Laurel O'Donnell's Blog, page 40
December 6, 2015
December 3, 2015
First Kiss Friday – Mistletoe Magic by Laurel O’Donnell
My medieval holiday novella, Mistletoe Magic, is now available! Only 99 cents for this charming story. Here’s the first kiss between Jaclyn and Alexander.
Jaclyn held the bag over her shoulder as she ran through the tall grass in the field, avoiding the knights’ tents just over the rise. She rushed into the forest, not breaking her pace. She had come this way so many times that she could do it in her sleep. She easily leaped over a fallen tree and skirted some bushes. Dappled moonlight washed over the leaves on the floor, shining through the trees from above. Jaclyn hurried forward. She hoped Paul would remember to bring his horse, Nilly, so they could practice the joust.
When she broke into the clearing she could see the pond glistening beneath the stars above. She put the bag on the ground and spun, searching for Paul.
The mistletoe glen was empty. Chills of apprehension shivered up her spine. It is all right, she told herself. It’s early yet. He still has time.
She sat on the ground. Where was he? She tried to concentrate on something else. The feast this eve had gone well. There had been no fighting. But she guessed all the men were on their best behavior before the joust. When the joust began and there were official losers, then she guessed she would see more unchivalrous behavior.
She looked over her shoulder. Where was Paul? Suddenly, she heard footsteps. She stood, her heart thundering with joy.
Alexander exploded into the clearing. He looked around the clearing. “Where’s Paul?”
Her happiness vanished. What was he doing here? Following her again? She scowled. “He’s not here yet.”
He marched straight for her. “You came here to practice?”
“Well,” Jaclyn stammered,”when Paul gets here.”
“D’Sayre is coming.”
“What?”
“He followed you.” Alexander kicked the bag behind the tree.
“Why is he following me? Why are you following me?”
He grabbed her arm. “D’Sayre is trying to learn your secrets. Me? I just want a kiss.” He pulled her into his embrace and pressed his lips to hers.
Laurel O'Donnell - Medieval Romance Novels, Paranormal Romance Novels and Urban Fantasy
November 19, 2015
First Kiss Friday – Love and Vengeance by Gina Danna
Today’s First Kiss Friday featured guest is Gina Danna, author of historical romance Love and Vengeance. Welcome Gina!
A bit about Love and Vengeance –
Rome 108 A.D., under the Emperor Trajan, is the center of the civilized world. It is a time of sophistication and decadence, a brutal world to their conquered.
Marcus, a Roman citizen sentenced to die as a gladiator, accused by his wife and brother for a crime he did not commit. Yet death eludes him and he rises to become champion of the sands. The title he does not want. He seeks revenge but his victories in the Colosseum bestow monetary rewards he can use to save a beautiful slave, Gustina, from certain death by the beasts. She gives him a taste of love in a world full of lies, betrayal and murder.
But his overwhelming desire for vengeance, for blood and the kill, brings a higher price tag – can he satisfy the demon inside him and face the truth? A truth that will kill the woman he loves?
First Kiss set up for Love and Vengeance –
Marcus, the gladiator, has one another glorious win in the Colosseum. Gustina, the slave he rescued from execution, was sent to him after the games.
First Kiss in Love and Vengeance –
He frowned. His huntress, the woman of iron, melted here before him. What in Hades happened? He tilted his head, trying to get her to tell him without saying the words. Something happened because she inhaled deeply, standing straight, like the pole that stood on the training grounds, ready to be swung at.
“I was told to pleasure you. If I don’t, they’ll punish me.”
Fuck. That bitch of a domina, no doubt, threatened her. Cunt. He bit back the curses and stood again. “Gustina, how long have you been a slave?”
She raised her chin defiantly. “My whole life.”
He sighed. “And you were given to another to lie with? Ordered to do so?”
Her jaw tightened but didn’t answer. Nor did she back down. In fact, her eyes pierced his. “And haven’t you, as Champion, been ordered to do the same?”
He laughed. “Yes, but for me, it is different.” He had Rome’s finest wanting him. She, though, had been stuck with the dregs, no doubt. He walked up to her and felt pleased she didn’t move. “Have you ever been kissed? Really kissed?”
Her eyes turned troublesome, and her tongue snuck out to lick her lips. A faint shake of her head told him what he wanted to know.
Desire swirled inside him again, fast and hard, like a storm at sea. As much as his cock throbbed, he would not take her, but he so wanted to kiss her.
“Gustina,” he murmured, taking her hands and pulling her against him. He took her lips, pressing against the soft flesh, his tongue gently prodding her to open. He licked the corner of her mouth before he tried again. She parted hers and he invaded her mouth, not lightly but with a driving force that grew once his tongue tangled with hers. She tasted of sweet figs and almonds and her. His arm encircled her back and she molded to his bare chest, her breasts against his. He moaned. She was his!
****
Gustina’s world flipped when he kissed her. She’d never been kissed. Slobbered on, yes. Licked – assuredly. But to have him seduce her mouth undid her. It was sensual, sending a lightning bolt down to her belly, igniting a fire in her loins she never knew existed. No man had ever made her feel this way. His arms embraced her, hugged her, smashed her body against his rock solid chest and abs, each line defining his muscles shaping around her thin form. His hands held her, gently but firmly. This was a gladiator? The man who beat most of Rome’s best?
Her breasts tingled against his chest. His erection pushed against her belly, and the pool forming between her legs. A shiver simmered through her – one of excitement and expectation. A longing she’d never felt.
He stopped, looking down at her. His face turned questioning.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?”
She swallowed hard, unable to find her voice. “No, no. I’ve just never…,” how does one admit they’ve never experience gentleness? Or desire?
He pulled away from her.
She wanted to scream.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” he whispered.
This gladiator, this rugged, hard man, was seduction and favor wrapped together for her. The gods had heard her prayers – to feel needed, loved, even if only for a second. Something she’d never truly knew in her life. Her last Domina cared for her, tried to protect her but couldn’t prevent the Dominus from taking her. She swore she’d never be able to truly give herself to another man, not when her whole being had been struck in the hardest way. One could not refuse their master. But she’d longed to feel something, other than the numb shield she put on in those times. Made her feel dead inside. A feeling that only amplified after her Domina’s death. But this man, this gladiator, saved her. Why? Only the gods knew and maybe, just maybe, this was their reply. To let her taste a moment, however short or long, of true love, even if it wore the casing of desire.
She stepped to him and reached for his cheek. Standing on her bare toes, she tried to touch his lips again. With a growl, he met her. His gentleness gone, replaced with hunger and she found her own matched his.
Buylinks –
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Y4BzhU (paperback)
http://amzn.to/1PCtGgP (Kindle)
iBooks: http://apple.co/1SKrVhA
Kobo: http://bit.ly/20NEm1f
Nook: http://bit.ly/1Snvyt0
Laurel O'Donnell - Medieval Romance Novels, Paranormal Romance Novels and Urban Fantasy
November 15, 2015
November 14, 2015
November 12, 2015
First Kiss Friday – Follow Your Heart by Ruth Kaufman
Today’s First Kiss Friday featured guest is Ruth Kaufman, author of historical romance Follow Your Heart. Welcome Ruth! Here’s the first kiss between Adrian Bedford and Joanna Peyntor.
At that moment, Joanna glowed. Her eyes, her expression, her words captivated him. Adrian could no longer resist her allure. In an instant he drew her into his embrace.
He kissed her, hard and hot.
Joanna opened her mouth against the urging of his. She tasted better than his favorite cherry pottage. Adrian plunged his hands into her hair. The thick, curling masses he’d so longed to touch felt as soft and smelled as pleasing as he’d imagined.
She leaned into him, her breasts against his chest, the softness of her thighs flush against his hardening groin. He clutched her closer, awash in yearning.
Adrian pulled away, struggling to catch his breath. “Joanna. We— I—”
Stunned by the force of his desire for her, he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t bring himself to discuss what they’d just done. Doing so would breach their recently signed agreement.
So he left without another word. And cursed himself for acting the coward.
Laurel O'Donnell - Medieval Romance Novels, Paranormal Romance Novels and Urban Fantasy
November 8, 2015
October 29, 2015
Frightening First Kiss Friday – Lost Souls: Deception by Laurel O’Donnell
Yikes! I hope you enjoyed this month of undead kisses. To wrap up this Frightening First Kiss Friday in October, here’s the first kiss from my urban fantasy series, Lost Souls.
This First Kiss is from the third episode in the series, Deception. The series centers around the Lost Souls, souls who refuse to pass into the afterlife. They have banded together to fight against an evil endangering both their existence and the safety of the human world they once inhabited. This evil has taken shape in unholy creatures called the Changed, being who were once Lost Souls but who are now dark, dangerous and disturbed monsters.
Samantha and her brother Ben have teamed up with a new Lost Soul, Christian, to save humanity. The love of her life, her long ago husband, Damien, is now a Changed. Enjoy this First Kiss!
Sam fazed to her car. She was glad to see Damien wasn’t near it. He lounged against the brick wall in the alley with that infamous masculinity. His head was bowed and his long dark hair hung over his face, shielding it. How many times had she seen him like this? The past came searing back, so long ago. He wore different clothing back then, but it was the same pose.
Sam mentally shook herself and clenched her jaw. Damien wasn’t the same man. Her husband would never have killed that human so coldly. She thought of the horrible tragedy surrounding coach Frederick’s death, then quickly put aside the memory of their failure to save the human. “I’m starting to think you’re following me.”
“I am.”
The timbre of his voice sent chills down her body. She had always reacted to his deep voice with anticipation. “Why?”
“You’re the only one who knows how to blast Changed who have made the Jump. You’re the only one using that technique to stop them.”
Sam nodded. “That’s right. You don’t like us blasting your friends.”
“They are no friends of mine.”
“But you want us to stop.”
Damien lifted his head and pinned her with his black eyes. “I don’t want you to blast them. Go ahead and kill them like you used to, I don’t care. Just don’t blast them.”
Sam narrowed her eyes. Perhaps the other Changed were not his friends, but he still belonged with that race of hideous monsters. Damien was of the same grotesque stock now. “You’re out of luck. We’re going to keep blasting them. We’re going to save the humans and kill the Changed.”
Damien jerked away from the wall.
A rush of power rushed through Sam and her muscles tensed in preparation.
Damien’s gaze swept her and he released a breath as he relaxed.
The moment of power disappeared. Sam cocked her head in confusion.
A small smile crept over his lips. “You always knew how to get me angry.”
“You didn’t have to kill that human. He was a coach. He was a father.”
“You were blasting him. I warned you not to.”
Sam’s jaw clenched. “Tell me you did it because he was doomed anyway. Tell me you did it to save his family from scandal and humiliation.” That was the argument she, Ben and Christian had. Kill the man to save the family. She wanted to know Damien had that moral dilemma too, that he hadn’t killed the human just because he didn’t want her to blast the Changed.
Damien grinned softly. “I’ll tell you that, if you want me to.”
Part of Sam cried out for her lost love because he was a monster now. He no longer cared for life. “Thanks for straightening me out in that matter.” She began to faze.
Damien was suddenly before her, grabbing her wrist. He was so fast! And even more shocking…somehow he was able to grab her wrist during her faze.
“I’m not done talking to you.”
“How did you do that?” No one had ever interrupted her faze like that before. She never even knew such a thing was possible.
“I can do a lot of things now,” he said.
She yanked at her hand, but he held it firmly. Then, he tugged her against him, his arm circling behind her, holding her close. His chest was firm just like she remembered. He was too much like she remembered, like she wanted him to be. Her gaze moved over his face. “Going to drain me again?”
Those lips, a sensual slash on his face, curled in amusement. “You’d like it too much.”
She felt herself melting against him, her body instantly warming to his hold. She fought the feelings. Not my husband, she told herself. Her jaw clenched.
He lifted a hand and wiped a strand of her hair back from her cheek. Small blue electrical shocks danced between his fingers and her cheek. “Life is different for me now, Sammie,” he whispered.
Yes! You’re a monster, she wanted to scream at him. She knew his morals, the morals that had been so filled with honor and pride, were now corrupted with evil.
“I’m so glad I’ve found you.”
Shocked, the fight dissolved from Sam. What did he mean by that? Was he truly glad? Her gaze traveled over his face. Everything about his features was so comfortingly familiar…except for his eyes. Except for those damned black eyes.
“You have to stop him, Sam,” he whispered, drawing close to her.
Stop him? Their noses were so close they almost touched. Was he talking about himself? She didn’t want to stop him. Her mind scattered at his closeness. Her husband. A Changed. How could she not resist him? How could her mind be so muddled, so confused? How could her fingers be touching his shoulder, pulling him close? It was so obvious. He was a fiend. A horrible, evil, Changed.
She lifted up on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his.
Laurel O'Donnell - Medieval Romance Novels, Paranormal Romance Novels and Urban Fantasy
October 27, 2015
Spooky Stranger!
So, your car broke down? Do you need some help?
Would you get help from this man? What other scenarios do you imagine?
Laurel O'Donnell - Medieval Romance Novels, Paranormal Romance Novels and Urban Fantasy
October 25, 2015
Laurel O'Donnell's Blog
“What do you want from me?”
Perhaps it was ridiculous, Ryen thought. Men never seemed to have a problem with taking what, ...more
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