Once Upon A Bride.....win a copy!

My latest release for Harlequin Special Edition, Once Upon A Bride, recently hit the shelves and I’d like to share an excerpt and give away a copy to one commenter – either paperback or ebook – winners choice.

I often have animals in my books and in Once Upon A Bride the hero and heroine begin their fraught relationship by watching over her brother's needy French Mastiff for a week while her brother is on his honeymoon.

Here’s the cover and blurb  -

When Gabe Vitali escapes to a fresh start in Crystal Point, Australia, the former physician isn't looking for a storybook ending. For the first time he's living in the moment. His new five-year plan does not include serious relationships. But he doesn't anticipate his unavoidable next-door neighbor…and an undeniable attraction.

Bridal consultant Lauren Jakowski wants marriage. She's just sworn off love and sex! To avoid getting burned again, she's looking for safe and forever-after. But they're not Gabe's to give–for reasons he can't share with anyone, least of all this pretty complication.

Gabe and Lauren don't figure on a fairy tale. But fate has other plans…. 

(She’s just arrived at his house to pick up her brother’s dog)

  “Are you coming inside or do you plan on camping on my doorstep all night?”

  “All night?” she echoed, mortified that color was creeping up her neck. The idea of doing anything all night with Gabe Vitali took the temperature of her skin, her blood and pretty much every other part of her anatomy up a few notches. “Of course not.”

  He dropped his arms to his sides and stepped back.

  Lauren crossed the threshold and walked into the hall. He was close, and everything about him affected her on a kind of sensory level. As much as she didn’t want to admit anything, she was attracted to him. And worse luck, he knew it.

  Her vow of celibacy suddenly seemed to be dissolving into thin air.

  She walked down the short hallway and into the huge, open-plan living area. The furniture looked new and somehow out of place in the room. And sure enough, on the rug in front of the sofa, was her brother’s one hundred and fifty pound French Mastiff, Jed. Fast asleep and snoring loudly.

  “Thanks for picking him up from my brother’s place,” she said as politely as she could. “When       Cameron called this morning, he said the housesitter had left quickly.”

  He nodded. “Her daughter is having a baby. She took a flight out from Bellandale after lunch and said she’d be back in a week.”

  Lauren bit down on her lip. “A week?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  A week of dog-sitting. Great. As much as she liked Jed, he was big, needy, had awful juicy jowls and a reputation for not obeying anyone other than Cameron. Too bad her parents had a cat that ruled the roost, or she would have dropped him off there. She had to admit the dog seemed comfortable draped across Gabe’s rug.

  She looked around some more. “So…you’ve moved in?”

  “That was the general idea when I bought the house,” he replied.

  Lauren’s teeth ground together. “Of course. I hope you’ll be very happy here.”

  She watched his mouth twist with a grin. “You do? Really?”

  “Really,” she said and raised a disinterested brow. “Be happy, or don’t be happy. It’s nothing to do with me.”

  His blue eyes looked her up and down with way too much leisure. The mood quickly shifted on a whisper of awareness that fluttered through the air and filled up the space between them. A change that was impossible to ignore, and there was rapidly enough heat in the room to combust a fire.

Warmth spread up her neck. He had a way of doing that to her. A way of heating her skin. “I need to…I need…”

  “I think we both know what you need.”

  Sex…

  That’s what he was thinking. Suddenly, that’s what she was thinking, even though turning up on his doorstep had nothing to do with her lacking love life or her vow to stay celibate. Lauren’s cheeks burned, and her knees trembled. “I don’t know what—”

  “You don’t like me much, do you?” he asked, cutting her off with such calm self-assurance, she wanted to slug him.

  “I’m not—”

  “Or is it because you do like me much?” he asked, cutting her off yet again. “And that’s why you’re so rattled at being in my living room.”

  Conceited jerk! Lauren sucked in some air, pushed back her shoulders and called Jed to heel. By the time the dog got up and ambled toward her, she was so worked up she could have screamed. She grasped Jed’s collar and painted on a smile. “Thank you for collecting him from Cameron’s.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Pleasure? Right. Not a word she wanted to hear from him. Not a word she wanted to think about in regard to him. And when she was safely back in her own home, Lauren kept reminding herself of one thing…Mr Right was not Mr Right-Next-Door.

Have you ever read a book where the pets played a memorable role within the story? 

Leave a comment and I'll draw a winner tomorrow.