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?

A Charmed Life

by Michelle Douglas

When my third book was released for publication, my DH—wonderful man that he is—surprised me with a Pandora bracelet complete with two charms to represent my first two books.

His Christmas Angel

The Loner’s Guarded Heart

He didn’t know what to get me for Book 3—The Aristocrat and the Single Mum. So he presented the bracelet to me with the promise that we would go shopping for the third charm…and for every charm thereafter.

Yes, that’s right. He buys me a new charm for each book as a celebration and acknowledgement of an accomplishment achieved. And, yes, each charm does have its own little story.

This is the charm for my May book—The Man Who Saw Her Beauty. (June in Aust/NZ).

Isn’t it the sweetest little teacup? Here’s the reason why I chose it...

Set up: My hero has come to apologise to my heroine for bawling her out earlier. She finds him VERY unsettling, but has offered him tea.

“Tea would be great. If you’re sure it isn’t any trouble.”

He’d donned his very best manners. And just like that Blair didn’t want him to apologise any more. She wanted him and his disturbing presence and her even more disturbing reaction to him to walk out through that door and leave her in peace.

For a brief moment today she’d experienced something she hadn’t felt in quite some time—optimism. She’d felt she had something of value to offer someone. And then this man had come along and deflated it with his harsh words and dismissive attitude.

Still, it had been refreshing to be abused rather than mollycoddled.

She snapped herself back into the present and put the jug on to boil, spooned tea into the pot. Nicholas and his unnerving masculinity weren’t going to walk out through that door just yet, because she’d offered him tea as hospitality demanded. The sooner the tea was done, the sooner he’d leave.

She chose her aunts tiniest teacups instead of her usual generous mugs.

Of course, Blair then can’t help noticing how: His big hand on the tiny teacup should’ve looked clumsy, but it didn’t.

And a little later Nick can’t help thinking: Blair’s aunt would’ve given him tea in a mug, but Blair had sophisticated city ways. She had gloss and elegance.

Somehow the tiny teacups in that scene became symbolic to me of the conflict between my heroine and hero. Every time I glance at the charm on my bracelet I find myself smiling.

I can’t tell you how much I love this bracelet. Not because of its material worth or how cute and pretty it is, but for what it represents.

I'd love to know if you have a piece of jewellery (other than wedding or engagement rings because they have a special significance all of their own) that has a special significance…or that just makes you smile?