Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!
Today we have a smooch from Michelle Douglasbut first the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is...Jan VanEngen. Congratulations Jan! Can you please contact Clare:clareconnelly (at) outlook (dot) com to receive your copy of Shock Heir for the King.
And now for a retro Sunday Smooch from A Baby in His In-Tray -- a finalist in this year's HOLT Medallion!
Taking care of baby
With the boss!
When
Liv Gilmour's identical twin sister begs her to take her place for a
week to work for business hotshot Lord Sebastian Tyrrell, she can't say
no--after all, the boss will be away. Until someone abandons a baby with
a note demanding Sebastian take care of it. Suddenly Sebastian's swift
return sees Liv up close and personal with the sexy boss...and a baby
who needs them both!
Normally I'd give a scene set-up, but in this case I fear it'd give away too many spoilers. So I'll just let the kiss stand on it's own merits. ;-)
The
sure pressure of Seb’s lips on Liv’s, the way his fingers cradled her
head as if she were made of something fine and precious, completely
undid her, crumbling any resistance she might’ve put up.
Resistance?
There was no thought of resistance. Kissing Seb was the most exciting,
wonderful thing she’d ever done! She flung her arms around his neck and
kissed him back with everything she had.
For a moment
he seemed to bend under the onslaught of her wholehearted enthusiasm,
like a tree in the wind, but he came back with a force that had the
potential to fell them both.
‘Seb.’ His name whispered
from her lips. She couldn’t help it. She wanted to say his name over and
over. She wanted to whisper it to the stars.
Warm lips
pressed kisses to her throat, teeth scraping gently across the delicate
skin there. Her knees trembled, her legs threatening to buckle beneath
her, but his arm slid about her waist to hold her upright…and so very
close. She pressed herself even closer. Under her hands, his shoulders
flexed—broad and strong. She traced her hands up the strong column of
his neck, the stubble on his cheek scraping her palms as she urged his
mouth back to hers.
He kissed her so thoroughly, so
completely and shockingly explicitly that a fire burst into flaming life
and engulfed them both, and all she could do was hold on and try to
keep up with him.
Kissing him was like being on a
roller coaster. And yet it was like being wrapped in a warm blanket too.
It was like flying, but it felt like the most natural thing in the
world. Exotic and forbidden scents should be swirling all around them…as
well as the scent of baking bread and sunshine-scented soap. She
expected to hear fireworks exploding…alongside birdsong. Kissing Seb was
all things exciting…and all things warm and welcoming.
It made no sense, and it made all sense.
She
fitted into his arms perfectly, as she’d known she would. And she knew
that if they were naked they’d fit even more perfectly. And she wanted
that. She craved it with every atom, sinew and fibre. Ecstasy sparked to
life wherever he touched…and aches and burnings and yearnings. She
pressed herself against him to try and assuage the need engulfing her.
‘God, Eliza.’
It wasn’t his ragged breathing or the hoarseness of his voice that made her freeze. Eliza. She wasn’t Eliza. She wasn’t who he thought she was.
She pushed away from him with all her strength. ‘No!’
The
single word rang around the room, dispelling her ludicrous notion of
fireworks and birdsong. He released her immediately. ‘Eliza…?’
She’d let him kiss her when he thought she was someone else. She’d kissed him back. What kind of person did that make her?
I adore this book so I'm super excited it has been named a finalist in the HOLT Medallion. To go into the draw to win a signed copy of A Baby in His In-Trayjust leave a comment: Have you ever won anything? I used to dream about winning a holiday to a dream location -- which never happened. But I did win a meat tray last month and that made me ridiculously happy. :-)
Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced!
I suspect most of you will know that I have a new release out this month, but for those of you who don’t…I have a new release out this month! And this is ALWAYS exciting. So in honour of its release, I thought I’d share some fun facts about A BABY IN HIS IN-TRAY.
Fun Fact #1: The inspiration for A Baby in His In-Tray came when I was idly playing the “mash-up tropes” game. You know the one—what would I get if I mashed a Cinderella story with best-friends-to-lovers? What would I get if I mashed a fish-out-of-water story with a marriage-of-convenience? When I mashed-up a twin-swap story with a doorstep baby, A Baby in His In-Tray was born. :-)
Fun Fact #2: Originally the title was A Baby in Her In-Tray. However, when I mentioned the likely title to a few people, much humour was had at my poor heroine’s expense (“In-tray, huh? Is that what they’re calling it these days?”; “At least it wasn’t her in-box”, somebody muttered something about pigeon holes). My editor and I agreed to change Her to His. Who knew one little word could make such a difference. ;-)
Fun Fact #3: If you have a look at pages 10 and 11 of the American edition (the one with the balloons on the cover), you’ll find that they’ve been accidentally reversed. Oops!
Fun Fact #4: The theme song for this story was Sophie B Hawkins Damn I wish I Was Your Lover. Every time I hear that song I’m transported to the wistfulness, secret longings and cravings that hold Liv and Seb in thrall.
Fun Fact #5: There’s a line of poetry in the book from Byron’s The Destruction of the Sennacherib—The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold.... It’s an amazingly powerful poem, and I stole it from one of my favourite movies (Fever Pitch) uttered by one of my favourite actors (Colin Firth). If you’d like to read the full poem click here: The Destruction of Sennacherib
It was such fun to team my grumpy hero with such a mischievous though kind-hearted heroine, and I’ve been thrilled with the reviews it has received. :-) A Baby in His In-Tray is on shelves now. You can grab it at all of the usual places.
Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!
Today we have a smooch from Michelle Douglasbut first the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is...Latesha Ballard. Congratulations Latesha! Can you please contactAnnie: annie (at) annie-west (dot) come to receive your copy of Contracted for the Petrakis Heir
And now for today's Sunday Smooch from A Baby in His In-Tray.
Taking care of baby
With the boss!
When Liv Gilmour's identical twin sister begs her to take her place for a week to work for business hotshot Lord Sebastian Tyrrell, she can't say no--after all, the boss will be away. Until someone abandons a baby with a note demanding Sebastian take care of it. Suddenly Sebastian's swift return sees Liv up close and personal with the sexy boss...and a baby who needs them both!
Normally I'd give a scene set-up, but in this case I fear it'd give away too many spoilers. So I'll just let the kiss stand on it's own merits. ;-)
The sure pressure of Seb’s lips on Liv’s, the way his fingers cradled her head as if she were made of something fine and precious, completely undid her, crumbling any resistance she might’ve put up.
Resistance? There was no thought of resistance. Kissing Seb was the most exciting, wonderful thing she’d ever done! She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything she had.
For a moment he seemed to bend under the onslaught of her wholehearted enthusiasm, like a tree in the wind, but he came back with a force that had the potential to fell them both.
‘Seb.’ His name whispered from her lips. She couldn’t help it. She wanted to say his name over and over. She wanted to whisper it to the stars.
Warm lips pressed kisses to her throat, teeth scraping gently across the delicate skin there. Her knees trembled, her legs threatening to buckle beneath her, but his arm slid about her waist to hold her upright…and so very close. She pressed herself even closer. Under her hands, his shoulders flexed—broad and strong. She traced her hands up the strong column of his neck, the stubble on his cheek scraping her palms as she urged his mouth back to hers.
He kissed her so thoroughly, so completely and shockingly explicitly that a fire burst into flaming life and engulfed them both, and all she could do was hold on and try to keep up with him.
Kissing him was like being on a roller coaster. And yet it was like being wrapped in a warm blanket too. It was like flying, but it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Exotic and forbidden scents should be swirling all around them…as well as the scent of baking bread and sunshine-scented soap. She expected to hear fireworks exploding…alongside birdsong. Kissing Seb was all things exciting…and all things warm and welcoming.
It made no sense, and it made all sense.
She fitted into his arms perfectly, as she’d known she would. And she knew that if they were naked they’d fit even more perfectly. And she wanted that. She craved it with every atom, sinew and fibre. Ecstasy sparked to life wherever he touched…and aches and burnings and yearnings. She pressed herself against him to try and assuage the need engulfing her.
‘God, Eliza.’
It wasn’t his ragged breathing or the hoarseness of his voice that made her freeze. Eliza. She wasn’t Eliza. She wasn’t who he thought she was.
She pushed away from him with all her strength. ‘No!’
The single word rang around the room, dispelling her ludicrous notion of fireworks and birdsong. He released her immediately. ‘Eliza…?’
She’d let him kiss her when he thought she was someone else. She’d kissed him back. What kind of person did that make her?
To go into the draw to win a signed copy of A Baby in His In-Trayjust leave a comment: I can't imagine anything more stress-inducing than pretending to be something (or someone!) I'm not. Have you ever managed to pull off a minor (or major) deception or bluffed your way out of a situation pretending to be someone you weren't?
Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and a new smooch will be posted!
We don't have a Sunday Smooch scheduled for today, but the winner of last week's smooch and a copy of A Baby in His In-Tray is Pammie S.
Michelle is a doughnut fiend who's also rather partial to champagne and walks along the beach. She writes romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon…and is also enrolled in a PhD.
