New Release for me!

I have been a horrible blogger the last month, occupied with so many other things, I keep forgetting. (And let's not talk about my screw up on my calendar that kept saying I was blogging on the wrong weeks...)

But today, I'm trying to get caught up with everything.

And without further ado, I'm pleased to bring you:

The Reluctant Prince

Duty comes with a price—his heart.

Sydney Martinson’s budget is so tight, it squeaks—and she couldn’t be happier. Her divorce from her controlling husband is final, and a Vegas hair stylist convention is the perfect place to cut loose. Yet she can’t quite shake the feeling she’s being watched.

It took some doing, but Hadrian’s managed to slip away from his watchdog personal assistant for a weekend of well-deserved relaxation. Life as TV’s “Pasta Prince” comes with pressure, and so does his closely guarded secret. He doesn’t just rule the kitchen, he’s royalty with a capital R—third in line to the throne of Koros. And he’d like to keep it that way.

When he spots free-spirited, blue-haired Sydney tossing a coin into a Luxor fountain, he feels the punch in the gut that family lore says all Drake men feel when they meet their match. One weekend with her has him thinking about forever.

Until his assistant tracks him down with dreadful news. One cousin is dead, another is missing. Hadrian is the Crown Prince of Koros—the last job in the world he ever wanted. Worse, he and Sydney are next in line on a killer’s list.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Here's a short excerpt:


After they finished eating, Hadrian and Sydney talked about his growing up in Missouri and her spending her summers there when she was a kid.

A hardness lingered in her, he noticed. A stiffness that she didn’t let down very much. In her eyes, behind the cold images, he could see so much warmth and love, or rather, the need for it.

Part of him wondered, if only for a second, what it would be like to date her, to spend time with her on a regular basis. He wanted to see beyond the hurt inside her and see the real part of her that she kept tucked away from the world.

He imagined it had to do with her profession. The need to be perfect and receptive for everyone else causing her to lock down her own problems, her own thoughts, and be a person, must weigh heavily on her. Like himself. He rarely got to open up, to talk to someone like normal people did, and he missed it.

As the alcohol floated around in her system, the more her posture relaxed, and she started leaning forward to reveal her awesome cleavage and looking at him through those hooded eyes that he knew would look mind-boggling on his bed. That would be if she were naked…

Knock it off, he told himself.

Sydney looked around a bit. Her hand landing an inch or from his hand, she stretched her fingers to touch his. He moved his hand so their fingers laced together.

“Hadrian?” She ran her fingers up and down his.

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to tell you a couple of things.”

He raised his eyebrow at her, clenching his beer bottle. “Like?”

She blushed, bowed her head, then looked back up at him. “Uh, yeah, well, I think you’re really very nice…” she glanced away from him. “This is harder than I thought it would be…”

“Well, just say it.” He took a swig from his beer.

“Uh, well,” she let go of his hand, fiddling with her untouched spoon and straightening it as she stared at the table. “Will you sleep with me?”

He choked on his beer, his eyes about popping out of his head.

“This is my last night here, and I have classes all day tomorrow, and I really wanted to do something, well, just not me, and you’re so damn sexy, you have a bod that won’t quit, and I really, really, really would like to screw your brains out.” She let out a breath, and her eyes pleaded with him, innocence and sexiness and pure desire all wrapped up into one look.

He blinked. His mouth went dry, and his dick went hard.

He raised his arm. “Check please.”