Dani Collins's Blog, page 49

February 28, 2015

The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction - Release Day!

March 1st is the official release day for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction!



alt



If that's not exciting enough, check out how much it's starting to look like Spring here! This was the view from my kitchen window this morning (and the reason I love where I live.)



alt



Life is pretty darned good right now, except I'm working on my next Presents and I'm eager to share details, but I've already jinxed this story once by talking about it. I told my editor my life and the book were cooperating. Now my husband wants to start a bathroom reno today and I've been stuck at forty thousand words all week.



So I have to keep this short and get back to my manuscript. I don't have a #SampleSunday for you today. I'll post the links below if you've missed any in this series and I hope you're dropping by for The Bachelor's Baby #TeaserTuesday. The Bachelor's Baby comes out this Friday, March 6th, and the Bachelor Auction is such a fun series. I can't wait to hear what you think of all these stories.



SampleSunday

Have you missed any of this series? Here are the links to the previous excerpts:




Fern arrives at the oasis and takes in Zafir.
Zafir is taken with Fern
Fern wishes Zafir would take a hike
Fern wonders if Zafir will steal a kiss
Fern steals a peek at Zafir
Zafir steals a kiss


The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction is in my local stores so I hope you'll look for it in yours. Alternately, it's available at all these online retailers:



Mills & Boon | Harlequin | Kobo | Nook | BAM | Amazon: US | Canada | UK



Would you like to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc? Click here for my Social Media links.



Have a great weekend!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 28, 2015 08:44

February 24, 2015

#TeaserTuesday - The Bachelor's Baby (3)

Remember that time I almost forgot #TeaserTuesday again? After goofing off with my daughter so much last week, I've been really caught up in my WIP (shhh, don't want to jinx it!) so I dove straight into it this morning. But I'm here and eager to share another excerpt from The Bachelor's Baby.



alt



I've had some preliminary covers for my fourth Montana Born book, by the way. It's called His Blushing Bride and I wish I could share some of the mock ups. I had seven to choose from and wanted all of them. I can't wait to show you once things are finalized.



I've also been starting to pull some arrangements together for the RT Convention and an appearance I have in March in Vancouver. (I really should get that workshop properly written. So far it's just notes and they're scattered everywhere: whiteboard, scraps of paper, notebook by my bed...)



And I've been walking! The weather took a really nice turn. Here's the beach about ten minutes from my house. The snow is almost gone and you can practically feel summer on the horizon, can't you? (I can! It's my favorite time of year and I missed a big chunk of it last year because I was in Australia.)



alt



But enough dilly-dallying. Here's your



TeaserTuesday

Have you seen all the posts in this series? I often post opening pages for #SampleSunday, but in this particular #TeaserTuesday series, I've been jumping around a bit.



In the first one, Linc confronts Meg about setting him up as a bachelor.



Last week, Linc and Meg get into a bidding war when she tries to buy him at the auction.



They wind up talking after the auction and make their peace, then Linc drives her home. Here's their first kiss:



~ * ~



“It’s just you and your brother?” He slowed for the turn into her driveway then halted with just the nose of his truck off the road.



“And Ethan. He’s sixteen and been with us half-time since he was a baby, um— Is there a problem?” she asked as he put the truck into park.



“No, I just want to ask you something.”



“Oh, come in for coffee,” she invited breezily, waving in the direction of the house that was too far down the drive to see from here. “Meet Blake and Ethan and we can talk— Oh my God. You want me to come to your place, don’t you?” She would have laughed aloud at herself if she didn’t want to cringe in embarrassment. She covered cheeks that felt sunburned, hot and tender, even through her gloves.



“I was just going to say the invitation to see the place is still open.” She could hear the mirth leavening his smooth, sexy voice. “I might even have a bottle of red wine, if you prefer that over a cup of coffee. But after what we’ve been talking about, I understand if you don’t want to go home with someone you don’t know very well.”



“When I said I was taking precautions, I was serious. I haven’t had a social life for weeks. No impulse shopping or popping out for an errand. I use the treadmill in the gym in my building instead of running outside. It’s stifling and the walls will close in again when I get back. Honestly, the idea of being able to spend an hour with—” She cleared her throat, skin feeling tight. She tried to sound flippant, but it came out husky, “a neighbor—”



He snorted at the descriptor.



“I’m just saying, I really am tempted. It would be nice to feel normal again. I always feel so much better when I’m home,” she added, accosted by a poignant feeling. She wasn’t ready to leave this time and she suspected this man was the reason.



He shifted to face her, leaning his wrist on her seatback so he edged into her space. “C’mere,” he invited.



“What.” A grin tugged at her mouth, but wicked, sexual reactions took her at the same time. Her nipples prickled and her breathing changed. “You want to kiss me?” She wanted him to. Rather badly.



“I do.”



“Is it a test?” She turned her head, aware of how close he was, how he smelled faintly of aftershave and clean Montana air.



“Little bit,” he murmured.



“Gonna leave me here if I don’t pass?” she challenged, trying to sound urbane when she actually felt girlish and shy.



His fingertips played gently against the ends of her hair, coaxing her to lean a fraction closer toward him. “I’m the one making the pass, sweetheart.”



He closed in. Warm male lips brushed hers, giving her a moment to savor the sensation of smooth, sensitive skin rubbing lightly against her own. Then he pressed with more purpose, enticed her into parting her lips and playing her mouth against his in delicious rubs as he gradually settled into the kiss. He stole over her so skillfully, she was caught and held before she realized how completely he owned her.



She thought—



Actually, there were no thoughts in her head. Just his scent and the warm dampness of his strong mouth exploring hers. The tip of his tongue briefly tagged her inner lip. Their breaths hissed quietly as their breathing changed. His cheek was smooth enough not to snag her knit gloves, making her want to pull them off so she could run her fingers into his hair.



She slanted her head, encouraging him to deepen the kiss. Pressing the back of his skull to encourage more pressure.



His free hand settled on the side of her neck, thumb stroking deliciously under her throat while he pulled at her bottom lip, his flagrant sucking making arousal bloom down her front, spiking her nipples into sharper peaks and spearing hot need between her thighs. Oh man did she want to go home with him.



And he was drawing back, making her primal core weep.



“What do you think?” he asked in a voice that was like a velvety summer breeze caressing her naked skin.



She made herself sit straight, breath unsteady and way too revealing of his effect on her. Her fingertips pressed her buzzing lips, trying to calm the rest of her.



“I didn’t realize it was that kind of test,” she said, voice papery.



“It’s not. Come over for a drink if you just want to throw off the shackles for a while. I wasn’t trying to see if you put out. But if we were going to fizzle, I figured here was a better place for it.”



Fizzle? She choked on a laugh, mildly horrified by that phrase ‘put out,’ and even more horrified by how disappointed she would be if he left her here instead of taking her to his place.



“Do you think we fizzled?”



“Ha! No,” he said firmly, making her tuck a grin into her collar.



It was gratifying and flattering, but...



“You do this a lot, don’t you?” she asked in a voice that came out smaller than she meant it to. “Pick up women, I mean.”



Silence as he eased back into his own seat, then he sighed. “I’m not good at relationships, Meg. A lot of it was the nature of my job, but the truth is, I’ve never seen myself married with kids and the whole nine yards. But I like women and I like sex.” His jacket shifted as he shrugged and made himself more comfortable behind the wheel. “What do you want me to say? That I’ve never taken a woman home? You’d be the first here. Does that help?”



“I’ve never done it,” she said, then hurried to add, “I mean, I’ve had relationships. Just not, um, such a brief one.”



Somewhere along the way, maybe because she had friends that she respected who sometimes had one-night stands, she had developed a sense that they could be empowering. She didn’t feel embolded, though. She felt insecure. Longing gripped her, like she was wishing for something she would never get.



“That’s not the sort of first I’d like to be for a woman,” he said dryly. “Don’t change your values for me, Meg. Call me the next time you’re in town and we’ll do lunch in Great Falls.” He put the truck into drive.



“No, wait—” She covered his gloved hand with her own, could sense the strength in his firm grip of the stick. This evening couldn’t end with her packing and nursing What If. “I’m really attracted to you, Linc. I know I’ll regret it if I don’t go home with you.”



He studied her in the blue gloom off the dash for a long moment.



“Sure?”



“I am.”



He reversed back onto the road.



~ * ~



If you want to know what happens next, um, Spoiler Alert--the title says it all.



If you'd like to read what happens after that, The Bachelor's Baby comes out March 6th. All the books in the Bachelor Auction series will release on all digital platforms, and you can pre-order on Amazon and iBooks here:



US | CA | UK | AUS | Germany | France or iBooks



By the way, The Bachelor's Baby is the third in my Montana Born series. Here they are in order:




Hometown Hero US | CA | UK | AUS | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | Smashwords
Blame The Mistletoe US | CA | UK | AUS | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | Smashwords
The Bachelor's Baby (releases March 6th)
His Blushing Bride (tentatively scheduled for May 11th)


But if you want to start with Hometown Hero, buy it here:



His Only Valentine - Hometown Hero and More!

Tule Publishing has put together this amazing bundle just for February and time is running out. Grab it before the weekend for $3.99 and you'll get Hometown Hero and twelve other romances with it. It's a steal!



alt



Buy His Only Valentine Bundle Here:



Amazon: US | CA | UK

Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks



Please visit my contest page while you're here and check back for other chances to win signed copies of my Harlequin Presents.



I'll post the last snippet from The Bachelor's Baby next Tuesday, right before it goes on sale. I hope you'll come back for it.



And if you like reading excerpts, please check out my #SampleSunday for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction.



Have a great week and I hope you're seeing some sunshine, wherever you are!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 24, 2015 12:08

February 21, 2015

#SampleSunday - The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction (6)

Today is the final excerpt from The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction. I hope you've enjoyed them and will come back for #TeaserTuesday for The Bachelor's Baby.



alt



What are your plans for the weekend? My daughter goes back to Uni today, so I'm a little bummed. She was here through reading break and it's a lot of fun for all of us when she's around. Also, the weather has finally smartened up so we're getting lots of walks in. It's been a really nice week.



But I've put myself on deadline for my next Presents so I'll finish this up and get back to writing. First though, have you seen this bundle?



Only For February - Hometown Hero and More for $3.99!

Buy Hometown Hero and twelve other romances for $3.99.



alt



Buy 99c Bundle Here: Amazon
US | CA | UK | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks



SampleSunday

Have you missed any of this series? Here are the links to the previous excerpts:




Fern arrives at the oasis and takes in Zafir.
Zafir is taken with Fern
Fern wishes Zafir would take a hike
Fern wonders if Zafir will steal a kiss
Fern steals a peek at Zafir


And here she swims the next morning and he does steal a kiss:



~ * ~



Bare, tanned feet stood on the beach before her.



Her heart stalled and her soggy nightgown clung like a skin of dread. Her feet halted and her knees locked in denial.



How? No one else was up.



Her gaze climbed athletic shins to where unbleached linen board shorts ended at his knees.



Leave it to him to wear drawstring shorts that were still the epitome of class, tailored to hang low across his brown hips in the most disreputable yet erotic way. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was a perfect specimen of the human male. His tense, flat abs were bisected by a line of hair that flared across his brown chest. The pattern accentuated his broad shoulders and the relaxed muscles of his upper arms.



His mouth was set in a grim line, the stubble on his jaw dark making him look even more piratical and dangerous than the first glimpse she’d had of him. He had black hair, she noted. Trimmed close to keep it tight against his scalp.



His brows stayed heavy over those remarkable, glittering eyes as he opened a towel with a flick. She hadn’t noticed he was holding one. He beckoned her with two bent fingers, then hissed a word in Arabic that she’d heard Amineh use to hurry the girls.



“Now,” he said in a stern whisper. “The guards don’t need to see you like that.”



Like what?



She glanced down to see her nightgown was plastered to her front, her nipples standing out from the high curves of her breasts like traffic cones. Her lack of underwear was flagrantly obvious.



The light was coming up fast with the sun. She couldn’t approach him looking like this!



Her tent looked miles away from here, however, and… Oh, help me. He didn’t wait. He waded into the water and snapped the towel around her back, barely giving her a chance to lift her arms out of the way before he closed it across her chest and tucked it tight.



She grabbed at it to finish the job herself, then brushed his hands away and glared up at him, even though she was the idiot who’d gotten herself into this mortifying position.



“I didn’t think anyone else was awake,” she hissed.



“The guards patrol around the clock.”



She scowled at the surrounding area, right up to the top of the jagged wall of the canyon, seeing no one. “Well, I wasn’t planning to swim when I came out.”



“Good thing I was.” He nodded at the towel, matching her whisper, but still managing to sound patronizing.



“I wasn’t trying to insult anyone,” she explained, upset that she’d made a cultural gaffe.



He snorted. “That was the least of my reasons for covering you.”



Again he used the tone that suggested she was a bit of a half-wit. She glared up at him, but the eye contact only sent a current of electricity through her that stayed active and hummed in her veins so her breaths stumbled unevenly. A shiver chased over her even as the burn that had kept her awake through the night rekindled.



She forced herself to look toward her tent. Told her feet to carry her in that direction, but all the illicit fantasies she’d had in there loomed large in her mind. The blood she’d cooled with her swim heated and moved with a sensual slither through her veins, creating a simmering warmth in her belly and lower. Very personal muscles clenched in anticipation.



The return to a state of receptiveness was so primeval and quick, her breath hitched in a helpless catch. How did he do this to her by only standing near? It was unsettling to have no control over her reactions.



She didn’t want to know if he knew, hoped he didn’t, but her gaze tracked to his to see.



He was waiting for her. Something fierce flashed in his eyes. This time when he stepped close and lowered his head, as proprietary as a man could get, she didn’t feel any alarm. No sense of self-preservation. Just anticipation. Please.



His lips burned on contact against her cool ones, sliding easily against the dampness left from her swim.



Her eyes closed and her senses came alive to the feel of his firm mouth settling purposefully onto hers. He parted her lips with a lick of his tongue, causing heat to flow into them so fast it stung. Her whole body came alive with a jolt of powerful excitement so intense she shuddered.



And she returned the pressure of his mouth instinctively, moving hers in a type of hungry greed, Her heart pounded with excitement and fear-spiked awareness that she wanted things from him he could never give her. This was futile, but irresistible.



And so exquisite. When his tongue dashed deeper against her inner lips, both daring and deliciously stimulating, she touched her own to his. He tasted smoky and spicy, not like cigarettes, but like open fires and exotic foods. He was remarkable. The sensations he provoked in her were so sweet she wanted to moan aloud. She was drowning—



It hit her that they were still standing in the pool where anyone could see them.



Stricken, she jerked back with a splashing step.



He steadied her, mouth tightening to a harsh line as he scanned over her head. When his searing green gaze came back to hers, his eyes were brimming with frustration.



“Let’s take this to my tent,” he said in a graveled undertone.



~ * ~



The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction has started shipping from Amazon. Here are all the quick links



Mills & Boon | Harlequin | Kobo | Nook | BAM | Amazon: US | Canada | UK



If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc, Click here for Dani's Social Media links.



Back to writing for me. Have a great weekend!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 21, 2015 08:23

February 17, 2015

#TeaserTuesday - The Bachelor's Baby (2)

Good morning! I almost forgot #TeaserTuesday. I'm writing my next Harlequin Presents so my brain went straight to Italy this morning and did not pass go and did not collect two hundred words for a blog post.



alt



How was your weekend? Did you watch the Saturday Night Live special? I was very fortunate as my sister and her husband had come into town and brought my daughter with them. She's home for reading week. Even my sixteen-year-old son came out of his gaming cave to watch with us. I burned dinner, we were so caught up in the show and I was exhausted from laughing afterward.



Now I'll spend the week watching Jane The Virgin with my daughter. We started it last night and it's very fun. Have you tried it?



But you're here for another instalment of The Bachelor's Baby, aren't you?



Did you see last week's? I posted simultaneously with the first two authors in the series, Sarah Mayberry and Kate Hardy and we've had such a great response. Readers sound as excited for this whole series as we are!



You can read their posts here:




Bound To The Bachelor
Bachelor At Her Bidding


The Bachelor's Baby is the third in the Bachelor Auction series and also the third in my series of novellas for Montana Born. Here's my post from last week:



Linc confronts Meg about setting him up as a bachelor



And here's the bidding war at the auction for your



TeaserTuesday

~ * ~



Linc ambled onto the stage while Buck kept his leathery face directed at the card he held. “Says here this Renegade From The Oil Rigs is new to Marietta. You took over the Circle H a few months ago? Where from?”



“Most recently Texas—”



“Got us a long horn here, ladies,” Buck said in a suggestive aside.



A ripple of laughter when through the crowd.



Linc offered a tolerant smirk.



“How did you come to join our auction, Linc?”



“I believe it was a bait and switch technique.”



Most tittered at his laconic joke. Meg felt the glance of his gaze like a swooping magpie, talons catching in her hair and giving it a yank.



“Being new in town, I’m sure you’re anxious to meet some of our single women,” Buck continued smoothly. “And I know how priceless and exotic out-of-state breed stock is to them,” he drawled, then read from his card. “Ladies, a date with this bachelor will include champagne and chocolate in the limousine that picks you up, a helicopter tour of the area, piloted by Mr. Brady, lunch at a five star restaurant in Great Falls, and maid service to clean your house while you’re out. Who wants to open with three hundred dollars?”



“Three twenty-five.”



“Three fifty.”



The bidding went up to five hundred very quickly with Buck’s smooth patter working the crowd. Meg waited until it wavered at six seventy-five then threw out, “Seven,” figuring she owed him after getting him into this.



“Seven from our celebrity guest.”



Meg hid her cringe, always annoyed when people here made a big deal about what she did for a living.



“Do we have seven-fifty?” Buck coaxed.



“Eight,” a male voice said.



It took everyone a moment to realize Linc had spoken.



“Did you just say eight? You can’t bid on yourself,” Buck told him. “Never in my career have the cattle done this to me, folks.”



“I can do whatever I want.” Linc tucked his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels, as he waited out the chuckles. He was completely at ease as he took control of the room and held it in thrall. “As it was pointed out to me when I offered to write a generous check and skip this silliness, it’s a good cause and people are here for a show. Let’s make it interesting.”



He wasn’t being sarcastic, but there was a dig in there toward her, Meg was sure. At the very least, it was a challenge.



“We’ve barely covered the cost of fuel at this point,” Linc added. “I could write the check myself, stay home and get in a good day’s work. If you want me to go through with this, let’s make sure we’re getting this boy what he needs.”



“Fair enough,” Buck said, then prompted, “Ladies? Do we have nine hundred?”



“Nine,” Meg stated.



Linc sharpened his gaze on her. “A thousand,” he said blithely.



“Eleven hundred,” she tossed, equally unconcerned.



The air in the room began to pressurize as breaths were drawn in with anticipation.



“Twelve...?” he invited.



“Thirteen,” she called flippantly, nodding at Buck that she was serious.



“Fourteen,” Linc said. “And I can stay silent when you say...”



“Fifteen,” she pronounced deliberately.



Everyone clapped. Meg started to grin with triumph.



“But I won’t,” Linc said. “Sixteen.”



Meg sobered.



The room silenced.



“Really?” she asked.



“It’s a good cause,” he reminded. Taunted.



“Seventeen,” she allowed.



“Two thousand,” he said.



“What?” His leap over three hundred dollars startled her. He was doing this on purpose. Punishing her. She rose to her feet. “Twenty-one,” she said in a strong voice, firm with warning.



“Twenty-two.”



“I’m getting the feeling I’m not needed here,” Buck joked. “In fact, I think we should all leave the room.”



Meg blushed hard. “You’re just—” she started to blurt at Linc.



He lifted his brows in a prompt for her to finish her statement. Getting back at me, is what she wanted to accuse. The corners of his mouth were digging in, smugly enjoying her discomfiture.



“Twenty-five hundred dollars,” she said. It was as high as she would go and screw his helicopter tour. That was her signing bonus that she had set aside for an all-inclusive when she got tired of winter. He was going to provide a lot more than lunch if she was giving it away.



“Two thousand, five hundred...and one,” he declared precisely.



Jerk. The entire room was laughing at her.



“You know what?” she said as the noise died down. “You write your check and I’ll write mine. We’ll call this date done because you obviously don’t want to go through with it.” Not with her, at any rate. She was burning with humiliation and just wanted this hideous scene over.



He lost some of his self-assured demeanor. His expression blanked with surprise, but he recovered quickly. His eyelids came down in a shuttered blink and he nodded. “Deal.”



~ * ~



Want to know what happens next? The Bachelor's Baby comes out March 6th. All the books in the Bachelor Auction series will release on all digital platforms, but you can pre-order on Amazon and iBooks here:



US | CA | UK | AUS | Germany | France or iBooks



Have you been reading my other Montana Born novellas? The Bachelor's Baby follows Blame The Mistletoe. My series goes like this:




Hometown Hero (now on all platforms)
Blame The Mistletoe (coming soon to all platforms)
The Bachelor's Baby (releases March 6th, all platforms)
His Blushing Bride (scheduled for May 11th)


Bundle of Brawn - Hometown Hero and More!

Tule Publishing has put together this amazing bundle just for February. Pick it up and you'll get Hometown Hero and twelve other romances with it, all for just $3.99.



alt



Buy His Only Valentine Bundle Here:



Amazon: US | CA | UK

Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks



Please visit my contest page while you're here and check back for other chances to win signed copies of my Harlequin Presents.



I'll post another snippet from The Bachelor's Baby next Tuesday. I hope you'll come back for it.



Have you read my #SampleSunday for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction? I'll be posting my final excerpt in that series this weekend.



I'm heading back to Italy now. Have a great week!

1 like ·   •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 17, 2015 09:44

February 14, 2015

#SampleSunday - The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction (5)

Happy Valentine's Day! Are you ready for the fifth excerpt from The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction? I'm feeling saucy so I've added the Sexy cover to the image.



alt



Do you have plans tonight? I have family in town so we're barbequing, rain or shine. There are still patches of snow on the ground--and there could very well be more snow to come. Winter is definitely not over in this part of the country, but tonight we're going to pretend it is.



I'm a great believer in manifesting your own reality and it seems to be paying off for me lately. If you're one of my long-time visitors, you know how many times I've breathlessly posted, "I'm so busy." Well, I've been consciously avoiding that phrase and deliberately stepping away from my computer for other things. I'll admit it's a toss-up when that other thing is cleaning a closet, but it feels so good to accomplish something that I've thought I was too busy to do for so long. And it feels awesome to start finding the balance of work and home that I've been seeking for years.



However, because my daughter and sister are showing up midday and this house needs a spit polish before they get here, I do have to stick to business this morning. Scoop up this fabulous offer then enjoy your #SampleSunday.



Last Chance - Hometown Hero and More for 99c!

You read that right. Hometown Hero is 99c and you'll get twelve other romances with it, but only until Feb 15th!



This bundle is only available through February and the price goes up to $3.99 on Monday so grab this awesome little Valentine's Day gift to yourself right now! Links are below the image.



alt



Buy 99c Bundle Here: Amazon
US | CA | UK | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks



SampleSunday

Ready for your #SampleSunday? Here's what has happened so far:




Fern arrives at the oasis and takes in Zafir.
Zafir is taken with Fern
Fern wishes Zafir would take a hike
Fern wonders if Zafir will steal a kiss


They're interupted by the children and here's what Fern thinks of the incident when she has a moment alone a little bit later:



~ * ~



Fern entered the privacy of her tent and let out a long, anxious breath. Amineh had talked about the oasis like it was a place of freedom, but Fern had a sense of being kidnapped—into luxury, sure. The tent was bigger than the tiny bedroom she’d grown up in. The bedding and pillows the children had brought her were silky and colorful, while the pallet Zafir had unrolled was wide enough for two.



Stop it.



How had she even wound up here at the end of the earth? She’d grown up expecting she would take a position in a village day school, perhaps going home to a tidy flat where she’d have a cat named Fabio. Her only aspiration had been to provide the same ray of hope Miss Ivy had instilled in her—to help withdrawn, unhappy students discover their own hidden potential.



Hers had apparently been the ability to become an international teacher.



She hadn’t even considered an overseas position while her mother had been alive, but after her mother had passed away, Fern had needed a fresh start. On a whim, she’d applied to a placement agency and expected to wind up in a missionary school, but had found herself in the running for this job.



It still felt like a miracle that she’d won it, but her quiet nature seemed to fit with a culture that valued modesty. She and Amineh had got on immediately, which surprised Fern. At first she had thought it was only because Amineh appreciated Fern’s genuine affection for the girls and her earnest desire to act in their best interests. Now she knew Amineh better, she recognized a like soul in the sense that they’d both struggled to find their place in the jungle of female cliques during their school years.



Amineh and Zafir, Fern had learned, were the product of a rather notorious affair between an Arab sheikh and an English duke’s daughter. They’d ping-ponged back and forth between their parents, not quite fitting fully into either culture. Amineh had found stability by marrying her brother’s best friend, Ra’id, and living permanently in his country.



Zafir still fought for the right to rule their father’s homeland, Q’Amara. He’d married the daughter of a sheikh, trying to ease resistance at having a man with such heavy Western influences governing their country.



Somehow she couldn’t picture him wearing the same sad frown Amineh wore when she talked about their difficult early years. He seemed too fiercely proud to allow prejudice to reach his heart. It was hard to imagine a man that dynamic and confident struggling with anything.



Peeking out of her tent, she saw him down at the water, shin-deep in the spring where the children had told her bathing was allowed. He stood with his sharp profile angled upward to the top of the worn canyon on the far side of the water. Then he crouched, not taking any heed that his robe was soaked through. He scooped his hands into the water and splashed his face, then lifted his gutra to wet the back of his neck.



She swallowed, going weak as she watched him. He was so comfortable in his skin, so self-assured and compelling.



It dawned on her that this was a crush. She was suffering a full-blown case of unfounded infatuation, behaving exactly like her adolescent schoolmates used to. She stood here spying on a boy, acting geeky and awkward and keyed up, entertaining uncharacteristic fantasies of kissing the back of his neck. How puerile. If only his wife was alive to deter her.



Look away, she told herself, but she couldn’t make herself do it. Why did he have to be out there acting all brooding and sexy anyway?



He stood and turned to stare directly at her tent. His shoulders were set at what seemed a tense angle, his demeanor projecting dissatisfaction.



She couldn’t tell if he saw her, but she retreated to the back wall.



This was going to be an interminable two weeks.



~ * ~



The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction has been waltzing nicely between the #2 and #3 spots here on the Mills & Boon Top Ten List where it's already received two 5-star reviews! I couldn't be more thrilled.



Did you want to pre-order on another site? Here are the links:



Harlequin | Kobo | Nook | BAM | Amazon US | Canada | UK



Also, if you love these snippets and sneak peeks, please read my #TeaserTuesday for The Bachelor's Baby.



Giveaways

Congratulations to Marilyn, Isabel and Hayley who won my Goodreads Giveaway.



Please visit my contest page for this month's contest.



I'm also giving away a book in The Romance Review's Anniversary Party. Click on the link below for more details.



alt



The Romance Reviews 4th Anniversary Party



Buy Links

Want to browse all my titles? Find them here:



You can get all my Harlequin titles on Mills & Boon UK, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus.



All my titles are on Amazon:
US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 



And these fine retailers carry most of my titles too:

Nook | KoboARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks



If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc, Click here for Dani's Social Media links.



Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 14, 2015 09:31

February 9, 2015

#TeaserTuesday - The Bachelor's Baby

Welcome to #TeaserTuesday and a mini-hop with the first three authors from Montana Born's upcoming Bachelor Auction series. We're all very excited to share our bachelors with our readers and hope you come to adore these guys as much as we do.



alt



When Sarah, Kate and I realized we were all going to start sharing snippets, we decided it would be fun to give you the links so you can pop around and get to know our men.



I chose the scene below because it gives you a good idea of the set up for the whole series. Are you new to Marietta? You'll find a lot of cross-over of characters here. Kat's heroine is the Molly mentioned below. Sarah's is Lily, the gal who organizes the auction. My heroine, Meg, goes to see Kate's heroine, Dr. Rachel Cassidy, mid-story. (I won't tell you why, but you'll figure it out from my title.)



If you like to read in order--even snippets and blurbs--you can find Sarah and Kate's posts here:




Bound To The Bachelor

Preorder here: US | CA | UK | AUS


Bachelor At Her Bidding

Preorder here: US | CA | UK | AUS


The Bachelor's Baby

Preorder here: US | CA | UK | AUS




Blurb for The Bachelor's Baby:

Your date with Bachelor #3 includes champagne and chocolate in the limo that collects you, a helicopter tour or Marietta and the surrounding mountains and valleys, and dinner at a five star restaurant in Great Falls. While oil baron Linc Brady wines and dines you, a maid service will completely clean your home.



Who could resist this tempting offer? Meg Canon plans to do just that. She is only home to clean out her childhood bedroom for her brother’s new step-daughter and then she’s outta her childhood small town and back to her life in Chicago, but when she meets the sexy, renegade millionaire while she’s stuck in the snow, sparks fly and Meg is tempted to stay a little longer.



Linc Brady is new in town and happy to help a kid in need, but a bachelor auction? Technically he doesn’t owe Meg a damned thing after she bids on him--after setting him up for the Marietta bachelor auction in the first place--but her high-class city polish is his fatal weakness and makes her impossible to forget.



When she agrees to come home with him, he makes it clear he’s a confirmed bachelor. This is a one-night thing--that turns into nine months and maybe...a lifetime?



TeaserTuesday

I'll be running this #TeaserTuesday series for three more weeks so please check back for them. Here's the set up for this excerpt:



In the opening of The Bachelor's Baby, Meg meets Linc on the road. He helps her get her truck unstuck, they flirt a little, then he kind of propositions her. She turns him down, but when she sees him a few minutes later at the grocery store, while she's talking to Lily, she suggests Lily approach Linc for the Bachelor Auction.



This is what happens when Linc catches up to Meg at the hardware store:



~ * ~



“Not funny,” a male voice growled behind her as Meg reached for a small box off a shelf in the hardware store.



His voice really was a turn on, all heavy and faintly abrasive, yet warm and rounded. Like good scotch, or an heirloom quilt.



He’d still been talking to Lily when Meg had left the grocery store, his neck red, his scowl a firmly fixed mask.



Meg didn’t know Lily that well, but had met her through Andie Bennet, who was made of awesome. She trusted Andie’s judgment, even though Lily was rumored to have been a stripper in another life and had only been in town a few years. Meg hadn’t lived here full-time since leaving for college and took all such gossip with a grain of salt.



Besides, despite Lily’s sometimes acerbic sense of humor, she struck Meg as the biggest heart of gold walking, especially given the fundraiser she was spearheading for Molly Dekker. Molly was another sweetheart—a kindergarten teacher and single mom whose only son had been injured last fall. Meg had genuinely wanted to help once she heard what Lily was trying to do for Molly.



The fact it had allowed her to lob another snowball in Linc’s direction was icing on the cake.



“What do you mean?” Meg asked with an innocent glance at him that actually made her heart skip as she took in his folded arms and planted feet. He was genuinely mad.



She cleared her throat and made herself face him, even though her blood stung a warning through her veins. At the same time, the worst of her girlish hormones fluttered, filling her with nervous excitement and giddy warmth.



“Why did you set that woman on me?” he asked.



“Lily? She asked me about Blake. She was disappointed to hear he’s engaged. She asked if I could think of any other eligible bachelors in town. I said I had just met a perfect one-date wonder.” Blink. Blink. Blink.



These baby blues had pulled Meg from basement cable interviews of small time activists to a relief position with a syndicated station. She wasn’t afraid to use them.



Linc was really tall. And had perfected his glower of intimidation. She privately admitted he worked that like a hot damn, but she’d made a career for herself in what was still a world heavily seeded to men. Outwardly, she didn’t falter.



“Can you tell me if these are self-screwing?” She held up the box in her hand.



His scruffed beard seemed to bristle as his jaw hardened.

“Oh, you’ve got a handful of screw yourself,” he assured her.



She swallowed back a laugh, pretty sure that would get her into more trouble than she already stood in. Instead, she turned the box over in her hands. She hadn’t had this much fun in ages. “Maybe one nail would be simpler?”



“Why are you so pissed off?” he demanded.



“I’m not, I’m really not,” she insisted. “I think it’s funny.”



“You think tricking me into standing on a stage and have women bid on me like a stud bull is funny?”



“I didn’t think you’d agree,” she defended. “It was an impulse to mention you, since you walked right by us and you’re, I assume, single?”



He narrowed his eyes.



Seriously? He didn’t see the humor in this?



“Look, I just...” She couldn’t explain it. Not without getting into how she’d let go of something today. Found herself again. She felt cheerful and sassy. She wanted to flirt. He drew her.



But she’d made him mad.



“Come on,” she cajoled. “It’s not my fault you didn’t say no. It’s a good cause,” she tried.



“You don’t even know me.” His tone said, It was a dick move.



She had to look away. Her cheeks began to sting. She suddenly felt very gauche and juvenile. Rejection was always a tough one for her and all she’d wanted was to keep playing with him. Now he hated her.



“I’m out of practice,” she allowed quietly, genuinely sorry. “Honestly, I didn’t mean anything by it.”



“Practice?” he repeated. “Doing what?”



Seriously? She lifted a gaze that let him see how uncomfortable she was, while scolding him for being obtuse.



He let out a choke of disbelieving laughter. “This is you trying to get a man’s attention? Are you twelve?”



She looked away, frowning, trying to hide that her eyes began to burn along with the back of her throat. Pointing Lily at him had been meant in fun, but it was becoming personal and hurtful. She felt twelve. Hell, she felt seven, realizing for the first time what it really meant to be adopted: that your ‘real’ mom and dad hadn’t wanted you.



“Look—” she started to say, ready to apologize, but only saw his back. He was walking away.



~ * ~



The Bachelor's Baby comes out March 6th. All the books in the Bachelor Auction series will release on all digital platforms, but you can pre-order on Amazon here:



US | CA | UK | AUS | Germany | France



Have you been reading my other Montana Born novellas? The Bachelor's Baby follows Blame The Mistletoe. My series goes like this:




Hometown Hero (now on all platforms)
Blame The Mistletoe (coming soon to all platforms)
The Bachelor's Baby (releases March 6th, all platforms)
His Blushing Bride (scheduled for May 11th)


Awesome Deal - Hometown Hero and More!

You can buy Hometown Hero as part of this bundle for 99c and you'll get twelve other romances with it. (I think it even includes Sarah's prequel to her bachelor story. Don't quote me on that, though!)



This bundle is only available through February and the 99c price ends on Valentine's Day so act fast! Links are below the image.



alt



Buy 99c Bundle Here: Amazon
US | CA | UK | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks



If you're visiting from Kate or Sarah's blog, welcome! I'm delighted to meet you and hope you'll visit my contest page and sign up for my newsletter. Poke around on my blog and you'll find other chances to win signed copies of my Harlequin Presents.



There will be another snippet from The Bachelor's Baby next Tuesday and please tune in this weekend for my #SampleSunday, featuring Zafir and Fern from my March Harlequin Presents, The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction.

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 09, 2015 16:23

February 7, 2015

#SampleSunday - The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction (4)

We're up to the fourth excerpt from The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction already! I hope you're enjoying them. I'll have two more after this. Then, well, things are in the air. I'll still post on the weekends, but I may have a run of #TeaserTuesdays. Read more below.



alt



I'm plotting with my fellow Bachelor Auction authors to provide our readers a mini-blog hop with excerpts from the first three books. This may turn into a series of #TeaserTuesday snippets. Have you seen the covers yet? The first three look like this:



alt



These covers were specifically designed to provoke women into screaming like they're at a Rolling Stones concert, so don't be embarassed of you feel like doing that.



Just in case you're sold on the cover alone, I'll quietly leave this room key, I mean pre-order link for The Bachelor's Baby here.



All the bachelor stories are loosely linked. Sarah's heroine, Lily, is the organizer of the event. My heroine, Meg, goes to see Kate's heroine, Dr. Rachel Cassidy, for (sarcastic spoiler alert) a pre-natal visit. (My book is called The Bachelor's Baby.)



The Bachelor's Baby releases March 6th on all platforms, not on the 13th and exclusive to Amazon as previously reported. What can I say? Publishing is a constantly changing landscape. Even I can't keep up with when and how my books are coming out.



But I do want to remind you that my heroine, Meg, is the sister of Blake from Blame The Mistletoe, making it the third in my series for Montana Born. Blame The Mistletoe is still in the queue, but you can now find Hometown Hero on these platforms: Kobo | Nook | Smashwords | iBooks



Wait, don't guess yet!!

You can buy Hometown Hero as part of this bundle for 99c (if you buy before Feb 14th) and you'll get twelve other romances with it. It's only available through February so act fast! Links are below the image.



alt



Buy 99c Bundle Here: Amazon
US | CA | UK | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks



SampleSunday

Ready for your #SampleSunday? Here's what has happened so far:




Fern arrives at the oasis and takes in Zafir.
Zafir is taken with Fern
Fern wishes Zafir would take a hike


~ * ~



A noise escaped him. Might have been a snort of amusement or a tsk of impatience. She wasn’t sure because he bent to take up another shortened pole and began to extend it. When his gaze came back to hers, his was fierce and almost scolding.



His rebuke burned. She knew her reaction was obvious. Her ability to demure was nil. Worse, she knew she didn’t inspire male desire. She wasn’t particularly curvy on her chest or bottom. She wouldn’t know how to apply eye shadow if she’d ever had the spare notes to buy it. Between the braces to fix terribly crooked teeth, the secondhand clothes, the extra studies to win a scholarship and then maintaining her position at the library while she earned her degree, she’d been the most easily overlooked nerd her entire life.



Maybe he was one of those jocks who occasionally noticed she was an easy mark and was having his fun teasing her. Maybe he was silently taunting her, sending a pithy “as if.”



She usually walked away when feeling picked on, but despite the seventeen square kilometers around her, she didn’t have anywhere to go. The only place she could hide from Zafir was her own quarters, so she ducked into them. She bent under the light weight of the silky red fabric to pick up the pole from the ground and worked her way to the center, where a grommet awaited on the roof and the floor.



Of course it wasn’t as easy as it looked. She got the top one hooked in, but even though the tent wasn’t heavy, the tension in the fabric was resistant to her attempts to align the bottom of the pole into the floor.



“You spaced the pegs too far away,” she told him, hearing her mother’s voice and cringing.



“I’ve pitched more tents than you have, Fern,” he drawled and she narrowed her eyes at him even though they couldn’t see each other.



Another pole made a zipping noise as he slid it into the pocket that would form one of the corners. “Let me finish this part then I’ll help you.”



Oh, great. I’ll just stand here looking stupid then.



The tent shifted on her hair, making it crackle with static. She debated crawling out, but couldn’t make herself go out there and face him.



Another zip, zip, zip and he had the back and walls stabilized.



Leave when he comes in, she thought, but he lifted the front of the tent and took up all the space, bringing the middle of the tent pole so it slid through her light grip and the roof climbed as he neared her. Then he was standing before her, the narrow pole between them, his tanned face tinged by the translucent red of the fabric, his gaze fixed on hers.



He slid his hands over her limp ones and guided the bottom end of the pole into place.



She tried to look away, but he was tall and very close. He smelled good. Earthy and sweaty, but not overpowering. Masculine and intriguing. Aside from her mother’s specialist, she’d never met a man with such an air of command and that physician had been white-haired and potbellied. Zafir was in his prime, not just healthy, but radiating supremacy.



In the back of her mind, she knew she was behaving like some kind of rock-band superfan, speechless in the presence of a man with star quality, unable to move, but he was so incredible. She found herself staring into his eyes for too long. She knew it was too long, but she couldn’t look away from those crystal blue-green depths. They quested, delving into hers, demanding something she didn’t even understand.



Say something, she thought, and let her tongue wet her lips.



His gaze lowered to her mouth.



Her breath evaporated.



She found her own gaze dropping to his mouth, wondering how it would feel to have those smooth lips rubbing against hers. Her heart was fluttering like a trapped bird, her pulse pounding in her ears.



He lifted his hand to hover hotly next to her cheek, scorching her. His brows jerked in some type of struggle. Was he going to kiss her?



~ * ~



Would you like to pre-order The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction? The quick links are here:



Harlequin | Kobo | Nook | BAM | Amazon US | Canada | UK



Giveaways

Have you seen my revamped newsletter? It has received a small refresh style-wise and will now come out monthly--complete with a monthly contest and a draw from my subscriber list for a signed copy from my backlist.



Read Dani's latest newsletter here!



You can subscribe by entering my monthly contest as shown in the newsletter or Click here for Dani's Social Media links.



I'm starting to feel like I repeat myself a lot on my blog. Am I using too many links? You get a lot of advice to load your blog with urls. Search engines love them, apparently. (?)



But I may make it my goal this year to simplify. We'll see what happens. I set a lot of goals. You know that. And success varies.



Time for coffee. (One goal I never shirk!) Have a great weekend.

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 07, 2015 08:20

January 31, 2015

#SampleSunday - The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction (3)

How has your week been? Mine has been busy! Lots of writing-related tasks with only a little real writing. Actually, I reviewed and revised both of my upcoming Montana Born titles, but mostly I did a lot of running around and housekeeping and organizing. (I bought colored folders and pretty boxes!)



alt



But let's get on with things. The next excerpt in this #SampleSunday series for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction is below. But first, a few pieces of news:



New Four-Book Contract!

I'm excited to report I've signed another four book contract with Harlequin Presents! My first two books are a duet that, for now, I'm referring to as #SecretBS. I'm a bit superstitious and don't like to jinx anything so we'll keep it vague and mysterious for a little longer. But I'm really excited about the concept and will share more in due time.



Feb 1st is the day that I've set aside to officially dig into that, which actually means continuing on from the proposals that I had submitted to get the thumb's up from my editor. I'm pleased to report that, after this week of cleaning up my desk, for once in my life I feel like I'm (mostly) on top of my game. In theory, this means I'll have few distractions while I work on that duet.



Montana Born - Four Books, All Platforms!

I finished and submitted my fourth Montana Born title (His Blushing Bride) and can't wait for May to share it with you.



In case you missed the news last week, my first two titles in this series are going all platforms.



alt



Blame The Mistletoe is still in the queue, but you can find Hometown Hero here:



Buy Hometown Hero on: Kobo | Nook | Smashwords



The Bachelor's Baby will also release on all digital platforms March 13th. (I had this wrong last week when I said it would be exclusive to Amazon.)



Please watch Tule Publishing's Coming Soon Page for a cover reveal for the entire Bachelor Auction series tomorrow (Feb 1st!).



I'll have pre-order links soon, too. This is going to be an amazing series, readers. I promise you, you don't want to miss it.



Newsletter and Contest News

I've started working with Writerspace to help with promotion. They'll be formatting and distributing my newsletter (I'll still write it!) and they'll run a monthly contest off my website for the forseeable future.



This means a few changes for you, the most noticeable being that my newsletter will come out monthly on the 10th. If you're not signed up yet, please email me and I'll make that happen. I don't have the new link yet.



Other giveaways will come up from time to time through Goodreads and Facebook and I expect to still draw for a signed book from my subscriber list.



Speaking of giveaways, there will be a ton at the Feb 12th Valentine's Day Party hosted by Tule on Facebook.



alt



I'll be there at 6:30 Pacific time with a fun, Valentine's themed giveaway that includes chocolate. But plan to be there as long as you can. Each author will have a new giveaway about every thirty minutes. These parties rock.



Now here's today's excerpt...



SampleSunday

Here's what has happened thus far:




Fern arrives at the oasis and takes in Zafir.
Zafir is taken with Fern


~ * ~



Fern wished Zafir would take a hike so she could figure out what was going on.



Obviously she found him attractive. Who wouldn’t? He was gorgeous. And he’d taken note of her fascination, obviously, because she was useless at disguising her thoughts and feelings. That’s why she preferred to hide behind books and library desks and had taken a job a million miles from home so she’d only have two students and hardly see any men at all.



Men made her nervous. Not outright afraid. They’d have to notice her for her to feel threatened, but she’d learned the hardest way possible not to beg for approval. As much as she might have a curiosity about dating and mating, she was highly reluctant to put her hard-won confidence on the line. It had been far easier over the years to stay home and not rile her mother by going out with men. Instead, she had excelled at her studies and worked hard to help pay rent and, yes, had even taken a martyr’s pride in being the dutiful daughter. She’d told herself she was too busy for romance, but really, she’d been too cowardly.



Or perhaps, hadn’t met a man exciting enough to provoke her past her reservations. The fact that something had been awakened in her today, making her want to be noticed and appreciated and found worthy, made her anxious. Emotionally vulnerable.



And disturbingly aware of herself physically. She’d never responded to a man in such an animal way. Her knowledge about sex was mostly gleaned from the deliciously graphic passages in romance novels. They always gave her a nice flush of pleasure, but thinking about doing those sorts of things in real life, wondering what Zafir liked to do to women and what it might feel like to have his hands and mouth on her naked body, made sharp sensations pierce her nipples and between her thighs. Heat that was both embarrassment and excitement throbbed painfully in her, making her feel all the more defenseless and exposed.



It was so unnerving.



This was why her mother had always said sex was dangerous. Fern had wondered why so many people did it if it was so bad, but until today she’d never had a man touch her. Not really. Not so she felt it like a lightning bolt into her belly. That was why people did it. The sensations were compelling enough to overcome logic and common sense.



She desperately wanted to move away from him and take time to examine exactly what was happening to her, label it, then put it in storage forever. Especially because some primal part of her felt like he… But no. She was making it up. Fretting because that’s what she did best. She was misinterpreting basic courtesy as…



She didn’t even know the words for what she thought she sensed, only that she felt like she was trapped in a tiger’s cage and he was pacing around her, curious enough to sniff, but not genuinely hungry. Bored maybe. Looking for something to play with.



He walked across to drop her bags by a red bundle.



Oh, dear. Was that her tent? Well, she wasn’t above reading directions. She tried to retrieve the card from its plastic pocket.



“I’ll do it,” he said, looking disgruntled as he picked up the bundle, opened the drawstring and shook the contents onto the sand. He discarded the nylon outer bag.



“I’m sure I can work it out.” She picked up the empty bag and turned it over to see the card was covered in foreign cursive.



“Do you read Arabic?” he asked dryly, then handed her a corner of the tent and backed away to shake out the large square.



“Not yet,” she answered, moving to extend the other corner. As she did, she picked up the bag of pegs so they wouldn’t be caught underneath. “Is there really no English? Because this doesn’t look like traditional Bedouin accommodation.”



“No, these modern designs are too lightweight and practical to ignore for the sake of custom.” He snagged the small mallet she drew from the bag of pegs. “Even the nomads have moved to lighter fabrics than woven camel hair, but you’ll see more authentic tents when they come through.” He held out his hand for a peg.



“I can manage. I’ll ask one of the other men if I can’t. I don’t want to inconvenience you.” There. She had an assertive side. It was very polite and obliging, but it got the job done when she needed it to.



He flicked his sharp gaze around the camp as though looking for one of these men she might enlist when really, she’d probably ask Amineh’s maid for help before she’d find the courage to approach a stranger and beg a favor.



When his gaze came back to hers, he seemed disapproving and vaguely challenging. “I’ll do it,” he stated.



She locked her teeth, having learned long ago to pick her battles.



At least she was able to hurry the process. She willed her fingers to be nimble as she followed him down the side and across the back of the tent, struggling all the loops onto the pegs as he hammered them into the sand. The feeling of having her every action scrutinized was her own baggage, she reminded herself as she moved toward the front. He wasn’t watching her. He was having some kind of manly back-to-nature moment, indulging his instinct to prove his superiority over nature.



Nevertheless, as she straightened from making the last attachment, the tension was killing her. She glanced at him and his green eyes were waiting, snagging her like a hook, with a pierce and a tug.



She caught her breath, limbs paralyzed with shock.



He calmly continued what he was doing, lengthening a pole in increments with a smooth stroke of his hand and a light twist of his wrist, eyes staying on her like they’d been there a while.



He lifted the opening of the tent and slid the pole inside.



It was…



She blushed. God help her, she blushed hard.



~ * ~



If you're on Netgalley, you can download a review copy of The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction here.



Please pre-order The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction here:



Harlequin | Kobo | Nook | BAM | Amazon US | Canada | UK



Giveaway

Congratulations to Michelle who won my Hustled To The Altar giveaway for January.



Writerspace will be running my monthly giveaway. The next one starts tomorrow, Feb 1st. You can find it here:



Dani's Contest Page



If you're on Goodreads, you can enter here before Feb 13th:






.goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; background: white; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget img { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0; color: #660; text-decoration: none; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:visted { color: #660; text-decoration: none; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:hover { color: #660; text-decoration: underline !important; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 10px auto 0 !important; padding: 0px 5px !important;
text-align: center; line-height: 1.8em; color: #222; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;
border: 1px solid #6A6454; border-radius: 5px; font-family:"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_button4.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color:#BBB596;
outline: 0; white-space: nowrap;
}
.goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_button4_hover.gif);
color: black; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;
}


Goodreads Book Giveaway



The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction by Dani Collins




The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction


by Dani Collins




Giveaway ends February 13, 2015.



See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.






Enter to win





Buy Links

Want to browse all my titles? Find them here:



You can get all my Harlequin titles on Mills & Boon UK, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus.



All my titles are on Amazon:
US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 



And these fine retailers carry most of my titles too:

Nook | KoboARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks



If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc, Click here for Dani's Social Media links.



That's it! I'm seriously thinking of taking the afternoon off, I have completed so much good work this week.



What are you doing this weekend?

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on January 31, 2015 08:27

January 24, 2015

#SampleSunday - The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction (2)

I have lots to share before we get to the next #SampleSunday for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction. Get comfy!



alt



First, Dear and Very Patient Readers... If you have been waiting for my Montana Born books to quit being exclusive to Amazon and arrive on other platforms, they are starting to show up! I'm so excited!



alt



Blame The Mistletoe is still in the queue. It turns out I'm not the only author on the planet and must wait my turn like everyone else. But here are the quick links for Hometown Hero. It's not on iBooks or GooglePlay yet, but the wheels are in motion and I'm super excited!



Buy Hometown Hero on: Kobo | Nook | Smashwords



Hometown Hero is where you want to start for this four book series--sadly my series doesn't have a name. I couldn't afford one, lol. The truth is, I wasn't thinking of it as a series when I started. But when the Christmas book came up, I decided to open it at Skye and Chase's Christmas party and the characters have been linked from there.



Think: Hot Guys Under Montana Skies and if that does it for you, you want these books.



Blame The Mistletoe is Book Two and Book Three, The Bachelor's Baby, will be coming out on Amazon March 13th. Watch Tule Publishing's Coming Soon Page for a cover reveal for the Bachelor Auction page. They're all gorgeous! And yes, it will eventually make it to Kobo and iBooks etc. I'm guessing in the fall.



Oh, and I'll have bookmarks for The Bachelor's Baby--two designs. One has my three covers, the other has all the bachelor covers for all the authors in this series. I'll wait until they're in my hot little hands before I offer to send any out, but they're pretty fun.



Book Four in my Montana series is tentatively titled His Blushing Bride and scheduled for May 11th. (Happy Mother's Day!) I'm closing in on writing The End, hoping to do that today, but we'll see. Then it needs revision, but at the moment (shh, don't jinx it) I'm on track to have it submitted by the end of January. That would make me very, very happy.



Now, before we get to #Sample Sunday, I'll also quickly remind you that:



alt



Hustled To The Altar is on sale for 99c ($1.15 Cdn / 99p UK) through the end of January, after which it will go up to $7.99. If you want it, get it now!



Amazon: US| CA| UK| Aus| Germany



Chapters| Kobo| Nook|
Smashwords| iBooks| GooglePlay



And here's today's excerpt...



SampleSunday

Still with me? I told you there was lots to cover and we're only half way. Keep scrolling after the excerpt for giveaways and other news about my newsletter.



Last week, Fern arrived at the oasis and met Zafir. Here we see what Zafir sees.



~ * ~



Zafir watched a million freckles disappear in a bath of red and felt an unexpected urge to laugh.



Not nice, he realized, glancing away to hide the amusement brimming his eyes. He didn’t want to soften toward this English teacher, who was drowning in her own blush of sexual attraction. He was experienced enough to know that’s what was happening to her and man enough to like it.



But English.



Despite knowing how inappropriate she was for him, the prowling tomcat within him kept his tail standing at attention. His eyes traveled back to her of their own accord, counting the freckles that dotted her arms like cocoa sprinkled onto foamed milk. They were all over her, even the tops of her feet. The full effect naked would be an incredible sight.



One he would not make any attempts to see, he cautioned his libido, no matter how amenable she might seem.



He lifted his gaze from her disaster of a skirt, to shoulders covered in that Milky Way of freckles barely visible against the pink of her extensive blush, to liquid eyes locked on his face. He recognized the look, which was somewhere between nervous bunny and dazzled groupie.



Being a duke’s grandson had entitled him to more than an academic education. Alongside economics and diplomacy, he’d learned that Western women could be incredibly accommodating to a man’s basest needs. If he wanted her, he could have her.



That’s why he began fantasizing about setting his mouth against her shoulder, feeling the heat under her skin and tasting that smooth, pale flesh. That’s why his palm tingled to push into the folds of her skirt, to discover the shape of her backside and lock her hips into his own.



But tanned blondes were his preference. American or Scandinavian and only while traveling. He had enough power struggles with the conservatives in his country without having affairs inside his borders. He dismissed her with an arrogant blink, deliberately letting her see his rejection.



She swallowed, face blazing and lashes dropping. The corners of her lips pulled into the tortured bite of her teeth.



He had a near irresistible urge to cover her pursed doll’s mouth with his own, to lightly torture her until her lips were swollen and open. He could practically feel that wild hair tangled around his fingers as he held her under him, her clasp on him tight as he thrust deep and watched her eyes fog with ecstasy.



English, he reminded with a mild curse at his own weakness. Was it genetic that he could be blindsided by lust for one, so much so that he couldn’t smile, let alone speak?



He was only responding to her because he hadn’t been with any woman in over two months, he reasoned. It had nothing to do with a tainted streak in his makeup. He wasn’t like his father, who had fallen so hard for the wrong woman he’d gotten himself killed for it, leaving his bastard half-blood son to clean up the mess.



“Fern, this is my brother, Zafir. She may call you that while we’re here, yes?” Amineh turned back and clasped his arm, then leaned her weight on him in a familiar way that yanked him back into awareness. “Be nice to her. She’s shy.”



Fern. It was oddly suitable. His country favored names inspired by nature and something in her buttoned-down demeanor reminded him of those tightly curled fiddleheads he used to spy when tramping through his grandfather’s estate, searching for signs of spring and the end of the semester, when he could return to the warmth of home.



“Of course,” he managed to respond, fine with the level of stiffness in his tone. He was in the throes of a very wrong-time, wrong-place reaction. The feeling annoyed him enough to reflect in his voice. Still, he heard himself say, “If I may call you Fern.” He would regardless, but he willed permission from her all the same. Cooperation.



Capitulation.



Damn. He really shouldn’t want her so badly that he was already finding ways to stake a claim. Like it was a given that he would have her. This was lust. Garden-variety. He was on vacation, relaxed. Horny. Of course he responded to an available woman. That’s all this was and he could resist it.



Her lashes quivered and she nodded shakily, fingers playing together restlessly.



Her discomfiture left him grimly pleased. He was vital and sexual and alpha. Asserting himself was second nature, but there was more at play here. Amineh might see only a blush, but Fern’s reaction was carnal and that held a special allure for him.



“We’re very informal here,” Amineh chattered on. “We’ll cover up again when the Bedouins come through, but for now the oasis is ours. That’s why I love it. Oh, I’ve been looking forward to this.” She squeezed his arm again, then gave him a frown. “But you look grumpy. Why? We’re going to have fun. Act like kids again. Come on, Fern. Let’s walk up to the camp and get settled.”



Fern began to gather her bags onto her shoulder.



Zafir bit back an urging for her to leave them for the servants, but she was Ra’id’s employee, he reminded himself. Not an ambassador’s daughter. She knew her place better than he did.



She packed like an ambassador’s daughter, he noted with a grimace, as he watched her try to heft a third bag onto her shoulder.



He moved to take it.



“I can come back for it,” she insisted, but he brushed past her attempts to keep it and reached to remove one of the others already bending her slender spine. His thumb grazed skin like duck down, punching a shot of hot need into his gut.



What the hell? From barely touching her?



The hair on his scalp stood on end with both alarm and excitement.



She dipped her head, making it impossible for him to decipher whether she had reacted as intensely. But if he wasn’t mistaken, her nipples were standing up in sharp points. It couldn’t be from a chill in this heat.



Which should not make his belly tighten with anticipation, but it did.



Amineh was halfway up the path with Ra’id, leaving him to accompany Fern. He forced himself to find a neutral topic of conversation.



“The oasis is roughly seventeen square kilometers. My father designated this as a nature reserve when we were children. We have one tribe allowed to camp here without a permit as they follow bird migrations. We anticipate they’ll come through while we’re here, but otherwise access is strictly limited.”



“I read about it before we came.” Her quick statement seemed to say “thanks, but I know all I need to.” She hurried along.



Let it go, he told himself. Let her go. If she had received the message that he wasn’t welcome to a come-on, that was a good thing.



But his longer legs easily kept up to the scurrying pace that kept the color high in her cheeks. And he couldn’t take his eyes off the way her remarkable hair bounced and her small, firm breasts barely moved.



And all the while, she looked straight ahead as though trying to ignore him.



“How long have you been teaching the girls?” he asked.



“Three months.” She flashed a look up at him that was vaguely defensive. “I feel a bit of a fraud, to be honest. Amineh, I mean, umm Bashira…”



“It’s fine,” he said. “As she said, we’re casual here. No need to use her title.”



“Right. Thank you. What I was going to say is that her English is perfect and the girls are already switching back and forth very easily. Aside from correcting their grammar and spelling, I’m not sure they really need me. It’s just such a remarkable opportunity to experience another culture and…” She cleared her throat and her gaze flickered over him like a searchlight picking out the best parts. “The girls are lovely,” she murmured faintly. “I feel very fortunate to be here. Well, there. And here.”



Another blush. She was really in the throes of sexual interest. How utterly captivating. The hormones that told a man to pursue a woman seared his veins like adrenaline.



“I’m sure she’s delighted to have you in the household,” he said, his voice as tight as his skin, brain somehow maintaining a grasp on the conversation. “My sister and I prefer our father’s world, but we often feel homesick for England.” He closed his mouth, not sure why he had said it like that. It wasn’t real homesickness, just that all his life he’d wished he could live in both places at the same time.



Which felt like a traitorous admission, as though he wasn’t wholly committed to the country he ruled, but he was. Willing to make deep sacrifices for it even. He frowned.



Beside him, Fern halted abruptly and cast a jerky glance up and down the beach. It was a scene of controlled chaos: tents going up, pillows spilling from baskets and silk rugs unrolled. “I, um, don’t know where I’m going. Do I sleep with the children?”



“No, they have their own tent.” He pointed to where his son was hanging the partition between his side and the girls’ in the undersized tent they used.



The servants were settling near the water pump at the far end of the beach, where the cooking fire would be laid. A large tent was going up not far from the children’s, for Amineh and Ra’id. His own tent was already standing at the end of a small bench of sand facing the water. Security would place their small tents at strategic places at the perimeter of the oasis.



Deductive reasoning allowed him to single out the only unclaimed lodging. Halfway between the two ends of the camp, tucked beneath an overhang of palms where a small footprint of sand pushed into the tall grass, sat a bundled tent.



Apparently Fern was expected to know how to erect the tent herself.



“That one,” he said, as he grazed light fingers on her upper arm to catch her attention then pointed.



Yes, he was that weak. Unable to resist touching her again.



Her breath caught and he experienced a surprisingly strong pulse of satisfaction that she responded so sharply to his barely there caress.



This was going to be a difficult two weeks.



~ * ~



Are you on Netgalley? You can download a review copy of The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction here.



Please pre-order The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction here:



Harlequin | Kobo | Nook | BAM | Amazon US | Canada | UK



Giveaway

Congratulations to Irma who won my 10th Harlequin Book Flash Giveaway!



I've set up a Goodreads Giveaway for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction. It's pending verification, but I wanted to put the widget in for those of you who happen along to my blog later in the week. It runs until Feb 13th so if you're not able to enter today, please check my blog next week. I'll post the widget again.






.goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; background: white; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget img { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0; color: #660; text-decoration: none; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:visted { color: #660; text-decoration: none; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:hover { color: #660; text-decoration: underline !important; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 10px auto 0 !important; padding: 0px 5px !important;
text-align: center; line-height: 1.8em; color: #222; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;
border: 1px solid #6A6454; border-radius: 5px; font-family:"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_button4.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color:#BBB596;
outline: 0; white-space: nowrap;
}
.goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_button4_hover.gif);
color: black; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;
}


Goodreads Book Giveaway



The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction by Dani Collins




The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction


by Dani Collins




Giveaway ends February 13, 2015.



See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.






Enter to win





Newsletter News



Things will be changing up very soon with my newsletter. I haven't worked out all the details, but I hope to continue drawing from my subscribers to win a signed copy. If you're on my newsletter list, you'll be the first to know what's happening. If you'd like to be on my list, please join Dani's newsletter here



Have you entered the Hustled To The Altar Giveaway? It runs until the end of January. After that, most of my giveaways will be handled by Writers Space who will be taking on formating and distributing my newsletter, too. (I'll still be writing it!) I've heard great things about them and I really need the help, time-wise. I'm eager to see for myself how it all works out.



alt



a Rafflecopter giveaway





Buy Links

Want to browse all my titles? Find them here:



You can get all my Harlequin titles on Mills & Boon UK, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus.



All my titles are on Amazon:
US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 



And these fine retailers carry most of my titles too:

Nook | KoboARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks



If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc, Click here for Dani's Social Media links.



A lot to digest, right? It is for me, too! I have a very busy spring ahead of me, with four releases by June and those Montana Born titles going all platforms on top of it. I'll be at RT in Dallas in May and I'm already looking at preparations for RWA in NYC. At this precise moment, however, I just want to finish my bride book. So I'm going to go do that.



Have a great weekend.

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on January 24, 2015 08:25

January 17, 2015

#SampleSunday - The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction

Welcome to a new #SampleSunday series. The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction goes on sale March 1st, but I wanted to offer you some sneak peeks over the next several weeks.



alt



You'll note the Presents cover says this story is part of the Seven Sexy Sins multi-author series. I'll save myself some typing and just post this, from the Harlequin Reader Catalogue:



alt



Yes. I got lust. And I loved writing this book! I'll introduce you to Fern and Zafir in a moment. You'll also want to be sure to scroll down to the giveaways. I should have at least one giveaway always live over the next few months. I can't wait to receive my author copies for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction so I can set up a Goodreads Giveaway for that one. Soon, Dear Reader.



I also have some events piling up: I'm not only going to the Romantic Times conference in Dallas and the RWA conference in New York, but I'll be doing a reading here at Christina Lake's Living Arts Center February 13th and talking to my RWA chapter, the Greater Vancouver Chapter, March 28th. Oh, and I have a Facebook party coming up on February 12th.



The March event will be posted in my next newsletter along with some details on my 2015 line up of new books. If you'd like to receive it, join Dani's newsletter here. Don't forget, I always draw from my subscriber list for a signed copy of my newest print release, too. The newsletter comes out when I have a new book and this is what it looks like:



Read Dani's last newsletter.



Ready to start sinning?



SampleSunday

Here's the blurb for The Sheikh's Sinful Seduciton and the opening pages follow.



Blurb:



Ruled by duty…



A king among men, Sheikh Zafir cannot allow emotion or feelings to color his judgment. His carnal desires must be curbed for the sake of peace in his kingdom. But his control is tested by the feisty Fern Davenport; Zafir must have her.



Driven by desire…



Innocent Fern Davenport tries to resist the sheikh's skillful seduction—she knows that he could never marry her. But under the blistering sun an incendiary thirst awakes, and one incredible night results in a very lasting consequence.



Now this sheikh must claim his heir and his bride!



Seven Sexy Sins—The true taste of temptation!



~ * ~



ARRIVING AT THE oasis brought Fern Davenport back to life in a way she’d never experienced. The two-day camel trek through the dunes that she had anticipated with such excitement had been exactly what her employer and friend, Amineh, had warned it would be: a test of endurance.



But worth it. Exactly as promised.



After nothing but shades of blinding white and bleached yellow and dull red, the glimpse of greenery had Fern sitting taller, bringing her nose up the same way her camel did, searching for the scent of water. As they entered the farthest reach of the underground spring, where the palms were stunted and the grass sparse, she felt like a giant looking down on the tops of trees. The sun was already behind the canyon wall and blessedly cool air began to slither beneath the flapping edges of her abaya to caress her bare legs.



The tension of fearing for her survival began to ease. She wanted to release a laugh of relieved joy.



Outbursts of any kind weren’t her thing, though. She preferred to be as invisible as possible. Fern considered herself an observer of life, not so much a participant, but for the first time she experienced something like what a frisky lamb or a cocky adolescent must feel. It was a strange awareness of being alive. Her blood cells took on new energy and her pulse returned to vigorous beats. She wanted to throw off the weight of her clothes, expose her hot skin to the verdant air, kick up her heels and soak life through her pores. She wanted to be one with nature.



Awash in this state of renewal, she looked ahead to the clearing where the caravan would unload and saw him.



Just a man in a thobe and gutra. He could have been one of the camel keepers for all she knew, but a deep, feminine part of her recognized the kind of male that called to any woman. A leader. One whom other men looked to for direction and approval. Confident. A man of strength whose muscles strained the white tunic that draped his shoulders. He wore sandals and his feet were dusty, but he planted them firmly. With ownership.



She forced herself to lift her gaze to his face, barely able to withstand the impact of such handsomeness. How could a man be so beautiful yet so rugged? He was a product of the desert, she supposed, cheeks hollow and roughened by stubble, skin deeply tanned by the sun, mouth somber yet sculpted and…how did she even sense this? Sexual. A hawkish nose and brows as straight and firm as the horizon and then…

Green eyes. As startling and revitalizing as this oasis.

His sheer magnificence took her breath.



“Uncle!” the girls cried and the man’s severe expression flashed with a smile that made wistfulness bloom in Fern’s chest.



Men were such puzzling creatures to her, having mostly been passing ships in her life. She’d attended an all-girls school where even the principal was female. The library trustees, her mother’s doctor and the few teenaged boys she’d occasionally met through Miss Ivy’s club were the only males she really knew. She often found herself watching men like birders watched finches, studying their behavior and trying to make sense of them. She was always startled to discover they were quite human. The ones that were able to be tender with a child were especially fascinating to her. They made her wonder what it would be like to be close enough to truly understand one.



Not that she expected to get close to this one!



She had worked out that he was Zafir, Amineh’s brother. Amineh’s husband, Ra’id, hupped at his camel so it would drop to its knees. He dismounted and the men clasped hands and bent their heads together as they embraced with easy warmth.



Definitely not a camel keeper, Fern chided herself. Her students’ Uncle Zafir was formally known as Sheikh abu Tariq Zafir ibn Ahmad al-Rakin Iram. He was leader of Q’Amara, the country bordering Ra’id’s.



She must have sensed who he was and his stature impacted her, she reasoned. That’s why she was suffering this flare of heightened interest. The significance of arriving and meeting such an important man was turning her inside out in a way that was both familiar yet amplified. She was not only shy by nature, but also a redhead with the overactive blushing response that often came with it. She had flushed uncontrollably the first time Ra’id had spoken to her—she’d been so self-conscious under the attention of such a strong personality. A domineering, angry mother had made her sensitive to all authority figures. Anxious to please. It was completely understandable that she’d have an attack of nerves when faced with meeting another sheikh.



She’d never felt blistered from the inside like this, though. Never electrified yet stimulated. It was very disconcerting.



Other men came forward. These ones were camel keepers and camp attendants, but she was aware of only one man now. Not that he noticed her, which was a relief. And why would he? She was buried under a niqab and sunglasses, well-protected against the harsh glare of the sun and the bite of blowing sand. He was busy carrying on two separate conversations with his nieces as they occupied each of his arms.



The girls wriggled to the ground when a boy arrived, crying the name Fern had heard several times since this caravan into the desert had been proposed. “Tariq!”



Their cousin, ten years old, she’d been informed with great awe by her much younger students, wore a long tunic like his father’s and challenged the girls to race him up the path to the colorful tents being erected upstream, offering them a head start.



Ra’id helped his wife once her camel was down. Amineh threw off her niqab to hug her brother with all the affection she radiated when talking about him. They all spoke in Arabic, a beautiful language Fern wasn’t even close to mastering—



“Oh!” Fern cried as her camel pitched forward.



Remember to lean back, Amineh had cautioned her a million times, but Fern had been so caught up in watching Zafir smile at his sister she hadn’t noticed her camel was dropping to its knees. She scrambled to hang on, but was already sliding off by the time the animal hit the ground with a jarring thump.



Her dismount became the clumsiest in Arab history. She barely caught herself from crumpling into a heap. It was witnessed by everyone. So mortifying.



“Are you all right, Fern?” Amineh called. “You seemed to have the trick of it at the last stop. I should have asked Ra’id to help you.”



“I’m fine. Just distracted. It’s so pretty here,” she babbled, trying to cover up her interest in Zafir. A giant magnifying glass might as well be narrowing its beam on her, she was in such a searing, uncomfortable spotlight. She overheard Ra’id say something in Arabic that she did understand, calling her “The English teacher.”



“She is,” Amineh confirmed. “Come over and meet Fern. Oh, thank you, Nudara,” she added as her maid came forward with a canvas bag. Amineh peeled off her abaya and threw it into the bag then motioned for Fern to discard her dusty robe into it as well. “She’ll shake the sand out of them so they’re ready when the nomads arrive.”



Before taking this job, the closest Fern had come to having servants was watching the Downton Abbey collection on her laptop. All her life, her mother had been too tired from cleaning other people’s houses to do much of it at home, but she’d liked things shipshape. Fern had kept their small flat neat as a pin. In the final months, Fern had provided all-out hospice care, doing everything from bathing her mother to mounting the assistance bar next to the toilet. She still hadn’t adjusted to leaving tasks like laundry and cooking to others. It felt presumptuous, even though Nudara took no offense.



Maybe if Fern had been on Amineh’s level, making requests of servants wouldn’t have bothered her, but she was in that strange limbo between being a servant and being one of the family.



Honestly, she thought with a wry, inward sigh, when had she not been the odd duck set apart from the rest of the group?



This moment was no better. Despite only having adopted the head coverings since taking her position as English tutor to Bashira and Jumanah, Fern felt terribly bold as she removed her dark glasses, unpinned her veil and tugged away both scarf and under cap in one go. It was the hair. Her abundant corkscrews of carrot-orange made everyone in this country do a double take.



She kept her hair long because it was that or resemble a pot scrubber. It probably looked like it had been run through the food processor as it was. She’d been two days without more than a damp facecloth for a bath, but the enormous relief of cool air hitting her sweat-dampened scalp made her prickle with delight. Stripping her abaya, she revealed her sleeveless shirt with its forget-me-not print and lace collar then shook her cornflower-blue skirt from clinging to her legs, self-conscious that it only went to her shins.



“Is this too racy?” she asked Amineh in an undertone. “I didn’t know we’d be taking off our abayas in the open like this.”



“No, it’s fine here,” Amineh assured her absently as she stepped away to speak to a servant.



Fern looked to the sheikh for confirmation.



His aqua gaze was traveling over her like tropical seawater, leaving tickling trails down her limbs and making her toes curl in reaction.



Men never looked at her for longer than it took to ask the time or directions. People in general failed to notice her. She dressed conservatively and was fairly plain, didn’t wear makeup and spoke softly. Skinny, freckled ginger-haired girls were as common as milk in the village she’d grown up in near the Scottish border.



In this part of the world she stood out, though. Few of the servants back at Ra’id’s palace were white and no one was as white as she was. Not that she ran around showing off her arms and legs there. No, the wearing of coverings worked for her. She liked being invisible.



Fat chance right now, though. The sheikh seemed to see through the damp cotton adhered to her skin, cataloguing her every flaw and projecting what she sensed was disapproval. Her heart sank. She hated making missteps, hated being judged and hated it even more when not given a chance to prove herself first.



“Welcome to the oasis,” he said.



His husky baritone wafted over her like a hot breeze, spreading a ripple of disconcerting awareness through her. Similar to Amineh’s English, his accent held an intriguing mix of exotic Middle East and cool, upper-class Brit. Zafir was all man.



A widower, according to Amineh. His wife had died of cancer three years ago. It hit him hard. He doesn’t talk about her much. When he does, it’s always with great admiration, Amineh had said.



That meant she ought to be feeling sympathy toward him, Fern thought, but experienced a rush of defensive animosity. She didn’t like it. For the most part, she avoided conflict of any kind. If she was cornered, she was perfectly capable of lashing out with vicious sarcasm, but she hated being that person so she tried not to let it happen.



But he was looking at her as though he knew something about her. Like whatever assumption he reached made him cynical and dismayed.



His continued study made her hyperaware of herself. Reflexively, she started doing Miss Ivy’s bolstering exercises, reminding herself of all her good qualities. She was smart and kind, good at crafts if she had a pattern to follow…



Distantly, she realized this was a hugely protective reaction. He was a stranger and Miss Ivy always urged patience and not leaping to conclusions about what a new acquaintance might think.



But along with an irrational, panicked certainty that he had taken an instant dislike to her, she felt his rebuff in a way that was surprisingly devastating. She wasn’t a snob, not even an intellectual one, didn’t put on airs despite knowing the Dewey decimal system inside and out… Why on earth would she feel a near irresistible urge to tell him that? She wasn’t here to impress him and wouldn’t with statements like that.



But she was intimidated by the kind of man he was. So imperious. When had she ever come into the sphere of anyone like him? The natural instincts of the weak wanted someone this powerful to be on her side. She recognized that, but there was something else going on inside her, something she’d never really experienced before. She feared it might be attraction. Not a passing “oh, he’s nice-looking,” but something far more elemental. Please consider me.



That involuntary yearning was deeply confusing and beyond inappropriate.



A blush began to climb from her tight chest into her closing throat and across her face until her ears felt like they were on fire. She hated herself then. Hated her body and its over-the-top reaction. She was embarrassed by her own embarrassment and wanted to die.



~ * ~



Fern is very inexperienced. You can pre-order The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction here.



Also, please remember that Hustled To The Altar is on sale for 99c through January. ($1.15 Cdn / 99p UK)



alt



Here are the quick links:



Amazon: US| CA| UK| Aus| Germany



Chapters| Kobo| Nook|
Smashwords| iBooks| GooglePlay



Giveaway

This one for Hustled To The Altar is live until the end of January:



alt



a Rafflecopter giveaway





If you act fast, you can also get in on my 10th Book celebration on Facebook. Just comment to be entered. Here's the link to the post: 10th Book Flash Giveaway. Closes Sunday, January 18th.



Other News

Please watch for a special cover reveal on Tule Publishing's Coming Soon Page. It will be the full line-up for the Bachelor Auction series. Mine is Book Three, The Bachelor's Baby and I cannot wait to share it with you. I really, really enjoyed telling Meg and Linc's story.



If you haven't read my first two books in this series, they're here:



alt



Hometown Hero tells the story of Chase Goodwin, professional baseball player and school secretary, Skye Wolcott.



alt




Sept 22 - Sing Me Back Home by Eve Gaddy
Sept 25 - Finding Home by Roxanne Snopek
Sept 29 - Hometown Hero by Dani Collins
Oct 02 - Long Way Home by Kathleen O’Brien
Oct 06 - Home For Good by Terri Reed


You can even order it in print here: Montana Homecoming.



Or read the #SampleSunday - Hometown Hero



My second Montana Born story, Blame The Mistletoe, tells the story of Liz Flowers, California girl, housesitting for her ex-mother-in-law in Marietta. She runs into Blake Canon, once married to her ex-husband's sister.



Blake's sister Meg is the heroine for The Bachelor's Baby and I'm currently writing Liz's brother's story. Bastian rolls into town for Liz's wedding to Blake and gets it on with Skye's friend, the high school music teacher, Piper Tierney.



alt




Oct 13 - Blame The Mistletoe by Dani Collins
Oct 16 - Mistletoe Wedding by Melissa McClone
Oct 20 - Her Mistletoe Cowboy by Alissa Callen
Nov 7 - Cowboy It's Cold Outside by Katherine Garbera


Print anthology for this one is here: Christmas in Montana.



The excerpts for this one were posted as #TeaserTuesday - Blame The Mistletoe here



And I'm always happy to send a signed bookmark. Just ask! The latest ones look like this:



alt



I've ordered new ones for The Bachelor's Baby, but I can't show you because there's going to be a cover reveal over at the Tule site. Soon as that's up, I'll post the bookmarks here.



Buy Links

Want to buy some of my books? Find them here:



You can get all my Harlequin titles on Mills & Boon UK, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus.



All my titles are on Amazon:
US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 



And these fine retailers carry most of my titles too:

Nook | KoboARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks



If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc, Click here for Dani's Social Media links.



As stated, I'm working on a wedding-theme book for Montana Born. My goal is to finish by the end of January as I have a duet to write for Presents which I am so excited to get back to. It's very mysteriously labeled #SecretBS project. The BS doesn't stand for what you think. More details coming soon.



Have a great weekend.

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on January 17, 2015 09:07