Sunday Smooch . . .

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Destiny Of The Light by Louise Cusack, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Sara!



Congratulations, Sara! Can you please contact Annie West at

Annie (at) Annie-West (dot) com

and she'll send you a copy of Undone By His Touch.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Destiny Of The Light by Louise Cusack ...

Ennae is a parallel world joined to our own world by the Sacred Pool, a portal that can only be opened by one with the Guardian blood running through their veins. It is through this watery gateway that Khatrene leaves her modern-day life behind forever, drawn into a quest that will take her into the depths of the unknown.

Khatrene must fulfil her destiny as The Light, the woman whose child will unite the four elemental worlds. At each turn are real and imagined enemies who will do everything in their power to prevent her from fulfilling the prophecy, including the ethereal and erotic shadow woman, the enigmatic tattooed man, even her beloved brother Mihale. Talis, her appointed Guardian, must help her through the dangerous terrain of Ennae, sacrificing everything to ensure her safety in a land where magic prevails and nothing is as it seems.

[Set-up - Talis has been in love with Khatrene since the moment she reappeared on Ennae, but she has been busy discovering she is The Light that legend foretold, reuniting with her brother, and falling pregnant to The Dark who tricked her into marrying him.  It is only when Talis realises he must rescue her from her own husband’s cruelty that he admits his love, and Khatrene doesn’t have time to react beyond saying that she’d never thought of him that way.  They are now reunited for the first time since she fled her husband, and as Talis lies beside her in a rough Plainsman shelter they awkwardly discuss his revelation of love] 

By her expression Talis wondered if she had forgotten the child she bore. The child which linked her to the husband she had fled. Yet instead of mentioning his name, she asked, ‘Does it worry you that I’m pregnant?’

 Talis shook his head. ‘I am not concerned about your health,’ he said, wondering if she doubted his power to minister to her. ‘I am a full Guardian and able to monitor the growth of the child –’

 ‘No. That’s not –’ She stopped, as though collecting her thoughts. ‘Another man’s baby is growing inside me. Does that affect. . . us?’

 Talis simply stared, her question lost in the back of his mind. Us. She had spoken of them as part of a whole. Such an upwelling of love came to him then that he found it hard to breathe.

 ‘You’re looking at me strangely again.’

 ‘It is love.’

 ‘So you’ve said.’ Her gaze moved over his face, settling finally on his lips. ‘Then I guess that answers my question.’ Talis watched her head drift nearer. ‘You know, there’s a step you take . . .’ she said faintly, as though her thoughts were  elsewhere. ‘ . . . between friendship, and –’

 ‘Love.’ How plump with promise the word now tasted on his lips.

She came closer still and Talis held his breath.

‘But I don’t want to confuse myself.’ A small frown of hesitation creased her brow. ‘I don’t want to confuse friendship and love –’

Talis could not stop the small movement that brought his lips to hers. Although he did that and nothing more, for she needed no further prompting to kiss him. Indeed, a faint sigh of satisfaction fled her lips as they met his, and what tormenting pleasure was in that touch.

The softness of her lips, the scent of her nearness and the sweetness of her breath created feelings in Talis, not of the foamy fantasies he’d constructed in his mind, but the deep-swelling surge of an ocean wave. Yet his hands lay by his sides and he made no move to overwhelm her with this rush of desire. Instead, he let her kiss him sweetly, a lingering kiss she seemed reluctant to end. Then she pulled back, and though Talis was sorely distracted by his own thundering heart, he did see in her eyes that she appeared bewildered, or perhaps dazed, and hope soared within him.

‘Well . . .’ She paused to lick her lips. ‘That “something more” feeling I was telling you about . . . it’s stronger now.’

 Talis could not help smiling. Joy lit a bonfire in his heart.

To be in the draw to win an eBook copy of Destiny Of The Light leave a comment - Do you think a first kiss is the most memorable?


Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from Secrets And Speed Dating by Leah Ashton will be posted!