Showing posts with label siren publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label siren publishing. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Special Guest - Tina Donahue






INTIMATE DETAILS

by Tina Donahue



Buy Links:


PRE-ORDER!
AVAILABLE: Tuesday, November 4th
This title is offered at a 10% discount. Offer ends midnight CST, November 11th


Blurb:

As a computer hacker, she demands justice.
As a woman, she craves two powerful and commanding men.

Shana’s been hacking one of Manhattan’s most corrupt executives, making him pay for what he’s done to his victims. Using her skills, she convinces Mike and Cody to hire her at their intelligence-gathering firm, where intimate details help their clients.
Never has Mike met a woman as delicious as Shana. Smart as hell, curvy and assured, she’d be a delightful challenge in bed. Cody’s carnal hunger is equally intense. He and Mike want to know everything about her.
She won’t divulge the secrets of her past. All she can offer is unquenchable desire and her heart.
During weeks of shameless lust and pleasure, Mike and Cody peel away the layers of Shana’s life. The stunning truth changes everything. They’ll do all that they can to keep her safe…and in their arms.



Excerpt:

Shana sucked her bottom lip.
Leaning closer to her, Mike murmured, “Is that a yes?”
Against her better judgment, Shana nodded faintly. She’d send them in the opposite direction of her place then hop on the subway and go home.
Her stomach growled again.
Straightening, Mike brought something up on his phone and handed the device to her. “That menu’s from an all-night deli not too far from here. Decide what you want and I’ll call the order in.”
Shana resisted the urge to sniff his phone to see if it smelled like him. On unsteady legs, she followed him and Cody out of the suite to the bank of gold elevators. Mottled black marble graced the floors and walls of the expansive hall. Art Deco chandeliers rained gentle light on them and the numerous plants. Cody stood to her left, Mike to her right.
She pretended to read the menu. The words swam in front of her. Mike and Cody’s proximity, size and heavenly scents overwhelmed.
The elevator dinged. Her heart jumped. She entered the roomy space, its walls and ceilings lined with gold-flecked mirrors.
Cody and Mike studied her reflection in the glass.
She did the same with them.
After pressing the button for the lobby, Mike inclined his head to the phone. “Anything look good?”
Shana had forgotten about the menu. The elevator’s display showed the floors ticking down. Each whooshing sound marked him and Cody getting closer to taking her where they thought she lived. Them trying to find out more about her that they shouldn’t. Perspiration ran down the back of Shana’s neck and between her breasts. She looked from Mike to Cody then back.
Mike smiled. “What?”
She moved into him without meaning to, her arms wreathed around his neck, her free hand pushing his head toward her. He smelled of coffee and need. Their lips touched. His silky and warm, his cheeks deliciously rough.
A surge of something Shana had never experienced rolled through her. Moaning at the intense pleasure, she brushed her mouth over his and slipped her tongue inside. Wet heat greeted her, tasting clean and fresh. Her knees sagged, bumping his.
Mike wrapped his arm around her waist and hauled her close, his rigid cock snuggled against her cunt. He buried his fingers in her hair, holding her still so she couldn’t get away.
Shana had no thought of escape. She melted into him.
They kissed noisily, their movements too eager. Elbows and shoulders bumped the walls in their attempt to get closer, to touch as much of each other as they could, her hands roaming his ass, his fondling and squeezing her breasts. When they were both out of breath, Shana pulled her mouth free, stumbled away from him and moved into Cody’s arms.
He backed her against the wall, his body trapping hers as Mike’s had. Cody kissed Shana’s temple and cheek, then the side of her mouth before he got down to business.
She inhaled sharply at his tongue filling her, his hand on her breast, her tightened nipple pressed against his palm. He squeezed gently before getting a little rough, then paused as if to gauge her reaction.
With her hand on his tight ass, Shana pressed him closer, wanting more.
He fondled her for all he was worth and deepened their kiss, his stubble rasping her skin as Mike’s had. The slight irritation fueled Shana’s passion. They kissed until the elevator came to a gentle stop then dinged.
The doors hissed open.
Shana staggered from him, her mouth still wet from his kiss and Mike’s. She’d mussed his hair. Cody’s tie was askew. Backing out of the elevator, she murmured, “Good night.”
Before either of them could respond, Shana turned to flee. No way could she ever come back here.
“Whoa.” Mike grabbed her wrist as he had in the suite.
The guard at the front desk leaned up in his chair. His beer belly hung over his belt. His expression said the security cameras had shown him what had just gone down in the elevator. “Everything okay, Mr. Russo?”
“Is my driver out there?” Mike asked.
The guard craned his neck to see. “Yes sir, he is.”
“Please tell him we’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Yes sir.”
The middle-aged man hurried outside. Mike held Shana’s wrist gently but firmly. “Good night?”
His lower lip shone with the moisture she’d left on him. Several locks dangled over his forehead. Unable to help herself, Shana eased them back. “I need to go home.”
Mike’s gaze remained lifted to her smoothing his hair. “Yeah, we get that.” Cody had just joined them. Mike spoke quietly. “You’re taking off after what just happened in the elevator?”
She lowered her hand. “It shouldn’t have.”
Cody frowned, his expression a mixture of confusion and disappointment. “Why not? Clearly, we all enjoyed it. You did, right?”
More than anything Shana could recall. Their strength was thrilling and protective, an amazing combination she longed for but couldn’t risk.
Her throat tightened. Tears threatened.
Suddenly, she felt beyond weary and so alone she rested her head against Cody’s shoulder. Stupid, she knew, but Shana couldn’t help herself.
Cody hesitated a moment, then ran his hand down her hair. Mike played with her fingers.
She fought against smiling and crying. Crap, her emotions were all over the place.
“You okay?” Cody murmured.
Shana nodded then shook her head then nodded once more.
“You’re hungry and tired,” Mike said, speaking softly. “You’re not yourself.”
She laughed, unable to stop. “How can you say that? You don’t know me.”
“We want to,” Cody whispered.







BIO:

Tina Donahue is an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing, and Kensington. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. Three of her erotic romances (Adored, Lush Velvet Nights, and Deep, Dark, Delicious) were named finalists in the 2011 EPIC competition. The French review site, Blue Moon reviews, chose her erotic romance Sensual Stranger as their Book of the Year 2010 (erotic category). The Golden Nib Award at Miz Love Loves Books was created specifically for Lush Velvet Nights, and two of her titles (The Yearning and Deep, Dark, Delicious) received an Award of Merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competition (2011 and 2012). Take Me Away and Adored both won second place in the NEC RWA contest (different years). Tina is featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. She was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company.



CONTEST

Win 3 of Tina’s backlist erotic romances from this list:

1. Adored – RWA award-winning; EPIC 2011 Finalist; 4 Stars RT
2. Deep, Dark, Delicious – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Holt Medallion Award of Merit
3. Lush Velvet Nights – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Golden Nib Award
4. In His Arms – SIX 5 Star Reviews; 4 Stars RT
5. Sensual Stranger – 2010 Book of the Year (erotic); 4 Stars RT
6. The Yearning – Top Ten Bestseller
7. Take Me Away – #1 Pick, Miz Love Loves Books
8. Unending Desire – Best Book Rating LASR
9. SiNN – Nominated for Book of the Week LASR
10. Sinfully Wicked – Magnificent – Romancing the Book
11.  Claiming Magique – Top Pick – NOR
12. Illicit Desire – Four Stars Romantic Times
13. Come Fill Me – Five Stars – Guilty Pleasures
14. Losing Control - Four and a Half Stars - Sensual Reads
15. Shameless Desire - Four and a Half Stars - The Jeep Diva
16. Illicit Intent - Four and a Half Stars - Sensual Reads
17. Deep Within Me - Four Stars - Romantic Times






Thursday, October 16, 2014

Spotlight on Cafe in the Park

BOOK INFORMATION
TITLE – CafĂ© in the Park
AUTHOR – Elodie Parkes
GENRE – Contemporary Erotic Paranormal romance
PUBLICATION DATE – September 9, 2014
PUBLISHER – Siren Publishing
COVER ARTIST – Elodie Parkes


BOOK SYNOPSIS
When Emily joins a dating agency, she never expects to meet someone like Chris. Everything she ever hoped for in a man, he’s special in more ways than one. Their intense attraction to each other is fueled by their shared loneliness. Will Emily find out his shocking secret when someone from his past comes back to haunt him?
How can love blossom, when someone is trying to tear them apart?


BUY & TBR LINKS
AMAZON KINDLE US – http://goo.gl/aOWjAh
AMAZON KINDLE UK – http://goo.gl/rVdZjy


EXCERPT
Desire flared low in his stomach. He let it take him over. He knew his next kiss was searching, needy, hard. He grasped one of her breasts and kneaded, the softness drove him crazy. His cock, fully erect now, pushed at his pants. He sighed into her mouth. “I want you so much.” He relished the hard peak of her nipple through her T-shirt. He bent his head and sucked.
When she ran her fingers into his hair, he felt the pressure in them, and moved away. He could see her nipple now through the soft white fabric in the wet patch he made. He looked into her eyes. “I said I wouldn’t rush you next time, but it’s killing me already.”
Emily stood. She pulled her T-shirt off, followed by the skirt.
Chris reached out and grasped her hips, pulling her to his mouth as he leaned forward. He kissed her stomach, and slid his palms over her ass to cup her there with his fingertips pushed inside the lace of her panties.
She held his head as he kissed across her stomach to each hipbone where he nibbled.
Chris heard her sighs grow ragged. He liked her pretty panties, but he wanted them off her. He yanked them down her thighs, and calves, bending to thrust his tongue into the cleft of her pussy. It delighted him that she was shaved there.
Emily arched to his face.
The scent of her creaming pussy called to him. He let her go. The need to pull her down and fuck her hard was scary. It tore right into his wish not to rush her. His thoughts filled with pictures of holding her thighs apart and pounding his erection into her pussy. His cock leaked and his balls ached.
She stood before him naked.
He gazed up into her eyes.
“Take your pants off. If I don’t have you inside me soon…” The need in her voice soothed his fear.
Chris took his pants off. His cock bumped on his stomach muscles sending hot pre-cum streaking across them.
He stood to pull Emily into his arms and kiss her lips. He plunged a hand between her thighs. The wet welcome there sent spears of sensation right through his body. He was on fire with the need to bury his cock in her, but he pushed his fingers into her pussy to make sure he wouldn’t hurt her when he fucked her. Her folds swollen, her cream flowed on his fingers. The air was laden with the erotic perfume of sex. His urgency brought his kisses down her neck along the soft place in her shoulder and he sucked.
©Elodie Parkes 2014 Siren Publishing All Rights Reserved



AUTHOR BIO
Elodie Parkes is a British author writing romance, erotic, contemporary, and often with a twist of mystery, paranormal or suspense. Her books are always steamy — cool stories and hot love scenes.
Elodie lives in Canterbury with her two dogs. She works in an antique emporium by day and writes at night, loving the cloak of silent darkness that descends on the rural countryside around her home.
She has also released titles as an individual indie author.


FOLLOW LINKS


GIVEAWAY PRIZES
One $10 or £10 Amazon Gift card (leave currency preference in comment on blog)
Five eCopies of Elodie’s latest release from Hot Ink Press, Love at First Sigh, for kindle and gifted from Amazon  a duo of contemporary erotic romance for 18+ readers






Monday, August 27, 2012

Welcome Nicole Morgan






This title is offered at a 10% discount. Offer ends midnight CST, August 30th.

BLURB: [Siren Allure: Erotic Cowboy Romance, older hero, HEA]
Warren Murphy spent his adult years working for Leroy Jenkins, the local cattle baron. He loved his job almost as much as he did women. He was loving life as one of the most sought-after bachelors in the county.
Amber Jenkins is the only heir to the Jenkins fortune and the apple of her granddaddy’s eye. Years of growing up around Warren turned her teenage girl fantasies into a love that she couldn’t ignore. Despite her attempts at seduction, he pushes her away and out of his life.
Tragedy soon strikes and the two are face-to-face with one another on a daily basis. Warren finds it increasingly hard to deny his attraction toward Amber and is left with a choice. Does he give in to something he craves so desperately? Or does he let her go, knowing that he has never known a seduction as intimate and sweet as hers?
EXCERPT:
He made his way down the hall and was about to knock on the door when he heard the muffled sound of a cry coming from the other side. Without hesitation he went in and was stopped dead in his tracks.
In that moment, time ceased to exist. He stopped breathing, air no longer moved in and out of his lungs. His heart stopped beating the rhythmic melody of his pulse, and his vision locked onto her female form.
She stood there in a pair of tiny white panties, a strapless bra, and her dress was pooled at her feet as though she had merely just stepped out of it and into a painting of Michelangelo.
Everything about her was beautiful in that moment, except for the tears that streaked her cheeks. His heart must have started to beat again, because a horrible pain came from it, and he had to fight the urge to rub at it in an effort to assuage the hurt.
“Amber…baby.”
“No.” She shook her head at him in protest. “I told you to go. Please go.”
He watched in sadness as her tear-stained cheeks were decorated with new tears. Cries, heart-breaking cries tore from her throat as he took a few steps closer to her.
“Baby, no. I am not leaving you.”
He kept coming toward her, ignoring that she took a step back to match every one he made forward. She kept up the effort to distance herself from him for several steps until her back met with the wall and she shuddered.
She shook her head again. “You can’t do this. It’s not fair.” Closing her eyes tightly, she whispered, “Please just go.”
He now stood in front of her. His lips just inches from hers as he fought the urge to kiss them and taste that sweetness he could only recall in his mind.
“What’s not fair?” he asked in a soft voice.
Her eyes flashed open when she heard him. The close proximity of their bodies obviously startled her, and she started to push at his chest. Her movements were part pounding fists and part protests to how near he was to her, but only his firmly planted feet kept him from moving.
Despite her best intentions, she wasn’t trying that hard to push him away. He waited for her motions to slow. Sobs were coming out in between some words he couldn’t make out. Slowly, he took her wrists in his hands and pulled them around his waist.
He brought their two bodies together and wrapped his arms around her nearly naked form. She shivered under his touch, and he gently smoothed down her hair and whispered soothing words into her ear.
He wasn’t even sure what he was saying. His heart was racing with conflicting emotions. She was in his arms again, but it was obvious how much hurt he had caused her. He made another mental note to kick his ass again for being the reason she shed even one tear.
“Tell me what to say, Amber. Please stop crying. I’ll say anything to make you stop being sad.” No truer words were ever spoken.
“Why?”
Her one word answer also served as a question. A question that he didn’t understand, but wanted to be able to explain whatever it was she needed to hear.
“Why what, baby?”
She pulled away from his hold and looked up at him. Her beautiful green eyes looked glazed over and withdrawn.
“Why did you push me away that night? Why wasn’t I good enough? Why are you here now? Why won’t you leave? Why do you act jealous of Michael when, after I gave myself to you, you treated it like it was the biggest mistake of your life? Why are you breaking my heart all over again? Why?”
If there was a way for words to reach into his soul and tear it into shreds, he had just experienced it. The pain in her voice was so raw, so real that he knew she wasn’t just talking. She was reliving the pain of rejection he had inflicted upon her. All the doubts and insecurities he saw in her eyes were completely his fault. She was beautiful, vibrant, and the most amazing woman who he ever had a chance with, and she was broken because of him.
Nothing he could say would even do justice to half of her questions. There was no excuse for what he did to her, how he treated her. All he knew was that it was the biggest damn mistake of his life, and he’d be damned if he made the same one again.
He took her face his hands, dropping his forehead against hers. “I’m the biggest fuckup there is, baby. I have no answers, but please don’t make me go now that I finally know how much you mean to me.”
Her wide eyes blinked back at him as he made his plea. “I….you...what are you saying?”
How could he explain something to her even he didn’t understand? She was hurting. He was hurting. If he tried to put what he was feeling into words, he would probably screw things up even worse.
No. There weren’t even any words to describe what was going through his mind. He couldn’t wait any longer either. Ever since that night he’d sent her away he had tried to recall the sweetness of her kiss, the softness of her lips.
As each day passed he could remember less and less. Now here she was, with him, in his arms, their bodies close. She was his. Whatever he needed to do to make sure she knew that, too, he would. Right now, though, all that mattered was taking what he missed so much.
In a swift movement, not taking the chance of her pulling away, he pressed his mouth to hers. She gasped in surprise, and he swallowed her surprise. With her mouth open, he swept his tongue inside and stroked it against the wet, velvety sweetness of hers.
This right here. Jesus, this was what he missed so badly.
-----------------------------------------------------

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Welcome Miho Li


Incognito by Miho Li

April 5th & April 6th









Book Title: Incognito

Author: Miho Li

Genre: Contemporary, Erotica, Male/Male

Words: 25,377



Book Description:



"When Ren sees the new transfer student—Shin, black hair, storm-cloud-gray eyes, and more beautiful than any guy had a right to be—he makes it his mission to get to know him. Too bad Shin is about as sociable as fungus, and about as likable, too. But Ren isn't good at giving up, so he takes on the challenge of cracking Shin's titanium shell. What he finds underneath, though, is way more than he's prepared to handle.



People are disappearing in Akita, and Shin might be behind it. As Ren's feelings grow for the reserved man, so do the number of missing person reports, and Ren doesn't know if their budding relationship is enough to withstand both the well of secrets and the organization Shin works for."








Excerpt:



There was a heavy sigh and then, “Ren, just go talk to him already.”

Ren’s gaze snapped back to his friends. He flicked shaggy blond hair out of his eye and said, “What?”

“Shin,” Hideyoshi said, making vague hand gestures at the student Ren had been ogling.

Shin had settled in the grass beside a tree and was propping a book open in his lap. Messy strands of black hair fell across his pale cheeks, and he brushed it back with fingers that were surprisingly elegant for a guy.

“Go talk to him.”

Shin Sarutobi was a newly transferred junior, and despite sharing several classes, Ren had yet to find the right opportunity to talk to him. Not because he was intimidated but because Shin treated everyone around him, professors and students alike, with what barely qualified as cool indifference. He spoke in class when necessary but otherwise remained removed from everyone else and, from what Ren could tell, preferred it that way.

The exception was Kyouya Tsutano. Kyouya had transferred in about a month before Shin. It had been a big deal, what with his family being corporate millionaires. Rumor had it Kyouya’s dad died recently, and he had returned to Akita to live with his uncle.

From the start, Kyouya and Shin had a volatile relationship—they always looked pissed just being near each other. Except Ren had overheard them arrange meetings, and Kyouya remained the only person to date Shin spoke with on a regular basis.

Naturally, Ren assumed they were sleeping together. He entertained the theory that Shin and Kyouya were trapped in an unhealthy relationship based on angry but mind-blowing sex.

He chose not to share this theory with his friends.

In any case, the fact remained that Shin was a jerk. A gorgeous jerk with ink-black hair, intense gray eyes, and long legs that made him one of the few students taller than Ren, but a jerk nonetheless. Ren watched as a line formed between Shin’s brows, and he glanced in the direction Kyouya had gone with a sour twist of his lips.

Shin was also a jerk in dire need of an intervention.

Ren nodded decisively. “I’m going to talk to him.”

Hideyoshi gave him a flat look before apparently deciding against voicing what he was thinking. Ren ignored him and crossed the lawn with purposeful strides toward Shin.

With blond hair and blue eyes thanks to his European half, Ren wasn’t used to making the first move. Shin, however, was definitely worth the exception.

“Hi,” Ren said. He didn’t believe in pick-up lines.

Shin didn’t acknowledge the greeting.

Ren cleared his throat, undeterred. “Your friend looked pissed.”

Shin’s gaze lifted, passing dismissively over Ren’s smiling face before returning to his book.

“Uh...your boyfriend?” Ren said, hedging for a response.

Without lowering his book, Shin turned his head and looked up at Ren with ill-concealed impatience. “Did you want something?”

Ren considered this. “Should I answer that honestly?” Because there were a great many things that Ren wanted, including but not limited to Shin spread out on his bed in nothing but a silk ribbon.

Maybe it was best not to be quite so forthcoming yet.



About the Author:



Miho grew up on horror, fantasy, and romance novels (although she hid the romance novels, considering she probably shouldn't have been reading them at eleven years old). She started writing horror first, but these days, her work features more boys kissing boys than heads exploding, which everyone agrees is an improvement. She has a love of all things fantastical, and her favorite romances are the ones that don't happen easily. Reading or writing about characters overcoming adversity in order to reach their happy endings, whether that's together or not, is what fuels her love of the written word.



Find Miho at:






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Friday, January 20, 2012

Welcome Angela Claire

Tell us about your current release.


Mandy and the Cowboy Mogul is number 5 in my Colorado Dreaming series. It revolves around a woman who was a minor character in some of the previous books. Everyone thinks she’s a wicked woman, but in fact her story is a lot more complicated.

Tell us about your next release.

I have a new one coming out from Ellora’s Cave on Friday called Executive Perks. I’m really excited about it because it’s based on a corporate takeover romance that I first envisioned when I was a young M&A lawyer myself.

Has someone been instrumental in inspiring you as a writer?

My sister Colleen, definitely. She encouraged me to write just because I love to and always told me that I was a writer even if nobody ever published my books.

Who is your favorite author?

Hard to say. In romances, I like Shannon McKenna and Sylvia Day. In mysteries, I like P.B. James and Elizabeth George.

When was your first sale?

Siren Bookstrand accepted my first e-book, Saving McCade in September of 2010. I was so excited I had to close my office door because I was jumping up and down. That book was published in January 2011 and I’ve had eight more since then. I love it!

What does your family think of your writing career?

It varies. Some, such as my sister Colleen and a few of my other sisters and my husband and my kids, are extremely supportive. Others choose not to really mention it at all…let alone buy one!

Does your significant other read your stuff?

He’s read a few, but romance is not his thing.

Who are your books published with?

Siren Bookstrand and Ellora’s Cave.


Tell us about your family.

I’ve been married to my husband for 25 years and we have two college age sons.

Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?

Yes. Angela Claire is my pen name. It’s the girl names I would have used if I had had a daughter instead of my two brilliant, wonderful sons.


Mandy and the Cowboy Mogul by Angela Claire (www.angelaclaireromance.com)




Blurb:

Everybody seems to think widow Mandy Parker is some kind of a Jezebel. Never mind that her two marriages to older men were never consummated or that her experience as a seductress is a myth. When a handsome cowboy happens into town, Mandy figures that if she's going to be cast in the role of the temptress, she might as well try to play the part in earnest and at least get the benefits.

Aidan Munroe has just taken over the railroad his family owns. When Mandy seems intent on seducing him, he decides to play a part himself, pretending to be a simple cowboy looking for work and claiming he just doesn't believe in "having relations" before marriage. He doesn't know what he enjoys more—the incredulous look on Mandy's face or her blatant attempts to disabuse him of the concept.

Will Mandy and Aidan ever stop playing their parts long enough to fall in love?


Excerpt:

“Don’t you have a name?” Amanda prompted.

If he told her his name, even if he didn’t tell her who he was, she might remember or at least might wonder enough about it to ask. He offered the shortened version he had gone by in college, with no last name. “Dan.”

“Well, Dan”—she leaned into him—“I’m Mandy.” Last names apparently weren’t required for whatever she had in mind for this acquaintanceship.

Mandy. He hadn’t heard her called that back East.

“What are you doing in these parts, Dan? Looking for work?”

He didn’t know what possessed him to say yes, but he did. “Yes.”

“Well, there’s a lot of it around here. As long as you’re not afraid of a little manual labor.”

She looked at him expectantly, and he obligingly said, “No.”

“I don’t have a ranch myself. I live in town.” She added with another assessing look up and down his frame, “A nice private house with an extremely convenient back entrance.”

When she gazed at him expectantly this time, he was at a loss for words. Was she actually hinting at what she appeared to be hinting at…with him? The momentary euphoria dissipated with the thought that as far as she knew she’d just met him, for Christ’s sake.

“What kind of work do you do?”

He hesitated.

“Roping? Herding? The usual kind of thing?”

He had absolutely zero idea where he was going with this thing, but he said, “Yeah. Just about.”

“I like cowboys.” She smiled then frowned at him. “You’re not married, are you?”

God, she was beautiful. Even a frown did nothing to detract from her allure. It just made a man want to turn it into a smile again.

“No,” he answered truthfully.

The frown disappeared, so he supposed he’d done his job.

“What a relief that is to hear. It seems all the good-looking men in this town are married.” She pronounced the last word with evident distaste.

“But not you, Miss?”

“Miss? Oh, I’m not a ‘Miss.’ Heavens, no. Not since I was…well, quite some time ago. No, it’s Mrs. Parker, and I’m a widow.”

An extremely recent widow at that, he knew from Jake, which made her next words all the more shocking.

“Isn’t this convenient? You unattached. Me unattached.”

She laid her riding crop on the scarred oak table, the only piece of furniture left in the depot except for a rickety bench in the corner, and looked around. “Well, this will have to do,” she muttered. “It’s all dirt out there, not even any grass.” She focused those alluring blue eyes on him again, keeping eye contact as she untied her bonnet and shook out that long golden hair he remembered so well. She’d worn it tied in a ribbon back then, but now she didn’t appear to bother with that. Her hair fell in streaming ripples around her shoulders. When she turned her attention to her leather gloves, she removed them finger by finger in a strangely sensuous demonstration.

Or maybe it was just him.

Then with her head and hands bare, she walked right up to him until there was only a breath of the stale air of this depot between their bodies.

Nope. It wasn’t just him. He should speak up, tell her who he really was, and call on their tenuous family connections, such as they were. But he couldn’t. He found himself fascinated by whatever play she was acting out in front of him, with him as the cowboy looking for work and her as…as what? What the hell was she doing?

When she put both hands up to cup his face and pressed her lips, soft and fresh, to his, he jerked his head back in surprise.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

She didn’t remember him and walked right up to a complete stranger and kissed him? Hell, even if she had remembered him, he would’ve been shocked down to his toes. And she had the nerve to ask what was wrong?

He knew now what Jake’s wife had wanted to tell him when he spoke of Amanda, and he felt a tremendous sense of disappointment. The heartbreakingly beautiful, vulnerable girl he remembered seemed to have turned into…her mother!

While he was busy with that disturbing thought, she seemed to have had one of her own, suddenly pulling back in horror. “Oh, good Lord, you don’t prefer men, do you?”

He was speechless as she looked at him expectantly, and when he didn’t answer, she focused instead down in the general vicinity of his crotch. “I don’t know what I’m being so missish about here. There’s one way to tell about that in a hurry.”

To his astonishment, she reached down and ran her forefinger lightly along the length of cock, and the fledgling erection that he’d been fighting roared to the fore. She petted him distractedly for a second.

“No,” she muttered almost to herself, dropping her hand. “I see it’s not that.”

He held himself perfectly still.

Finally he said, with a little more drawl than his voice normally had, “That’s a might forward, ma’am.”

She put both hands on his shoulders and, still with shock, he felt her press her full length into his. He was shocked all right, but his cock was fine with it, lurching enthusiastically toward her underneath his breeches.

“Look,” she whispered up to him, “we both know the game, don’t we?”

He did know the game. As one of the supposedly most eligible bachelors in Boston, and certainly the richest, he’d been treated to a fair amount of female attention, from the platonic simpering of his ex-fiancĂ©e to the studied tutelage of every level of mercenary female from whore to high-priced mistress. They’d all wanted something from him. But it wasn’t sex. That was what he had wanted from them, for the most part.

And from Amanda Munroe—or at least his idea of her—he’d thought he wanted more. That was really why he’d come up with the plan to seek her out. He could have just mailed the documents to her with an accompanying explanatory letter. If she had been anyone else, he would have. But he had insisted on coming out West himself. In his own probably sentimental mind, the girl who had wanted to finish school, who had fended off the advances of her stepfather, who had been sold to an old man…that girl was someone he might have wanted more from, although he hesitated to articulate what.

And now that he’d found her again, what did she want from him? Incredibly, a quick fuck, it seemed.

A delicious idea occurred to him.

“Well, that’s just it, ma’am.”

“What?” Her hands wandered from his shoulders to up around his neck, running her fingers through the strands at the base. Despite himself, he shivered.

“I appreciate all the compliments and er, this attention you’ve been giving me.” He glanced down tellingly to his cock and then unwound her hands from the back of his neck. “But the truth is, I don’t feel right about such things unless the man and lady are married.”

Trying to suppress his smile at her astonishment was impossible. Instead, he gave in to it, and a wide grin spread on his face as he held her hands out to the side, as if to keep them away from him. She looked downright stunned. Into silence apparently. Her mouth fell open.

So he said, “Now, I know that may sound funny—”

“In a man, it’s unheard of. A man that looks like you…well, I never.” She pulled her hands away from his, and he found he already missed the contact. “You’re not Catholic, are you?”

Her befuddled attempt to put a label on him amused him further.

“I mean, you’re not a priest, are you?”

Oh, he wished he’d thought of that one. Oh well, this was almost just as good. He put on as heavy an accent as he’d heard the farther west he got on the train and said, “No ma’am. I mean, God and me, we’re pretty familiar with each other, but I’m not a priest. No, if I’m very lucky, some day I may find the right woman for me, and then I can enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.”

“So you don’t plan on…doing anything until then?”

“No, ma’am.”

This was priceless.