from her job and begins a search for the sister she hasn't since she was adopted as a little girl. She finds a lot more than her sister...

Conflict of Hearts

Occasionally, one of my early books is reissued in a Large Print library edition. This time, it's Conflict of Hearts, one of those ingenue/sophisticated hero books so much loved when I first started writing.

Noah Jordan was the most sophisticated hero I'd ever written and, since the story centred around a marriage of convenience, I was hoping for a "wedding cover". I had written the prettiest outfit for Lizzie French, my heroine, but when my author copies arrived I was horrified to see that my bride looked as if she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, and my hero looked as if he hadn't bothered to shave, despite having laid on a lavish reception, determined that the world should think this was the real deal.

Clearly, the artist was trying to get over the fact that this was not a "happy" wedding and decided that scruffy was the way to go and the whoever chose the cover art for the Linford cover seems to have chosen the same route.

Here's the way I saw it:

Lizzie didn't see Noah again before the wedding.  Olivia bore her away to her apartment, fussed over her, took her shopping to all her favourite boutiques and clutching James French's credit cards swept aside Lizzie's desperate protestation that she really didn't need a dream outfit for a quiet wedding with just a few witnesses present.
    'The wedding dress isn't for the guests, my sweet, it's for Noah.  It should be special.  He deserves it.'
    And what on earth could she say to that?  So she submitted to gentle bullying and even she had to admit that the pencil slim skirt and tiny jacket of the suit that Olivia finally declared 'exquisite', was just that, the old ivory of the silk perfect against her peachy complexion.  The matching hat, a delicate confection of silk leaves, completed the outfit to Olivia's total satisfaction.

I am, however, feeling rather more sympathetic on the subject of cover art these days. Having spent days looking at images for the new covers for three books I'm in the process of re-issuing as eBooks, I begin to understand the desperation of those who have to provide 50+ covers every month. It's a bit like an assembly line car - you don't want to be the last book of the day.

It really is incredibly hard to find an image that pleases me, will - hopefully - engage the reader, and deliver what is between the covers. It's a work in progress.

Meanwhile, the LP edition is in a library near you. All you have to do is ask and your librarian will reserve it for you. Or, if you're in the US, you can download Conflict of Hearts to your Kindle, or other reading device.