As my tribute to Valentine's Day, each day from now through Saturday,
I'll be posting scenes from some of my novels depicting love between my
characters (makes me wish I hadn't already posted the wedding of Alex
and Robyn from An Army of Angels so recently). I hope you enjoy them.
But
first, I have news! Collin and I are signing with Creativia! I have
said I would never go the traditional publishing route again, and I
won't. Creativia isn't a conventional publisher--nor is it a vanity
press--it's the best of both worlds for any author--full creative
control with none of the grunt work. We are going to be releasing all of
my backlist books in ebook and paperback format--and we'll be doing
heavy revisions and rewrites on them, some more than others, to bring
them into the 21st century (after all, these books were published back
in the late '80s-early '90s. Since we're going to be using speech
recognition software, it won't take nearly as long as you might be
thinking.
But back to my Valentine's Day tributes. Today, I give you Connor and Lynne from Chasing the Wind.
These two have been thrown together in an isolated area of the Sinai
Peninsula on an archaeological dig. Connor has an agenda--and he's a man
on the run. Lynne is divorced and somewhat wary of her houseguest, but even more bothered by her growing feelings for him....
Lynne
I
woke early the next morning with a splitting headache. It took me a few
moments to get my bearings and realize where I was. I lay on my back on
the couch, my legs across Connor’s lap. He was shirtless, sleeping in
an upright position.
I tried to remember what had happened the
night before, but most of it was a blur. I did recall celebrating the
find, drinking champagne, kissing Connor….
“Connor.” I nudged him
with my bare foot. “Connor, wake up.” I nudged him again. When that
produced no results, I kicked him. “Connor!”
He woke with a start. “What?”
“Refresh my memory,” I said. “Why are we here, like this?”
He regarded me with a lazy smile. “You don’t remember?”
“Obviously, no.”
“We had quite a celebration last night,” he said. “I’m hurt you don’t remember. Most women find me unforgettable.”
Was he saying we'd had sex? For a moment, I wondered. “I remember the champagne, but—”
He licked his lips. “You were delicious.”
“Nice try, Merlin, but I still have my clothes on,” I realized.
“Getting them off was simple,” he said. “Putting them back on presented problems. I suspect I put your underwear on backwards.”
I pulled at the waistband to check. He laughed. “Had you there, didn’t I?”
I
snatched a pillow from behind my head and hit him with it. He took it
from me and threw it back. I caught it and tried to hit him again, but
he blocked the blow. I sat up, throwing a mock punch. He grabbed both of
my wrists. “Bit of a hellcat, aren’t you?” he laughed as he twisted me
around so that my back was pressed against his chest, my arms pinned to
my sides.
“Let go.” My tone held a warning note.
“Turn you loose so you can assault me again?” he asked, kissing my neck. “I don’t think so.”
“What did we do last night?” I wanted to know.
“Got off to a brilliant start,” he said, still nuzzling me. “Making out, you were all over me.”
“Connor!”
“The champagne rid you of all those nasty inhibitions,” he told me. “Then you passed out.”
“Passed out? While you were—” I couldn’t finish. I was laughing too hard.
“You dealt a severe blow to my ego.” He nibbled my earlobe. “Now you’re going to make it up to me, aren’t you?”
“In your dreams, Merlin. In your dreams.”
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money." --Moliere
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Connor is such a tease! Good passage!
ReplyDeleteI'm going for fun with each of the four passages.
DeleteConner sounds like a nice guy with a sense of humour, an essential quality as far as I'm concerned Norma.. Humour over looks any day :)
ReplyDeleteSame here, Grace--I'm a sucker for the funny guys. Make me laugh and I'll follow him anywhere!
DeleteOh, my someone that know humor is part of sex. Wonderful passage.
ReplyDeleteSex wouldn't be nearly as much fun without humor.
DeleteExcellent excerpt! Congrats, Norma!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jailbird!
Delete(Just kidding. Big hug.)
Congratulations on your deal with Creativia!
ReplyDeleteNice excerpt!
Thanks, Cheryl!
DeleteLove that excerpt and congrats on Creativia! Sounds like it will work out well!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Krisztina!
DeleteCreativia has a lot of satisfied authors, and as long as I maintain creative control, I'm happy to share royalties with a capable publisher. Can't get that with the Big Five!