Helen Hardt's Blog, page 5
February 1, 2015
SEIZE THE MOMENTThe Importance of Sensory Detail in Love Scenes
This blog post first appeared on Kaye Manro's blog on June 18, 2009.
Ever read a love scene that absolutely did not turn your crank?
I’m not talking solely about consummation scenes. A love scene, to me, is any scene where the hero and heroine are showing their love for one another (even if they aren’t aware they’re in love yet.) It can be a simple brush of a finger across a cheek. A first kiss (this is a big one.) Maybe third base. And of course, total consummation.
Back to the love scene that didn’t work for you. Why? Writing is subjective, and it could be that you just didn’t enjoy that particular author’s style, even if it was flawlessly written. That’s happened to me, and I’m sure it’s happened to most of you. But more often than not, when a love scene doesn’t do it for me, it lacks sensory detail.
Sensory detail is extremely important in romance writing. The reader wants to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel (and I’m not just talking sense of touch here, I mean inner feelings, as well) everything the hero and heroine do. These details immerse the reader into the character’s head and heart. When a reader becomes a character, you’ve done your job well.
Not to get too technical on you, but “sensory,” as defined, means “conveying nerve impulses from the sense organs to the nerve centers.” As writers, we need to go beyond labeling feelings and emotion, even beyond describing them. We need to become our POV character, feel what he or she feels, see what he or she sees, etc. Then we translate those feelings – those nerve impulses – into words. When you master sensory detail, your love scenes will be urgent, in the moment, and very powerful.
Easier said than done, right? Actually, it’s not that difficult, and with a little practice, your love scenes will shine with new color and vibrancy. First, get a good Thesaurus. This is your best tool for sensory detail. Make sure you use lots of descriptive action verbs. No passive voice allowed! Keep adverbs to a minimum, but don’t be afraid to use them if they work for the scene. Adjectives are essential, especially for describing scents. While description is a good start, use other tools – action, dialogue, imagery, similes/metaphors, to name a few – to convey feelings through words.
When you create each love scene, ask yourself what each character is feeling. What does she see? Hear? Taste? Smell? What does she feel beneath her fingers? Against her body? What is she thinking? How is her body physically reacting to the hero? How is she emotionally reacting? Answer these questions, then work the answers into the scene in the most vivid way possible. Don’t forget your non-POV character. Work his senses into the scene through dialogue and actions.
Be careful not to overdo it. Sometimes a scene lends itself more to one sense than another. In my example below, you’ll see I only use the sense of smell once. I’ve written many other scenes where I focus more on that sense. Be true to your characters and your story, and the senses will fall into place.
Here’s the first kiss in my current release, The Outlaw’s Angel (and this is not erotic romance):
Looking into Naomi’s glaring eyes, Bobby lost all rational thought. He seized her upper arms, pulled her to him, and crushed his mouth to hers.
Her full red lips were as sweet as he’d imagined. He nibbled across the upper, and then the lower, tasting the remnants of the raspberries she’d eaten with her supper. Sweet, tangy, and oh so perfect. He cherished each second of the kiss, knowing she’d break away at any time. Probably slap him across the face. It’d be no less than he deserved.
Instead, her arms wove around his neck, and she whispered against his mouth, her voice a sensual caress.
“Bobby.”
His name. How sweet the sound from her innocent lips. He was a goner now. His cock woke in his britches, and he pulled her against his arousal.
“Open, angel,” he said against her rosebud mouth. “Open your lips, and let me in.”
“I don’t know how...” She broke away, and spoke into his chin. At the same time her fingers entwined in his hair. “Bobby. This isn’t...proper.”
“To hell with proper, darlin’. Kiss me back. Please. I’m aching for you.” He found her mouth again and drank from her raspberry lips. “Open. Please.”
A soft sigh escaped her throat as she parted her lips, just a touch, and he slipped his tongue between them. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to thrust into her mouth, to mimic what he wanted to do with another part of his body. But he held himself in check. Likely, she’d never kissed a man before, and even if she had, she was otherwise untouched. As much as he wanted her, he didn’t want to scare her away.
But when the tip of her sweet tongue touched his, he shattered. He pulled her closer, and reached behind her with one hand and began plucking out those dratted hairpins. His other hand held her back at the waist, pulling her against the throbbing in his groin. Soon his fingers were tunneling through the thick sable waves; they were softer than he’d imagined, like fine oriental silk. A throaty groan rumbled from her chest, and like the waters through a dam breaking, he rushed forward, thrusting into her satiny mouth with urgent, yet tender, kisses. His tongue tangled with hers, and when she moaned again, he deepened the kiss, tasting every crevice of her soft, sweet mouth.
The kiss went on and on, and when she finally broke away, her breath came in rapid puffs against his cheek.
“Angel,” he whispered, “you’re so beautiful. So perfect.” He rained kisses across her cheek, her jaw line, to the tender spot below her earlobe. Her lavender fragrance ensnared him, and he inhaled deeply. Still she panted against him, and he waited for her to stop him, almost wanted her to stop him, because if he didn’t stop soon, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to.
“Bobby.” Desire thickened her voice.
His cock responded. How he longed to set it free from its constraints, to watch her wrap her ruby lips around it and pleasure him. Then he’d bury his face between her creamy thighs and return the favor, before plunging his hardness into her virgin depths.
But he couldn’t do this.
She was too good for the likes of him. To soil her would be to bastardize perfection. Once more, though. Just one more taste of those honeyed lips, and then he’d stop. He nibbled at her neck, breathing in her lavender essence, and then trailed to her lips again.
“Naomi,” he said, and bent to touch his mouth to hers.
She gasped, but before he could thrust his tongue into her, she broke away from him, turned, and ran toward the creek.
Who’d he been trying to kid? If he’d tasted her again, he wouldn’t have been able to stop.
~~~~~~~
I did something different with this scene. The first kiss is in the hero’s point of view. That’s not the norm for me, but it allowed me to focus on different details.
Let’s take a look at the sensory detail:
First, the sense of sight. What is Bobby seeing during the kiss? Well, not a lot. Most people close their eyes when they kiss. But first, he sees Naomi’s glaring eyes. Later, he imagines her ruby lips, her creamy thighs. Using the sense of sight for images in the mind is a great way to bring it into a kiss.
Let’s move to smell. Mostly just her lavender fragrance.
How about hearing? Lots to work with there. The sound of his name from her innocent lips. Her soft sigh, her throaty groan. He hears desire thickening her voice. Can you hear it? I can.
Taste? This is a good one for kissing. Bobby tastes the remnants of the raspberries Naomi ate with her supper. It’s a sweet and tangy flavor. He refers to her lips as “honeyed.” Again, sweetness.
Last, but not least, the sense of touch, which includes inner feeling. This is the biggie, folks. Most of your sensory detail will come from this sense. What does your character feel as he’s caressing the other character? What does he feel inside, both physically and emotionally? Let’s look to Bobby:
First, he seizes her and crushes his mouth to hers. This shows more emotion that just saying he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her, doesn’t it? He cherishes the kiss, because he expects her to stop him. When Naomi whispers against his neck, her voice is a sensual caress. He gets an erection and pulls her against it. He tangles his hands in her silky hair, and it feels like soft Oriental silk. He feels her puffs of breath against his cheek. Inside, his body is screaming for him to thrust into her, to mimic the sex act. He knows she’s inexperienced, so he holds himself in check for as long as he can. Can you feel his need? His desire? His conscience gets to him, but just one more kiss, he thinks. When she flees, he knows the truth. He wouldn’t have been able to stop at one more kiss.
Can you feel the urgency? Not just for Bobby, but for Naomi as well? Her actions and words help impart her own emotions into the scene.
Remember, seize the moment, and your love scenes will shine!
Ever read a love scene that absolutely did not turn your crank?
I’m not talking solely about consummation scenes. A love scene, to me, is any scene where the hero and heroine are showing their love for one another (even if they aren’t aware they’re in love yet.) It can be a simple brush of a finger across a cheek. A first kiss (this is a big one.) Maybe third base. And of course, total consummation.
Back to the love scene that didn’t work for you. Why? Writing is subjective, and it could be that you just didn’t enjoy that particular author’s style, even if it was flawlessly written. That’s happened to me, and I’m sure it’s happened to most of you. But more often than not, when a love scene doesn’t do it for me, it lacks sensory detail.
Sensory detail is extremely important in romance writing. The reader wants to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel (and I’m not just talking sense of touch here, I mean inner feelings, as well) everything the hero and heroine do. These details immerse the reader into the character’s head and heart. When a reader becomes a character, you’ve done your job well.
Not to get too technical on you, but “sensory,” as defined, means “conveying nerve impulses from the sense organs to the nerve centers.” As writers, we need to go beyond labeling feelings and emotion, even beyond describing them. We need to become our POV character, feel what he or she feels, see what he or she sees, etc. Then we translate those feelings – those nerve impulses – into words. When you master sensory detail, your love scenes will be urgent, in the moment, and very powerful.
Easier said than done, right? Actually, it’s not that difficult, and with a little practice, your love scenes will shine with new color and vibrancy. First, get a good Thesaurus. This is your best tool for sensory detail. Make sure you use lots of descriptive action verbs. No passive voice allowed! Keep adverbs to a minimum, but don’t be afraid to use them if they work for the scene. Adjectives are essential, especially for describing scents. While description is a good start, use other tools – action, dialogue, imagery, similes/metaphors, to name a few – to convey feelings through words.
When you create each love scene, ask yourself what each character is feeling. What does she see? Hear? Taste? Smell? What does she feel beneath her fingers? Against her body? What is she thinking? How is her body physically reacting to the hero? How is she emotionally reacting? Answer these questions, then work the answers into the scene in the most vivid way possible. Don’t forget your non-POV character. Work his senses into the scene through dialogue and actions.
Be careful not to overdo it. Sometimes a scene lends itself more to one sense than another. In my example below, you’ll see I only use the sense of smell once. I’ve written many other scenes where I focus more on that sense. Be true to your characters and your story, and the senses will fall into place.
Here’s the first kiss in my current release, The Outlaw’s Angel (and this is not erotic romance):
Looking into Naomi’s glaring eyes, Bobby lost all rational thought. He seized her upper arms, pulled her to him, and crushed his mouth to hers.
Her full red lips were as sweet as he’d imagined. He nibbled across the upper, and then the lower, tasting the remnants of the raspberries she’d eaten with her supper. Sweet, tangy, and oh so perfect. He cherished each second of the kiss, knowing she’d break away at any time. Probably slap him across the face. It’d be no less than he deserved.
Instead, her arms wove around his neck, and she whispered against his mouth, her voice a sensual caress.
“Bobby.”
His name. How sweet the sound from her innocent lips. He was a goner now. His cock woke in his britches, and he pulled her against his arousal.
“Open, angel,” he said against her rosebud mouth. “Open your lips, and let me in.”
“I don’t know how...” She broke away, and spoke into his chin. At the same time her fingers entwined in his hair. “Bobby. This isn’t...proper.”
“To hell with proper, darlin’. Kiss me back. Please. I’m aching for you.” He found her mouth again and drank from her raspberry lips. “Open. Please.”
A soft sigh escaped her throat as she parted her lips, just a touch, and he slipped his tongue between them. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to thrust into her mouth, to mimic what he wanted to do with another part of his body. But he held himself in check. Likely, she’d never kissed a man before, and even if she had, she was otherwise untouched. As much as he wanted her, he didn’t want to scare her away.
But when the tip of her sweet tongue touched his, he shattered. He pulled her closer, and reached behind her with one hand and began plucking out those dratted hairpins. His other hand held her back at the waist, pulling her against the throbbing in his groin. Soon his fingers were tunneling through the thick sable waves; they were softer than he’d imagined, like fine oriental silk. A throaty groan rumbled from her chest, and like the waters through a dam breaking, he rushed forward, thrusting into her satiny mouth with urgent, yet tender, kisses. His tongue tangled with hers, and when she moaned again, he deepened the kiss, tasting every crevice of her soft, sweet mouth.
The kiss went on and on, and when she finally broke away, her breath came in rapid puffs against his cheek.
“Angel,” he whispered, “you’re so beautiful. So perfect.” He rained kisses across her cheek, her jaw line, to the tender spot below her earlobe. Her lavender fragrance ensnared him, and he inhaled deeply. Still she panted against him, and he waited for her to stop him, almost wanted her to stop him, because if he didn’t stop soon, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to.
“Bobby.” Desire thickened her voice.
His cock responded. How he longed to set it free from its constraints, to watch her wrap her ruby lips around it and pleasure him. Then he’d bury his face between her creamy thighs and return the favor, before plunging his hardness into her virgin depths.
But he couldn’t do this.
She was too good for the likes of him. To soil her would be to bastardize perfection. Once more, though. Just one more taste of those honeyed lips, and then he’d stop. He nibbled at her neck, breathing in her lavender essence, and then trailed to her lips again.
“Naomi,” he said, and bent to touch his mouth to hers.
She gasped, but before he could thrust his tongue into her, she broke away from him, turned, and ran toward the creek.
Who’d he been trying to kid? If he’d tasted her again, he wouldn’t have been able to stop.
~~~~~~~
I did something different with this scene. The first kiss is in the hero’s point of view. That’s not the norm for me, but it allowed me to focus on different details.
Let’s take a look at the sensory detail:
First, the sense of sight. What is Bobby seeing during the kiss? Well, not a lot. Most people close their eyes when they kiss. But first, he sees Naomi’s glaring eyes. Later, he imagines her ruby lips, her creamy thighs. Using the sense of sight for images in the mind is a great way to bring it into a kiss.
Let’s move to smell. Mostly just her lavender fragrance.
How about hearing? Lots to work with there. The sound of his name from her innocent lips. Her soft sigh, her throaty groan. He hears desire thickening her voice. Can you hear it? I can.
Taste? This is a good one for kissing. Bobby tastes the remnants of the raspberries Naomi ate with her supper. It’s a sweet and tangy flavor. He refers to her lips as “honeyed.” Again, sweetness.
Last, but not least, the sense of touch, which includes inner feeling. This is the biggie, folks. Most of your sensory detail will come from this sense. What does your character feel as he’s caressing the other character? What does he feel inside, both physically and emotionally? Let’s look to Bobby:
First, he seizes her and crushes his mouth to hers. This shows more emotion that just saying he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her, doesn’t it? He cherishes the kiss, because he expects her to stop him. When Naomi whispers against his neck, her voice is a sensual caress. He gets an erection and pulls her against it. He tangles his hands in her silky hair, and it feels like soft Oriental silk. He feels her puffs of breath against his cheek. Inside, his body is screaming for him to thrust into her, to mimic the sex act. He knows she’s inexperienced, so he holds himself in check for as long as he can. Can you feel his need? His desire? His conscience gets to him, but just one more kiss, he thinks. When she flees, he knows the truth. He wouldn’t have been able to stop at one more kiss.
Can you feel the urgency? Not just for Bobby, but for Naomi as well? Her actions and words help impart her own emotions into the scene.
Remember, seize the moment, and your love scenes will shine!
January 30, 2015
COWBOY PASSION RELEASES TODAY!
Get Cowboy Passion here!.
Book: Cowboy Passion — Bakersville Saga 5 & 6Author: Helen HardtGenre: Contemporary Romance/CowboySynopsis:Treasuring Amber
Kissing handsome rancher Harper Bay to avoid a confrontation with her past isn’t on Amber Cross’s “to do” list, but sometimes a situation calls for desperate measures. She doesn’t expect the kiss to leave her breathless.
Amber is the hottest thing walking but clearly not Harper’s type. Nope, he’s not looking for a platinum blonde manicurist from the city, even if she is Bakersville’s reigning rodeo queen. After her surprising kiss leaves him panting, he changes his mind and decides to get to know her. Chemistry sizzles between them, but this gorgeous woman has a past that could get them both killed.
Trusting Sydney
Sam O’Donovan is bored with his stale life in Montana. When his brother-in-law offers him a great job and a cut of the McCray Ranch in Bakersville, Colorado, he’s ecstatic. This is the change he needs. As for beautiful Sydney Buchanan resurfacing? That’s icing on the cake.
Sydney’s back in Bakersville for one reason and one reason only. She needs to win as many large rodeo purses as she can to help her parents run their struggling ranch in Nevada. She doesn’t bank on running into Sam O’Donovan. All the sparks they shared five years earlier are still there, but so much else has changed. If only Sam could understand the decisions she made during their time apart…and trust her.
Author BioHelen Hardt is an attorney and stay-at-home mom turned award-winning romance author and freelance fiction editor. She writes contemporary, historical, paranormal, and erotic romance from her home in Colorado. She’s a mother, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an avid fan of opera and football (as long as her older son and younger son are performing/playing, respectively), and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Social Links Facebook Twitter Goodreads Author Praise for Helen Hardt:
Helen Hardt writes as smooth as a hot knife cutting through butter. Herwords take you away and you feel like you are watching the story play outright in front of you.
~Delightfully Dirty Reads~
Ms. Hardt has a way of writing that makes me forget I’m reading a book.It’s more like slipping into a world she created and getting lost for a while.
~Whipped Cream Reviews~
Flawlessly written and in my opinion a work of art…
~Girly Girl Book Reviews~
Other Books in the SeriesCowboy Heat – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US:
http://amzn.to/1w6AdII
Amazon UK:
http://amzn.to/1trA6Bl
Cowboy Lust – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/14UYqGKAmazon UK: http://amzn.to/1u5MFTJGiveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway
Book: Cowboy Passion — Bakersville Saga 5 & 6Author: Helen HardtGenre: Contemporary Romance/CowboySynopsis:Treasuring AmberKissing handsome rancher Harper Bay to avoid a confrontation with her past isn’t on Amber Cross’s “to do” list, but sometimes a situation calls for desperate measures. She doesn’t expect the kiss to leave her breathless.
Amber is the hottest thing walking but clearly not Harper’s type. Nope, he’s not looking for a platinum blonde manicurist from the city, even if she is Bakersville’s reigning rodeo queen. After her surprising kiss leaves him panting, he changes his mind and decides to get to know her. Chemistry sizzles between them, but this gorgeous woman has a past that could get them both killed.
Trusting Sydney
Sam O’Donovan is bored with his stale life in Montana. When his brother-in-law offers him a great job and a cut of the McCray Ranch in Bakersville, Colorado, he’s ecstatic. This is the change he needs. As for beautiful Sydney Buchanan resurfacing? That’s icing on the cake.
Sydney’s back in Bakersville for one reason and one reason only. She needs to win as many large rodeo purses as she can to help her parents run their struggling ranch in Nevada. She doesn’t bank on running into Sam O’Donovan. All the sparks they shared five years earlier are still there, but so much else has changed. If only Sam could understand the decisions she made during their time apart…and trust her.
Author BioHelen Hardt is an attorney and stay-at-home mom turned award-winning romance author and freelance fiction editor. She writes contemporary, historical, paranormal, and erotic romance from her home in Colorado. She’s a mother, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an avid fan of opera and football (as long as her older son and younger son are performing/playing, respectively), and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Social Links Facebook Twitter Goodreads Author Praise for Helen Hardt:
Helen Hardt writes as smooth as a hot knife cutting through butter. Herwords take you away and you feel like you are watching the story play outright in front of you.
~Delightfully Dirty Reads~
Ms. Hardt has a way of writing that makes me forget I’m reading a book.It’s more like slipping into a world she created and getting lost for a while.
~Whipped Cream Reviews~
Flawlessly written and in my opinion a work of art…
~Girly Girl Book Reviews~
Other Books in the SeriesCowboy Heat – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US:
http://amzn.to/1w6AdII
Amazon UK:
http://amzn.to/1trA6Bl
Cowboy Lust – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/14UYqGKAmazon UK: http://amzn.to/1u5MFTJGiveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway
January 20, 2015
COVER REVEAL FOR COWBOY PASSION!
Book: Cowboy Passion — Bakersville Saga 5 & 6Author: Helen HardtGenre: Contemporary Romance/CowboySynopsis:Treasuring AmberKissing handsome rancher Harper Bay to avoid a confrontation with her past isn’t on Amber Cross’s “to do” list, but sometimes a situation calls for desperate measures. She doesn’t expect the kiss to leave her breathless.
Amber is the hottest thing walking but clearly not Harper’s type. Nope, he’s not looking for a platinum blonde manicurist from the city, even if she is Bakersville’s reigning rodeo queen. After her surprising kiss leaves him panting, he changes his mind and decides to get to know her. Chemistry sizzles between them, but this gorgeous woman has a past that could get them both killed.Trusting Sydney
Sam O’Donovan is bored with his stale life in Montana. When his brother-in-law offers him a great job and a cut of the McCray Ranch in Bakersville, Colorado, he’s ecstatic. This is the change he needs. As for beautiful Sydney Buchanan resurfacing? That’s icing on the cake.
Sydney’s back in Bakersville for one reason and one reason only. She needs to win as many large rodeo purses as she can to help her parents run their struggling ranch in Nevada. She doesn’t bank on running into Sam O’Donovan. All the sparks they shared five years earlier are still there, but so much else has changed. If only Sam could understand the decisions she made during their time apart…and trust her.Author BioHelen Hardt is an attorney and stay-at-home mom turned award-winning romance author and freelance fiction editor. She writes contemporary, historical, paranormal, and erotic romance from her home in Colorado. She’s a mother, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an avid fan of opera and football (as long as her older son and younger son are performing/playing, respectively), and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Social Links Facebook Twitter Goodreads Author Praise for Helen Hardt:
Helen Hardt writes as smooth as a hot knife cutting through butter. Herwords take you away and you feel like you are watching the story play outright in front of you.
~Delightfully Dirty Reads~
Ms. Hardt has a way of writing that makes me forget I’m reading a book.It’s more like slipping into a world she created and getting lost for a while.~Whipped Cream Reviews~
Flawlessly written and in my opinion a work of art…~Girly Girl Book Reviews~
Other Books in the SeriesCowboy Heat – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US:
http://amzn.to/1w6AdII
Amazon UK:
http://amzn.to/1trA6Bl
Cowboy Lust – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/14UYqGKAmazon UK: http://amzn.to/1u5MFTJa Rafflecopter giveaway
January 19, 2015
January 5, 2015
COWBOY LUST ON TOUR!
Book: Cowboy Lust — Bakersville Saga 3 & 4Author: Helen HardtGenre: Contemporary Romance/Cowboy
GoodreadsLinkSynopsisCOWBOY LUSTRodeo QueenCatie Bay has worshiped much older Chad McCray since she was a child. When she fumbles a seduction attempt after her graduation from high school, she flees to Europe. Four years later, she returns a beautiful, worldly woman, and Chad takes notice. Is the rodeo queen still in love with the sexy cowboy, and is he capable of returning her feelings?Taming AngelinaLearn to run a ranch? Angelina Bay would rather wear last season’s clothes. But if she doesn’t, her father commands, she can kiss her inheritance goodbye.Teach a spoiled heiress how to ride a horse? Not in this lifetime. Rafe Grayhawk is busy enough as a ranch hand, saving every extra penny to fund his chronically ill father’s move to Arizona—until beautiful Angelina makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
Rafe’s rules are simple—show up on time for lessons and do everything he tells her. Angie balks at authority, but soon riding lessons with the handsome hand are the least of her problems. She may lose her ranch anyway, and Rafe is the only person who can help her.
Excerpt
When Catie’s margarita came, she took a long drink. The salt around the rim stung her lips, chapped from the dry air on the plane.
Nothing like it.
She chugged the rest and stood up, her head a bit hazy. When had she last eaten? On the plane sometime.“I want to dance,” she announced, and grabbed her handsome cowboy’s arm. “Come on, Chad.”
“Little bit,” Chad said, as she dragged him away, “are you sure you want to do this?”
“Sure I’m sure,” Catie said. “It’s just a dance.”
“You drank that ’rita awful fast, sugar.”
Sugar? She liked the sound of that. “A little tequila, a little Garth Brooks, a little dance with a handsome cowboy. Sounds like heaven.”
“Whatever you say, little bit.”
“Little bit?” She looked into his eyes, so dark they were nearly black. They seemed to smoke. “I like sugar better.”
“Okay,” he drawled. “Come on.” He snaked his arms around her waist. “Let’s cut the rug, sugar.”
The song wasn’t made for slow dancing, but the crowd on the dance floor necessitated closeness between them. Chad’s hard body crushed against her, and her pulse quickened.
“I’m glad you decided not to ignore me all night.”
“Ignore you?”
“Yeah, you talking on and on with Amber, when it’s clear to a saint you and she have nothin’ at all in common.” He chuckled. “You sure have changed, little…I mean, sugar,” Chad said. “I hardly recognized you.
“It’s been four years, Chad.”
“What happened to the little girl who loved horses more than people?”
“She’s still in here.”
“I admit, I sure was surprised you left your mare. You must have had a huge reason for leaving the country.”
“Oh, I did.”
“What was it?”
“Maybe I’ll tell you sometime,” she said coyly.
“Okay, sugar.” He chuckled. “I’ll hold you to that.”
The music changed from fast to slow, and she leaned into Chad’s muscles, closed her eyes, and inhaled. Leather. Leather and cinnamon. And Chad. Musky, male, perfect Chad. If anything, he’d become even more appealing in the four years she’d been gone.
They swayed gently to the music, their bodies melting together in all the right places. Catie slipped into a dreamworld, a world she hadn’t dared visit in the last four years. A world she’d thought she could forget.
No. She couldn’t forget. They might have only this one dance, but she’d make it worthwhile. She pulled away just a smidge and stared up into Chad’s face. She wanted only to look at him, to drink him in. But his dark eyes smoldered, and she read something in them. Something she couldn’t quite decipher.
“Sugar?” His voice cracked. Just a little, but she noticed.
“Hmm?”
He shook his head slightly. “Goddamn, sugar.”
He lowered his mouth to hers.Meet the AuthorHelen Hardt is an attorney and stay-at-home mom turned award-winning romance author and freelance fiction editor. She writes contemporary, historical, paranormal, and erotic romance from her home in Colorado. She’s a mother, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an avid fan of opera and football (as long as her older son and younger son are performing/playing, respectively), and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.Author Links
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Buy the BookAmazon US Amazon UK Barnes & Noble Smashwords Musa PublishingOther Books in the SeriesCowboy Heat – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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December 19, 2014
COWBOY LUST IS OUT TODAY!
Get your copy here!
Book: Cowboy Lust — Bakersville Saga 3 & 4Author: Helen HardtGenre: Contemporary Romance/Cowboy
COWBOY LUST
Rodeo QueenCatie Bay has worshiped much older Chad McCray since she was a child. When she fumbles a seduction attempt after her graduation from high school, she flees to Europe. Four years later, she returns a beautiful, worldly woman, and Chad takes notice. Is the rodeo queen still in love with the sexy cowboy, and is he capable of returning her feelings?
Taming AngelinaLearn to run a ranch? Angelina Bay would rather wear last season’s clothes. But if she doesn’t, her father commands, she can kiss her inheritance goodbye.
Teach a spoiled heiress how to ride a horse? Not in this lifetime. Rafe Grayhawk is busy enough as a ranch hand, saving every extra penny to fund his chronically ill father’s move to Arizona—until beautiful Angelina makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
Rafe’s rules are simple—show up on time for lessons and do everything he tells her. Angie balks at authority, but soon riding lessons with the handsome hand are the least of her problems. She may lose her ranch anyway, and Rafe is the only person who can help her.
Other Books in the SeriesCowboy Heat – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
Book: Cowboy Lust — Bakersville Saga 3 & 4Author: Helen HardtGenre: Contemporary Romance/Cowboy
COWBOY LUST
Rodeo QueenCatie Bay has worshiped much older Chad McCray since she was a child. When she fumbles a seduction attempt after her graduation from high school, she flees to Europe. Four years later, she returns a beautiful, worldly woman, and Chad takes notice. Is the rodeo queen still in love with the sexy cowboy, and is he capable of returning her feelings?
Taming AngelinaLearn to run a ranch? Angelina Bay would rather wear last season’s clothes. But if she doesn’t, her father commands, she can kiss her inheritance goodbye.
Teach a spoiled heiress how to ride a horse? Not in this lifetime. Rafe Grayhawk is busy enough as a ranch hand, saving every extra penny to fund his chronically ill father’s move to Arizona—until beautiful Angelina makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
Rafe’s rules are simple—show up on time for lessons and do everything he tells her. Angie balks at authority, but soon riding lessons with the handsome hand are the least of her problems. She may lose her ranch anyway, and Rafe is the only person who can help her.
Other Books in the SeriesCowboy Heat – Bakersville Saga 1 & 2
