Circle of Danger Excerpt

In my book, I pay homage to Anne Stuart's Reno, the sexy hero in her book FIRE AND ICE.   Excerpt from CIRCLE OF DANGER, available in e-format now and in paperback 6/19:

  At the other end, two guards had the arms of a man with neon blue hair pulled back into a long braid. He used their hold to jump up and twist his body, taking the men down with him. Before they could recover, the man was running toward her.

   “Move!” Ryker shoved her behind him. “Stop a**hole.” He pointed his gun toward the threat.
   The man slid to a stop. He slowly raised his hands and focused his dark almond-shaped eyes on Ryker.
   “Collin Ryker sent me.” Instead of the expected Asian accent, he spoke English with a slight drawl. “The Wizard has something of mine. So you can let me go with you to find him or I’ll follow.”
  “How’s it going, Ice?” Jack moved to the side and nodded toward the man. “My brother’s still having problems with his ex-fiancé since she’s working with him now?”
  “A. J.?” Ice Takahashi cocked his head. “I stay out of Rex’s business. Safer that way.”
  Ryker knew of Ice, that he’d acquired his name from what ran through his veins. Of all the stories bandied about, one was that he’d tracked down and killed his own father.
  If a man didn’t protect his family, he was a man not to be trusted.        
  In Ryker’s way of thinking, a good reason for him to leave.
  “I don’t give a d*mn what he has of yours.” Ryker lifted his chin. 
  “Go back to Collin and tell him to keep his nose out of my business.”
  “He said you would say that. He told me to tell you that you owe him.”
   Ryker straightened his shoulders and stepped closer to the man.
  “I don’t owe him jack-sh*t.”
  “He said you took his kill.” Those cold dark eyes stared back.
  Ryker knew most would agree he had the greater right to the kill if they knew all of the facts.
  “Boss, you want me to throw him out?” Liam shouldered his way through the crowd surrounding Ice.
  Ryker had to give his little brother credit. Collin was a smart man.   He had to be to escape Theo’s perverted clutches all those years ago. If only Ryker had known too. The years of pain and depravity the man had forced on him. The way he made him beg. Now wasn’t the time to think of that.
  His brother was known for being a master strategist. Whatever reason he sent Ice would most likely be revealed in its own good time.
  Ryker nodded. “Okay. Jack’ll get you up to speed on our plan.”

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Published by HarperCollins, Avon Red

Kicking Butt

Still writing on Book #3. It's more emotional than the other two books, but just as hot. No worries there. I love writing steamy, squeeze-your-thighs-together stories.
It appears that everyone enjoyed the excerpt from CIRCLE OF DESIRE the other day. so I thought I would share a little of CIRCLE OF DANGER coming out 6/5/12.
              

           Marie knocked on the apartment door marked C13 and waited for an answer. Ryker hated it when she spent time with Charlie. Who did he think he was? Charlie wouldn’t get her in any more trouble than anyone else in the organization.

            A woman with soft brown curls around her face peeked through the crack in the door as she opened it as far as the chain allowed. There was no crime in The Circle facility — who in their right mind would dare — but Charlie had grown up in the slums of Atlanta and refused to leave her safety up to chance.

           “F*ck, Marie. You have some crazy timing.” Charlie, known as a wild woman, went through men as fast as gas through a four-fifty-four engine in a muscle car. Marie knew for sure that she had a heart of gold and was the bestest of friends.

            “I can come back later.”

            “Sh*t, no. I forgot the time. Give me a second.” She slammed the door.

            Marie grinned. Not offended by her friend’s behavior or language, she patiently waited. The deserted hallway was unusual. On most days the underground barracks for single Circle operatives were jam-packed with people coming from or going to their shifts. The same barracks she’d lived in until Ryker decided she needed to sleep near him. With that thought her skin prickled. She leaned against the wall and pressed a hot cheek to the cool sheetrock.

            Then she heard voices inside Charlie’s rooms. One voice was much deeper than the other.

            The door opened and a half clothed male stumbled into the hallway.

            “Ah, damn, Charlie. I hoped to have another round of fun.” The man dropped his shoes and jabbed his arms into the sleeves of his shirt. With his tousled chestnut hair in his eyes and well-defined abs, Marie remembered seeing him working out in the gym. He was one of the pilots for The Circle’s helicopters.

               “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Later, Tom. I’ll make it up to ya.” Charlie slid her hand down the man’s bare chest and grabbed the waistband of his jeans and jerked. “You better be ready to keep up.”

            The man hissed. “Be careful. I’ll keep up all night, baby. You tell me when.”

            She kissed him hard and then shoved him in the chest toward the stairwell.

            Charlie turned toward Marie. “You look like crap. Come in and I’ll fix you a margarita.”  

           Marie watched Tom stagger away. Then she followed Charlie into her rooms.

I hope you enjoyed the little scene.  My plans were to have a novella for Charlie and her sweetie (not Tom). We'll see.

In the next couple weeks, I plan to send out a newsletter (I promise) and it will have the first scene from Book #3. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter.  Click here.

And yes, they told me recently they are planning to publish the third book in the series.  No word yet about any other books after that. 

If you're enjoying the series, I suggest you tell others to buy my books (e-format or paperback). The more people who buy, the better chance they will want more. If you just share and let others illegally download the e-format, my publisher won't know and they will decide the series isn't doing well and not buy the others.  And unlike other authors, I prefer they be edited and distributed through a publisher.   

Re-Run #2

This post was at Black Seductions on October 19, 2011.  What I especially loved about this interview was the comments I received. Lots of them and some really interesting answers. Go and check them out. Oh, before I forget, some of the sites I'm sending you to are for people 18 and older. So if you're at work looking at them, be sure no one is around as they often have book covers that make mine look tame.

 I deleted the blurb of the book, but the rest of the post is here. Be sure to FOLLOW them on Twitter: @BVSBooks .

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Thank you for inviting me to your blog. Like most authors, I enjoy talking about my books and love the opportunity.

You had asked, “What steps did I take to make my heroine someone the reader would like?”

Re-Runs of My Favorites

I've been doing the blog tour thang on and off since October. Mostly off than on, but I've enjoyed every stop, some more than others. One thing about blogging elsewhere, even though I place a link here, people forget or blogs die or whatever. So I decided to repost them here. For the next few days you'll see them in full or partial and including links back to the original blog/post.  But please comment here (better chance of me seeing it now).

Here's the first one at Among The Muses. (October 17, 2011.) A great interview/review website. And it's not just because they gave me such a good review or that I like the ladies who run it, but because the site is easy on the eyes and they keep it up. Gives you confidence in knowing that your work is respected when the site is professinal looking. Anyway, I always liked New Jersey people.

Oh, be sure to LIKE them on Facebook, FOLLOW them on Twitter and FRIEND them on GoodReads.

What inspired you to write this book?
One of my all-time favorite TV series was Le Femme Nikita and my go-to-book of Linda Howard’s is ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN. Both deal with mercenaries, spies and assassins, and I find them fascinating. When I was writing the hero, Collin, for CIRCLE OF DESIRE, I was channeling Michael, the dangerous über spy from Nikita. His soft spoken, yet deadly voice always sent delicious chills down my back to my … uh, I made sure to listen to hear every word he said. I wanted my book to have those layers of danger and sexiness filling every page.