Be sure to email Cathryn and let her know if you enjoyed her holiday story. She would love to hear from you.

To learn more about bestselling author Cathryn fox visit her site at www.CathrynFox.com

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Brother and sister Drew and Ashley Hunter seem to belong to completely different families. Drew is a well-respected newspaper reporter, and Ashley is a punk teen on the wrong track. After a session with Lauren Roberts, owner of Imaginations, a makeover and image consulting service, Ashley is transformed into the beautiful and charming girl she really is.

Introduced by Ashley, Lauren and Drew take an immediate romantic liking to each other. But a secret from Lauren’s past prevents her from trusting Drew with her feelings. Lauren must let go of her past if her Christmas dreams are ever to come true.

Daniel knows he and Eve have something special together. Can he convince her to take a risk on them … And on love?

Buy at Mobipocket
Buy at All Romance eBooks

Excerpt

Lauren Roberts, owner and manager of Imaginations, knew what most people thought of her chosen field. A way to help spoiled women indulge themselves.

She rejected the criticism, but didn’t fight it. She’d learned long ago that fighting what you couldn’t change only brought pain. So she did her job, and she did it well. If she brought a bit of beauty and joy into the world, she was content.

A satisfied smile curved her lips as she looked around her office. Color photos of smiling clients adorned the walls. Deep-cushioned teal sofas and chairs promised comfort. Freshly brewed tea and home-baked cookies sat atop a delicate pie-crust table.

Imaginations had been in operation seven years. For the first five of those years, she had served as assistant and then manager.

After scrimping and saving every penny she could, she now owned Imaginations. Turning a pretty but nondescript woman into a beauty was fulfilling in a way Lauren had never dreamed. It was a far cry from the teaching job she’d planned, but it filled a need she hadn’t even known existed.

It wasn’t the outward changes she wrought in her clients that gave her the most satisfaction, but the inward ones as she watched a woman grow in confidence and poise. More men were coming to her as well, some curious, most embarrassed, almost all brought by wives or girlfriends.

Her friends knew work came first with Lauren. A few had even tagged her a workaholic. She shrugged off the label just as she had their well-meaning attempts to try and change her. Work–hard work–wasn’t an illness as far as she was concerned. Not when you loved what you did. And she did.

“We’ve got a new client coming in at eleven,” she told her assistant, Kath. “A seventeen year old girl.”

“She make the appointment?”

“No. Her brother.”

Kath rolled her eyes. “One of those.”

Lauren understood. A client who didn’t want to be there wasn’t likely to be happy with anything they did for her.

“What do you bet we send her packing?” Kath asked.

“Lunch,” Lauren said, feeling reckless. “If she stays, you buy.”

At precisely eleven a.m., a tall man appeared with a slender girl at his side. He had his arm around the girl, whether in reassurance or restraint, Lauren wasn’t sure.

The man easily topped six feet by a couple of inches. Dark hair pulled back in a stubby ponytail emphasized navy blue eyes. His sister was tall as well, five eight or nine, Lauren estimated. Her hair looked to be a pale blonde beneath the orange streaks, though, and her skin fair. Only their dark blue eyes proclaimed their relationship.

Lauren held out her hand. “I’m Lauren Roberts. Welcome to Imaginations.” She resisted the urge to tug at her linen blazer or fuss with her hair. She’d long ago accepted that her looks would never be termed glamorous or dazzling. Cute was the best she could hope for with her small build and unruly mop of dark red curls. Those who made the mistake of calling her a pixie soon learned better.

He took her hand, holding it briefly before releasing it. A tremor skittered up her arm. “Drew Hunter. This is my sister, Ashley.”

“This is his idea,” the girl said, her voice sullen. “I like the way I look.”

Lauren took in the details of her prospective client. Orange hair, triple pierced ears, and black-rimmed lips. She’d seen them all–and more–before. But it was the look in the girl’s eyes that snagged and held her attention.

Insolent and vulnerable, scared and defiant. She recognized the expression. It had mirrored her own ten years ago.

It wasn’t unusual for a parent or other relative to bring in a teenager for a makeover. It also wasn’t unusual for Lauren to turn down such a job. Adults frequently wanted something for young people that they didn’t want for themselves. Lauren’s first duty was to her client, even if it meant turning that client away.

She sensed there was more going on here, though, than simply a reluctant client. “What do you want, Ashley?”

The girl looked surprised to be consulted. “I don’t know. I keep trying things … You know … To like find out what I like.”

Lauren hid a smile at the teenage jargon and touched the orange-dyed hair. “I think you want to look like you. The way you were meant to look.”

“How would I go about doing that?” Ashley asked cautiously.

“I think together we could find the pretty girl under all the makeup and hair.” Beneath the black lipstick and magenta shadowed eyes, there was the promise of real beauty. It was up to her to bring it out and perhaps help Ashley learn about herself along the way.

Drew spoke for the first time since the introductions twisting his finger through a corkscrew curl. “It was purple last week.”

Lauren gave Ashley a conspiratorial smile. “We women like a change sometimes, don’t we?”

A tentative smile touched Ashley’s lips. “Yeah. Can I look around for a minute?”

“Sure,” Lauren said. “Take your time.”

“You sound like you’ve had lots of experience with teenage girls,” Drew said after Ashley had wandered to the far end of the room.

“You could say that.” Lauren took her time in studying Ashley’s brother. His face was too strong for mere good looks, the cheekbones sharp slashes, his nose slightly crooked. No, she thought, it wasn’t a face for a poster in a teenager’s room. But it was a face to linger in a woman’s memory.

Her gaze connected with his. For the space of a heartbeat, the air shimmered with tension. A rush of air signaled that she’d been holding her breath. She let it out slowly and felt the tension dissolve.

“I’ll be frank,” he said. “I read about your work with girls at the correction center. Ashley’s had some trouble lately. Petty stuff like shoplifting.”

“We’re an image consultant business,” Lauren felt bound to point out. “We can’t–”

“I know what you do,” he cut in. “I don’t expect miracles. But I don’t know where else to turn.”

The simple honesty of the statement gripped her attention…and her heart. “No one can help Ashley if she doesn’t want to be helped. But … ” She paused. “We’ll do what we can.”

“Thank you.”

Ashley had joined them by then and looked from Drew to Lauren and back to Drew. “It’s pretty cool here. Did you do all these women? You know, make them beautiful.”

“I helped them find their own look,” Lauren said. She turned to Drew. “Mr. Hunter, why don’t you let Ashley and me get acquainted for the next hour? It’s going to take some time for her to decide what she wants.”

Drew looked doubtful.

Ashley patted his hand. “It’s okay, big brother. I won’t freak out or anything.”

Drew looked from Lauren to Ashley and then back to Lauren. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

“So you gonna turn me into a lady?” Ashley asked once her brother had left. She couldn’t quite conceal her curiosity as she wandered around the room.

Lauren’s lips curved. “I can’t turn you into something that isn’t already there.”

Ashley paused then turned to Lauren. “Are you saying I’m already a lady?” The faint sneer in her voice didn’t quite hide the pain in her eyes.

“I’m saying you are whatever you think you are.”

“I don’t go for all that fancy stuff,” the young girl warned.

“Neither do I,” Lauren assured her.

Lauren didn’t deceive herself that she had made any great headway with Ashley, but she felt satisfied by the end of the first session.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “After school.”

Ashley turned a surprisingly sweet smile on her. “I’ll be here.”

The first consultation had gone well, Lauren decided. Getting acquainted–learning what her clients liked and disliked, their lifestyles, their habits–was only the beginning, but it was a vital part of the process. Too many image consultants skipped over it, preferring to get right to work.

A makeover that the client wasn’t able or willing to keep up wasn’t going to help her. And so Lauren made sure that it fit each individual. She saw Ashley out then turned to Kath.

“You owe me lunch.”

To learn more about Encore Romance and their authors visit www.EncoreRomance.com

]]> http://moongladesolutions.com/press-release/publisher-news never-too-late-for-christmas/feed http://moongladesolutions.com/press-release/publisher-news a-christmas-wish http://moongladesolutions.com/press-release/publisher-news a-christmas-wish#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:54:07 +0000 moonglade http://moongladesolutions.com/?p=416 A Christmas Wish by Holli Winters

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Two years ago, Brady and Macy kissed and walked on the edge of giving into their desire, but the time was not right. She was newly widowed after the death of her abusive husband, who was also Brady’s cousin. Now it’s Christmas Eve in the midst of a snow storm. Macy heads to Brady’s bar for a drink and ends up stranded when the storm turns into a blizzard. Now, she’s trapped with a man she’s wanted for a long, long time…and the timing couldn’t be better.

One night of passion isn’t enough for Brady, but can he convince Macy they have more going for them than just the desire that’s been simmering for years?

Buy Whispers Publishing / Buy MobiPocket

“…Santa Baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight…”

Brady suspected he’d lost his mind by offering to stay open on Christmas Eve. Even Madonna’s sultry voice on the jukebox didn’t stir him. He could think of warmer places to be than tending bar on a snowy night in Spokane. Anyplace but here. Like Hawaii, with a bouncy bikini-clad babe. Or in southern California, sipping a drink as he sat next to the pool. The sleigh bells above the door jingled to signal the arrival of another customer and he glanced up. Or maybe?

His heart skipped a beat and all thoughts of balmy spots vanished from his mind at the vision framed by the dancing red lights around the threshold. Suddenly things were beginning to look a lot brighter?and warmer.

Macy Witters stood there. Her dark hair swung gently around her shoulders and he watched, transfixed, as she removed her coat to reveal a red and green sweater that barely hid her slender body. Her slim black skirt inched up her thighs as she turned to hang up her coat on the rack.

Brady could only stare at the sight of the woman who broke the mold by which he judged other women. What was she doing here? Had she come to see him? She knew he owned the Silver Lining Bar.

Macy hesitated as she looked intently at the bar for a long moment. Her chest rose, emphasizing the lush, rounded curves of her breasts, making Brady’s body stir in response. She hadn’t spotted him yet in the corner of the room. She closed her eyes briefly, a small smile flickering across her lush lips. She turned her head as her companion murmured something and they both laughed before they headed to a table across the room.

Brady finished his table and headed back to the bar. Fergus nodded at him and commented, “Busy tonight. Wonder why all these folks aren’t with their families on Christmas Eve?”

“Probably because their families are jerks like mine,” Brady told him. All his life they’d looked down on Brady’s family even though it was hard, decent work running a bar. Well, he no longer cared to have anything to do with the “other” Vaughn’s.

Except for Macy. But then, she no longer was a part of the family.

He paused and watched her settle at the table. She brushed her hair away from her shoulders, and his body reacted with a surge of lust. He thought of what it’d feel like to have her hair brush his cock as she leaned over him.

Get yourself under control, he told himself. She’s not in here looking for you.

Fergus glanced up as he finished filling an order for another round of beer. “I suppose so. They’re damned fools, being out in this weather.”

“But good for business,” Brady remarked. Everyone was in a good mood and spending money easily tonight. He tipped his head toward the table where Macy sat with her back to him. “I’ll take that table over there.”

“Sure thing, Brady. You know where to find me.”

As he made the trek to Macy’s table, he gazed at the back of her head. Two years ago she’d slipped away from him and he let her, knowing it was too soon after the pain she’d experienced. But he still wanted her, and this time, he wasn’t sure he could let her go.

“Can I get you ladies something?”

Macy’s head whipped up and her green eyes flared in response. Yes, she hadn’t expected him to be working tonight.

He smiled at them both, nodding first at the other woman, then at Macy. Her lips quivered for a brief second, drawing his attention. Her eyes were dark with unspoken emotion. Yeah, she hadn’t forgotten that day.

“Hi, Macy. It’s been a long time.”

Her gaze flickered to her companion for a moment, then back to him. He sensed she would’ve got up and left the bar, but wasn’t sure how her friend would react.

Instead, she gave him a brief nod of her head. “Hi, Brady. I thought you’d be at the annual Vaughn get-together tonight.”

His jaw tightened. “Hardly, since they think owning a bar is something a Vaughn shouldn’t be doing. I’d rather be some place where I’m welcomed.”

She frowned at his words, but nodded. “I see. I remember Daniel saying…” She let the words drift off, as though she couldn’t talk about her ex-husband. Brady hoped she was finally over his cousin, because it was time for Brady to take what was rightfully his.

Etienne Michel D’Artagnan draws on his own unique experiences to write some of the steamiest romances available. Since releasing his first book In Alien Arms the excitement over Etienne D’Artagnan’s erotic romances has grown with the release of his series Time Traveler: An Erotic Trip Into The Past.

The Universe of Pleasure is waiting…Come see what everyone is talking about.
http://www.etiennedartagnan.com

 

In Alien Arms When Desah Ssyn arrives on Earth the attraction between himself and the two humans he must work with triggers his mating cycle early. Nevada Cisco and Sophie Gibson are about to teach one superior alien the true meaning of love. Their relationship will rock their worlds. http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/books/inalienarms.htm

Time Traveler: An Erotic Trip Into The Past Caught up in his Uncle’s intrigues Cody is swept into the past. The only problem is his Uncle’s time machine doesn’t work quite right. He’s never sure where or when he’ll be when he jumps. All Cody wants is to get home and back to his life, but the Time Police have different plans and now they’re after him. http://www.mojocastle.com/Stonehenge/stonehenge.html

Penny Ash began writing seriously when she couldn’t find the kind stories she wanted to read anywhere else and draws on her years of experience with the paranormal, the unusual, and the just plain weird. Her critically acclaimed books are filled with romance and humor, making them enjoyable reads for fans of fantasy. She welcomes you to The Puca’s Forest where Pure Fantasy is Passionate Fantasy. http://www.pucasforest.com

Wish Fulfillment Inc.: Twinklebell When Glenn Masterson is blinded in the line of duty he experiences a brief moment of self-pity and wishes for a Fairy to come and fix things. Twinklebell has been having a bad century. She’s lost her wings and she’s lost a dragon. Dispatch is not pleased with her, and she’s assigned to Glenn. From their first meeting sparks of attraction fly and tempers flare as the DEA agent and the Fairy resign themselves to working together to find the errant dragon and get Twinklebell’s wings back. http://www.mojocastle.com/penny/wish.html

Puca A shape shifter with a twisted sense of humor and a love for humans. A woman who doesn’t believe in Fairies. A wayward teenager, little old ladies looking for Fairies in the garden, Brownies in charge of the kitchen and an evil Elf bent on revenge. Welcome to Toddle House Bed and Breakfast, Enchanted Grove, Oregon, where things are not always as they seem and there’s always a cup of tea ready for whatever might pop in. http://www.mojocastle.com/penny/puca.html   also available in print from Amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/5dla2k

Train me.”  Others have asked, yet no one but Madison brought Master D to his knees with those two words.

To uncover an abusive Dom in one of New York ’s BDSM clubs, undercover journalist Madison Garrett strives to maintain her freedom while training for her most challenging role. 

When she discovers her arrogant boss, Drake Williams, is the masked “Master D” training her, secret fantasies come to life and passions unfurl.  Drake chains her, trains her, and makes her beg for his touch.  But Madison bows to no man.  

When word of Madison ’s plans leaks out, submissives matching her description are brutally attacked.  Drake has no choice.  To save the woman who has enslaved his heart, he must take her training to the highest level.

No One But Madison
Ellora’s Cave
Genre: Erotic Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9781419919077
November 14, 2008
Format: Ebook

Buy at Jasmine Jade / Read the Excerpt

To learn more about Doreen and her books visit her at www.DoreenOrsini.com 

The Warlord’s Woman by Tracy L. Ranson

Edward I summons his grandson, Alexander of Kent, to court for the purpose of orchestrating the kidnap of Princess Catherine of Scotland, the surviving heir to the throne, and marry her. An heir through her would give Edward both thrones.

Alexander takes on the task despite his hatred of the Scots.

He ambushes the party and forces a surrender. Just as he’s about to take the sword from the small lead knight, he’s knocked to the ground by the knight. He gives chase and pulls the visor from the man’s head to discover he’s looking into the deep green eyes of a beautiful woman. Who has sent this golden angel into his arms?

The beautiful woman is Catherine.

He intends to wed her, but Catherine has other plans…
Two countries on the brink of war. A battle-scarred warrior. Will the love of one woman prevent one and save the other?

This title was previously published and has been extensively edited and revised.  

 The Warlord’s Woman is an excellent sequel to Desire’s Promise. You don’t want to miss this heartwarming medieval story by Tracy L. Ranson!
- Sensual Romance Reviews

Ms. Ranson treats her readers to some delicious court intrigues not only within Alexander’s household, but within the Scottish and English courts…A costumer’s delight unfolds as Ms. Ranson describes each dress worn by the ladies of the piece and period. One need only close their eyes to imagine how the richly colored velvet dresses would feel. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
- Fallen Angel Reviews

The Warlord’s Woman
BookStrand
Genre: Medieval Romance
IBSN: 1-60601-198-7
Ebook
November 2008

Buy Bookstrand
Read the Excerpt

Best Seller
Top Reviewer Pick
-Night Owl Romance

Pirates of the Mist  by Tracy L. Ranson

BookStrand
Genre: Time Travel/Paranormal Romance
ISBN-10: 1606010689
ISBN-13: 978-1606010686
E-Book / Trade Paperback 

Old legends told a tale of a pirate curse placed on the town of Mystic Harbor, death to anyone on the beach the night of the anniversary of the pirate Tristan Hamilton’s death.

Determined to enter the sorority of her choosing, Michaela Martin chooses to ignore that dire warning.

The fog, thick and white, rolls in from the sea at midnight, her fear getting the best of her. Michaela tries to outrun it but it was too quick for her.

When she awakens, she finds more than she bargained for aboard Tristan Hamilton’s ship.  

Pirates of the Mist, a rewarding time travel romance laced with unexpected twists and turns, satisfies the heart and speaks to anyone who’s ever felt alone or yearned to fit in.”
- Cindy Vallar, Editor of Pirates and Privateers

Pirates of the Mist by Tracy L. Ranson is a requirement for any shelf or hard drive. Tracy is a genius in making this novel come to life. Pirates of the Mist is meant to be savored and is guaranteed to leave you many breathtaking dreams.
- Kwips and Kritiques

Pirates of the Mist was really an intriguing story with a totally unexpected ending. The writing was swiftly-paced, the characters understandable, and Tracy L. Ranson wove in strands of history throughout that made the story unforgettable. This reviewer considers this a highly recommended read.
- Euro Reviews

Pirates of the Mist

BookStrand
Genre: Time Travel/Paranormal Romance
E-Book / Trade Paperback 
September 2008

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To learn more about Tracy and her books visit www.TracyLRanson.com