Sunday Smooch with Helen Lacey......

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a retro smooch from Helen Lacey.....but first ... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is Natalija!


Can you please contact Yvonne Lindsay on yvonne (at) yvonnelindsay (dot) come to receive your copy of One Heir...Or Two.........


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Marriage Under The Mistletoe by Helen Lacey........(This book was originally released in 2012...but has been re-released as part of An Aussie Beachside Christmas, a compilation with three other authors )

Strong. Sensible. Dependable. That was Evie Dunn's type. Certainly not young, fearless, gorgeous

firefighter Scott Jones. She knew the wisest course was to keep her distance, but she couldn't resist the allure of a holiday fling. Now the widowed single mom found herself with an unexpected post-Christmas gift—she was having Scott's baby!

Scott came to Crystal Point to see his sister tie the knot, not fall for the alluring owner of the town's oceanfront B and B. He knew he was all wrong for Evie, but he would do anything to win her heart and build the family he'd always wanted. All he had to do was persuade Evie to take the biggest risk of her life…...on love.

Scene set-up
(Evie and Scott are returning from visiting family and start discussing the argument they'd had earlier that week. But with the attraction between them at fever pitch, it isn't long before arguments are forgotten.....]



He turned the car into the driveway and braked outside the studio.

She twisted in her seat when the car came to a halt. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to come across all bossy and patronizing.”

Scott smiled and killed the engine. “Sure you did.”

She smiled back. “Well, maybe. But I shouldn’t have. I sometimes forget that I don’t have all the answers. You came here for your sister’s wedding, not lectures from someone who wouldn’t have a clue what it must be like to put your life on the line every day.”

“Apology accepted,” he said. “Though I probably deserved it.”

“Perhaps a little,” she said, and smiled. “And about before…what I said about Trevor. I’m not complaining…not really…it’s only that sometimes,” she said, suddenly seeming incredibly young and vulnerable. “I feel like I’m stuck in this role of being a certain kind of person. A certain kind of woman. And as that woman I always do what’s expected, what’s the right thing. I get this sense that being…I don’t know…suffocated almost…as if I’ve suffocated myself by being who I am. I’ve built this orderly, safe life which at times feels like a jail cell.”

Scott’s heart thundered beneath his ribs. “And what, Evie? You want to break out?”

She shrugged a little. “I think about it. I think what it might be like to be…I don’t know…different.”

Heat filled the space between them, flicking into life, energizing the air with its tiny atoms. Even in the dim light Scott could see the brightness of her eyes, the way her lips parted slightly, as though she was about to say something, as though she wanted to…to… He shook the feeling off, knowing he was nuts to keep thinking about her in that way. But he wanted to kiss her so much. He wanted to feel the skin on her shoulders beneath his hands, he wanted to taste the delicate spot behind her ear and then go lower, past her throat and lower still, to breasts he knew, without ever having touched them, ever having had them pressed naked against him, were glorious and round and sensitive and made for his hands and mouth. He wanted to kiss her ribs, her belly, her thighs… He wanted to bury his mind, his body, in the softness of her skin. He was more aroused than he could ever remember being in his life, and she hadn’t even touched him!

“You better make a run for it,” he said, more groan than words.

She obviously heard him, but remained where she was, drawing in breath. “I should, yes.”

Scott inhaled deeply and the scent of her ripped through his blood. If he moved a few inches she would be in his arms. And she wouldn’t resist—he felt that with mind-blowing certainty. “Last chance.”

She turned, easing toward him. Scott raised one hand and touched her cheek. He didn’t imagine the way her lips parted, or the way her tongue rested on her white teeth. The need to kiss her, possess her surged across his skin. And he didn’t have to wait. She came willingly, moving her body across the space dividing them and pressed her mouth to his. Scott responded instantly, taking her lips in a searing kiss that rocked him to the very core. His hands moved to her shoulders and he molded the delicate bones beneath his palms. The kiss went on, drugging, hot, kicking at his libido like a jackhammer. She moaned low in her throat as he cupped the underswell of her breast. Heat radiated through the T-shirt she wore and Scott felt her nipple peak against his thumb.

I haven’t made out in a car since I was a teenager.

 And I shouldn’t be doing it with a woman like Evie.

The realization was like a bucket of cold water.

“Evie,” he said hoarsely. “We should stop. This isn’t the place—”

She wrenched free as he spoke. “You’re right,” she said, and pulled herself into a sitting position. She  grabbed the door handle and pushed herself out of the car. He watched her race toward the house, her incredible hips swinging in her jeans. Within seconds she’d opened the front door and disappeared into the house. He stayed where he was, willing his body to play fair and return to normal.

It took a while. And it gave him a chance to think. The struggle to ignore his feelings for Evie was getting more and more difficult.

It’s getting damn well impossible.

He didn’t want them. Or need them. Feelings only blurred his focus. And lack of focus in his line of work could prove deadly. He’d seen evidence of that firsthand. Mike had lost his edge. Scott wasn’t about to make the same mistake. Every instinct he had told him to back off from Evie. He couldn’t do serious, and she deserved better.

I will not get involved.

And I really should have moved to a hotel.

I love Christmas and am delighted that Marriage Under The Mistletoe has been re-released in this anthology to celebrate an An Aussie Beachside Christmas.

With Christmas approaching, what's you favorite Christmas memory?

Leave a comment to go into the draw to win a copy of An Aussie Beachside Christmas (Four stories in this anthology)
 

Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and a smooch from  Amy Andrews....... will be posted!

Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver

Where Would I Be ....

Without the Blenheim Writers Group?

 Lovecat in the wild Barbara Deleo, Elizabeth King, Deborah Shattock, Nadine Taylor, Kate David, and our out of town member, Lovecat Louisa George make up this wonderful group.

These women are my lifeline when my writing world is in turmoil. Not going to mention how often that is. We meet regularly, as well as have writing weekends in a cottage that sits in the middle of vineyards, and at Christmas we indulge in cocktails and laugh over the goals we set in January. Louisa joins us for a weekend whenever she can fit it in.

But it's the regular meetings that I appreciate the most.
We celebrate.
















      We commiserate.












We laugh, sometimes cry, complain and applaud.
We brainstorm plots and black moments, settings and heroes for each other.
Did I mention talking? It never stops.
The list goes on, but it all comes down to this:

We support each other to the max.

There are other people in my life who are always there for me. My family share my excitement, the days when I type THE END, my tantrums, the frustrations, and the wonder of another sale - and especially the champagne.

But the Blenheim girls are more than that. Because they know what it's like to be an author. Whether they're published or not, they are living with the ups and downs of being an author, with the stories in their heads that have to come out, the solitude of sitting for endless hours with only those characters to talk to. (Who said I'm not whacko and need locking up?)
And yes, they share the champagne too. I mean, why wouldn't they?

Romance Writers of New Zealand and Romance Writers of Australia are other important groups I've belonged to for a long time and where I've met some amazing people, including all the Lovecats. I've made some wonderful friends, and we keep in touch all year round, catching up at the annual conferences. The infrastructure of these organisations is very supportive and sharing as well.
If it weren't for these groups I wouldn't have met one of our gorgeous Lovecats who went out of her way to help me years back before I was published. Her generosity and big heart cut a few years off my trying-to sell time. In case she gets swamped with MS's I'll keep her name to myself but she's my star.

But the Blenheim Girls come first. We're there for the day to day stuff. We know each other well. That was brought home to me this week when I was questioning my career. The things Barb pointed out made me realise how well we have come to know each other when it comes to this writing world. That's precious. I wouldn't be as strong without these wonderful women supporting me.

Do you have a special group supporting you in something dear to you?

 

The games we play...

Glory be! I’ve finally joined the Indie author ranks with my self-pubbed novella Christmas Wishes New Year Kisses, which was part of last year’s Hot Christmas Night’s Box Set (which was released with some of my fellow LoveCats). Here's the back cover blurb to whet your appetite ;-) :

When small-town veterinarian Josh Halliday drags his stressed best friend and business partner to a tropical beach for some much-needed R&R, he hadn’t counted on the sight of her in a bikini rocking his world. Realising the treasure that’s been under his nose all these years, can he convince Erin to take a chance on love…with him?

Erin Timms has all she can handle right now. Her friendship with Josh is one of the few things she can rely on and she’s determined not to let him ruin a perfectly good friendship for sex. Which would be easier if she could resist the heat that’s rising between them.

The novella has one of my all-time favourite tropes—it’s a friends-to-lovers story. There’s so much at stake when you become lovers with your very best friend…but so much to gain if it works out! That tension is one of the reasons I love the trope so much. The other reason is how well the heroine and hero know each other, and the insights we get into their friendship—the in-jokes, the way they can read each other at a glance, their teasing and the games they play.

Josh and Erin have known each other since kindergarten. They went to school together, graduated from university together, and have set up their own veterinarian practice together. Ever since they’ve known each other they’ve play a particular game—the What-Would-I-Choose? Game.

Example 1 (when they’re still home in Bell Trees):

      “Meet me down at the waterhole?”
    She blinked. The waterhole on the edge of town had been a favorite haunt of theirs as teenagers. “Why?”
      “I have chocolate milk in the Esky and a bag of salt and vinegar chips. A big bag.”
      He hadn’t answered her question, but when he dangled a family-sized bag of crisps at her she didn’t care. “You had me at chocolate milk.”
      His laugh warmed her. “See you there in five.”
     
When Erin arrived at the waterhole, Josh was already sitting on a blanket in the flatbed of his truck. “If you had to give up chocolate milk or salt and vinegar chips,” he said, as she climbed up beside him, “which would you choose?”

Example 2 (after they’ve arrived at their resort in tropical Queensland and Erin has gone into transports of delight that the fruit bowl in her room is replenished with mangoes every day):

      It was his turn to laugh. “You can add the ones from my fruit bowl too if you want.” Mangoes were an expensive rarity in Bell Trees. He rested back on his towel. “If you could eat only one fruit for the rest of your life, what would you choose?”
      Beside her, her phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, read the incoming text and some of the light went out of her face. She put the phone back down. “Apples.”
      He sat back up. “Apples? Why apples when you could have mangoes or strawberries or peaches?” She loved all of those things. Apples were so…
      “I grant you that mangoes are one of the most divine foods on earth, but you can’t throw one into your bag—or your truck—to snack on later. They bruise too easily. A mango is not a food you can eat on the run. An apple, though, can take you a long way.”
      An apple was so darn practical! When had she stopped reaching for the more exciting things in life? When had she started settling for apples?

Example 3: (after things have heated up between them and they’re desperately trying to get things back on an even footing):

“It’s so quiet here in the morning.” She tore open one of the bags of crisps. “Which would you choose? To live on a beautiful twenty-acre property—it’s your dream parcel of land—but you have to live in a caravan, or would you rather your dream house—it has everything you’ve ever wanted in a house—but neighbors hem you in on all sides?”


[Spoiler alert: Josh chooses the house that has a theatre room, a three car garage for all the toys, and…and a fireman’s pole. Erin chooses the acreage with her own private lagoon and an orchard.]

So let’s play the game too—and to make it more exciting I’ll give away one copy of Christmas Wishes New Year Kisses to one commenter. :)

Here’s my question: If you could only read romances set in small country towns or romances set in the glitz and glamour of the city, which would you choose?
 

Christmas Wishes New Year Kisses is available now!

Amazon

Kobo

Gardening, Anyone?

with Bronwyn Jameson

Are you a keen gardener?  I would like to be, and at least four times a year (once per season sounds about right...or perhaps never in winter and twice every spring) I throw myself into gardening with keen enthusiasm.  I enjoy being outside when the weather is Just So.  I love the damp-earth smell, the satisfaction of new buds on something I've planted, of nipping out from the kitchen to collect herbs when I'm cooking.  Which is my preferred domestic activity on a more regular basis than gardening.

But it is spring and so I'm on a gardening jag.  This week, at least.  There are weeds to pull, and annuals to plant and others to be replaced, the ones which didn't make it though the winter of my neglect.  This makes me sad and regretful and, as I dig and plant and water and mulch, I vow to do better with the replacements.

One of my replenishment tasks is a bed of irises -- tall and bearded, which sounds fashionably hipster --  many of which were planted by my mum.  She dug them up before leaving the farm where she raised us.  She called them hardy.  She believed even I couldn't kill them.

She was wrong.

This past weekend I visited an iris farm and chose my replacements.  With hundreds to choose from this was quite a task.  My garden is largely white and blue...or various shades of lilac and lavender and purple.  I managed to stick with this palette despite the lure of bright gold and salmon pink and rich burgundy.

I took many, MANY photos to keep track of those I chose versus those I wanted to choose but which didn't make the final cut.   They will be dug and sent in March and this time next spring I will know if I did, indeed, choose these.  There may be a few surprises, but that will be fun, right?

Arctic Express

Queen's Circle

Fair Dinkum

Tia Rose

Momentum

Fiesta in Blue

Got the Blues

Triple Delight

Swing Dancing

Rippling River

Stygian Night

What have you been planning or planting in your garden?

Do you have a favourite flower, or perhaps a planting which has special meaning?

SUNDAY SMOOCH WITH YVONNE LINDSAY

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from but first 

... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is  RIET!

Congratulations! Can you please contact Kandy Shepherd via kandy (at) kandyshepherd (dot) com to receive your copy of GREEK TYCOON'S MISTLETOE PROPOSAL! 


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from YVONNE LINDSAY!

Will the billionaire dad wed the surrogate mom? Find out with USA TODAY bestselling author Yvonne Lindsay! 

Kayla Porter vowed to be a surrogate for her deceased sister's embryos. She's already given birth to her niece Sienna. But a clinic crisis means she's running out of time to fulfill her promise. She needs Donovan Murphy's help--if they can work around the xplosive chemistry that's reignited between them!

The tech tycoon agreed to be a sperm donor, not a father. But that changes when he meets baby daughter Sienna. He will claim his little girl...and her passionate, headstrong mother!

Self-made tycoon Donovan Murphy grew up the hard way, now he knows exactly what he wants...and exactly what he doesn't. Children and messy emotional attachments are definitely off the cards. So what's the man to do when the sister of his late best friend comes back on the scene? The sister he slept with once, and who now is determined to bear his children. Taking care of Kayla and the child she's already borne, a child he is the donor father of, throws all sorts of temptation in his way. After butting heads with Kayla for the umpteenth time, Van takes action.

“You still keep a wall between you and the rest of the world, don’t you? I’ve only seen you take that wall down once.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Our night together,” she said passionately. “I know you felt that night. Be honest. You were hurting. I know I was. And, just for a while, we both made the hurt go away. We felt something together. Something that was bigger than the hurt, something that was special. Don’t you ever think about it? Don’t you want to feel like that again?”

“No, I absolutely do not. That night was nothing but a mistake.”

He launched toward the edge of the pool and hauled himself out, distancing himself from the conversation both mentally and physically. The way he always did from anything that approached emotion, she reminded herself. She shouldn’t feel as though she’d lost something precious, but she did. By the time Kayla got out of the pool and wrapped herself in the toweling robe she’d brought down with her, he was gone.

She’d never learn, she thought as she made her way up to her room. Always blurting stuff out. Well, at least it made life interesting, she consoled herself, as opposed to the frozen wasteland that was Van’s chosen emotional spectrum. She closed her bedroom door behind her and leaned back against it, feeling loss and sorrow seep through her. A knock on the wooden surface behind her made her start. She turned to open the door.

Van stood there, a towel wrapped at his waist and a smoldering green fire burning in his eyes.

“Van?”

“I do think about that night. I think about how your hair smelled, how your skin felt beneath my hands, the taste of you on my tongue, about the heat of your body when I was inside you, and all of it drives me crazy. I can’t stop thinking about that night. Or you.”

And then he reached for her.

His hands grasped her shoulders and he tugged her toward him. Stunned, she offered no resistance. His lips were hot and dry as they descended on hers. A bolt of desire, searing and desperate, shuddered through her as their lips met, as his tongue swept across the seam of her mouth. She parted her lips on a cry of need and he wasted no time deepening the kiss.

Kayla’s hands flew to his head, her fingers driving through his short dark hair, her nails gently scraping his scalp. He groaned into her mouth and the sound felt as though it vibrated throughout her entire body. She could already feel the press of his hips against her. Feel the hardness that spoke of his need for her. Inside, she turned molten.

A maelstrom of sensation poured through her as he wrenched free the knot in her robe’s belt and pushed aside the lapel to expose her to his starving gaze. His hand shook as he reached for the neck tie of her bikini. One quick tug and the too-small triangles of damp fabric fell to her waist. With one finger he traced a faint blue vein on her swollen breast, then followed it with the tip of his tongue.

She tried to speak, to tell him how he made her feel, but the second his mouth closed around her nipple, words failed her. Her knees threatened to buckle and send them both crashing to the floor. As if he sensed her weakness, he scooped her into his arms and carried her next to the bed and put her gently down on her feet again. Three more flicks of his fingers and her bikini top was off and her bottoms had fallen in a heap on the carpet. Her robe followed. Then his towel.

Kayla traced her hands over his chest, down his rib cage and lower to the waistband of his swimming shorts. Her fingers closed over the bulge at the front and he dropped his head to the crook of her neck. One of his hands closed over hers, halting her when she would have squeezed him.

His voice shook. “I want you, Kayla, but if you don’t want this, too, say it now while I can still, maybe, leave this room.”

“Want you? I need you, Van. Here. Now,” she whimpered.

I'm very proud to say that ONE HEIR...OR TWO? is my 35th title with Harlequin Desire. I hope you enjoyed the smooch and I hope you'll look out for the book when it hits the stores on November, 8! 

It always seems to me that the number 3 features very strongly in important days and events in my life. Do you have a special number that means something to you? Share your thoughts and be in to win a signed paperback edition of ONE HEIR...OR TWO? (open to international readers).

Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and a smooch from HELEN LACEY will be posted!

Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver

Anyone For Tea?

This is my first official blog as a newly appointed Love Cat so I wanted to share something about one of my great loves- tea.  I start each day with a cup of black tea and I have different cups for different times of the day. I know what you're thinking and you would be right.  I'm obsessive!

I grew up in the era ( or maybe it was just my particular household) where the only drinks we had were tea or coffee or water. Soft/soda drinks, cordials and alcohol were special occasion drinks such as Christmas and birthdays. So I began drinking tea quite early in my life and literally cannot start the day without my cuppa. And it has to be hot. Piping, burn-the-lips-on-the-first-sip hot!

I inherited my grandmother's tea set and it is one of my most treasured possessions. She brought it out with her from England in 1914 when she came to live with a doctor's family in Sydney as a governess. She was waiting for my grandfather to join her after he finished serving in the war. ( This sounds like the plot of a historical, doesn't it?) My grandmother died when I was six and I wasn't given the tea set until my fortieth birthday, but in all those years I never saw anyone use it. It was in the special items cupboard at my parents' house and considered too fancy to be used.

Guess what I did as soon as I got it in my hot little hands? Yes. I had a tea party! Yay. I adored using those cups for the first time.

I have other tea sets I've found at flea markets ( see above photo) that I use much more often than my grandmother's one.  I would hate anything to happen to any one of those lovely cups and saucers and cake plates as it would feel like I was losing a part of my grandmother's legacy. But it doesn't  stop me using it on select occasions. I now have my own special items cabinet- a French one that I adore.

Do you have a special treasure at your house? Do you use it or just look at it?
I have a signed copy of my most recent release Unwrapping His Convenient Fiancee as well as a copy of my last release, His Mistress For A Week, which incidentally has a heroine with an obsession about a tea cup!

Best wishes,
Melanie

High Tea!

I'm just home from a gorgeous Romantic High Tea in Townsville with the North Queensland Romance Writers. It was a morning tea of gorgeous little morsels, pretty little cups and plates, and talking about books. Pretty much a perfect way to spend a morning. 

The lovely Barbara Hannay was also there - you can see some of her books on the raffles table in the picture. I won the chocolate on the left (maybe a little hidden in this pic). Clearly, the raffle gods in Townsville knew me well. :)

Has anyone else been to a high tea? If so, what was it like? If not, what delicious little morsel would you like to find on a cake plate if you went to one?