Interview with Heather Long, author of The Taming of the Thief
I am super excited to welcome Heather Long to the blog today. 
HL: Hey Jessica! Thanks so much for having me this week! I love to come hang out with you!
Thanks, Heather! Tell us about your new release.
HL: The Taming of the Thief is a suspenseful romp. I use the word romp liberally here because Pietr and Sophie were a delight for me to write and they are in so much danger in this book. Pietr’s a bit of a playboy—and has been for a long time. Sophie’s a hard-working academic with a passion for art history. They seem like oil and water on the surface, but the connection between them is warm, teasing, and sensual. Now, if only they can survive long enough to make sure it works out.
Describe the heroine in three words.
HL: Smart. Compassionate. Determined.
What traits does the hero posses that makes the heroine swoon?
HL: Hmm—he’s got this sexy accent and a way of staring at her that says she is the only person in the room. His natural charm and take charge attitude add to the attraction.
Oh, I love sexy accents! What was your inspiration for this story?
HL: All the great thief movies out there—The Thomas Crown Affair, Ocean’s Eleven, To Catch a Thief—they all give you that sense of romance, passion, and more.
Who is your favorite character from this book?
HL: Pietr was my favorite in many ways, but that’s because he endeared himself to me in The Love Thieves—my favorite scene…hmmm….
Pietr cocked his head to the side consideringly. Her eyes blazed at him in challenge. A challenge he was eager to meet, but not at the noticeable cost of a police visit and possible arraignment.
“Very well.” He could concede with graciousness, particularly because this skirmish was a first, not a last. He saw the surprise flash across her features and concealed his own amusement. Slipping a business card from inside his jacket, he held it out to her with two fingers.
She took it, reluctantly, but she took it.
“May I?” He gestured towards the door she stood next to. A delightful blush stole up her cheeks as she backed up another step, allowing him access to pass through into the hallway.
He could practically feel the suspicion in her gaze as he exited her quaint apartment. The six story walk up just didn’t do the woman justice. She belonged in a more exotic setting, with sandstone and marble to accent her dark beauty.
He positioned his foot perfectly to block the door as she closed it. Her startled gaze jerked up towards his, but they reflected heat not fear. “Look me up if you have to, but call me. I would very much like to take you out for that drink and I really do need your help.”
Pietr’s gaze locked on the pale pink lips that parted and the tongue that moistened them. The nervous gesture washed over his desire with an uncomfortable sense of shame.
“If I promise, will you go?” Hesitation trembled in the center of the question.
“Yes.”
“And if I don’t promise?” Her hot chocolate eyes burned with promise of retribution.
“Yum.”
That caught her off guard. She blinked again, as though puzzled by his response.
“Yum?”
“Oh yeah. Dark spice and hot fire. The perfect combination.” He grinned, winked and withdrew his foot. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Sophie gaped at him for breathless seconds before slamming the door shut. Pietr’s grin fell away as he gazed at the length of oak separating him from his goal. The locks clicked into place in rapid succession. He had to force his hands into his pockets for his cell phone and turned for the stairs.
On the third flight, the phone rang.
Gotcha.
What are you working on now?
HL: I just finished The Lady is a Thief—the third and final installment in The Fortunate Buddha trilogy. Next up is A Marine and a Gentleman which will be another in the Always a Marine series from Decadent. I also have a new release in September, a sexy superhero romance called Yesterday’s Heroes.
Where do your best ideas come from?
HL: Life. Seriously—I was on the phone with a friend just two days ago and said, in the middle of the conversation, “huh, I wonder…” and I had a new idea. She just started laughing at me.
I’m very much the same way. LOL What is your favorite book that you’ve read?
HL: Um—anything by Patricia Briggs or Nalini Singh. Every book they write tends to become my latest favorite.
Who is your favorite character from any of the books you’ve read?
HL: O.O I have to pick one? Um… Um…
Christian Notte from Lynsay Sands. I LOOOVED him from the moment we met him in Vincent’s book and when his story came out in Under a Vampire Moon, I was over the moon.
I have a hard time choosing, too. What is the best piece of advice you would give to aspiring authors?
HL: Write. Write some more. Did I mention write? The best thing aspiring or pre-published authors can do is to write as much as possible—practice and hone their craft. It’s like exercise, the more you do it, the better you get.
Great advice! Is there anything else my readers should know about you?
HL: I love to write and I love to hear from my readers. I literally cannot, not write. It drives me crazy. So I spend a lot of time in my fictional worlds, and it always thrills me when a reader tells me they liked being there too
Where can my readers find you?
HL: http://www.heatherlong.net
http://www.facebook.com/HeatherLongAuthor
Where can my readers find your books?
HL: My website is the most up to date, but you can find them at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, Siren Bookstrand and more!
Thanks so much for visiting with us, Heather! All the best!
The Taming of the Thief:One Treasure…
Some would kill to know what Sophie Kingston knows. Rich and powerful people will do anything to possess the secret, but not even Sophie realizes how much danger she is in—or how far they will go to hunt her down and take it from her. But when she sees a murder no one can prove, the threats to her life keep coming.
One Hunt…
Pietr Sauvage is neck deep in the hunt for The Fortunate Buddha when a lead draws him to New York and thrusts him into the life of art history specialist Sophie. What began as a favor turns into a desperate need to protect the sexy curator from the dark web of deception threatening to pull her under.
Too Many Thieves…
Lost in the shadow of intrigue and danger, Sophie must learn to trust Pietr, a man with an agenda, a man she can’t help but desire, before the ruthless thieves steal their only chance.
Raising the stakes heightens the attraction…
The Taming of the Thief Excerpt:
The last lock gave and Sophie leaned on the door and opened it. Her bag weighed hard on her shoulder and all she could think about was a shower or a bath and a good night’s sleep. Then back to the museum to her archive and to making sense from chaos. Dr. Hinkley could come back from his sabbatical and it would turn out to just be too many episodes of her favorite crime shows infecting her with their gestalt.
She pushed inside, purse sliding down her arm and dropping on the floor. Hitting the lights with one hand, she shut the door with the other and snapped the locks into place, one at a time. It took her a moment to focus, to see the man sprawling in relaxed pose on her sofa, his ankles crossed, one over the other.
Dark hair tumbled over a ruggedly good-looking face of chiseled features under a growth of stubble. His eyes were soft amber, like fine liquor and his lips were full and even as they spread into a smile.
Sophie gaped.
“Bonjour, cheri.” The lilting French rolling off his tongue sounded as sexy as it was unexpected.
She opened her mouth and screamed, scrambling for the door locks and just as she wrenched open the door, he leaned past her and pushed it closed.
“I’m sorry, Professor Kingston, I didn’t mean to startle you.” The heat of his body burned into her as he pressed her against the door.
Sophie stared at him. The shooter’s French from the museum washed over her. But this man was taller.
Much taller.
“What are you doing in my apartment?”
“I need your help.”
“Breaking into my apartment is a bizarre way to ask for help.” How do I sound so very calm? Her heart beat against her ribs like a hummingbird desperate for escape.
“Oui.” Tall, dark and French had the grace to look abashed. “My apologies. I waited at the museum for a few hours, and then outside your apartment building. I admit, I got a little tired. I came inside to see if you’d gone out of town, but fortunately, here you are.”
Sophie’s mouth fell open further. Her heart stuttered over his grin, but quickened at the sense of outrage.
“Are you going to let me go?”
“Are you still going to scream?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Well then, I shall hold you here until you have considered the options. Oui?”
“My options?” Sophie’s eyebrows climbed. Was this man for real? Outrage smothered fear. “My options? You broke into my apartment. You’re holding me against my will. You just confessed to stalking me. And you want me to consider my options? Are you out of your mind?”
The bastard grinned. Grinned! A broad, toothy, flashing grin that sent shivers up her spine. Her stomach flipped over. He brushed so close the scent of his aftershave tickled her nostrils. She fought the urge to take a deeper inhale, to taste the flavor of the man on her tongue.
“I’ve been accused of worse, cheri. Fortunately for you, I am not insane. But I do need your help and I do need to talk to you without you screaming for help and putting us through a long night of uncomfortable questions.”
“I suppose you have a counter offer?” Had she gone completely insane that morning? Imagining a coworker felled by a bullet? A day of bad coffee and questioning at the police station? She was hungry. She was tired. Maybe that explained why she would entertain this lunacy.
“Of course. Dinner. Some wine. A conversation. After which, I go away and you get some sleep.” Her uninvited guest trailed a finger down her cheek, sending shivers radiating across her flesh. “And forgive me cheri, but you look very tired.”
“I’ve had an abysmal day. I am not in the mood for entertaining much less having a meal with someone I don’t know and who broke into my apartment and is currently threatening me.”
“I am not.”
“Yes. You are.” Sophie punctuated the words with a hard shove against his chest. To her surprise he stepped back, nimble as a cat and held his hands out wide.
It was her chance. She could slip out the door and make a run for it. If nothing else she could yell her lungs out. She knew all of her neighbors. Valorie across the hall with her five kids would call the police in a heartbeat.
But Sophie didn’t yell.
She didn’t yank the door open.
She didn’t bolt.
“What’s your name?” Sophie asked instead.
“Then we chat? Perhaps over wine?”
“No, then I check your references and perhaps we meet tomorrow for coffee.”
He laughed then; a long, inviting, warm chuckle that beckoned her to abandon caution for the sheer exhilaration of leaping.
“I am not sure what references you intend to check. Is there a database for cat burglars?”
“Is that what you are?”
“An outdated term to be certain, but I rather doubt that you will find me listed under some typical B & E reference of a library database.” His too sexy mouth twitched. He enjoyed the banter.
Call me crazy, but so am I.
“Then maybe Interpol would be a better reference point.”
“You wound me little bird. Interpol is extremely low brow for someone of my caliber.”
“And I only have your word for that.” Sophie countered.
“True.” He stepped back, giving her more space and still, Sophie didn’t make a run for it. Despite her better judgment, the Frenchman intrigued the hell out of her tired mind, arousing her curiosity. He aroused a lot more than her curiosity, but she ignored that traitorous thought.
Sophie studied the man standing in the middle of her living room. Surrounded by the muted, antique colors of soft golds and browns, he was a splash of color, vibrant, alive and very raw. The twinkle in his eyes teased her, dared her.
“Why are you here?”
“Existentially?”
“No. Physically. Here. My apartment. Why are you here?”
“Honestly?”
“Call me quirky, but I think that’s exactly what this situation calls for.”
His laughter washed over her. The corners of Sophie’s mouth tugged wider. She loved the sound of his laughter and her smile spread wider at the sound of it.
“My name is Pietr Sauvage. I am here because I need your help.”
Author Bio:
Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.
