Dani Collins's Blog, page 53

#Thursday13 - Things I Did Today

Pretty much a big #Fail on getting a decent #Thursday13 posted today. But I did have a reasonably productive day otherwise.

To preface, I'll quote an actual conversation that took place between myself and MrC today:

Me: I know the house is a mess. Believe me, I know. I keep thinking I'll catch up when I'm not on deadline, but I'm always on deadline.

Him: I'm aiming for mid-September. Both kids will be back in school. We'll catch up then.

Note: I am driving our daughter back to university tomorrow, losing three days doing so. Thus, no progress on housekeeping. We live in BC. Still waiting to hear if son actually does have school come Tuesday. Le sigh.

Basically, I left mid July, came home sick as a dog, had houseguests for four nights, and I have been trying desperately to finish a manuscript for the end of August. Technically I have eight thousand words to go, but see above about being in a car all day tomorrow and you'll begin to see why a decent #Thursday13 post is beyond me.

However, in an attempt to feed myself a sense of success, I'll enumerate what I have accomplished today:

Two thousand words. This is a huge goal considering I was dead in the water two days ago, had to go back to about page fifty and figure out where I went wrong. Some fairly serious surgery later and my manuscript is back on its feet, proceeding slowly down the antiseptic smelling hall.
Author copies of The Russian's Acquisition received. You might say this has nothing to do with me, especially since my husband answered the door, but hello, I wrote the darned thing!
Three signed books sent, one to Marcy who won The Ultimate Seduction from my guest blog with iHeartPresents, one as a thank-you to the classmate who organized our high school reunion in July (which was a smashing success!) and one to a reviewer.
Gym. Yes, I worked out. Go me.
Purchased envelopes for mailing of signed copies. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is to me. I don't get into town much these days and I would have thrown myself in the river if I'd got all the way back home without them.
Beach! Again, doesn't sound like an accomplishment, but I hadn't been on the sand since before I left in July. My daughter and I love to go together as we have the same lifestyle on the beach, which is to say we like to read a book and ignore each other, then swim laps between the buoys. This was our last chance this summer so even though the sun was coming and going, we got an hour in.
Supper. Again, you would think this was a no-brainer in most households, but I avoid the making of a decent meal for my children like you wouldn't believe. This was not a fancy one, but it was healthy and somewhat home-made.
Cleaned the kitchen. I know, I know. Pedestrian. You don't know me. This can be a huge challenge so I give myself snaps when it's done.
Ordered something on Amazon for my father. For the third time. Long story, but we hope this is the charm.
Watched two episodes of Sherlock, the BBC version with Benedict Cumberbach. My sister got me hooked last weekend while she was in residence and I'm loving it. Could this be the reason I'm having trouble finding time for other, more important, things? Shhh.
Raised two great kids who love each other. I'll admit this wasn't just today, but when my son left his beloved computer to come down special and ask his older sister, "Since you're leaving tomorrow, do you want to play Mario Cart?" I got a little misty. I should mention that he called her by her nickname, which isn't flattering, but shows true fraternal love.
Wrote a blog post. Last minute, totally true, but it has happened.
Banking. Not my favorite thing, but a necessary evil. Will get to it right after I hit 'publish' here.

Watch for a Goodreads Giveaway for The Russian's Acquisition, which is the book I received today. Watch for The Russian's Acquisition to show up on my Books page, details of which I still have to send to my computer guy (hi Zak!). Also watch for my Sept/Oct releases from Tule's Montana Born imprint.

There's other stuff, but I just want to get Demitri's story finished. He's giving me grief, which is to be expected. The man is...sigh.

Want to be notified when Demitri (and all my other titles) become available? Join Dani's newsletter! If you'd like to see a sample of it read Dani's latest newsletter here.

Want to actually buy my books?

All my August Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon? US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

Not sure if I'll have something on Sunday. I'd like to, but I'll be traveling again. Might just be photos. We'll see.

#TeacherTuesday - Manage Your Time

As is often the case, I have spent the morning spinning my wheels. Sure I'm having fun and the view is nice, but I'm getting nothing accomplished, not even a decent blog post title.

I wanted to start a series of posts on the conferences I attended during my Big Adventure. It's Back To School season, so it seems appropriate. I even had a great opener from Crucial Conversations. This is a book that was recommended to me by a friend who coaches high-level executives.

I haven't finished it, but yesterday I got to the part where the authors explain that any conversation can become crucial (emotionally charged with greater stakes, and thus more likely to derail) when one of the parties begins to feel fear.

Generally, we start to feel fear when we think we're about to be bullied or humiliated. (Haven't we all been there with a snarky boss or a cranky neighbor or even our partner?) The book breaks down the dynamics of conversations and offers tools to keep them from devolving into silence or animosity.

So there. After an hour of meandering around a point, talking about my technological problems, erasing and rewriting this post, I finally have a concrete point made.

And I have just changed the title of this post from Don't Be Afraid to Manage Your Time.

I'm a big believer in the Universe giving us what we ask for. You just have to be very careful what you're asking for, and recognize that it doesn't always sound like an 'ask.' For instance, my first draft of this post went on at length about my inability to manage time.

Dani, Dani, Dani, said I to myself. You know better. Manifest a reality where you learn to manage time. So here I am, trying to stay on point and get this post written so I can get back to writing manuscript words.

This time management scold also leads nicely into a quick recap of one of the first workshops I attended in San Antonio, which talked about utilizing Pinterest to:

Plan a book
Grow your fanbase
Sell direct

We writers all feel like social media takes away from writing real words so I went into the workshop looking for the magic bullet to make 'pinning' easy and effective without taking up my precious time.

And I won't plagiarize all of Kathy Wheeler, I have linked to her YouTube tutorials so you can follow up for more info. It's like repinning, but different and she really does know her stuff so check her out.

Now I'm going to marry the Don't Be Afraid theme to the Manage Your Time title, because fear really is the biggest waste of time imaginable. It stops us in our tracks. Fear of wasting time is probably the worst one, but if I hadn't messed up with this blog post on the first draft, I wouldn't have learned the lessons I've learned here today. As Bob Ross would say, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. Pretty chill guy, that Bob Ross.

Here's the Footnote:

Ironically, I hadn't yet read to the part in Crucial Conversations when I sat in on the Pinterest workshop. I became very defensive and freaked out because I felt like I was doing Pinterest wrong. I felt I was being set up for failure when she suggested I create new content. I'm only one person!

You'll see my defensiveness in my holier-than-thou You Don't Have To Do This response in my blog post. I'm leaving that in for two reasons:

It demonstrates how we react emotionally and thereby screw up a simple message
I'm trying to manage my time by not rewriting this post again

The Crucial Conversation book stresses that if you can step out of the emotional vortex, you can engage your thinking brain--which immediately defuses your emotions--and actually find a solution to the problem that has arisen.

To that end, I have now recognized that I personally prefer to create my original content here, on my blog, rather than over there, on Pinterest.

I'll pin this, though. wink

Now I'll plug my summer titles, which are still available:

All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon? US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

My intention is to post Sun/Tue/Thu, but I am on the road again this weekend. Seriously, it's a good thing I love my sisters because after spending three weeks with my youngest in Brisbane, I came home and had my middle sister camp in our yard for four days.

She left this morning and on Friday, I'm going to follow her and stay at her house for four days while I drop my daughter back at University. This is why I start to hyperventilate at how I'm using my time. I was supposed to finish a manuscript by the end of August and I'm never in my chair!

But family is important and that's another blog post so I'll end here. Have a great week.

#SweepUpSunday - Still Catching Up

This isn't a real #SampleSunday, but there is a sneak peek at my WIP if you scroll down.

For those of you who haven't seen it announced elsewhere, the winners of my Masked Desires contest are:

1) Ashley (His & Hers Masks)

2) Cherri-Anne (Tiffany Mask)

3) Catherine (signed copy of The Ultimate Seduction)

(Winners have been notified and prizes sent.)

The contest is over, I'm home from my big adventure, I'm finally recovering from my cold, and summer is winding down. All of my summer titles are still available electronically, but the print copies of my August book, The Ultimate Seduction, are disappearing from shelves. (Hopefully in a good way.)

I didn't have much luck posting while I was away, mostly because I was completely enamored with my niece and nephew. Here's a photo from our walk along the river at Southbank in Brisbane:

Now I've come home to the typical chores that have backed up while I was away. Dentist, laundry, dusting etc. My daughter is readying to return to university so I'll be out of town again before I've properly unpacked. I have to get her a new phone before she leaves too. So not excited about going through that process.

All I want to do is write. And I know you're as anxious for Demitri's story to be completed and on the shelves as I am! As of this writing I have roughly twenty-thousand words to go. It hasn't been seen by my editor at all, so things may change, but I wanted to share a snippet. Here's Demitri's first exchange with Natalie, the heroine:

~ * ~

“I need to speak to you,” Demitri said.

Natalie glanced up and felt the full impact of Demitri Makricosta, the youngest brother of the family that employed her. The one with the scandalously disreputable reputation. She’d seen him in person before, but always from a distance. Never like this, with his dark brown eyes pushing her back into her chair then making a proprietary inspection of her buttons.

He was incredibly attractive. That fact was legendary across the hotel chain and impossible to ignore when he was barely ten feet away.

She tried comparing him to his older brother, Theo, who bore a resemblance but was more polished, kept a low profile, was excruciatingly polite, and remembered every name and number he came across.

But there was no minimizing this man. All she could think was how Demitri was known for the wicked streak that was evident in his winged eyebrows and distant smile. Also for the women he picked up effortlessly and his utter disregard for little things like policies and procedures. Greek by birth, but raised in America, he had the Mediterranean warmth to his skin tone under a shadow of stubble. He dressed like a citizen of the world in tailored pants and a suit vest buttoned over his shirt that accented his very fine shoulders and trim waist. He looked like the hottest of the nineteen-twenties gangsters.

Bad. He looked very, very bad. Full to the brim with sin.

She glanced up from taking him in and her gaze tangled with his. One of his superior brows went up in challenge of her checking him out. This was definitely a different kind of man from any she’d ever known. Sharp and far too knowing. How mortifying to be so obvious.

Swallowing her discomfiture, she glanced at Monsieur Renault as she rose.

“I’ll go back to my office and you can call me when you’re done. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Makricosta,” she said as she approached the door, expecting him to move aside and give her a dismissive nod.

“It’s you I want to talk to, Miss...?” He held out a hand.

Shock made her hesitate before she placed her hand in his and was jolted by the warm grip that enclosed hers. “Adams,” she provided in a jagged, baffled voice. “Me? Are you sure?” Who did he think she was?

“I’m sure. Show me to your office.” He released her and waved her into the hall.

Brushing past him, cooking in self-conscious warmth, she walked ahead of him down the narrow hall to her shared office. Her co-workers were absent from their desks, leaving an isolated mood in the small, musty smelling room with its rain blurred windows.

When he closed the door behind them, she felt like all the oxygen was pulled out. “I’m not sure—?”

“Leave my brother-in-law alone,” he said flatly.

~ * ~

Natalie is not the least bit guilty of even flirting with a married man, don't worry! But Demitri's suspicions come around to boot him in the butt later. What do you think so far?

I have one more blog post to write for my blog tour, this one for my 2in1 Erotic Romances. This is the point in my post where I should offer a round-up but I've had family here the last few nights, spent the morning writing, and have to get off this computer and do something productive like wash dishes. Or clean my office. Or make my bed.

Has your summer left your house looking like it was rented out to raccoons like mine has?

I'll be honest and admit that I'm relieved to have the summer promotion blitz behind me. I have some time to finish up Demitri before I start promoting my next batch of new releases which are a pair of novellas from Tule Publishing coming late September and early October. I'm super excited to get those out to you and see what you think of my contribution to the wonderful town of Marietta.

I mentioned the titles and shared one of the covers in my last blog post, but I should have clarified that the October Montana Born (set in Marietta) book, Blame The Mistletoe, is a Christmas story.

Then I have a November Presents, The Russian's Acquisition, which looks like this:

Super hot, eh?

So I have two Tule Montana Borns coming in September and October, a Presents in November, then another Montana Born (which I still have to write) that will come out in February, then a March Presents.

Want to be notified when my titles become available? Join Dani's newsletter!

Given this schedule, I should quit droning on here and do some real work, right? Sometimes these posts help me clarify where I'm really at, though, so I appreciate your patience in letting me drone.

I'll close with my buy links, in case you missed any of these awesome summer titles (or any of my others.) I'll also promise to look at my conference notes with an eye to offering some Tuesday and Thursday posts. Reviewing my notes is something I want to do anyway and turning them into a blog post helps me sort through them, so I really will try to get to that.

Finishing Demitri is my priority, though. My secret goal is to complete the draft by end of August. You'll be the first to know if I make it. Well, the second. I usually tell my husband when I've completed a manuscript so he knows I'll cook that night. That's a joke. But not entirely.

Have a great weekend.

All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon? US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

#SadSunday - Leaving Australia

I'm preparing to leave my sister and her adopted home of Brisbane today.

It's bittersweet. I've had such a great time with her family and especially my nephew and niece (three and one.) Oh, they've been so fun and funny.

(But work! I won't kid you. I'm very much looking forward to my teenagers who make their own breakfast, put on their own shoes and don't walk in on me when I'm showering.)

And I can't deny that I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and getting back to work. Writing has been a real challenge with little fingers so eager to help Auntie Dani with her lap top. (Note: We've been coaxing the fourteen-month-old to say "Auntie Dani" and she's shortened it to Dantie.)

Even though I haven't managed to write many new words while I've been away (for an entire month), I have finished copy edits on three books! One Harlequin Presents (The Sheikh's Sinful Seduction, March 2015) and my two upcoming Tule books, Hometown Hero and Blame The Mistletoe.

Want to be notified when these titles become available? Join Dani's newsletter!

I have notes and notes on conference workshops to turn into blog posts and I'm super-excited to say I have a plan for my next several books! That much has been scribbled into a notebook.

I know many of you are waiting for Demitri's story, the fourth and last in the Makricosta series. It's still only about half-completed, but I've outlined how I want the second half to go. It's a matter of planting my butt in my chair at home. I'm as anxious as you are, believe me!

Today (August 17th) is also the end of my Masked Desires contest.

I've had a wonderful response to the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest! I can't wait to announce the winner, but I fear it may not happen until the 19th.

I am packing on Sunday the 17th in Australia, which is stil the 16th back home. Then I travel starting early on the 18th here (still the 17th in North America.) It will be the longest Monday of my life as I fly sixteen hours to Los Angeles then take some hops and skips north and finally--if my husband has not had me declared dead for being gone so long--he will pick me up and drive me another two hours to my very own bed.

So please forgive me if it takes a day or two to post the winner's name on Facebook and here.

You might be able to sneak your entry in if you haven't done so yet. Rafflecopter polices the deadline. Here's the info and links if you want to try getting in at the final hour:

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

The contest is designed to build my newsletter subscriber list. If you'd like to see a sample of it read Dani's latest newsletter here.

Usually, if I have a book release coming up, I post a sample here and call my post #SampleSunday. I'm in reruns while I'm away so please have a peek here if you haven't seen some of these:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Six consecutive excerpts from my June Harlequin Presents. Post includes links to the previous five.
#SampleSunday - The Ultimate Seduction - all excerpts from my August Harlequin Presents.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 (part of
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series).
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - from the first book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection. Includes links to previous.

If you've missed the window to enter for the contest, you can still check out some of my guest posts on my blog tour. Several have giveaway copies of The Ultimate Seduction available:

July 31: The Reading Cafe - Review, Interview & Giveaway
August 2: Contemporary Romance Cafe - The Road To Publication
August 3: Savvy Authors - Collaborating on The Ultimate Series
August 5: Crazy Four Books Interview and Giveaway
August 6: A Bluestocking's Place - Feature
August 7: Love Romance Passion - Where lovescenes come from
August 11: Harlequin Junkies - Spotlight and Giveaway
August 14: iHeartPresents - It Begins With a Mask

Would you like to buy my books?

All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon?

US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

I'll write again later this week once I'm properly home and settled, to announce the contest winners. Have a great weekend!

Working Hard, but Hardly Working

I'm still in Sydney and writing this super fast because my 24 hours of wifi is about to expire. I don't have a fresh sample for #SampleSunday. Honestly, it's the decision of which manuscript, which section? That takes time! (When you're me.)

But if you'd like some behind the scenes peeks at my current releases, or a chance to win a giveaway, please visit one of my recent posts on my August blog tour:

July 31: The Reading Cafe - Review, Interview & Giveaway
August 2: Contemporary Romance Cafe - The Road To Publication
August 3: Savvy Authors - Collaborating on The Ultimate Series
August 5: Crazy Four Books Interview and Giveaway
August 6: A Bluestocking's Place - Feature
August 4: Love Romance Passion - Where lovescenes come from

I have a few more stops next week, and should be able to put up a meatier post as I'll be back on my sister's wifi. Meanwhile, please check out some of my other summer excerpts here:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Six consecutive excerpts from my June Harlequin Presents. Post includes links to the previous five.
#SampleSunday - The Ultimate Seduction - all excerpts from my August Harlequin Presents.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 (part of
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series).
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - from the first book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection. Includes links to previous.

I've had over 800 entries in the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest! Purchase of my erotic romance collection, or my August Presents, The Ultimate Seduction, counts as ten entries for one of these fabulous prizes. Enter before August 17th.

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

The contest is designed to build my newsletter subscriber list. If you'd like to see a sample of it read Dani's latest newsletter here.

Want to actually buy my books?

All my August Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon? US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

Remember, if you're in Sydney, please come out to the ARRA Literacy Autographing. I'll be there tonight!

#TeaserTuesday - Playing The Master (4)

I'm still in Australia and quite enamored with my niece and nephew, so writing has fallen by the wayside. But it's Tuesday here and my official launch day back home (August 4th) for The Dani Collins Erotic Romance Collection, so I thought I'd offer up a final excerpt from the second book, Playing The Master.

If you missed the first excerpts from this book, links are below. I'm moving into summer reruns for the rest of August, as I'm traveling and don't have another new book until late September, so keep scrolling after this sample to catch up on samples from my backlist:

Ann spies on Eloisa
Ann spies on Eloisa as she talks to Porter
Porter reveals he doesn't want Ann

Here we move onto Chapter Two:

~ * ~

Her life might be on the verge of change. Paris might be a delightful switch of scenery from the arid Arab peninsula, but Ann still felt like the fairy-tale princess locked in the castle.

Porter, or rather his mother, was organizing the wedding—something Ann didn’t care about. She’d never been to a wedding, had had enough of protocol and tradition in KSA and planned to avoid marrying at all.

Running away was proving challenging, however. Cain had laid the groundwork that she was some kind of sleepwalking mental deficient who needed to be locked in her room at night and turned away from the front door during the day. Of course, Porter had sounded pretty insistent last night that the marriage-merger occur. Perhaps he was as much to blame for her imprisonment as Cain.

She still didn’t know what to think about all she’d seen and heard last night. Despite the possibility of gaining her trust fund, she couldn’t see marrying Porter. He was too big and scary and powerful. And Eloisa obviously didn’t want them to marry, so why hadn’t she exposed her? The perils closing in on her were so great, Ann could think about nothing except running from them, but she couldn’t get away.

At least the castle was wide open to her. Snooping through the upstairs bedrooms of the centuries-old mansion, she’d found a laptop no one was using. She hadn’t had online access since arriving here and was feeling the absence, even though she’d only ever had Cain’s desktop when he was out. Still, she was in the habit of surfing when she was bored, and she was dying to know if sites really were uncensored here in France, as she’d been led to believe.

The laptop was charging in her room right now while she wandered the back garden looking for possible escape routes. A stone wall rose from the rocky foundation of this river island, making the garden as much of a prison as the rest of the house, but the abundance of water here was such a marvel she paused to absorb it.

The wall came to a point where the Seine lazily zipped itself together from flowing down either side of what had to be a billion-euro property. The three-story chateau with its gold fixtures and crystal chandeliers was not the greatest luxury here, despite what the occupants might imagine.

After more than a decade in a country where they’d had to set towels along the door cracks to keep out the dust during a storm, she gloried in the dank scents of algae and wet earth that filled her nostrils. When she rested her hands on the fur of mossy stones, light raindrops landed in gentle pecks against her knuckles. Water even fell from the sky here.

As she looked up, rain speckled her glasses and kissed her lips, making her smile. No wonder writers were so taken with springtime in Paris.

The dogs at the front, sleek pinschers she’d seen from the car when they’d arrived, exploded with vicious barks. The sound made her turn toward the wrought-iron gate she’d half-considered stepping through. It led to the paved stones of the front courtyard, which was fenced to twice her height and guarded by a man in a shack along with the hounds from hell currently lathered into a rabid fury because a toy poodle had dared to trespass. The little creature ran flat out down the side of the house, with the pinschers in manic pursuit.

Ann sucked in a horrified breath and started forward, terrified for the mite.

Her approach only scared the pup as he ducked under the gate. He veered into the shrubbery at the side of the house. The big dogs came up against the bars where they snarled and barked, pawing through the uprights, trying to follow.

Heart pounding, she scanned for the pup. Where would he go from here? Like her, he was trapped in this back garden unless he wanted to take his chances in the river. Trying to ignore the still snarling dogs, she moved to the garden bed and crouched, trying to spy the poodle in the warren of low-swept branches and bobbing tulip heads.

One of the doors onto the veranda opened. Porter Navarro’s long legs descended the wide stone stairs next to her.

She stood, not looking at him. No longer looking for the puppy either.

“Are they scaring you? They shouldn’t be barking at guests.” Walking around her, he spoke sharply and made a hand gesture.

The dogs circled once, offered a final yelp, but a stern word sent them away.

Paralyzed by his dynamic presence, Ann waited for him to go back into the house. Porter hadn’t acted differently last night from before and after the dressing room incident, only finding her once to say, “For what it’s worth, my mother is responsible for this circus. Not only does she make everything about her, she rightly suspects it’s her only chance to play mother of the groom.”

Ann hadn’t known what to say. His mother was a beautiful woman who dressed provocatively, drank excessively and flirted without constraint. Erico Navarro, Ann had observed from a quiet vantage of a recessed window, had taken a blonde into one of the guest rooms and stayed there for an hour. Another knee-trembler, she suspected.

Ann still didn’t know what to say to Porter and silently willed him to go inside so she could look for the puppy.

“It’s raining,” he told her.

Yes I know that, she wanted to counter, but didn’t have Eloisa’s audacity. She felt his gaze on her like another muffling layer over her hijab and abaya. Like last night, a sharp longing rose in her to show him she wasn’t really this plain. Beneath the dull olive powder that flaked on her cheeks and made her look unhealthy was a lovely English complexion. The narrow flatness of her lips was a habit she’d developed to keep her mouth pressed closed around Cain, since she wasn’t allowed to speak unless he asked her a direct question.
Would Porter even care if he saw her as she really was? She couldn’t compete with those leggy supermodels he seemed to prefer. He’d basically said so.

A branch trembled and a black nose poked out from beneath it. Pleading eyes stared up at them for a few seconds. The puppy whined once and worked himself out of his hiding spot, belly on the ground, head low.

“Is that what stirred them up,” Porter said with mild disgust.

Ann’s throat closed over an automatic protest. It wouldn’t be worth arguing with Cain if he wanted to kill the dog then slap her for feeling empathy toward it, but she didn’t know what to expect from Porter.

He crouched and held out a hand, beckoning the dog with a light snap of his fingers.

The poodle crawled forward, badly shorn, filthy and trembling with cold.

Porter picked him up and checked each of his limbs, his handling sure and gentle, but thorough.

“You’ll have to keep him in your room. Mother will have him thrown in the river if she sees him.” He handed her the dog.

His flat statement startled her into glancing up through the rusty-water hue of her glasses. He broke the eye contact as soon as her gaze met his, looking with pity at the dog, but she’d glimpsed into his soul and realized that even though it appeared black and empty, it was merely hidden in a very deep cave.

His mother was not a kind person, something Ann had already guessed, but she hadn’t considered what that would mean for a boy growing up. Now she sensed something not unlike her own adolescence.

Having pain in common was not the sort of connection Raina had meant when she’d assured Ann that she would one day find a man who was her perfect match, but emotional agony was a surprisingly strong and quick binding agent. Recognizing a like soul made her heart burst into a frightened beat like a panicked bird’s wings when it was unexpectedly snared. She didn’t want to feel anything for him. It was a trap, she was sure.

Nevertheless, cradling the wiggling, licking animal, she recognized that her first stirrings of physical attraction had taken a giant step into something more elemental and personal.

Nothing so dramatic happened on his side, though.

“Bathe him. Warm him up,” he said, and walked away.

Watching his economic movements, weakened by yearning and relief, she realized she hadn’t managed to conjure one word from her dry mouth.

~ * ~

I will post about the two conferences (RWA in San Antonio and the RWAustralia in Sydney), but I seriously over-estimated my ability to write around children. Now I know why it took me 25 years to sell a book. When did I write when my own kids were little?

Here's the roundup of my summer excerpts:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Six consecutive excerpts from my June Harlequin Presents. Post includes links to the previous five.
#SampleSunday - The Ultimate Seduction - all excerpts from my August Harlequin Presents.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 (part of
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series).
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - from the first book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection. Includes links to previous.

I'm up to almost 700 entries in the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest! Purchase of my erotic romance collection, or my August Presents, The Ultimate Seduction, counts as ten entries for one of these fabulous prizes. Enter before August 17th.

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

My intention with the contest is to build my newsletter subscriber list. My intention is to move toward exclusive content, but for now you can read Dani's latest newsletter here.

Like giveaways? Check in with these guest blogs for a chance to win The Ultimate Seduction:

July 31: The Reading Cafe - Review, Interview & Giveaway
August 2: Contemporary Romance Cafe - The Road To Publication
August 3: Savvy Authors - Collaborating on The Ultimate Series
August 4: Riverina Romantics - Collaborating on The Ultimate Series
August 5: Crazy Four Books

Want to buy? My books are everywhere!

All my August Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon? US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

If you're in Sydney, please come out to the ARRA Literacy Autographing. Otherwise, I'll try to post as often as possible here. Have a great week!

Launch Day! - The Ultimate Seduction

The official launch day for The Ultimate Seduction is August 1st. I'm writing this on the 1st in Brisbane, Australia, hoping it will bridge the gap between the #Thursday13 post I missed and the #SampleSunday I probably won't manage.

Would you like to hear my excuse for slacking on my posts? I wish I'd thought to record my nephew's adorable aussie-accented, three-year-old voice asking me to help him with his shoes, reach down his drink, inviting me to make a puzzle with him, asking if he can draw on my paper, and generally engaging me at every turn.

I'm visiting my sister, reacquainting with my nephew and meeting my one-year-old niece. They are a riot. Today we turned a corner with my niece. She heard her brother coming and ran to me, wanting up before he came into the room and grabbed my attention from her.

Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, we happened to be in Target so I looked for my August book. There was Ryzard!

That's almost all the writing related activities I've managed to accomplish. I keep promising posts on the RWA conference in San Antonio and I fear that I'll be trying to write them in Sydney, while I'm at the Romance Writers of Australia conference next weekend.

If I don't get to them then, it'll be when I'm on the plane flying home because life is very busy with wee ones underfoot and little fingers that are magnetically drawn to buttons on keyboards.

I did manage to push out my newsletter. If you haven't signed up yet, do it now! You might win a signed copy of The Ultimate Seduction. If you sign up through the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest, you'll double your chances of winning!

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

I'll also dig up and post my blog schedule for August. I have a number of guest posts offering Giveaway copies of The Ultimate Seduction. Here are a couple that I have the links for:

July 31: The Reading Cafe - Review, Interview & Giveaway
August 3: Savvy Authors - Collaborating on The Ultimate Series

The Ultimate Seduction is part of a three book series from Harlequin Presents. Read more about the 21st Century Gentleman's Club:

Have you read all my #SampleSunday posts for The Ultimate Seduction? I've also posted a number of snippets and excerpts from all my summer books here:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - My June Harlequin Presents. This post links to the previous five.
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - This is all the excerpts from the first book in my Erotic Romance Collection.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 - This is the third instalment from this novella in
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series.
#TeaserTuesday - Playing The Master - the second book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection.

Want to buy? My books are everywhere!

In the UK, you can pick up The Secret In Room 823 as a stand alone title, or as part of The Chatsfield Boxed Set Vol.2. In North America, preorder it as part of The Chatsfield Boxed Set Vol.2.

All my current and August Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

Prefer Amazon? US | Canada | UK | India | Germany | Brazil | Spain | Italy | Japan | Australia 

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion | ChaptersIndigo | iBooks

If you're in Sydney, please come out to the literacy autographing for a chat! Otherwise, I'll try to keep posting as often as possible here. Have a great week!

#TeaserTuesday - Playing The Master (3)

I'm posting from Australia and think this will come out on Tuesday back home. If I'm off by a day one way or another, kindly forgive.

This is the third instalment from Book Two, Playing The Master in The Dani Collins Erotic Romance Collection, my 2in1 with HarlequinE releasing August 4th.

If you missed the first one from this book, links to the previous two scenes are below. After this sample, keep scrolling for more links to excerpts from my other summer titles:

Ann spies on Eloisa
Ann spies on Eloisa as she talks to Porter

Ann is still literally--not figuratively--in the closet, watching and listening.

~ * ~

“That’s another thing that has me curious.” Eloisa came toward the closet again and fussed with her hair. “You can’t need money. Why are you marrying for it?”

“I’m not,” Porter dismissed with a negligent shrug. “Cain wants to cash out, and if I don’t take this opportunity to absorb his company, someone else will. I like being on top, so I’ll take the steps necessary to stay there.”

“And consume a virgin along the way? Such a sacrifice.”

“Hell, no. She can save that for her next husband. Her stepfather has been living in Saudi Arabia so long he thought her virginity would make a sweetener for the deal. It drew interest from others, I’ll admit, but deflowering innocents doesn’t do it for me.”

“Overdosed in the early years, I imagine. When are you coming to the club? You know people started asking for you the minute you arrived in the city.”

He swept that away with a flick of his hand. “I won’t be there this trip.”

“What?” She spun around. “Why?”

“Reasons that are my own.”

“Something to do with your brother?”

He didn’t move, but he seemed to solidify into a hardened substance in a way that made Ann lean her weight back and hold her breath, gaze fixed on Eloisa, waiting to see if she reacted to his subtle descent into dangerous.

“I’m closing a business deal,” he said in a quiet voice that was deadly enough to lift the hairs on Ann’s arms. “It’s complex and requires a lot of my attention.”

Eloisa made a huffing noise, affecting disinterest as she checked inside her pocketbook, but Ann sensed the charge of hostility between them. “You said she’s from KSA? Saudi Arabia? That explains the lab coat, but they’re not Muslim, are they? Not the way he drinks. Where is she from originally? I heard England.”

“I have no idea. Why does it matter?”

Eloisa offered a smile that held her cheek in a tense bump against her profile. “Just curious.”

He folded his arms. “The marriage is a formality, Eloisa. Don’t feel threatened.”

“By whom? You?”

He lifted a weary brow.

“Of course I wouldn’t. We have no hard feelings between us,” she declared. Her hand pressed into the small of her back, fingers crossed against her spine.

Her cheeky signal made Ann smile despite how awful this was. She liked how Eloisa was standing up to Porter. She’d never had the nerve to stand up to anyone, especially a man who exuded so much power.

Her heart took a little swoop as she regarded him again. He was a quietly dangerous animal, like a panther or a raptor. The kind you wanted to look at through the glass at the zoo, because face-to-face, if he decided to make a move, you’d be gone before you knew what had happened.

And Eloisa was baiting him, treating this like a joke. Bringing Ann in on the secret as if they were conspirators. In a way it made her feel less lonely, just for second, but she was alarmed. She didn’t want Porter to discover her and think she was aligning with this woman. He didn’t seem very pleased with Eloisa.

“I can see your hand in the mirror,” he drawled. “This isn’t a love match. I wanted to buy the company outright and forego the marriage. Cain has made it a condition, because marriage will unlock her trust fund. It’s pure greed on their part, since the compensation for the rigs and drilling rights should be generous enough to hold them for a few years, but he won’t budge. So I’ll marry her to secure the merger and divorce her as soon as everything finalizes. You have no reason to feel slighted, Eloisa,” he finished in a condescending tone.

Interesting information to process later. Ann tucked it away and watched Eloisa drop her loose fingers to her side.

“Why would I feel slighted? We had a lovely affair and went our separate ways. We’re still friends.”

“That’s the way I remember it.” He strolled laconically across the roses in the area rug, becoming more threatening with each step.
Ann drew a slow, awe-filled breath at Eloisa’s strength in standing undaunted as he approached to loom over her.

“And even though I continue to like and respect you—” he began.

“Do you? Perhaps we have different definitions of that word,” Eloisa cut in with a hint of hardening frost.

“—I’m concerned about your motives.” He took hold of her chin.

Ann’s heart raced like a caught bird, fearful for Eloisa. She didn’t want to watch violence, but Eloisa didn’t so much as twinge with apprehension.

“Rather than calling me and asking for an invite, you fucked your way in here—”

“Would you have allowed me to come?” she interrupted again. Such insolence.

“No,” he stated implacably.

“There you go.” Eloisa jerked her chin from his grip and half turned away. “But how else could I see if she’s worthy of you? I failed to capture your heart and wanted to know who could,” she stated breezily. “That’s understandable, isn’t it?”

Ann thought she heard genuine heartache beneath. That was bad. If Eloisa regarded her as a rival, it would be very, very bad.

“Jealousy is a wasted emotion, especially on me. You’ve always known that, and in this case it’s even more misplaced.”

Eloisa turned to look up at him, lips widening in a flat, tight smile against her still profile. “The mighty will never fall?” she challenged, a rasp of bitterness threaded through her tone.

“No,” he assured her. “Not for you or any other woman. So there’s nothing to see here. You can leave. Now. As discreetly as possible.”

“Afraid if I stay, she’ll find out what kind of man you really are and refuse to marry you?”

He released an impatient sigh, but the way he briefly averted his gaze suggested there might be some truth to Eloisa’s accusation. “This deal has to happen. I won’t let you or anyone else jeopardize it.”

Warnings seemed to crackle in Ann’s ears at his determination, but before she could fully examine why, Eloisa distracted her, saying, “Promise to come by the club and I’ll leave without a fuss.”

“You’ll leave because I told you to,” he said with an arrogant look down his nose. “I’ll drop in for a drink if I’m bored,” he allowed with a flicker of patronizing indulgence.

“Oh, I can tell you’re bored,” she said sweetly. “I’ll ensure suitable entertainment is provided,” she added as further enticement.

When he said nothing and the silence drew out, she glanced very briefly toward the closet, then cocked her head at him, voice almost leaving a cloud of chill in the air. “No? Not interested in other women? Saving it all for your fiancée? What do you really know about her?”

This was it. The doors would be flung open. Curdles of dread soured Ann’s stomach as she held her breath again.

“I don’t need to know anything about her and neither do you. That’s the point I’ve been hammering since I walked in here.” He opened the door to the hall. “Now go. Down the back stairs and out through the kitchen.”

Eloisa’s response, something about not being his bitch, faded into the noise of conversation from below as they left the door open.

Ann released a slow exhale and waited a full three minutes, bemused, one hand over the sick knot lingering in her stomach. Porter and Eloisa had speculated on her virginity—which was intact. That only meant she was inexperienced, much as she was with all the ways of the world, but she wasn’t naive. As much as she’d like to believe there would be no repercussions from the unpredictable Eloisa, instinct told her that would be wishful thinking.

The real question, however, wasn’t what action Eloisa would take, or when, but how her betrothed would react. Porter didn’t have much of an opinion of her to start with, obviously, and he held her fate in his wide hand. Would he care that she had watched his lover coupling, or that she’d eavesdropped on his conversation? Would he tell her stepfather?

Despite years of wishing she could see her future, she’d learned that things had to play out in their own time. She could only respond when it happened, and then always in a limited way. Unless she made changes.

She trembled in a kind of shock as she stepped from the closet and slid the other side of the closet open, where wraps and overcoats had been hung by the servants. Fingering through the pockets of one damp raincoat, she found nothing and slid it across to the ones she’d searched before the approaching voices of Eloisa and her suitor had prompted her to step behind the bent door.

Paris was becoming less interesting and more dangereux. Perhaps not the best place to run away after all, but when would she have another opportunity?

This isn’t a love match.

If she bided her time and allowed the marriage, would she gain the trust fund that was rightfully hers and finally be free? She didn’t bother thinking about the greater fortune, the oil company. It might have been started by her father and inherited by her mother, but it had gone to Cain on her mother’s death and Ann had no interest in fighting him for it. Ridding herself of him was worth whatever he may or may not be stealing from her.

Skimming half of the notes from a cologne-scented pocket—a trick of subtle theft, she’d observed, was slower to be discovered—she tucked her find with the rest up the sleeve of the dress she wore beneath her abaya. A few minutes later, she used the back stairs and the pantry entrance to the dining room to rejoin the reception.

The band was on intermission. Perched on the piano bench, she hid behind the piano’s raised lid, skirt and slippers blocked by a potted fern. If she had the ability to buy stocks, she would have made a fortune on what she overheard undetected.

~ * ~

This book releases August 4th. I've been posting that it's available from Mills and Boon now. A friend in Australia, however, had to pre-order so it might be that I'm reading things wrong and this link only allows you to pre-order.

You can definitely pre-order from Amazon.com until it releases in North America on August 4th.

Here's a quick roundup of the rest of my summer excerpts:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Six consecutive excerpts from my June Harlequin Presents. Post includes links to the previous five.
#SampleSunday - The Ultimate Seduction - all excerpts from my August Harlequin Presents.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 (part of
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series).
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - from the first book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection. Includes links to previous.

And please enter the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest! Purchase of my erotic romance collection, or my August Presents, The Ultimate Seduction, counts as ten entries for one of these fabulous prizes.

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

I have a few blog stops to promote both the Erotic Collection and The Ultimate Seduction. Check in for giveaways:

July 11 - iBooks

If you read my previous post, #SleepySunday, you'll know that I am planning to write some posts on the recent RWA conference in San Antonio. I made this wild promise before I was here with my niece and nephew. Now I may have other priorities--like reading Robert Munsch aloud and giving raspberries to cheeks and tummies. I will try, however. I want to review my notes before I forget all the brilliant things I learned.

Cheers,

#SleepySunday

Yeah, I slept in this morning after all the late nights at conference. Now I'm sitting in the airport and since I've run out of pre-written posts, I thought I'd share a few photos from the last week as a sort of Proof Of Life. First, from Seattle:

My vacation actually started with a lovely drive to our old home town outside Vancouver where my husband and I attended our thirtieth high school reunion.

My editor asked me over lunch if reunions are common in Canada. Yes. We usually have reunions every 5, 10, 15, years etc. Turnout was excellent and I talked so much my throat ached. Did I take notes? No. Too busy talking.

Most people don't bring spouses, but since MrC and I graduated together, we both went, separated and worked the room independantly. This gave us lots of gossip to exchange on our drive to Seattle the next day. You have no secrets, Class of '84!

I'm so glad we gave ourselves lots of time to get into Seattle and poke around. The marina above was so pretty and they had a live band playing for a small crowd. It was one of those things we old married couples would do more of if we had the time and fortunately, in this instance, we did.

I flew to San Antonio the next morning for the Romance Writers of America Conference. Here I am having dinner that first night with three other Presents authors: Victoria Parker, Jennifer Hayward, and Tara Pammi.

You'll recall that my collaboration for the Ultimate Series was with Maya Blake and Victoria so it was so nice to meet Victoria in person. I'd met Jen before--good Canadian girl!--and Tara shared my room as she only had time to stay the one night. (Sadness! We missed her and really hope she'll join us in New York!)

Here's the view from my room:

I'm always astonished by flat landscapes. No such thing in the part of Canada I call home. I love the big sky when I visit, and I'll admit that mountains can make you feel claustrophobic, but it still looks strange to me.

The Wednesday night was the Literacy Autographing. Here I am, getting ready for the hordes.

See that dress? My editor helped pick it out. I actually wound up buying two dresses. Apparently she has a reputation for being a bad influence, but I can't fault her taste. I love both of the dresses I picked up and she wore some that I covet. I'm adding, "Shop with Laurie in London" to my bucket list.

After the literacy signing, I went out with Jen and Victoria again. Here we are at Bohana's Steak House, a very posh joint.

We had an amazing dinner. Our pre-dinner cocktails were authentic pre-prohibition era drinks. Mine is a gin rickie, Victoria's was something with muddled raspberries. Yes, the meal was pricey. We said we really ought to have a Presents alpha-male there to buy dinner for us. Then we realized that our Presents heroes kind of were paying for it, which made it all the more of a delicious celebration.

Okay, I've used up half my battery charge writing this so I'll wrap up. Through the week, you can probably expect a few more conference-related posts once I'm settled at my sister's. My expectation is that my nephew will say something cute at least once a day, so watch for the #nephew posts on my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Also, I'll be sending out my newsletter when my August books launch so if you haven't signed up yet, do it now! You might win a signed copy of The Ultimate Seduction. If you sign up through the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest, you'll double your chances of winning!

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

I'm forgetting stuff, but it would be just like me to miss my flight because I was writing a blog post. Time to get my head in the game. Please check in through the week for conference posts, especially if you're a writer. I'll have some tips from various workshops.

Have a great week!

#Thursday13 - Lines from The Chatsfield (4)

Thank goodness I pre-wrote these blogs. Conference is crazy busy and so fun. I've definitely got some stories for next week once I find time to write the posts. Writers, you'll want to tune in for the gems I've picked up from my favorite workshops - although I'll admit that thus far I've been socializing more than learning. But that's where you often pick up the juiciest industry gossip! Which is where I'm off to soon as I hit publish on this so here goes:

This is likely the last excerpt from, The Secret In Room 823, available in the UK as a lone title and up for preorder here in N.America as part of The Chatsfield Boxed Set, Vol 2.

Be sure to scroll down for links to excerpts on my blog from my other summer titles and information on how to win a signed copy of my print books.

For #Thursday13, I've been doing thirteen sentences from this novella. Here are the links to previous:

Gwen arrives at the Chatsfield
Hayes says 'No' to the wig
Gwen and Hayes play chicken over the case

If you want to know more about this interactive world visit Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield here. And here's a little blog post I wrote about my 'stay' in The Chatsfield.

Gwen and Hayes continue their stand-off:

~ * ~

The paparazzi were on her badly enough as it was. If they got hold of that secret, she’d be destroyed.

‘We’re not doing this then?’ she asked testily, fighting panic as she heard herself issue an ultimatum she couldn’t live with. She needed this.

Him.

Oh God, what a lowering admission. She prayed he didn’t realise how much.

His eyes narrowed in a small flinch and she thought he stopped breathing a moment as he debated his response.

‘Take off the wig,’ he finally said, and folded his arms.

A flood of relief went through her. His demand for payment before he’d fetch her case told her he didn’t want to end this either. That was good, but she didn’t obey him. Her attention was splintered, half of it screaming with urgency that the case be brought inside the locked door for safety, but she refused to give in to any sort of weakness in herself.

~ * ~

You can buy The Secret In Room 823 as a stand alone title (in the UK), or as part of The Chatsfield Boxed Set Vol.2. In North America, it's part of The Chatsfield Boxed Set Vol.2.

If you've missed any of my other excerpts, here are some handy links so you can catch up:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - My June Harlequin Presents. This post links to the previous five.
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - This is all the excerpts from the first book in my Erotic Romance Collection.
#TeaserTuesday - Playing The Master - second instalment in the second book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection.

If you haven't entered the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest yet, there's still time! Purchase of my erotic romance collection, or my August Presents, The Ultimate Seduction, counts as ten entries for one of these fabulous prizes.

Read the rules for the Dani Collins Masked Desires Contest then enter here:

Dani's Masked Desires Rafflecopter Entry Form

I have a few blog stops to promote both the Erotic Collection and The Ultimate Seduction. Check in for giveaways:

July 11 - iBooks

Thank you so much for continuing to visit. If my posts are eratic right now, it's because I'm traveling. I will try to post this coming Sunday, but as yet have not thought of a topic. Plus I'll be on an airplane to Australia. Have a great weekend.