Check. It. Out:
Oy. Is that gorgeous, or is that gorgeous? And that I'm sharing the book with Jory Strong, Delilah Devlin, Allyson James, Denise Rosetti and fellow EC newbie Lillian Feisty is just a bonus!
Here's the story blurb and an excerpt from the beginning of the book:
Gaelen Brecca is asked by the leader of his world to track down the leader's errant fiancee, who's hiding out on Earth. In the process, Gaelen has no choice but to take Madison Marquette as well. Finding a mate was the last thing he and his bond-brother, Leax Ilan, expected on their mission.
Tired of being the only person in the family who isn't a thrill-seeker, Madison is ready for a grand adventure. She's immediately drawn to Gaelen and his bond-brother Leax, who make no secret of their attraction for her. Can they secure her sensual surrender?
~ * ~
Through the wide view screen at the front of the ship’s bridge, Gaelen Brecca stared at the planet his space vessel currently orbited. “I’ll teleport down, grab the woman, and we’ll be out of here before anyone knows what happened. Stay out of range of their satellites, Chardon. And be ready,” he cautioned his communications officer, who also manned the teleportation controls. “There have been reports of Raiders in this area, and you know how much they’d love to get their hands on a royal princess. The ransom they’d get for her would fund their weapons deals for years.”
“I’ll be on guard, my lord.” The blond man didn’t look up from his control panel. “Sensors indicate there is another woman with Supreme Lord Travven’s betrothed. You may want to take a pacifier, sir.”
“Thank you, Chardon.” Gaelen moved into the maglift. “Have Commander Ilan meet me at the teleport pad.”
The maglift whisked Gaelen to deck fifteen, where he stopped at the med bay to pick up a tranquilizer pistol. He snorted as he remembered what Chardon had called it. A
pacifier.
Doctor Braden Tabari stepped out of his small office. “What can I do for you, my lord?”
Gaelen scowled. “With every last person on this ship ‘my lording’ me, Bray, I’d hoped I wouldn’t hear it from you, too.”
“You are now the First Province of Drace, my lord,” the doctor replied, seemingly unperturbed by his captain’s burst of ill temper. By the mischief sparking in his dark eyes, Tabari actually seemed to be enjoying it. “It would be inappropriate for us to address you as anything other than ‘my lord’. Or would you prefer ‘Lord Brecca’? Or perhaps ‘Brecca, Bearer of the Most Sacred—’”
“Oh, for the love of Mystros,” Gaelen muttered. “I’d
prefer that you call me Gaelen. We’re friends, remember?”
Smiling faintly, Tabari clasped him on the shoulder and squeezed. He dropped his hand and asked again, “What can I do for you, my lord?”
“
Kotka njall.” After growling the curse, Gaelen raked his hand through his hair. If he’d known that becoming First Province of Drace would put such formality between him and his friends, he’d have told his cousin Rafe to retrieve his own damned woman. Or better still, to go fuck himself. He just might yet, after this fool’s mission. He was governor of the largest province on Reivas and the captain of the fleet’s flagship. His last mission shouldn’t be as some goddamned babysitter for the runaway bride of the Supreme Lord.
Family could be a real pain in the ass sometimes.
With a shake of his head, he brought his thoughts back to the matter at hand. “I need a tranquilizer pistol, just in case the princess refuses to cooperate.”
Tabari’s eyebrows rose. “That’ll go over well with the Talarians. You tranquing their princess and all.” The doctor opened a cabinet and withdrew a small, silver gun. “Obviously you’ve located her.”
Gaelen grunted. “After four months of following her trail and stopping by three other planets, yes, we’ve finally found her.” He nodded toward the tranq gun. “I’ll only use it if she leaves me no other choice. Make sure you load it with enough for two.”
“What, you’re planning on bringing a female back for yourself?”
“No.” Gaelen didn’t appreciate the humor and sent Tabari a dark look. “I want it in case I need to tranq the woman with Juliska if she gives me any trouble.”
“What woman with Juliska?” Tabari pushed two vials into the chamber and primed the barrel.
Gaelen shrugged. “A friend, perhaps? We’ll be teleporting directly into the house where they are. I doubt she’s seen people appear out of thin air before. I want to be prepared for trouble.”
* * * * *
Madison Marquette pulled her legs underneath her and settled more comfortably on the plush sofa. She flicked a piece of lint off the skirt of her flirty yellow sundress—her favorite one with flowers—then grabbed her bowl of ice cream. “I’m getting ready to hit the play button, Julie,” she called. “Hurry up.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Her friend, Julie Grant, hurried into the room, carrying a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Even with her honey-blonde hair pulled back into a casual topknot, she still managed to look elegant. She set the cup on the table between the sofa and recliner and dropped down into the easy chair. Clicking the footrest out, she stretched her long legs and sighed. “Don’t get your panties in a fist.”
“Panties in a twist,” Madison automatically corrected. In the two years she’d known Julie, the woman consistently used mixed-up idioms. But Madison considered her to be her closest friend, even if she did claim to be from another planet. She was ditzy but not dangerous.
“So, you never did answer my question.” Julie raised an eyebrow. “Since we’re getting ready to watch
While You Were Sleeping, I wanna know. What do you look for in a man?”
She’d asked the question at the video store and again in the car on the way home. Madison knew her friend would keep after her until she answered. “Well, I’m not that different from most women, I suppose,” she said, thinking aloud. “I want a man who’s strong, who’s capable, but who doesn’t try to control me. He needs to know and trust that I can take care of myself. I want someone who’s stable, dependable. Safe.”
She thought about what she’d just said and felt a deep pang of loneliness that was almost a physical hurt. Her last serious relationship had ended over three years ago, after she’d found her fiancé in bed with another woman. What a cliché, but it seemed to be the way her life ran. After the break-up, she’d decided to swear off men for a while, never dreaming the dry spell would last so long.
What she’d told Julie was true. While she wanted someone dependable, she didn’t need a man to provide for her. Partially because of Julie’s incredible imagination, Madison had turned the stories her friend dreamed up about life on other planets into bestselling steamy futuristic romance novels. She was doing very well for herself. Her sixth novel in two years was due out in a couple of months and she was fast approaching the deadline for her seventh. Her career was right where she wanted it. Her personal life was another matter entirely.
What she needed, what she craved, was intimacy. Not just sex, although it had been so long since she’d made love with a man she almost forgot what it felt like. She missed curling up on the couch in a man’s strong arms and watching a movie together, or holding hands while taking a walk. Simple stuff.
And, since she was being honest with herself, she missed sex. She loved being with a man, smelling his unique scent, feeling the sweat gathering on his skin, seeing the pleasure steal over his face when he came. She missed a man’s cock surging inside of her, rippling over the muscles of her pussy.
Battery operated boyfriends just weren’t the same.
“There’s no such thing as a safe man.” Julie’s dry tones broke into her thoughts. “What’s this fantasy man look like?”
Madison pushed aside her sadness. “I’ve always liked 'em tall, dark and handsome, of course. Broad shoulders, nice collarbones, a muscular chest with a smattering of hair. You know, just enough to have a nice trail that leads down to more interesting places. Not that I’ve gotten anything remotely close to that.” Her fiancé had been rather short, with a bald spot and a tendency to spit when he talked.
“I know what you mean.” Julie picked up her coffee cup. “Next question. What’s your secret sexual fantasy?”
Just as Madison opened her mouth to tell her friend it was none of her business—some things were private, even among best friends, that’d be why they were called
secrets—there was a flash so bright she closed her eyes against the glare. When she opened them again, two tall men in formfitting black uniforms stood in front of her.
Madison yelled. She slammed her bowl of ice cream onto the end table and jumped over the back of the couch, putting the bulky weight of it between her and the two men. They looked at her and she caught a flare of sexual interest in their eyes before they turned their attention to Julie.
The one on her left was very tall, well over six feet, with shoulder-length black hair and penetrating glass-green eyes. Those eyes had heavy brows drawn over them in a scowl, the same frown that curved his sensual lips. A deep cleft bisected his sexy chin.
The other man was just as tall, just as muscular, with long, dark reddish-brown hair and deep, chocolate-brown eyes. A thin, jagged scar ran the length of his jaw line on the right side of his face. It in no way detracted from his scrumptious good looks. Rather, it took what otherwise would have been a face almost too pretty and turned it into something lethally handsome.
“
Tighinn ne, Juliska Argante tan Talar,” the green-eyed man said to Julie, his voice a low growl.
The sound rumbled through Madison’s body and lit all her nerve endings on fire. Especially the ones between her legs. For crying out loud… She really needed to get laid if she could get turned on at the same time she was being scared spitless.
Copyright ©2007 Sherrill Quinn. All Rights Reserved.Available March 21st at
Ellora's Cave!
"A woman in love can't be reasonable--or she probably wouldn't be in love." Mae West
