Great news! Not only is the book launch party for A
Place With Briar only three days away…. I have just booked a Facebook
chat at the Coffee Time Romance Mocha Milieu Event Room for Saturday, April 12 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST. I’m
planning to give away a special prize to a lucky reader so mark your calendars!
Today begins a 3-Day Excerpt
Extravaganza. I’ll be reposting one of the three excerpts from A
Place With Briar each day until our April 1st launch party - in case
you missed any of the teasers revealed throughout February and March here at
home, on Twitter, or at Roses of Prose. The first is the live-tweeted excerpt
from Valentine’s Day. Happy reading!
Cole
paused, tucked one hand under Briar’s knees and scooped her into his arms. “Put
your head on my shoulder.”
Briar
turned her face into his neck. The touch of her skin against his stirred
something warm and hungry in his blood.
Not
hungry by Clint’s definition. Cole wanted to guard her, protect her from the
seedy reality of the world. Her scent filtered through him just as the
fragrance of her flowers penetrated the tepid night air. When she wrapped her
arms close around his neck, he realized he had her full trust.
The
knowledge was potent.
He
mounted the stairs to the third level where he knew her private rooms were.
Stepping into the living room lit by a single lamp, the smell of lavender
struck him. He toted her past the small kitchen on the right and into the first
bedroom. Its pale green drapes were closed tight over the windows. The mauve
spread was turned down in invitation.
He set
her on the edge and went to his knees to tug off her shoes. “Lay back,” he
advised.
She
lowered to the pillows, curling onto her side to face him. He pressed the cloth
to the back of her head. “How do you feel?”
“Mmm,”
she moaned distantly, her eyes closing. “Sleepy.”
“Don’t
fall asleep yet. I need you to tell me if you blacked out at all.”
“I
don’t think so.”
He
stroked a hand over her hair. “Do you have any Advil? Ibuprofen?”
“In the
bathroom cupboard.”
He
returned with two pills and a glass of water. “Take these.” Relieved to see
color filtering back into her cheeks, he said, “You already look better.”
She
gazed at him as he ran the cold rag over her cheeks and brow. “Liv’s right.
You’re a nice guy.”
He
didn’t feel particularly nice. Protective. A bit shaken. But with hunger
gnawing at his vital hold on control, nice
wasn’t the word for what he felt.
“What
you did to Clint…” She trailed off and swallowed hard. “No one’s ever done
anything like that for me.”
“Assault
is something I don’t tolerate,” he groaned. “No one should.”
“It was
only a kiss he wanted. He was drunk and things just…escalated.”
Cole
had seen the greed in Clint’s eyes, the way they’d skimmed her torso, the way
they lit up when he touched her skin. Fury slunk into Cole and he worked
carefully for a moment to contain it. Cole had seen his like too many times to
count. The man had wanted more.
“He
won’t touch me again. Not after you scared him like that.” Grinning, she added,
“It was sort of funny hearing him scream like a girl.”
Relieved
to see her smile, he stroked her cheek and watched her eyes flutter closed.
Pulling his hand away as if burned, he cleared his throat. “No, he won’t touch
you again. Not as long as I’m around.”
The
smile melted from her face and the light in her eyes faded. He knew she was
thinking about his check-out date. She cleared her throat and changed the
subject, careful not to look at him. “Adrian said you used to be a detective.”
“Yeah,”
he said, his voice surprisingly rusty.
“You’d
make a good cop.”
Cole
dropped the rag from her head, set it aside. “I don’t think you have a
concussion.”
She
sighed in obvious relief. “Good. I don’t think I could’ve handled the hospital
tonight.”
“Still,
expect to wake up with a rough headache in the morning. Think you can sleep?”
“Maybe.”
He
pulled the spread up and over her, tucking it around her shoulders, and
switched off the light. “Good night.”
“Cole.”
As he
glanced back, Briar looked too pale in the shadows. Too vulnerable.
“I’d
feel better if you stayed a bit.”
There isn’t much time left to preorder A Place With Briar but
you can do so at any of these online retailers….
Add the Superromance novel to your To-Be-Read list on Goodreads….
Only a few short days left to enter the Fool for Romance
Contest – book bundles, gift cards, and more prizes are still up for grabs! Enter
before midnight EST March 31st by visiting the contest main page. Learn details about the book bundles here. The winners of the three book
bundles will be announced April 1st; so if you do enter, be sure to check back
in here at the ol’ blog during the book launch party on Tuesday! The grand prize will be announced before the end of next week.
Just a quick update…. I’m happy to announce that my Harlequin editor
and I have finished edits on His Rebel Heart, Adrian’s story! I haven’t yet
seen a cover, but I’m hoping to before my Superromance debut’s birthday next
month. Fingers crossed! The book is due on shelves in July 2015 – but you can
go ahead and put it on your To-Read list on Goodreads. To see the new
inspiration board for the book on Pinterest, click here…. 
