Excerpts
Dangerous Desire
By Romona Hilliger
Published by Champagne Books www.champagnebooks.com
Copyright © 2008 by Romona Hilliger
ISBN 978-1-897445-33-4
The sight of Jamie was having a devastating effect on her and she knew it was all wrong. She was married, she’d told herself that, hundreds of times trying to make herself believe it, but she knew deep in her heart the marriage was all but over, save in name only. And Jamie was her teacher. He had his girlfriend and even if those things didn’t exist, she was seven years older than he was and she couldn’t let this go on. The tough knocks she’d had since she was fifteen should have taught her a lesson. Her stern father. The young man of seventeen whose hungry eyes followed her everywhere. She’d thought it meant love but it had meant pain and betrayal just as she was discovering with Keith. Learn from it, Amy. Don’t let it all happen again.
“It was my fault, so just forget it,” she said, more harshly than she’d intended to. “I shouldn’t have persisted. Anyway, it’s not important,” she said, and tossed her head. Putting on a show of being blasé and sophisticated about it. “You needn’t have come here to my office. The classroom would have done just as well and it’s only a couple of hours away until then,” she went on, glad she’d managed to sound terse enough to be believable. She saw it in his eyes and God help her, it tore her apart.
Jamie stood and in one action, pushed the chair back. The problem now was what he was going to do about his feelings for Amy. If he was smart, he’d just accept her rejection and to hell with the whole damn business. He knew better than to keep swimming in his emotions. Since he’d lost his family and his first love, he’d never let anyone come near him. Pushed people away. He didn’t need anyone and while the times he’d spent with Mannie were, for the most part, pretty good, even affectionate, they were hardly anything that could be construed as love. And now in these few short months, here he was, allowing himself to be trapped, his heart taken hostage and led into the one thing he’d been avoiding. Love! Yes. He’d be smart.
Tall and overpowering, Jamie was a commanding figure and there was nothing that Amy could do to still the crazy fluttering in her heart or quell the wanton, erotic desires he always seemed to awaken in her. With just the expanse of her desk between them, she could have reached out and touched him, but right now, he captured her gaze and hard, dark and cold eyes locked on her. His voice was calm, dangerously calm.
“Right. Sorry I bothered you. I’ll know for next time, though I doubt there ever will be one,” he said, his words ripping through her like a sword, wounding her to the quick. “I’ll see you in class,” he finished, brusquely.
She watched him turn his back on her and stalk out of the office and she knew, even the heat of the sun would never be enough to save her from his chill.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A
SHADOW FROM HIS PAST.
By Romona Hilliger v. sensual
©Copyright 2005 by
Romance At Heart Publications E-Novels
ISBN#:
0-9754589-8-1 Publication by Romance At Heart ©2006 http://rahpubs.com/ PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAEXCERPT 1.
‘Don’t even think about it!’
Jodie Marshall whirled at the sound of the strong clear voice and faced a man astride a great chestnut stallion. He rode out from the surrounding bush, his dog keeping pace at his side.
A hermit-like eccentric, the woman at the shop had said of the naturalist who operated the only animal shelter in the area. Rarely seen in town, he would cause quite a sensation whenever he appeared and set tongues wagging. But nothing she’d heard had prepared her for this. Her breath locked in her throat as she watched the rider approach. His features were striking and strong. He wore nothing but shorts, was even barefooted, and had a heavy fall of long raven hair that reached well below his shoulders. A film of perspiration shimmered on his bronzed powerful limbs and broad bare chest, all hard muscle beneath a light shadowing of hair.‘Pushing open a strange man’s back door can be dangerous. Don’t you know what I could do to you?’ he said, assessing the intruder. Her snugly fitting shorts, tapering legs, and explicit lines of her breasts thrusting against the soft material of a T-shirt brought a sweet, subtle surge of stimulation.
Dumb-founded, Jodie stood glued to the ground. Her first day in Australia's Northern Territory and, by sheer instinct, she knew it was one she wasn’t going to forget.
‘It was already ajar, I called out—there was no answer...’ she faltered, as shock slowly slipped into fear.
Dismounting, he stood by the horse, his eyes riveted on hers. He reached to touch the dog’s head. ‘Stay, Gus,’ he commanded, bringing the animal to instant obedience. ‘People come looking for me for only one reason, and they phone first, so why have you intruded on me? Didn’t you see the notice at the gate?’ he demanded, not tremendously impressed with what he was sure was an attempted subterfuge.
Jodie
had seen a notice and now wished she’d read it more thoroughly. But expecting a friendlier welcome than this, she’d just come bicycling in. She eyed the man stalking toward her, slowly closing the distance between them. Six-foot-four undoubtedly, a commanding figure, and at least ten years her senior, he had lines of experience on that handsome face confirming his maturity. She looked up, way up. Steel-grey eyes under dark eyebrows were coldly magnetic. And, though the coldness she saw there chilled her, she met his gaze steadily. He looked stern and forbidding. Despite the injured bird in her bicycle basket, Jodie decided she wouldn't hang about to find out what sort of ‘eccentric’ this man was likely to be. Edging back a step on the verge of panicked flight, she stammered,‘Well... I’ll... I’ll be off—’ but in a lunge he snared her wrist and pulled her to him.
‘Not so fast!’ he cut in.
Outraged at her ignominious and powerless position, Jodie exploded in fury. She tore at his steel-like fingers. ‘How dare you —!’
‘Oh, but I do,’ he hissed. ‘I’ve had trouble with a bunch of young holiday campers who broke in and terrorized the wildlife so unless you can convince me otherwise, I’ll assume that you’re one of them. Why are you snooping around?’
Realizing he was making no move to release her, Jodie’s fear edged forward to dread. ‘I am
not one of your campers!’ she lashed out. ‘I'm trying to find the man who runs an animal shelter, for God’s sake!’His eyes searched hers. There was a ring of truth in her voice and the clean, fresh fragrance of that mop of wild auburn curls sailing by his nostrils was hardly synonymous with the little troublemakers he envisaged. He released his grip and she swung away to face him, rebuke poised on her lips, but he got there first.
‘I’m the one you’re looking for and I take it pretty personally when it comes to harassing wildlife,’ he said. ‘Anyway, I apologize.’
‘And so you damn well should!’
The naturalist eyed her with a touch of amusement. Barely out of her teens, if anything, and so full of cheek.
She cocked her head to one side and unleashed her outrage. ‘Is this what visiting young women can expect from men in these parts? Get your kicks this way?’
He'd seen blue eyes before, but none quite as lovely as these. A deep corn-flower and blazing in anger, they made his pulse quicken and his gut tighten. But that refined accent and cultured manner smacked of only one thing. Class. Breeding. He knew the sort. He'd tangled with her kind once before and the consequences still haunted him. Softly alluring though she was, he certainly had no intention of conceding to her whims. He snorted with derision.
‘I don’t know about other men, but as far as I’m concerned I wouldn’t flatter myself if I were you.’ His bearing grew stiff, distant, and hostile. 'Look lady, I've apologized for my lapse in manners, and I think I’ve humored you enough, so, if you have an injured animal let me have it or please leave.’ Hands on his hips, he waited for her to comply.
‘Bird!’ she corrected, with a withering look. ‘Tell me, are you just naturally rude? Or do you work at it?’
A sardonic smile touched his hard mouth. ‘Your directness is admirable, but think what you like. I'm not concerned about your opinion of me,’ he said, and, leaving Jodie barely a moment to bristle at his terse remark, he walked the few paces to a clothesline and un-pegged a shirt. Shucking into the sleeves of the garment, but leaving it hanging casually out of his shorts and unbuttoned, he proceeded to roll the sleeves, fold over fold, until they came to rest on the edge of his biceps. Retracing his steps, he asked in a more civil tone, ‘Now, where is the injured bird?’
EXCERPT 2.
The news-crew was right in front of them, hands extended and introducing themselves.The woman looked up at Brad and beamed a smile that met no favor with Jodie.‘Since I'll be doing the reporting, I'd like to be close by you,’ the woman said, her eyes going over Brad's physique with obvious appreciation.
‘’Fraid you'll be waiting a while,’ he retorted, ‘my brother and I are launching our cruise craft in a moment. Only when that's done will we be going after the rogue crocodile.’
‘Brilliant!’ she squealed. ‘We'll come along, take a few publicity shots.’
‘That would be wonderful,’ John called, as he approached the group. ‘Go ahead.Get aboard that vessel with the cool name. The Stingray,’ he said, with smiling pride. ‘I’ll be along in a minute.’ He turned to Brad, his smile gone.
‘Publicity is what we want, even for catching the crocodile,’ he said, hoping to get Brad to his way of thinking. ‘Think of it as the National Geographic,’ he cajoled.
Brad raised an amused eyebrow. ‘What else!’ he said, with an edge of sarcasm, then gave his brother a withering look. ‘Just so long as they keep out of our way,’ he said and started toward The Stingray with John.
Jodie, too, made her way to the jetty with the last stragglers from John's office.
‘Hey, Jodie,’ one of the girls called, and, sidling up to her, whispered by her face.‘Did you know that guy is John’s brother? First time I’ve seen him. Lives in some isolated place in the bush.’ She turned to face Jodie. ‘Wouldn’t you say that was an awful waste?’
Jodie just smiled and hurried on. Being last to arrive, she knew it was cutting it fine, but neither was she in any mood to be cheery or chatty this morning.
The deckhand stood by the bow at the ready to cast off the mooring lines, and Jodie leaned against the deck-rail with the other two hostesses. John stood beside a table set with glasses of champagne, waiting for everyone on board to be handed a drink by the steward. Brad rested his rear on the opposite rail, quite obviously keeping out of the limelight. Jodie’s eyes met his, clung briefly, and he smiled across at her.Damn that smile and damn him. It all still made her heart go crazy, she thought helplessly, flicking her lashes down.
The captain of The Stingray began a fitting speech of which Jodie didn't hear much, except that he'd worked with the Steele brothers right from the word ‘go’. After the captain, John said a few words, something about himself and his brother Brad. All eyes were on Brad. The wind flicked wickedly at the open panels of his shirt revealing short sharp glimpses of the powerful masculinity beneath. A torturous temptation for any woman, and Jodie burned.
‘Wow!’ she heard a female voice mutter. ‘Didn’t know they grew them so gorgeous in the Territory.’
‘Heard he was a recluse,’ mumbled another.
Her eyes strayed unwillingly to him again; he was engaged in a conversation with John. Her own private fantasy, he’d filled her every desire, tasting and touching and pleasing her. But it was all gone and never to be again. A toast was being raised to the new craft, and Jodie averted her eyes from Brad.
‘To the Stingray,’ John said and, having hold of everyone’s attention, he added,‘May she always sail safely.’
All glasses were raised in the toast to the new vessel, and, with the pleasant little ceremony over, John made his way toward her.
‘Are you okay, Jodie?’ he said, to which she nodded briefly and let a faint smile play about her lips.
‘I just thought you looked kind of off-color.’
‘No, no, I'm feeling just fine,’ she lied.
‘Well, I have another tour to sort out, but I want you to give this group the opportunity to see the crocodile catch, if they want to. I'll leave everything in your hands,’ he smiled. ‘See you later,’ he added, and headed back toward his office. In that time, Brad had sauntered over and stood in front of her, his very presence overwhelming her. He stood so close that she could catch the fresh clean smell of soap and shaving cream, and, if she put out her hand, she could have touched his chest. How she wanted to lay her palms there, to feel his heartbeat throb beneath the hard swathe of muscle. Would his heart be racing like hers was? Not likely.
‘Hello Jodie,’ he said, in that deep wonderful voice. ‘How are you?’
‘Very well, thank you,’ she managed to say without tripping over the words. She loved him and wanted him, but she couldn't forget that he didn't love or want her. He'd certainly made no bones about it, and her face still burned at the humiliation of it all.
‘Good. Got a minute to talk?’
She didn’t even look at him as she replied. ‘Maybe some other time, I’ve work to do.’
‘It won’t take long.’
‘Make it quick, then, if you don’t mind.’
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COME,
LOVE ME AGAIN
By Romona Hilliger V. Sensual BEST SELLING LIST AT ROMANCE AT HEART PUBLICATIONS www.rahpubs.com
©Copyright 2006 by Romance At Heart Publications E-Novels
ISBN#: 0-9785189-7-7
http://rahpubs.com/ PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA