Clash by Night (55 page)

Beau Landry was a real charmer, but Morgan Taylor was in Louisiana strictly for business. She was not about to become emotionally or physically involved with the key witness against her client. Just one dinner with the handsome, rugged Mr. Landry wouldn’t hurt—as long as Morgan could ignore her growing attraction to him...

Beau was prepared to use any tactic to get to know Morgan better. If it was a crime to be falling in love with a beautiful lady lawyer, then Beau was guilty as charged. He only hoped that his sentence with her would be for life.
 

NOVEMBER 2012

NATIVE AFFAIRS

(Four Contemporary

American Indian Romances)

700 pages of Romance

Reading Pleasure!

A Note from the Author:
The common denominator in the four romances I selected for
Native Affairs
is the Native American hero in each story. I chose to write about this Northern hemisphere icon because for me he exemplifies the strength and purpose and stoic masculinity always found in male romantic leads. From the physical trials his ancestors endured to reach tribal manhood, to the indefatigable courage they displayed in fighting the overwhelming numbers of European settlers, American Indians are unique in history. The modern counterpart’s ability to survive in society while retaining the mysticism and respect for nature and its processes that characterize his culture makes him a compelling figure. In my books this tenacity and toughness is translated into a contemporary setting and a relationship with a woman who challenges his background and beliefs. This contrast and conflict is what makes a good story and I’ve exploited that basic difference to tell tales that bring out the best in both characters who come together as a couple.

In
Blackfoot Affair
the main characters are on opposite sides of a legal battle, and in An Indian Affair the hero is a renegade bounty hunter who meets a teacher he simply can’t resist. In Medicine Man’s Affair the hero is an athlete who has to defy his own prejudices to pursue a woman he doesn’t want to desire, and in Marriage in Name Only a troubled teenager becomes a conflicted millionaire who can’t forget his first love. All four men are a bit difficult, a little dangerous, and a lot sexy. I hope you enjoy reading about this quartet of heartbreakers as much as I enjoyed writing about them. Some details are provided below.  
 

An Indian Affair
is a conflict of cultures tale about two people who have nothing in common but can’t stay away from each other. Cindy is both frightened by and attracted to Drew Fox. Even though every instinct she has tells her to put distance between herself and the wild man she is drawn to so fiercely, she listens to her heart rather than her head. How these two achieve a balance between their conflicting natures is detailed in a compelling love story.

Blackfoot Affair
is a tale that begins with intense antagonism between professional combatants, Marisa Hancock and Jackson Bluewolf. Their constant conflict produces a tension that flares into a desire that complicates their lives until they give in to it. Once they acknowledge   their need for one another they make progress toward happiness. Then an accusation of betrayal drives the couple apart until it is resolved in dramatic fashion, bringing them together in a satisfying conclusion.

Medicine Man’s Affair
is a story that shows that prejudices can poison a relationship on either side, but love can bring down these barriers and unite people of diverse backgrounds. Jennifer Gardiner meets Lee Youngson, a professional athlete who wants to be a doctor but believes his dream is impossible. Jennifer helps him to realize his ambitions and see that he doesn’t have to compromise his principles in order to love the woman he truly wants.

Marriage in Name Only
is a reunion story disguised as a revenge tale. After rich girl meets poor boy and then they are separated, Heath Bodine tells himself he is determined to punish his childhood sweetheart. But he is really still in love with the girl he thinks abandoned him years earlier. It is an intense, highly emotional story of youthful passion which translates into an enduring attachment once issues of honestly and loyalty are addressed. When Heath finally learns to trust Jessica, a mature and enduring is created between the two lovers.

OCTOBER 2012

MURPHY’S AFFAIR

(Contemporary Romance)

Uptight lawyer Hope Jarvis took one look at the man she was investigating and knew she was headed for trouble. What Dennis Murphy made her feel was positively illegal! How would she ever be able to do her job if she couldn’t think straight every time he came near?

Dennis’ life’s work was putting criminals behind bars, not taking adversaries to bed. He didn’t need Hope getting in his way—or under his skin. But there she was, looking all business and all woman, and Dennis knew this was one time when the laws of attraction would outweigh the law of the land…

SEPTEMBER 2012

RECKLESS MOON

(Contemporary Romance)

Bethany Forsyth had never known Bram Curtis, but she remembered the talk about him. Her father said he was a wanderer on the fact of the earth. Her mother said he had “gone to sea.” It was a beautiful expression, calling up images of a sky filled with foreign constellations. Beth wanted to meet the man who had gone to sea. And once she met him, she wanted to give herself to him in a way that both frightened and exhilarated her. She wanted to love him with a reckless devotion that would wipe out his bitter past. But could she do it?

AUGUST 2012

PANTHER LEGACY

(Historical Anthology)

Special Price of Just $3.99

Panther Legacy
contains two volumes:
The Panther and the Pearl,
an historical romance set during 1885 in the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, first printed in 1994, and its sequel,
Panther’s Prey
, set in the same location ten years later and released in 1996. The main characters of the first book reappear in the second book but in lesser roles as the central story is carried by a subsequent pair of lovers. Both stories are very erotic and atmospheric historicals, immersed in the male dominated culture of Turkey at the time. That area of the world was then controlled by local rulers called Sultans and their lesser lieutenants, called Pashas, both absolute despots ruling their districts with iron hands.

In
The Panther and the Pear
l, Sarah Woolcott is a Boston schoolteacher visiting a relative in Turkey in the late nineteenth century. By a combination of circumstances you’ll find only in fiction, Sarah is purchased by the Pasha of Bursa, Kalid Shah. He is a young, Oxford educated district governor, the child of a local pasha and a captive British mother, who takes a fancy to Sarah when he sees her during a state visit to his boss, the Sultan. Sarah is outraged when she is drugged and kidnapped and wakes up to find herself the property of this seductive stranger, installed in his harem as the ikbal, the favorite, and expected to accept her fate as his new sex toy. While she fights him tooth and nail and pursues every avenue to obtain her release, at the same time she is drawn to him inexorably as he proves to be as intelligent, charming and sexy as he is handsome. What results is a battle of wits which drives them both to distraction, as she refuses to submit to his imperious commands and he ignores his stable of submissive beauties to chase the American woman who wants nothing to do with him. How Sarah winds up turning the tables on her dictatorial lover and finally bringing him to heel makes for an entertaining and highly sensual story.

Panther’s Prey
, the sequel to
The Panther and the Pearl
, takes place ten years later in the same district of Bursa, where the ward of Sarah Woolcott’s cousin is abducted by Turkish rebels seeking to overthrow the same Sultan in power when Sarah first arrived in Turkey. She is now married to Kalid Shah and living with him and their three children at Orchid Palace in Bursa. Shah is in sympathy with the rebels and allies himself with Malik Bey, the brother of a character in the first book. Bey is a wanted fugitive, the leader of the insurgents. Bey takes Sarah’s cousin, Amelia Ryder, from her traveling coach by force in order to sell her into slavery to finance his anti-government activities. Amelia is as defiant and feisty as Sarah was a decade earlier, however, and as she tries repeatedly to get away from Bey’s camp and back to her family she and the rebel leader grow fascinated with one another. She learns about Bey’s past and his cause and helps him when his lieutenant and best friend is wounded. As time passes they share a compelling physical attraction which soon grows into an undeniable, unbreakable bond. Bey, young and handsome himself, is besotted with pretty blonde Amelia. He can’t keep his hands off her, despite his best efforts to put the revolution first and his feelings second, and decides finally that he cannot sell her. He makes a deal to release her to Shah just as she realizes that his cause is just and, even more shocking, that she really doesn’t want to get away from him. As Bey works with Shah to remove the Turkish dictator and replace him with an elected legislature, Bey is arrested and condemned by a desperate Sultan and Amelia joins forces with Kalid and Sarah to save his life. How Bey triumphs in the end and gets both a new government and the girl makes for a satisfying and sensual read. I hope you enjoy reading these books as much as I enjoyed writing them.