Summer (Winter actually) Holiday – I’m off

On the 4^th July I leave New Zealand, I’m heading off on my ‘escape from winter’ summer holiday. I’m heading to the US of A and I’m so excited. I'm in need of a break after a bit of surgery in June.

I’m away for the whole month of July, traveling with my twin sister, Leigh. We’re starting in Honolulu, then heading to Vancouver to see my father, then a quick trip to Seattle and on to NY for the Romance of America conference (I might see you there at the book signing!).

I’m pretty much back, the only tug on my heartstrings is leaving Brandy (my 15 month old Cavoodle) behind. I’ll miss her so much…

It will take me about 8.5 hours to fly to Honolulu, and it made me laugh when I realized that in Regency times, it probably took that long to get from London to Cornwall, for example. The idea of traveling in Regency times would be so different from today, although probably only slightly less comfortable.

In my latest release (watch for a special starting around 7 July 99c) A TOUCH OF PASSION, book

#3 in my USA Today bestselling Disgraced Lords series, my heroine, Lady Portia Flagstaff goes on a journey. She’s kidnapped and taken to Egypt. Well, nobody puts Portia in a harem, if Grayson Devlin, Viscount Blackwood has any thing to say about it.

The rescue goes well and they have a long sail home, just enough time for Portia to work her wiles on her reluctant hero. Grayson’s determined to keep her at arms length. He’s fighting a losing battle….

The siren in the steam ran a seductive eye over his hardening body, stopping at his groin. He hardly recognized her as Portia. The night of reckoning was here. Good God, how did he fight this sensual vision?

She continued, her eyes drinking him in. “Rush informs me you’ve been taking the night watch at the helm the last few days. I suggested to Rush that he get a warm bath ready for you, after being in the chilly air, night after night. We can’t have you getting sick.” With a twinkle in her eye and a naughty giggle, she added, “But it was just too tempting, all this water. I couldn’t resist.”

Resist, yes, that is exactly what he must do, he told himself even as his hands relaxed their grip on the door and one foot entered the cabin.

She sat upright in the tub, the top of her pert breasts visible above the water, her long hair swirling around her shoulders. His mouth watered. His other foot entered the room.

With a raised eyebrow, and in a voice he hardly recognised, she soothed, “You do look a tad chilly after your watch. Would you care to join me, there’s room for two?”

Staring at her, he couldn’t force out a single word.

“What’s the matter, Grayson?” she cooed.

He closed his eyes and tried to control his need, but the way she said his name was intoxicating. He throbbed uncontrollably.

“You’re not shy, are you?”

He opened his eyes; unable to speak he simply stared at her.

She lay back and let her long hair fall over the side of the tub in waves of silk. She took a face cloth and ran it down over her face and across her bosom. He followed the cloth with his eyes, like an addict focused on his next fix.

“Why don’t you shut the door behind you?” Her voice a husky murmur caressed him across what now seemed a claustrophobic space. “We don’t need an audience.”

His foot moved a step closer.

She smiled. It sucked all the breath from his lungs.

“If you won’t come to me, I’ll have to come to you.”

At her words she rose gracefully from the tub, water streaming over her luscious curves. His heart pounded so hard in his chest he knew she could hear it. He stepped closer still.

Jesus, what was he doing? His very hands burned with the need to touch her, run his palms from her slim waist down her elegantly curved thighs, to slide his hands through her auburn womanly curls, wet and glistening at the apex of her thighs, and feel her woman’s heat before gliding back up to her firm ripe breasts and molding them in his hands. The nipples taut, and aching for his touch.

His mouth watered wanting to suckle, to taste, to claim her.

“Do you need me to help you?” she purred. “Come here.” She crooked her finger and bade him move closer.

Stay back.

But his body ignored his command. When the haze of his need cleared he was at the tub’s edge. She’d never been this forward before, and she knew her power. He forgot she was a virgin. Oh, she’d flirted and teased in her younger days, her innocence making a mockery of her attentions. She’d had no idea how to use her feminine wiles back then. So untutored. She didn’t even know what she’d really wanted.

But look at his siren now.

Crikey, Portia’s a bold one!

I wonder if I’ll meet a man who makes me decide to do a seductive bath scene. Somehow I doubt it! I’ll get my romance off my trusty kindle, which is now packed, with books for me to read.

Have you got any holiday plans? If so, where are you going and what books are you taking along to read?