May 28, 2017

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 Kerri S!


Can you please contact  rachel (at) rachelbailey (dot) com
to receive your copy of At the Billionaire's Back and Call?


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from  Heart of the Bay (The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner)

Heart of the Bay comprises my first three books for Harlequin set in idyllic Dolphin Bay. This weeks smooch is from the second story in the collection The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner (still available singly as an e-book.)



Kate Parker distracts herself from her memories by keeping busy – and how better than organising weddings for Dolphin Bay’s sweethearts? But tall, dark and handsome tycoon Sam Lancaster’s arrival suddenly has Kate forgetting where she has left the confetti…
And mysterious Sam will be around a while longer than the cutting of the cake – because he’s got to oversee Kate’s building project? There’s no time for distractions…but is it time to stop running from happiness, now it’s led them to each other?



Scene set-up Kate Parker is the wedding planner for her friend Sandy’s wedding at Dolphin Bay. She’s enlisted the help of a stranger in town, the groom's friend Sam Lancaster, to help her build a wooden wedding arch for the beach ceremony. The secrets in her past make Kate wary of handsome Sam and she’s fought the instant attraction she felt for him from the get go. Now they are in her late father’s work shed and Sam is preparing to start work on the arch. Kate is finding the close proximity to the gorgeous hunk disconcerting. She’s told Sam she has some handywoman skills and he has suggested she help him with the build.


Smooch “I’m not that great with saws or drills. But I can hammer and use a screwdriver, and I’ll put my hand up for sanding.’ Kate picked up a sanding block from the bench to prove the point. ‘The surface will have to be really smooth. We don’t want Sandy’s gown catching on it and snagging. Can’t have a bride with a snagged gown. Not on my watch.”

She was aware she was speaking too rapidly. Aware that it wasn’t just from nervousness but acute awareness of Sam—his perceptive brown eyes that saw right through to her innermost yearnings; the heat of his powerfully muscled body that warmed her even without them touching. Just looking at his superb physique and so handsome face made her feel wobbly at the knees.
Towering above her, he seemed to take up every bit of the confined space. When he took a step closer it brought him just kissing distance away. She would only have to reach out her hand to stroke that scar on his eyebrow that she found so intriguing, to trace the high edge of his cheekbone, to explore with trembling fingers his generous, sensual mouth.
 Looking intently into her face and without saying a word, he took the block from her suddenly nerveless fingers and placed it on the bench. “No need for that right now,” he said. Her breath caught in her throat in a gasp that echoed around the walls of the small space.
 She didn’t resist when, without another word, he drew her close, cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her. She sighed with pleasure and kissed him right back, her heart tripping with surprise, excitement and anticipation. Hadn’t she wanted this from the day she’d first seen him?
 His lips were firm and warm and, when his tongue slipped into her mouth, passion—so long dormant—ignited and surged through her. She quickly met his rhythm with her own, slid her hands up to rest on his broad shoulders, delighted in the sensation of their closeness.
This was how a kiss should be. This kiss—Sam’s kiss—consigned any other kiss she’d ever had into oblivion.
His breath was coming fast and so was hers. Desire, want, need: they all melded into an intoxicating hunger for him. 
He pulled her close to his hard chest and his powerful arms held her there, her soft curves pressed against him. His kiss became harder—more demanding, more insistent. She thrilled to the call of his body and her own delirious response.
They kept on kissing. But the force of his kiss pushed her backwards against the wall of the shed so it pressed hard into her back with no way of escaping the discomfort. Suddenly her mind catapulted her back to the farmer forcing his unwanted attentions on her. He’d backed her into a boot cupboard, confined, airless—like the shed she was in now.
Sudden fear gave her the strength to put her hands flat against Sam’s chest and push him away. “No!” she cried.




The Tycoon and The Wedding Planner is also available unabridged as a Recorded Book from Harlequin, narrated by the talented Saskia Maarleveld who does a wonderful job with the Australian accents of the story. This week I have a copy of the CD collection from Recorded Books as my giveaway.

When Kate first meets Sam, she is unaware that he is a very wealthy tycoon. She thinks he is a carpenter which is why she asks him to help with the wedding arch. Shes got some handy-woman skills herself she learned from her father.

What about you? Are you handy with a hammer and a nail or a saw or drill? Or do you leave
that kind of thing to other members of the family or  a paid professional? Any disasters to report? Or successes? Leave your comment for a chance to win a copy of the CD audio version of The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner.

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


Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver

12 comments:

  1. Hi Kandy

    Oh I did love this story and the three in the series and how wonderful that they have been released all together like this fabulous.

    Handy with a hammer no way neither is hubby we leave this to a professional which normally costs an arm and a leg LOL although I have been known to change washers in taps over the years you see my Pop was a plumber and he taught me how to do that but these days I leave the plumbing to one of my SIL :)

    Have Fun
    Helen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Helen, thank you for your kind words about the Dolphin Bay books!

      I'm impressed that you can change a washer - I wouldn't have a clue how to do that!

      Delete
  2. Ooh, intriguing smooch, Kandy!

    Ah, no...I can't report that I have any kind of handy-person skills I'm afraid. Although, Mr Douglas and I did once refresh an old chest of drawers -- sanded it back, stained it, put new handles on it...which included me using the drill to sand holes for said handles. It worked. I felt ridiculously accomplished! I am woman hear me roar. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Reeze, your story made me smile! I too would feel like roaring if I actually worked a sander and a drill and got good results!

      Delete
  3. I'm happy to say that I can actually put together a flat pack furniture from Ikea. I just need my tools and some quiet music, and no help until I call for it to hold a piece or two. Most of my handiwork is at my son's home, where they bought a lot of Ikea,but my biggest "job" was my new kitchen cupboards that had to be replaced after Hurricane Charlie in 2004. I had a friend who works construction mount them on the wall, but I did most of the assembly, saved a lot of $$$

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laurie, I am seriously impressed at your Ikea assembling skills! I find the instructions quite confusing. I did however manage to put my Ikea office chair together, with the help of my then 15 year old daughter. Kitchen cupboards is such and achievement!

      Delete
  4. My hubby is the fixer upper when not working, even built my oak book selves that take up a whole wall of my study. I put together a ladder stand the other day. Fun and games. Lovely scene. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan, your hubby sounds very handy! I have to say, mine is good too. And clever you with the ladder stand.
      Glad you liked the smooch.

      Delete
  5. Ill try anything I think I can handle lol but I leave the hard stuff to the professionals. Being single you have to learn to adapt and try and do alot of things yourself but common sense also tells me when its time to call in the big guns !! Love the cover of the audio !!!

    :D happy sunday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true, Katrina, about having to be adaptable when you're single. And I bet you've surprised yourself with what you were able to do when called upon.
      It's a lovely cover on the audio book isn't i?! I have to say, it was quite odd to hear my book read outloud on a CD. But the narrator is excellent.

      Delete
  6. Hi Kandy. Nice this extract.
    I can plant a nail, change a bulb, in short, do home work. Only when there are problems with hydraulics or other serious problems my husband thinks, or I pay a professional.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Franca, it seems you are quite a handy-woman too!
    I'm glad you like the smooch!

    ReplyDelete