Oct 10, 2012

Charmed Again!

by Michelle Douglas

Minky, a pampered chocolate-banded Abyssinian moggy, plays quite a role in my October release, Bella’s Impossible Boss. So it only seemed logical that the charm I would choose for my Pandora bracelet would be a cat reclining on a cushion. Here it is…


…and isn’t it cute? A cat reclining in Queen Minky style. :-)

So I thought today I’d give you a couple of little teasers about Minky.

Bella is looking after Minky for a friend, and she’s less than enthusiastic about the task. This is when Minky is first introduced into the story:

Bella tried to smile at the cat, but it glared at her through the bars of its cage as if it knew she didn’t really mean it. It hissed when she readjusted the holdall over her shoulder. It spat when she dropped the other bag to the floor.

‘You might be a pedigree chocolate-banded Abyssinian, but you’re still just a cat, you know,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘In a cage,’ she added for good measure.

She fumbled with the door key and tried to keep the cage as still as possible. From the noise Minky was making, you’d think Bella had seized the cage in both hands and was shaking the life out of it.

And this is Dominic’s introduction to the illustrious Minky

‘Do you mean to leave that cat in its cage all day?’

Bella bit back a sigh and, mug in hand, made for the living room. Setting her mug on the coffee table, she knelt down beside the cage. ‘Hey there, Minky,’ she said in as conciliatory a voice as she could manage. ‘You are going to be a good kitty-cat, aren’t you?’

Soothing and calm, she instructed herself. She needed the cat to feel secure and unthreatened in its new environment. She hunkered down until she was almost eye level with the feline. ‘We’ll take it slow, okay? I’ll open the door and you can wander on out whenever you feel like it to check out your new home. And then I’ll get you some dinner, okay? How’s that sound?’

‘Like far more explanation than anything with four legs needs,’ Dominic drawled.

‘Ignore the nasty man,’ Bella told the cat in the same sing-song, hopefully soothing voice.

Minky’s yellow-green eyes glared at her. The tail swished. Good Lord, who was she trying to kid? The cat hated her.

She glanced up at Dominic. ‘I’m not exactly sure how she’ll react. She’s, um, not happy.’

‘It’s a cat,’ he dismissed. ‘It weighs, what? Two kilos at the most? It can’t exactly do that much damage.’

She pointed at him. ‘Famous last words.’ He grinned and it lifted something inside her. With heart thumping, she opened the cage door.

Minky exploded from it like a demented jack-in-the-box on steroids to claw straight up Dominic’s denim-clad legs. He’d moved to stand in front of the cage, Bella presumed so he could get a better view of the show, but he didn’t deserve that.

‘Minky!’ She leapt up.

Yowling, the cat let go and then proceeded to bounce off the sofa, the coffee table and two dining room chairs before settling under the television cabinet, eyes glaring and tail twitching in compulsive malevolence.

Bella armed herself with a cushion before spinning back to Dominic. ‘Did she hurt you?’ Her eyes dropped to his thighs. Five tiny pinpricks of blood stained the denim of his jeans—three on the left thigh and two on the right.






I love it when animals play a role in a romance? What about you? Or would you prefer the dogs and cats to remain firmly in the background?

10 comments:

  1. Oh, Minky is adorable! I always love a Michelle Douglas book, but I have a feeling already that Bella's Impossible Boss will be a fave.

    Animals in romance books can make it just that more special - both to read and write. In fact, my April '13 book, No Stranger To Scandal, has a Bulldog called Rosebud and I adored her. I had to be careful not to let her completely take over the scenes she's in!

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  2. I'm about one third of the way into the book right now and really enjoying it. I love animals in books.

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  3. What a brilliant scene! Your hero is so typical with regard to cats. It's like someone will call them a pansy if they scratch under a cat's chin and admit out loud it's adorable.
    Not all guys though.
    A short time ago we needed a tech to come and look at our telephone lines. The brawny blokey bloke of a tech knocked on the door when the line was fixed to let me know. Our very pretty Birman cat rushed out the opened front door and the guy pulled his cauliflower ear and grunted. "I like cats," he said. "They're smart."
    I was gobsmacked for a second then we had a discussion on why cats are so darn great.

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  4. Rach, fingers crossed that you enjoy Bella's Impossible Boss. ;-) Like you, I love animals in books, but only if they really count. I've cut animals from scenes because they didn't add to the development of the story. No one, however, can accuse Minky of not helping to develop (and on one occasion hinder) the romance between Bella and Dominic. :-)

    Oh! And I love the sound of Rosebud! Can't wait to read Stranger to Scandal!

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  5. Aw, Kaelee, I'm so pleased you're enjoying the book. I have to admit that I have a real soft spot for this story. :-)

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  6. Oh, Robbie, that's a brilliant story! I love that your brawny techie was man enough to admit he liked cats. That said, it'd take a hard heart to not fall in love with your gorgeous Birman. Dominic feigns indifference to Minky initially, but Minky does eventually work her magic on him. Men who are kind to babies and animals...mmm...just makes me weak kneed. :-)

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  7. Sigh ~ I finished Bella's Impossible Boss. I loved the book and now I have to make time to visit Newcastle on the internet. Minky certainly played a big role in the book ~ a very realistic role as well. I don't want to give anything away but I love what happened after the first kiss which was a Sunday Smooch.

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  8. Aw, Kaelee, so sweet of you to pop back and say you liked the book!

    :-)

    Newcastle is my home town and I loved setting the book there. It made me re-appreciate the glorious beaches and all the other good things about living where I do.

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  9. Oh, fabulous scene, Michelle! By a funny coincidence we had a cat with the same name but we spelled it Minki! He was a Chinchilla cross and a holy terror! We taught him to run up our body to our shoulder - loads of fun while he's...
    a) a small kitten and
    b) it's winter and we have thick clothes on!

    The piece de resistance was when the gas man came to service the meter... Minki ran up his body to his shoulders and I thought the poor man was going to die of fright!

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  10. Sharon, Minky snarled her way onto the page fully formed, complete with name -- for which I was grateful. Is there a bigger time waster than coming up with a name for a pet?

    I totally love the sound of your Minki. And what I'd have given to have seen the expression on the gas man's face!

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