Congratulations to Tina Green!

Tina was selected as the Pricked Party winner of a copy of one of my back stories. Tina selected PARADISE.  I mentioned to Tina that the story was based on a personal experience in the Okefenokee Swamp. Regrettably, the heroine's adventures were quite different from my own…except for the parts about the gators!

What I Do In My Spare Time

Okay, so my son proposes to the most delightful, wonderful girl in the universe. We re all head over heels about her. They give me a year's notice on the wedding date. So what do I do? Run out and help with wedding things? Get a subscription to Brides Magazine? Noooo, I'm the mother of the groom. I remodel the house, of course!

Let me digress just a tad. I had some surgery in January that, um, wasn't quite as successful as we had hoped it would be. So I spent about two and a half months in bed...watching HGTV. I guess you can see where I'm going with this.

I am a 'blue' person but after (I'm embarrassed to say) 13 years of blue walls with white trim and doors, I was sick of it. So I called “the man” a fellow who has done other remodeling for me, and we were off to the races!

The truck showed up with 400 feet of trim and baseboards, 10 doors and 13 door jambs (Don’t try to figure out the numbers, they work.) The main thing is none of it has been stained.

I don’t want to say that I'm a fusspot…but I'm a fusspot. I know that no one can stain all this stuff better than me. (Okay, you need proof – Last year when I remodeled another couple of rooms “the man” was incredibly skeptical about letting me do the staining, When he saw the finished product, he offered me a job. (Thanks, but I only put myself through this hell for myself .)

I started on June 19th I’ve finished all the trim, all the door jambs and three doors. My house looks like a cross between a lumber yard and a warehouse. I have three sets of saw horses so that limits me on how many pieces I can do a day. (All this is going on in our great room and family room so you can imagine what fun everyone is having dancing around this mess.)
And the biggest pain is waiting for everything to dry before you can do the next coat. Isn’t that more than you ever wanted to know about staining!

While I'm waiting for things to dry, what better opportunity to empty out the closets that are destined for new doors. I'm finding clothes I haven’t worn since the Reagan Administration! (Oh how I wish I could still fit into them!) Obviously, closet cleaning is long overdue in this household.

My son decided to get married so why all the frenzy over remodeling? My relatives who haven’t visited in years will be coming!!!!

OMG, I need to re-model the front bathroom!!!

Come Join Me

Today, I'm over at Sidney Bristol's Pricked Party celebrating Ellora's Cave's themed series dealing with tattoos. I'm blogging about some interesting facts I picked up while researching Nick at Night. Come join me and leave a comment.

I’m giving away a copy of any title on my backlist to a commenter. Let me know what your favorite tattoo design is!

NICK AT NIGHT is Now Available

I had to post the cover again. I just love it! Anyway, it's now available and if you pre-ordered it, you should have received it by now.

Here is another excerpt. I hope you enjoy it!

With Nick’s assistance, Mia climbed into the limo and slid across the seat, making room for him to follow. The chauffer shut the door, cocooning them in the darkened interior. She placed her bouquet on the seat opposite where it took up half the space. The roses sprinkled a light fragrance within the limo but not enough to overpower the delicious scent of her companion.


“Where to?”

She gave him her address, and he relayed it to the driver. With the flick of a button, the privacy panel rose to cut off the front of the limo, isolating them in a world of silent, sleek sensuality.

She smoothed her hand over the rich leather seat and let the moment surround her. Here, alone with Nick, her body thrummed with a need she hadn’t felt in a long time. Well, if she didn’t count that intoxicating flood of excitement on the dance floor.

It had been a while since she’d wanted a man the way she wanted Nick. It wasn’t the obviously expensive suit or the trappings of wealth the chauffeured limo symbolized that attracted her. Growing up comfortably as she had, money had never been a draw. No, the need escalating inside her for this man came from the intensity that emanated from him, that aura of casual power that declared he would take whatever he wanted. Whether or not it was his to take was not an issue. The attitude that anything he desired was rightfully his flowed from every pore of his body.

She lowered her lashes and slid her gaze to his face. The tinted glass left the car in complete darkness, assuring them of total privacy. He hadn’t switched on the light but she could discern the outline of his profile and broad shoulders as the car pulled into traffic. He turned toward her, and she knew with certainty he was attuned to her every movement, her every breath, to the very beat of her pulse. A warm palm slid up her arm. She jumped at the unexpected touch.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. Touching you on the dance floor wasn’t enough. I need to feel how smooth your skin is again.”

Soft fingertips grazed her bare shoulder lightly working their way up her throat to turn her head into his kiss. “God, I’ve wanted to do this from the minute you walked down that aisle.” His lips, warm and searching, brushed her cheek before settling over her mouth.

Oh yeah, she’d wanted this, too. The feel of Nick’s mouth nibbling hers, easing her into a slow seduction, taking his time to arouse her.

She leaned into him as his arms came around her, pulling her close. He deepened the kiss, sliding the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips. She opened, welcoming the gentle invasion.

A hot palm covered her breast and squeezed. She tried not to moan, but it was useless. The sound of her near breathless gasp filled the limo. He toyed with her breast, stroking his thumb across its hardening tip. The thin fabric of her gown offered no resistance, but the urge to feel his fingers on her straining flesh took hold with a maddening intensity.

She opened her eyes, wanting to see his hands on her body but the total darkness of the limo’s interior thwarted her. Unsettling as it was to feel his fingers sliding along her skin, yet not being able to discern where or how he would stroke her next, gave her the freedom to abandon any sense of inhibition.

New possibilities for this encounter formed in her mind. Since this had all the makings of a one night stand, why shouldn’t she explore a few new avenues? He seemed adventurous. Most of the men that attracted her were. Why not turn up the temperature and do something totally decadent?

His mouth blazed a trail of fire down her neck to the top of her breast. “God, you taste good,” he murmured, “just like I imagined.” All the while, his hands moved in hypnotic circles along her hips and across her back.

She pulled away, gasping for breath. “I need a moment.”

He stiffened and his hands stilled, but his lips continued to graze across her breasts just above the neckline of her gown. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”

She caught a note of desperation in his growl and hurried to re-assure him. “Of course not.” She threaded her fingers through his hair and massaged the nape of his neck. “I just had an idea. Can anyone outside see inside? I mean, if you were to turn the light on?”

“You want the light on?” His hand moved, and she reached to stop it.

“Wait. Just answer me. Can anyone see inside if it’s on?”

His hesitation sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine. Nick wasn’t stupid. He had to know what she was thinking.

“No.” That one word held a world full of interest, which encouraged her to proceed with what she hoped wasn’t too outrageous of a seduction.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Wait a minute and you’ll find out.”



NICK AT NIGHT is available  at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Ellora's Cave.

It's A Pricked Party!

Catch me over at Sidney Bristol's Party Page on July 10th. I'll be blogging about my new release Nick at Night. The book is part of Ellora's Cave Pricked series, which includes 14 books from EC's hottest authors. The books will be released throughout the month of July and they all revolve around tattoos, tattoo artists or a particurlarly significant tattoo. Nick at Night deals with the heroine's tattoo located in a most surprising place.


You can check out the covers on YouTube and purchase or pre-order the books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and, of course the Ellora's Cave site.

Announcing My Upcoming Release

I'm thrilled to announce that NICK AT NIGHT will be released July 6th.

When Mia goes home with a handsome, mysterious stranger after her best friend's wedding, she's expecting a one-night stand, nothing more. But Nick's heated caresses and seductive smile manage to wend their way into her heart. Too bad she's got more pressing matters-like a big promotion she's been working toward for years.


As for Nick . . . He's head over heels after one night with the intoxicating, fun-loving, sexually adventurous Mia, and her sexy tattoo, but his years of corporate raidership have come back to haunt him. He's stunned to find out that by day Mia is straight-laced Maria, and that his feelings for her-and his dreams for a long, hot future between them-are going to be put to a difficult test.

Mix one woman's white-hot arousal, and one man's devilish determination and a scorching tattoo in a most startling place and wait for the fireworks!


It is part of the "Pricked" series at Ellora's Cave. And no, the series title is not a reference to the hero's personality. J All of the stories in the series contain some reference to tattoos. There is a Reader Advisory attached to the story due to Mia inadvertantly stumbling upon a f/m/f ménage. I hope you enjoy Mia and Nick's adventure!


NICK AT NIGHT is available through pre-order at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Ellora's Cave.



Do you have a ‘Bucket List’?

I’m asking this because I found mine while cleaning out the garage. It was written somewhere around my senior year in high school. I have no idea when I last saw it. A lot of things were checked off but I haven’t seen it for a long, long time.

What I found interesting was not what I had or had not accomplished (although I was able to update it with several things I’d done since I’d last seen it) The thing I really found interesting was what I considered noteworthy to spend my time and energy on in my future.

Yes, I did go to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (Boy, talk about a crowd of people!)

Yes, I have been to the Grand Canyon. (Indescribable)

No, I haven’t made it to Mardi Gras yet.

Yes, I have read War and Peace. (Loooong)

No, I’ve never made it to the Olympic Games

No, I’ve never been in Times Square on New Year’s Eve (And that’s probably a good thing)

Some of the items were a bit surprising. “To go camping in Canada.” Now, I’ve been to Canada several times and loved every minute of it, but camping??? Like in a tent and sleeping on the ground??? I don’t think so. I love nature but at night I need a hotel with cable and a hot shower.

I’m thinking that it’s probably time to revise my list. Update it with things that mean more to me now, but ya know…I still want to see the Hoover Dam.

So, do you have a ‘Bucket List’? Did you write it recently or years ago? Do you still want to accomplish what you listed? Let me know what’s important to you.

Come Party with Me!

Join me over at The Romance Studio Christmas Party! I'll be blogging and posting excerpts along with dozens of other romance authors. We'll be partying until December 23rd. There are contests, prizes and we'll even be giving away a Nook!

To celebrate the release of Finding Sean, I'll be giving away a copy of Finding Jen, the first book in the Lost and Found series. Click on my name on the right side of the web page to see all my posts.

See ya at the Party!