Sunday Smooch with Kandy Shepherd

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Kandy Shepherd but first 


... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is... LynLill Williams!



Can you please contact Melanie Milburne at

melaniemilburne (at) gmail (dot) com 

to receive your copy of Unwrapping His Convenient Fiancée

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Greek Tycoon's Mistletoe Proposal

A proposal of convenience! 

When billionaire Lukas Christophedes finds maid Ashleigh gatecrashing his mansion, he strikes a bargain: if Ashleigh acts as Lukas's girlfriend to help him close a deal, she can stay until the New Year! 

For newly single Ashleigh, agreeing to keep hearts off the table sounds easy…until the line between what's real and what's for show starts to blur! And as Christmas approaches, all Ashleigh is wishing for is a different, much more heartfelt, proposal…

Scene set-up

When Aussie runaway bride and temporary maid Ashleigh Murphy has an accommodation crisis in London at Christmas time, she decides to squat in the Chelsea townhouse of Greek billionaire Lukas Christophedes. Lukas is furious when he discovers her. Reluctantly she agrees to be his pretend girlfriend to help him close a deal, after a  Pretty Woman type makeover. But the deal doesn't close easily. Ashleigh is thrown more into Lukas's company than she bargained for - and the more time she spends with them the more attracted she is to him. Lukas is beguiled by lovely Ashleigh but he has his reasons for holding back from the enchanting intruder. Trouble is, all that fake flirting and pretend kissing means the sensual tension between them is building. Finally they face each other after a dinner party where they've been pretending to be a loving couple...

Smooch 
It was as if all Ashleigh’s fantasies had come to life. As soon as she and Lukas reached the pavement outside Tina’s apartment, he turned her to him, looked deep into her face. She thrilled to the intensity of his eyes, the way they narrowed as he searched her face, the sensual half curve of his mouth. Then, without a word, he pulled her close to him.

Finally, the truth—no words required. His quickened breathing told her all she needed to know. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. Her gasp of impatience, of want, no doubt sent the same message to him.

Then his mouth was on hers, hard, warm, exciting, demanding a response. She parted her lips, welcomed him, kissed him back. It felt as if she’d waited all her life for this. For him.

It hadn’t started sweet and gentle and went straight to deep and demanding—an urgent meeting of mouths and tongues, of bodies straining hard against each other. His overcoat was open. She splayed her hands on his hard chest and pushed him to the wall behind him. At last. This. Lukas. Her heart thudded loud and fast. He slid his hands inside her coat, to pull her close—as close as she could be to his body through layers of winter clothes. Her nipples tightened as desire pulsed through her in a wave that demanded more. He held her so close to his body she felt his response, hard and insistent, which further inflamed her. She wanted him.

‘Lukas,’ she moaned. ‘Why did we wait so long for this?’

He stilled. She knew immediately she’d said the wrong thing. ‘We didn’t,’ he said, his voice hoarse and strained. ‘I’ve only known you a week.’

‘That’s long enough,’ she said, her voice raspy with desire.

‘For what?’

‘For this,’ she said, lifting her face to his, hungry for his mouth to possess hers again.

Greek Tycoon's Mistletoe Proposal is my November release from Harlequin Romance (Cherish in the UK, Forever Romance in Australia and New Zealand).

Greek Tycoon's Mistletoe Proposal is the second in the Maids Under the Mistletoe mini series from Harlequin Romance . Four friends who have fallen on difficult times work for Maids in Chelsea, an upmarket employment agency, and find love. Each book about the Christmas Cinderellas stands alone but are linked. There's also a fifth story, written by me, Claiming His Christmas Bride which is the free, online read at harlequin.com right now! Clio Caldwell, the owner of the agency, meets up again with former fiancée, sizzling Spaniard Enrique di Costa. Will the chance meeting lead them up the aisle as a Christmas bride? 

I love writing Christmas stories and these two were particularly fun as they were set in London in winter - a different experience for folk from Down Under who have a summer  Christmas.

Do you have a Christmas tradition that you maintain no matter where you are, summer or winter, during the festive season?
Leave your comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Greek Tycoon's Mistletoe Proposal (all regions).

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

Sunday Smooch - The Bridesmaid's Baby Bump - Kandy Shepherd

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Kandy Shepherd but first 


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


Can you please contact
bronwynjames@gmail.com
 to receive your e-copy of your choice of Anne McAllister's Tanner Brothers 


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Kandy Shepherd

THE BRIDESMAID'S BABY BUMP

The billionaire bachelor's baby! 

When party planner Eliza Dunne meets billionaire Jake Marlowe at a wedding, she decides to finally give in to the sparks that have always fizzed between them! 

The connection is so intense that Jake can't resist Eliza—but with the divorce only just final after his unhappy marriage, he's not ready for anything serious. But when Eliza tells him her shocking news—she's pregnant with his baby!—he has one certainty: he wants to be at the center of his new family, as a husband and father…

The Bridesmaid’s Baby Bump is the third and final book in the linked mini series ‘Sydney Brides’ from Harlequin Romance.

Eliza Dunne and billionaire Jake Marlowe have twice been bridesmaid and best man at the weddings of Eliza’s two business partners at Party Queens, their party planning business, and Jake’s two best friends. (Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress and Crown Prince’s Chosen Bride.)

The attraction between them was instant—but Jake was still trapped in an unhappy marriage. Both honourable people, they did nothing about the attraction. Now Jake is divorced—and finally ready to pursue Eliza, who has her doubts about the domineering way he has gone about it.

He has hi-jacked her short vacation in Port Douglas in tropical Queensland and is driving her from the airport to her resort in his car. Before the smooch—their first kiss—she has suggested they’ve been over-thinking things. Why don’t they just relax and enjoy each other’s company? Jake has swerved the car onto a layby under some palm trees overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

  

‘Shall we agree not to worry about tomorrow when we haven’t even had a today yet?’

Eliza had been going to add not even a morning. But that conjured up an image of waking up next to Jake, in a twist of tangled sheets. Better not think about mornings. Or nights.

Jake’s grin widened. ‘You’ve got four days of vacation. I’ve got nothing to do except decide whether or not to offload my house in Port Douglas.’
‘No expectations. No promises. No apologies.’

‘Agreed,’ he said. He held out his hand to shake and seal the deal.

She edged closer to him. ‘Forget the handshake. Why don’t we start with a kiss?’

Jake knew there was a dating after divorce guideline regarding the first physical encounter, but he’d be damned if he could think about that right now. Any thoughts other than of Eliza had been blown away in a blaze of anticipation and excitement at the invitation in her eyes—a heady mix of sensuality, impatience and mischief.

She slid a little closer to him from her side of the car. Reached down and unbuckled his seat belt with a low, sweet laugh that sent his awareness levels soaring. When her fingers inadvertently trailed over his thigh he shuddered and pulled her kissing distance close.

He focused with intense anticipation on her sweet mouth. Her lips were beautifully defined, yet lush and soft and welcoming. She tilted her face to him, making her impatience obvious. Jake needed no urging. He pressed his mouth against hers in a tender kiss, claiming her at last. She tasted of salt—peanuts on the plane, perhaps?—and something sweet. Chocolate? Sweet and sharp at the same time. Like Eliza herself—an intriguing combination.

She was beautiful, but his attraction had never been just to her looks. He liked her independence, her intelligence, her laughter.

The kiss felt both familiar and very different. Within seconds it was as if her kiss was all he’d ever known. Her lips parted under his as she gave a soft sigh of contentment.

‘At last,’ she murmured against his mouth.

Kissing Eliza for the first time in the front seat of a four-by-four was hardly ideal. Jake had forgotten how awkward it was to make out in a car. But having Eliza in his arms was way too exciting to be worrying about the discomfort of bumping into the steering wheel or handbrake. She held his face between her hands as she returned his kiss, her tongue sliding between his lips to meet his, teasing and exploring. He was oblivious to the car, their surroundings, the fact that they were parked in a public layby. He just wanted to keep kissing Eliza.

Was it seconds or minutes before Eliza broke away from him? That kind of excitement wasn’t easily measured. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes shades brighter, her lips swollen and pouting. She was panting, so it took her some effort to control her voice. ‘Kissing you was all I could think about that night in the castle.’

‘Me too,’ he said.

Six months of pent-up longing for this woman erupted into passion, fierce and hungry. As their kiss escalated in urgency Jake pulled her onto his lap, one hand around her waist, the other resting against the side of the car to support her. He bunched her hair in his hand and tugged to tilt her face upward, so he could deepen the kiss, hungry for her, aching for more. The little murmurs of pleasure she made deep in her throat drove him crazy with want.

His hands slid down her bare arms, brushed the side curves of her breasts, the silkiness of her top. She gasped, placed both hands on his chest and pushed away. She started to laugh—that delightful, chiming laughter he found so enchanting.

‘We’re steaming up the windows here like a coupled of hormone-crazed adolescents,’ she said, her voice broken with laughter.

‘What’s wrong with being hormone-crazed adults,’ he said, his own voice hoarse and unsteady.

‘Making out in a car is seriously sexy. I don’t want to stop,’ she said, moaning when he nuzzled against the delicious softness of her throat, kissing and tasting.

The confined area of the car was filled with her scent, heady and intoxicating. ‘Me neither,’ he said.

Making out in cars seems deliciously forbidden doesn't it? I loved giving Eliza and Jake their first kiss in a car.
I remember the time as a teenager I'd gone on a date with a intriguingly older, sophisticated guy. We were parked in his sports car outside our house smooching in the front seat when my mother decided it was time to water the garden. There she suddenly was hosing the grass on the pavement near where we were parked. How embarrassing! Needless to say Older Guy decided maybe a schoolgirl wasn't for him - I didn't see him again!
Have you had a memorable/disastrous/embarrassing kiss in a car? Or heard about one? Make a comment to be put in the draw for a signed paperback copy of The Bridesmaid's Baby Bump.

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

Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver