Greetings, blog hoppers.
I hope you're enjoying the hop today and
finding plenty of heart throbs to entertain you on Valentine's Day.
Does everyone know how to play
this blog hop?
(One of the fat prizes you can win.)
Drop a comment on heartbreakers,
your name and e-mail address in all 300+ blogs,
and you’ll have 300+ entries
into the grand prize drawings.
Drop a comment on heartbreakers,
your name and e-mail address in all 300+ blogs,
and you’ll have 300+ entries
into the grand prize drawings.
( Woo-hoo! ***Fist bump!*** )
my Greek Myth Romantic Fantasy
No Funny Stuff!
*A Mission for the Muse of Comedy.
(You can't miss it if you have a shoe fetish.)
Take it home for an afternoon of chuckles.
I hope you're a-mused.
:-)
Here’s my heartbreaker:
Cop or
convict?
How many
faces can one man own?
An
assassin wearing a holographic mask and a prison tattoo boards Rachel’s
freighter during a prison riot, intent on collecting gadgets capable of
changing a man’s identity from the black-market gang who'd stolen them. Rachel’s
never sure of Jack's identity nor his goal, but he claims to be an Alliance
I-Marshal. Cop or convict? The clues never stop contradicting. She's horrified
to find the bright holographic mask conceals the gruesome face of a monster.
And the badge doesn’t slow him from murdering people right before her eyes.
When
Rachel learns Jack will trade innocent lives for the digital miracles, she
determines to make the mercenary grow a heart.
How could a stone-cold killer kiss her so hotly? How could she kiss such
a dangerous deceiver?
Jack
has done years in prison to learn who’d stolen the remaining Gemini ticks, 3-D
magic. Nothing will keep him from gaining extreme technology capable of unleashing
galaxy-wide chaos. Forget feelings for Rachel. She can’t stop him from killing
everyone involved.
Luminous
Nights
is a 2011 Golden Quill Contest finalist
for Best Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Fantasy!
is a 2011 Golden Quill Contest finalist
for Best Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Fantasy!
Reviews for Luminous Nights:
Nights and Weekends Reviews - “...Set in the future among the stars, Luminous Nights will draw you
into a fascinating world that’ll capture your attention with its new technology
and a galaxy of planets, native inhabitants, and indigenous creatures to
explore. Ms. Hart knows her make-believe world well, and she’s able to bring it
to vivid life....The sexual tension between Rachel and Jack nearly drove me up
the wall. But the wait was well worth it—and I’ll never be able to look at
chocolate in the same way again... Passionate and imaginative, Luminous
Nights is an amazing e-book read that you don’t want to pass up—so point,
click, and download it today.”
***
(This excerpt is rated PG-13 for sexual theme.
The story is rated R.)
Who is Jack?
Dispassionately,
Jack said, “Forget it.”
Appalled,
Rachel snapped, “What do you mean forget it? You agreed to help me this
morning.”
“I’m
not sure I agreed to anything specific.”
She
wished to kick him, put her hands around his neck and squeeze the life out of
him. She’d just asked for his general help this morning, then he’d started
drawing on her, and she’d forgotten her mind. He was such a cheater.
“Don’t
you want some walking room? You have to admit, restriction to this library is
the pits.”
“You
forget, I’d once existed in a prison cell for five years. I’d rather stay here
and drive you mad.”
She
stepped closer to him, but remained outside the electronic cage since his gun was
strapped to her leg. “Please, Jack. I need you. Help me or I’ll find a way to
leave you on this planet.”
“I
don’t care if you leave me here, Captain. So then I’ll do what I came here to
do, kill Quattro and prevent the ticks from bleeding into the Draco system.
Live my life out here on this wonderful little space ball.”
“Oh,
no! I'll tell Quattro-”
“Where
to find me? I doubt you’ll do that. Then he’ll hunt me and wipe out the
natives. And then I’ll kill all of Quattro’s men. You, on the other
hand, will make a cherished slave for the gross little demon. You’re probably
the only one he won’t kill. He already sees value in you. Remember how he
contemplated you were less fragile than the natives? Stars only know what rough
acts he has in mind.”
Jack
had her trapped, and he wallowed in the accomplishment.
“You
snake.”
Disbelief
soured his handsome and pale face. “Do you fantasize no one will die here?
There’s no way out of it, Rachel. Someone’s going to die.”
He
was right. Too many people had plans of their own. If each player did as they
willed, many would die when only Quattro and his gangsters deserved the
lynching for the murders of the natives.
Rachel
drilled her sight into his fake sky-blue eyes. “Good people might die, Jack. I
just want to keep the proto-plutonium you forced me to bring to this planet out
of Quattro’s hands, which I can do as long as I keep you away from
Quattro. Jack, you have to help me.”
“I
do?”
“Yes.
Stop acting like you won’t. So give me your word.”
“Not
without a reward.”
“Oh,
yes. One must pay the mercenary, doesn’t one?”
“Absolutely.
So ask me what I want.”
She
put her forehead in her hand to rub away the worry. No one could accuse her of
owning a poker face. “Are you just pissed I took away your control?”
Stone-faced
but for a muscle twitching in a clamped jaw, he pointed to the floor, laying
down cardinal rules. “You didn’t take away my control. You're going to find
out, I control every thing in this room.”
Was
he blind? Should she hold a mirror for him so he could see the triad collar
blinking at his neck, confining him to this room? Didn’t he see his gun
strapped to her leg? Didn’t it dawn on him she would make him save the
children, no matter what it cost her or him?
That
he didn’t see it shook her confidence.
“I
thought we’d made progress in our relationship last night.”
“Oh,
we did. But not in the fight to recover the Gemini ticks.”
“What
do you want, Luminous, to teach the kids how to hunt?”
Eyes
belonging to a dead cop drew a coldness to their surface. “I want you here
sleeping with me tonight and every night.”
She
took a sad breath. “Sex and death. They seem to be running themes for you.”
Jack
shook his head. “Not death, Rachel. What’s between us has much more to do about
living than dying. And it only faintly has to do about sex, really.”
She
crossed her arms over her bosom self-consciously while hating him. “What would
a killer like you know about life?”
“Nothing.
Not a single thing. I’m a government-programmed machine. You’re going to teach
me about life and living, Rachel. You slept somewhere else last night, and I
was lost without you. I want you to sleep here. In this room with me. Having
sex with me isn’t a part of any deal between us. You’ll have to trust me.
That’s my offer in exchange for my help. No negotiations.”
“This
morning you’d been willing to help me without a price.”
“Now
I find I’m unhappy without you.”
Sleeping
alone in the guest room last night had been lonely and cold without him. She
hadn’t rested until she’d fallen asleep in his arms beside the fire this
morning.
And
his touch had changed her.
Now
she needed his quick mind, supernatural skills, and uncanny luck to keep sick
children alive. She needed his finely tuned senses. She needed him to stay warm
at night. She didn’t want to need him, but she did.
“Rachel,
you know I won’t harm you. Hurting you is not what I want to do.”
He
was almost believable. He’d saved her life, had bypassed opportunities to
molest her nightly. Only this morning had his touch turned intensely sexual,
and he hadn’t followed through. After serving years in prison, he’d held
himself in check to show her he did care for her feelings. His control was inhuman.
“Do
you remember the chocolate, Rachel?” he asked her, his momentary anger gone and
now beguiling her with the memory. Shadows danced at the fire’s prompt.
The
urge to kiss him in chocolate again surged through her at his mere mention of
the candy. He knew it would. The confection on his lips had made her swim with
need for his closer contact. It made her weak on mention of it. He’d used alien
chocolate as a weapon against her.
“I
remember.” She loathed the admission, but loved the memory. “But hypnotic
chocolate can’t make me trust you, Jack. You are the most untrustworthy person
I have ever known.”
***
Figure Jack out. Bookmark this page and come back!
Read hot excerpts packed with peril, check out
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read the first chapter:
read the first chapter:
Available @ BookStrand, Amazon Books, Barnes and Noble,
nearly everywhere.
nearly everywhere.
Read
and live an adventure.
Have
an unforgettable day,
Michele Hart
Happy Valentine's Day,
and have fun hopping.
and have fun hopping.
