Showing posts with label Bellaroo Creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bellaroo Creek. Show all posts

Feb 15, 2015

Sunday Smooch with Michelle Douglas

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from  Michelle Douglas but first 


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


Can you please contact Stefanie (at) stefanie-london (dot) com to receive your copy of The Rules According to Gracie.


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family


Three brave women, three strong men and one town on the brink...


The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family

Tess Laing has suffered much heartbreak and moving to Bellaroo Creek with her orphaned niece and nephew is the start of a new life. Meeting tall, dark and handsome Cameron Manning starts an unexpected flutter in her heart.

Cam is intrigued by Tess and quickly becomes entangled with them as little Ty gets a clear case of hero worship! they're the family he's always dreamed of--until a betrayal wipes his hopes away.

[Scene set-up: Cam and Tess are neighbours and while they’re attracted to each other, they’re convinced they’re on different paths. Tess has thrown Cam a mini-surprise party, which has thrown him for a bit of a loop. When everyone has gone they have a bit of a tiff...and then start laughing at their absurdity. But it makes the barriers between them fall...]


Cameron pulled her right into his arms and kissed her.

Raw, burning need blazed a path of fire through the very centre of his being and shot out in every direction. He’d ached to kiss this woman ever since he’d clapped eyes on her. But he’d burned harder and fiercer with that need since the first kiss they’d shared. And he was tired of fighting it.


He revelled in the sweet softness of Tess’s lips and the way they opened up at his demand—so sweet and giving as if she sensed his hunger and wanted to assuage it. So unselfish.


The realisation made him slow the kiss down, gentle it until she could catch up with him. Loosening his hold on her nape, he slid his hand through the dark cap of her hair and caressed the skin behind her ear in a slow circular motion, and then followed with his mouth. A shudder rippled through her, increasing his hunger, but he refused to speed up to meet that demand.


He wanted Tess with him. All the way. He wanted her smiling and satisfied...sated and delighted. He nearly lost the battle when her grip tightened on his arms and she moved in closer to press all her softness against him.


He tugged gently on her ear lobe. She gasped and arched into him. He grinned a lazy grin and did it again. She smelled of jellybeans and cake. Breathing her in was a treat in itself. The grin disappeared when she shifted restlessly against him, one of her hands plunging into his hair, her other arm winding around his neck.


He lost all sense of himself then, all sense of time. His mouth found hers and he fell into her, losing himself in the experience of kissing her, touching her, and filling himself up with her essence like a man gorging on some vital nutrient he’d been lacking. The hunger built until kissing and touching was no longer enough. He needed—?


A groan broke from him when she tore her lips from his and wrenched herself out of his arms. She stumbled to a sofa on the other side of the room. Seizing a cushion, she hugged it to her stomach.


His chest rose and fell as if he’d spent the last hour roping yearlings. He wanted to stride over to where she sat, haul her back into his arms and propel this encounter through to its natural conclusion. He almost did, but common sense reasserted itself. Ty and Krissie were somewhere around. This was not the ideal time for making love to Tess. He bit back an oath. ‘I’m sorry. The timing on that could’ve been better.’


She didn’t say anything. He wanted her to look at him, but she didn’t do that either.


He dragged in a breath, adjusted his stance and tried to quieten the stampeding of his blood. ‘Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? Jenny would love to babysit the kids and—’


‘No.’ 


He blinked.

She walked across and poked him in the chest. ‘Do you want me to fall in love with you so you can then break my heart? Will that mend your wounded ego and make you feel powerful and manly again? Will that show Lance that you’re over what he did to you?’



Tess ups sticks from the city and starts a new life in the country. What would you choose -- a tree-change (like Tess) or would you head to the coast for a sea-change? Maybe you even have a particular place in mind?

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


Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver

Sep 15, 2013

Sunday Smooch with Soraya Lane


Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from  Patchwork Family in the Outback, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Erin DeLuca


Can you please contact anna(at)annacampbellinfo to recieve your copy of A Rake's Midnight Kiss.


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Soraya Lane



The final piece of his family puzzle? 
Arriving in Bellaroo Creek, teacher Poppy Carter isn't quite prepared for the hard task ahead of her. But a school under threat and a class of unruly children is a breeze compared to single father Harrison Black, who's proving more of a challenge than she could ever have anticipated! 

Since his wife abandoned him and their children, Harrison has learned the art of keeping his distance—and new teacher Poppy doesn't seem to understand boundaries! But when a storm traps them both together, Harrison begins to wonder whether Poppy just might make the perfect addition to their little family….




 [Harrison and Poppy are stuck at his ranch during a storm, and she has just told him why her marriage ended.]



          “I guess we have more in common than we realized,” Harrison said, his voice soft now, soothing to the thumping of her head and the shaking of her hands.

            “Yeah,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

            But it was too late. Harrison had already seen her hands shaking and he was stepping forward and reaching for them, taking them from where they were folded and holding them in his. His palms covered the top of her hands, turning them slowly, fingers interlacing with hers.

            “You know what I’m wondering?” he asked, pulling her so slowly toward him that her body was obeying without her consent.

            “What?” she whispered, staring at his hands instead of his face.
            “How any man could ask another woman to his bed when he already had you to come home to.”
            Poppy didn’t believe him, not for a moment, but his words still put a smile on her face. “I don’t believe you, but thanks,” she said, braving his gaze and wishing she hadn’t, staring at him now like she was stuck in the web of his eyes, hypnotized with no chance of reprieve.
            “If you don’t believe me, then how about I show you?” Harrison’s voice was so low, so husky, that she was powerless to resist him.
            His hand left hers abandoned and slowly reached for her face, his palm cupping her cheek, fingers tucking beneath her chin and raising it. Poppy complied, more because she couldn’t not than because she consented.
            Harrison dipped his head, eyes dropping from hers to her mouth, and she did the same. Because his lips were moving toward hers, and she wasn’t going to pull away.
            His mouth was inches from hers, his breath warm against her skin, but still he hesitated, like he was waiting for her to accept, to make the final decision.
            Hell yes. The words ran through her mind at the same time as she stepped toward him, just one step, but enough for their bodies to touch and their lips to meet, in a kiss that stole her breath away and made her hands snake around the back of his neck. Her fingers found their way into his hair as his hands enclosed her waist, holding her still as their mouths danced, as his tongue so gently played against hers.

            So what if she’d promised to stay away from men? Harrison Black had been on her mind since her first day in town, and if she didn’t get this out of her system now? Then she’d probably never get a good night’s sleep ever again. Besides, maybe she didn’t need long term. Maybe one night was enough. 


If you had to escape your life, would you escape to the city or country?

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

Jul 5, 2013

The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family


by Michelle Douglas


ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A TREE CHANGE?
Do you long for fresh air and birdsong?
Do you relish fresh-picked produce?
Do you hunger for a gentler pace of life?
RENT A FARMHOUSE FOR $1 A WEEK!
If you’re a community minded family, why not rent a farmhouse for a $1 a week in beautiful Bellaroo Creek?
We can promise you a fresh start and genuine country hospitality.


That’s the advertisement my heroine reads and answers in my July release The Cattleman’s Ready-Made Family. This is Book One in the Bellaroo Creek trilogy. Barbara Hannay’s Miracle in Bellaroo Creek will be released in August, and Soraya Lane’s Patchwork Family in the Outback in September. We had a ball writing this series. :-)

The series idea is based on the rent-a-farmhouse-for-a-dollar-a-week scheme. This scheme was started in an effort to attract new blood to rural communities and to in effect “save” them—mostly measured by boosting school enrolments to save the schools.

I think it’s a brilliant idea. It helps both the rural community as well as prospective families who might be struggling financially and need a new start. If you’re at all temped go check out this website here.

Ever since I watched my first episode of Sea Change this idea of a sea or tree change has intrigued me. Can you imagine just upping sticks and turning your life on its head completely like this? Why would someone do that? It could be an act of desperation—an attempt to run away from a dreadful situation. It could be a resolution to leave the frantic pace of the city behind and to smell the roses. It could be a genuine effort to improve the quality of one’s life Or maybe there’s just nowhere else to go.

I love dreaming rural dreams—of moving to the country and living in rustic splendour. I love the idea of relocating to a beach shack too. ;-) What about you? If you were going to turn your life on it’s head like this where would you go?