Tag Archives: contemporary romance

Out Now – Another Glass of Champagne by Jenny Kane (@jennykaneauthor) #romance #newrelease

Guest Blogger, , , , ,

Following on from the bestselling novel, Another Cup of Coffee, and the seasonal Christmas novellas Another Cup of Christmas, Christmas in the Cotswolds, and Christmas at the Castle, Jenny Kane brings you the final instalment in the Pickwicks Coffee House adventures.

Another Glass Of ChampagneBlurb

A warm-hearted, contemporary tale about a group of friends living in a small corner of busy London, by bestselling author Jenny Kane.

Fortysomething Amy is shocked and delighted to discover she s expecting a baby not to mention terrified! Amy wants best friend Jack to be godfather, but he hasn’t been heard from in months. When Jack finally reappears, he s full of good intentions but his new business plan could spell disaster for the beloved Pickwicks Coffee Shop, and ruin a number of old friendships…

Meanwhile his love life is as complicated as ever and yet when he swears off men for good, Jack meets someone who makes him rethink his priorities…but is it too late for a fresh start?

Author Kit has problems of her own: just when her career has started to take off, she finds herself unable to write and there s a deadline looming, plus two headstrong kids to see through their difficult teenage years…will she be able to cope?

A follow-up to the runaway success Another Cup of Coffee.

Buy Link: http://mybook.to/AGOChampagne (universal Amazon link)

*****

Extract

‘My goodness, woman, you look like the proverbial beached whale!’ Amy grinned at the teasing smile on her former boss’s face.

‘Thanks, Peggy. I know I can rely on you to be ready with a huge compliment!’

‘Huge is the word, and you are more than welcome!’ Taking advantage of a lull in custom, Peggy followed Amy to where Kit was working, and pulled out a chair for her friend before sitting down herself. ‘So how long have you got to go now?’

‘Only two months, which is nothing like as long as I need to get ready, or even get my head around what’s happening to me! I have far too much to do before the baby comes, although we’ve almost finished decorating the nursery at last. I haven’t even managed to find anyone to cover my job at Home Hunters yet.’

Amy thanked Megan, Pickwicks’ chief waitress, as she delivered a tray of drinks and half a huge carrot cake for the three friends, before asking Kit, ‘I don’t suppose that lovely husband of yours fancies coming back to the business while I’m on maternity leave?’

Kit shook her head. ‘Not a hope. It did cross my mind after Phil gave up running Home Hunters that he might have withdrawal symptoms and want to go back, but he took to running the bookshop like a duck to water. I can’t see him ever going back. And he wouldn’t have the time, to be honest. Did I tell you that they’re so busy now, he and Rob have employed a guy to help them with their new educational courses at Kew?’

Amy beamed. ‘No, you didn’t. That’s fantastic! I bet Jack would be thrilled for them if he was here.’ Suddenly pensive, she picked up her cup, ‘I don’t suppose either of you have heard from Jack?’

Peggy shook her head as Kit said, ‘Not a word. I thought he’d keep in touch with you though, Amy, even if he went quiet on the rest of us.’

‘Paul says he’ll turn up eventually, but I’d rather like to be able to tell Jack about this bundle,’ Amy patted her stomach, ‘before he or she stops being just a bump in my jumper. I might ask him if he wants to be godfather.’

Kit nodded. ‘Jack is godfather to the twins, and although he’s a dreadful role model on the morals front, both Thomas and Helena have always found him great fun, and say that having a gay godfather is, and I quote, “Well cool”.’

Peggy had never understood the loyalty Jack’s two ex-girlfriends felt for him considering how appallingly he’d treated them both. She certainly wouldn’t want anyone who’d stood her up on her wedding day – albeit only in the role of usher – to be a godparent to her child, but she simply asked, ‘How long has he been AWOL for?’

Amy frowned. ‘It must be more or less four years since I last saw him, and about twelve months since I last spoke to him. It’s not so much being AWOL as missing in action. How about you, Kit?’

Peggy and Amy exchanged glances as they saw Kit staring blankly into her soup bowl-sized cup of black coffee.  ‘Kit? You with us?’

‘What? Oh, sorry, guys. I didn’t get much sleep last night, I phased out for a minute. What was the question?’

Peggy had noticed how distracted Kit had been lately, although instinct told her that she shouldn’t ask her friend about it yet. ‘When did you last hear from Jack, honey?’

‘I’m not sure, must be at least a year. That is very Jack though, isn’t it. I bet he’d get a kick out of the fact that we’re all back here wondering where he is and if he’s OK.’

Amy, who’d had similar thoughts herself, grimaced. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised – although I’d like to think that at his age he’s finally grown out of playing those games.’

Kit and Peggy laughed in unison. ‘No chance!’ ‘I assume he’s either still travelling around the world – or working in someone’s garden, using that horticultural qualification he got after Paul and I got married.’

‘Sounds possible, and of course,’ Kit let her inner storyteller go in a way she wished she could on paper, ‘if Jack has spent all the inheritance his grandfather left him, he could have got a job in the grounds of some posh house, had a torrid affair with the heir to the manor, and be in the middle of a society scandal.’

Amy smiled as Peggy divided the carrot cake into mountainous slices. ‘That sounds entirely possible, and I sort of hope it’s true! The boyfriend bit, I mean, rather than the scandal bit.’

Pulling her cake plate closer, Kit shrugged. ‘I’m not sure he’d risk another relationship, not after Toby hurt him like that. I suspect he’s reverted to full-on sleeping around mode.’ Realising she had sounded rather curt, she added, ‘I’d like to be wrong though. If he settled down a bit, he might come home…’

*****

Bio

Jenny spends a large part of her time in the cafe’s of Mid Devon, where she creates her stories, including the novels Another Glass of Champagne, (Accent Press, 2016), Abi’s House (Accent Press, June 2015), Romancing Robin Hood (Accent Press, 2014), the best selling contemporary romance Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013), and the novella length sequels Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), Christmas in the Cotswolds, (Accent Press, 2014), and Christmas at the Castle, (Accent Press, 2015).

Her next full length novel, Abi’s Neighbour, will be published by Accent Press in Summer 2017. She is also working on a short historical novel, which will be published in November 2016.

Jenny Kane is also the author of quirky children’s picture books There’s a Cow in the Flat (Hushpuppy, 2014) and Ben’s Biscuit Tin (Hushpuppy, 2015).

Keep your eye on Jenny’s blog at www.jennykane.co.uk for more details.

Twitter: @JennyKaneAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRomance

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OUT NOW: FOUR LETTER WORDS by Charlotte Howard (@Shy_Tiger) #FourLetterWords #Erotica #Contemporary #Romance

Guest Blogger, , , , , , , ,

FourLetterWordsbyCharlotteHoward-1800HRFour Letter Words Blurb:

Paige Holmes has made her choice. But as she begins to get her life back on track, she also starts to question her decision.

Then, the letters arrive. When Paige finds herself in trouble once again, she must decide who she can trust.

Will she go back to the one she denied, or will she stand by her choice?

Love and lust are, after all, both Four Letter Words.

BUY LINK: Tirgearr Publishing

*****

Excerpt from Chapter One:

Laying my head back against the black leather seats of the Jag and gazing ahead, I lifted a finger and touched my lips that were swollen from his kiss. The weariness of the past few weeks was beginning to take over, weighing on my eyelids as they began to droop. I should have been reassured by the man sitting next to me.

I shifted in my seat so I could watch him as he drove on. He was a force that even nature had no hold over. There was an urge to reach out and cling to his broad bicep, a need to feel the security of his physical strength, aching somewhere deep inside of me.

We didn’t speak as he pressed all his weight onto the accelerator, urging the car until it was over the speed limit. I half expected the shine of blue lights to fill the inside of the car, with sirens blaring around us. But they didn’t. Of course they didn’t. Even if a marked car was to pass, I doubted Vance Ellery would slow down, and I had even less that the police would attempt to pull him over. I suspected that the personal phone number of every single high-ranking officer in the country, was tucked away in a neat Rolodex on Vance’s desk or even stored in the memory bank of his mobile phone for easy access.

The silence should have been soothing. I should have been able to let my lashes flutter against my cheeks, and slip into a relaxing slumber. Instead the lack of conversation added to the tension that built behind my eyes. I closed them, hoping that soon I would drift off into a deep sleep, where I would be surrounded by falling flowers, rainbows, and sunlight. Ha! If only I was deserving of such luck. There were no pleasant dreams awaiting me after the sandman visited. Only nightmares wanted to be part of my night. They tormented me, bringing memories that I’d tried to bury and forget. They hounded the darkness, giving me nothing but misery and pain and suffering. It was as though all my sins from a previous life had been rolled over into this one.

If the visions of his face, the sound of his voice had been the only elements of my slumber, then I might have been willing to slip away and let the desperation of rest take me to the shadowed places I dreaded. My soul was destined for torture though. I was to be punished for his crime.

The mere suggestion of sleep forced my blood to pulsate until it was the only thing I could hear, throbbing in my temples. The searing pain of anxiety and panic stabbed at my chest, pins pricking my skin, as I let my eyelids fall. A shudder fell down my spine, waking me from the light doze I’d stumbled into.

Breathe in, breathe out. In with the good, out with the bad. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Breathe in, breathe out. A mantra, taught to me by a yoga instructor years before hell had entered my life, repeated over and over in my mind. I inhaled the cool air through my nasal passages, allowing it to slip down into my pain-filled lungs, exhaling all the bad out of my mouth in a gigantic whoosh.

Ahead, the roads were empty, weaving out of the village and headed towards Richart Courts, the hotel that was to be my sanctuary for the next couple of days before I had to face the next challenge. New York City.

How anyone could expect me to go back there was beyond belief. The only logical explanation for their plans for my future was that facing New York was the lesser of the two evils that haunted me, threatening to rip away the seams that had begun to fray around my already tattered edges.

*****

FourLetterWordsbyCharlotteHoward-smbanner

Four Letter Words is the second, and final, part to Paige’s story. To celebrate its re-release, the first part of the Words Duet has been reduced to 99p / 99c!

Seven_Dirty_Words_by_Charlotte_Howard_1800HRSeven Dirty Words Blurb:

Paige Holmes hides herself in a masculine world in a desperate attempt to remain safe.

Just as she is ready to face her fears and her past, she finds herself torn between Matt Jackson and Vance Ellery: handsome, rich, and safe – or handsome, rich, and dangerous?

Which will she choose?

The one who appears to be the most perfect, or the one who makes her use all Seven Dirty Words?

BUY LINK: Tirgearr Publishing

*****

charlottehowardAuthor bio:

British author, Charlotte Howard, was born in Oman and spent much of the first part of her life flitting between Oman, Scotland, and England. Now settled in Somerset, Charlotte lives with her husband, two children, and growing menagerie of pets.

Her career as a writer began at an early age, with a poem being featured in an anthology for the East Midlands. Since then Charlotte has written many short stories and poems, and finally wrote her first full-length piece of fiction in 2010.

During what little spare time she has, Charlotte enjoys reading and writing (of course), spending time with her family, and watching action movies whilst eating curry and drinking tea.

Charlotte is an active member of Yeovil Creative Writers Group.

Social Media links:

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Blog

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Out Now – Love Through a Lens by Lucy Felthouse (@cw1985) #romance #erorom #maytodecember

Guest Blogger, , , , , , , , , , ,

Love Through a LensBlurb:

Celine Patterson is a recent graduate eager to begin her career as a camerawoman—with the fashion world and all its glitz and glamour calling to her. Things aren’t that simple, however, and she’s forced to take a job making a documentary in the Peak District countryside with a mid-list British actor.

In spite of her initial disappointment—not only is the job not what she wanted, the pay is appalling, too—Celine warms to the project. The actor she’s working with, Edward Robson, is kind, considerate, funny and a consummate professional. She realizes she can learn a great deal from him, and resolves to do so.

As the days of the shoot pass by, Celine grows increasingly fond of Edward, and that fondness quickly goes beyond the platonic. Convinced her crush is completely one-sided—he’s over three decades her senior, for starters—she tries hard to ignore it, hoping the feelings will go away.

But then something happens to change Celine’s opinion, and flip her world upside-down. How will she react? And can she emerge from this project with both her career and her heart intact?

Note: Love Through a Lens has been previously released as part of the Sweet Sensations boxed set.

Buy links:

Amazon: http://viewbook.at/lovethroughalens

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-lovethroughalens-1989937-153.html?referrer=6bdb1f9160564c0525b41f36e51861a0

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-through-a-lens-lucy-felthouse/1123478459?ean=2940152888836

iBooks UK: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/love-through-a-lens/id1088005149?mt=11

iBooks US: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/love-through-a-lens/id1088005149?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/love-through-a-lens

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/617874?ref=cw1985

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29339082-love-through-a-lens

*****

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Excerpt:

Celine gritted her teeth and hung tightly onto the straps of her backpack as she forced one foot in front of the other up the steep incline. Her heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest, and her lungs screamed with the effort of providing her oxygen supply. Really, she needed to stop, to catch her breath, regain some equilibrium. But Edward was already way ahead of her, striding powerfully along as though their chosen path were perfectly flat. He had a huge backpack of his own, too, which didn’t seem to be slowing him down a jot.

But then, this was the difference between the two of them—or one of the differences, anyway. Edward Robson, mid-list British actor, was also a very keen outdoorsman, and probably did these kinds of walks all the time—with or without a camera being pointed at him.

Celine Patterson, however, was a different story altogether. Newly graduated from university, she’d struggled to find filming work in her preferred field—fashion—and so she’d had to cast her net wider. Incredibly wide, as it happened.

With hindsight, it was easy to see why she’d gotten the job with Edward—nobody else had wanted it. Not a damn soul. Traipsing around the Peak District wasn’t so bad, but add in heavy camera equipment, camping gear, food, clothing, maps, plans, GPS unit, satellite phone and makeup—for Edward, not for her—and a nice walk suddenly became a grueling trek. The money was poor, too, especially considering she was the only member of Edward’s crew. Could a single person even be called a crew? Or was she just a dogsbody?

She’d had no choice. It was this job or nothing. Crap money or no money. And, most importantly, this credit on her CV or no credit at all. She knew she had to start racking the credits and references up soon, if she wanted to get ahead in the highly competitive field.

So here she was, dragging herself up a heart attack inducing hill in the wake of an actor-cum-presenter. At least the project was interesting; they were checking out sites of myths, legends and ghost stories, that kind of thing. Edward was nice, too—kind, polite and pretty funny. Even better, it wasn’t raining. Overall, things could be a damn sight worse. She could be working with animals or children—or even both. And she’d heard many times over that they were the absolute worst.

She was still convincing herself that things weren’t that bad after all, when she glanced up and came to an abrupt halt as she realized there was a crotch practically in her face. Snapping her head up so fast it made her neck hurt, she made eye contact with Edward, who was standing a couple of paces farther up the slope, hence the awkward face-to-crotch angle. Her already hot face blazed with embarrassment. For once, she hoped the fact she was overheated would hide her mortification. The slight breeze that blew was doing nothing to lower her temperature.

*****

Author Bio:

Lucy Felthouse is the award-winning author of erotic romance novels Stately Pleasures (named in the top 5 of Cliterati.co.uk’s 100 Modern Erotic Classics That You’ve Never Heard Of, and an Amazon bestseller) and Eyes Wide Open (an Amazon bestseller). Including novels, short stories and novellas, she has over 140 publications to her name. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more about her writing at http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk, or on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe to her monthly newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

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Out Now – Moondancing by Celia J Anderson (@celiaanderson1) #romance #contemporary #ebook

Guest Blogger, , , , ,

MoondancingBlurb:

Together since their teens, Molly and Jake have four children, a house in a sleepy village and jobs that bore them to distraction. Their marriage is an accident waiting to happen. When Nick arrives in Mayfield, young, disturbed and in desperate need of mother-love, Molly doesn’t realise that he will be the catalyst that blows everything apart. Add a headmaster whose wife doesn’t understand him and Molly’s unpredictable, frustrated best friend to the mix, and the blue touch paper has been well and truly lit.

Buy links: http://celiajanderson.co.uk/books/moondancing/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27841152-moondancing

 

Excerpt:

‘But who’s going to do our lunch if Mum’s staying in bed?’ asks Max.

‘If people need things putting in boxes, they’ll have to find them and put them in themselves for once,’ says Jake through gritted teeth, as he tries to make toast, unload the dishwasher, find clean socks for Hattie’s netball match and avoid the small pile of cat-sick by the table leg. He sighs and mops up the squelchy mess on the floor before Theo spreads it around the kitchen with her big boots.

It’s only the third day of term so the foolproof system for school mornings hasn’t kicked in yet. Even the two kittens look offended, meowing around Theo’s feet as she rifles through her schoolbag for her lost homework.

Jake feels as if he’s dropped into some alien, much less relaxing world. His early morning routine usually involves sitting at the kitchen table drinking strong coffee and keeping some kind of order while Molly dashes around serving up milky tea, bacon sandwiches, and muesli. As she cling-films sandwiches, throws yogurts and chocolate biscuits into plastic bags and sorts out last-minute crises, she talks him through the day ahead. She likes him to know what’s going on.

Theo still hasn’t found her homework. Jake and Molly’s eldest daughter is reasonably chilled, as a rule, but today she’s in a filthy mood. Her form tutor has given a final warning that if anyone else comes to school with purple streaks in their hair, he’ll make them wear his grey woolly hat to lessons. Theo’s managed to cover the offending bit of her fringe with black poster paint, having run out of dye, but she knows if it rains things could go badly wrong.

Jake can hear Theo muttering as she abandons the homework search and opens a tin of food for the yowling kittens, gashing her finger in the process, and bleeding all over Sam’s newly-made tuna sandwiches. She spits out all the rudest words she knows, and so does Sam, which makes Hattie run round the table screaming, ‘He said the “F” word, Dad, and she said “bugger”.’

Jake’s patience, never his strong point, runs out. ‘At your age,’ he thunders, ‘me and my little brother did all the chores for our mum before breakfast, went to school without moaning, and then came back and did our paper rounds. We weren’t spoiled like you lot – you’re all an absolute disgrace.’

Theo pulls herself up to her full five feet four inches. She hasn’t been allowed to have a paper round due to Molly’s fear of possible rapists and muggers on the loose. It’s a peaceful village normally, but there’s a first for everything.

Moondancing_by_CeliaJ_Anderson-FB_banner

Author Bio:

Celia J Anderson loves cake, champagne and her family, although not in that order. Moondancing is the first book she ever completed but it needed a couple of years relaxing in the cupboard before it was ready to be revamped to follow Sweet Proposal, Little Boxes and Living the Dream out into the world.

One eighth of the Romaniacs, to be found at  https://theromaniacgroup.wordpress.com, Celia regularly blogs with this sparkling group of writers who support each other through the journey to publishing and beyond. Her ultimate aims are to spend less time on Facebook, have a few less chins and to walk five miles a day – she feels the three may be connected…

http://celiajanderson.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/CeliaJAndersonAuthor

http://www.twitter.com/celiaanderson1

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Out Now – Sweet Sensations: A Boxed Set of Sensual Contemporary Romances #romance #erotica #ku #kindleunlimited

Guest Blogger, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

SweetSensations_3D

EIGHT AWESOME CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES BY AWARD-WINNING, Bestselling Authors

Available to buy exclusively from Amazon, or to read as part of the Kindle Unlimited programme: http://getbook.at/sweetsensations

In the Cards, by Lynn LaFleur

Catherine found her fantasy man stepping out of a greeting card…Can love break a curse put on Kane centuries ago, and bring him to her forever, this time?

Love Me Forever, by USA TODAY bestseller, Ari Thatcher

Lovers for one idyllic summer, he said he’d call but never did…

When the laid-back billionaire and the new divorcee meet again by chance, can they rekindle a summer love to last forever?

A Patchwork Romance, by Ann Jacobs

A self-made billionaire, Jared has come home to the Smoky Mountains, looking for an elusive something that’s missing from his life…Will he find it in the arms of Althea, a simple country quiltmaker?

Major Pleasure, by Denise A. Agnew

Jemma has always wanted Blayne, but his army career makes her afraid to give her heart…

Will love let her overcome her fear, and commit to forever with the hot Special Forces officer?

Escaping the Past, by L. M. Connolly

His shady past, her present danger, and an international plot bring Jade and GARY together…

Can love thrive as they dodge bullets from New York to Naples and beyond?

A riveting tale of romantic suspense, never before published.

Love Through a Lens, by Lucy Felthouse

On location shooting film together, new graduate, Celine, is drawn to Edward, a British actor 30 years her senior…

Can the inevitable romance between them blossom into love?

A heartwarming original novella, never before published.

Loving a Go-Go, by Anh Leod

Lexie, an heiress, finds her match in fellow boot fetishist, Adrian, who sells shoes in her family’s store…

Can a sexy romp during the holidays lead to a lasting relationship between these two?

Cat’s Play, by Marilu Mann

In this sexy game of cat’s play, a thief and a billionaire make some interesting discoveries about each other…Will they learn things aren’t always exactly as they seem?

Available to buy exclusively from Amazon, or to read as part of the Kindle Unlimited programme: http://getbook.at/sweetsensations

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An excerpt from Love Through a Lens by Lucy Felthouse:

Celine gritted her teeth and hung tightly onto the straps of her backpack as she forced one foot in front of the other up the steep incline. Her heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest, and her lungs screamed with the effort of providing her oxygen supply. Really, she needed to stop, to catch her breath, regain some equilibrium. But Edward was already way ahead of her, striding powerfully along as though their chosen path were perfectly flat. He had a huge backpack of his own, too, which didn’t seem to be slowing him down a jot.

But then, this was the difference between the two of them—or one of the differences, anyway. Edward Robson, mid-list British actor, was also a very keen outdoorsman, and probably did these kinds of walks all the time—with or without a camera being pointed at him.

Celine Paterson, however, was a different story altogether. Newly graduated from university, she’d struggled to find filming work in her preferred field—fashion—and so she’d had to cast her net wider. Incredibly wide, as it happened.

With hindsight, it was easy to see why she’d gotten the job with Edward—nobody else had wanted it. Not a damn soul. Traipsing around the Peak District wasn’t so bad, but add in heavy camera equipment, camping gear, food, clothing, maps, plans, GPS unit, satellite phone and makeup—for Edward, not for her—and a nice walk suddenly became a grueling trek. The money was poor, too, especially considering she was the only member of Edward’s crew. Could a single person even be called a crew? Or was she just a dogsbody?

She’d had no choice. It was this job or nothing. Crap money or no money. And, most importantly, this credit on her resumé or no credit at all. She knew she had to start racking the credits and references up soon, if she wanted to get ahead in the highly competitive field.

So here she was, dragging herself up a heart attack inducing hill in the wake of an actor-cum-presenter. At least the project was interesting; they were checking out sites of myths, legends and ghost stories, that kind of thing. Edward was nice, too—kind, polite and pretty funny. Even better, it wasn’t raining. Overall, things could be a damn sight worse. She could be working with animals or children—or even both. And she’d heard many times over that they were the absolute worst.

She was still convincing herself that things weren’t that bad after all, when she glanced up and came to an abrupt halt as she realized there was a crotch practically in her face. Snapping her head up so fast it made her neck hurt, she made eye contact with Edward, who was standing a couple of paces farther up the slope, hence the awkward face-to-crotch angle. Her already hot face blazed with embarrassment. For once, she hoped the fact she was overheated would hide her mortification. The slight breeze that blew was doing nothing to lower her temperature.

SweetSensations_2D“Are you all right?” he asked, his blue-green eyes soft with concern. “I’m so sorry, you must think me incredibly rude. I honestly thought you were right behind me—you being a young thing and all that. It was only when you didn’t reply to me or answer any of my questions that I realized I’d inadvertently left you behind.”

“I’m all right,” Celine replied, her chest heaving as she fought to regulate her breathing and slow down her heart rate while she had the chance. “Just not used to this sort of thing. A walk for me is a stroll by a riverbank, or hitting the shops. I’m sure my fitness level will improve as we continue with the project. Go ahead, if you like. I’ll catch up with you… eventually.”

Edward shook his head. “No, let’s have a rest. I could do with a drink and a snack.” Turning, he looked around, then pointed. “Let’s head there. It looks as though there’s a patch of flattish ground big enough for us both to sit down.”

“Okay.” She followed him again, but this time only for a few seconds. Edward helped her remove her rucksack—which was almost as big as she was—and then immediately opened it and began removing things. It was only when she saw he’d long since taken out the drinks and snacks that she queried what he was doing.

“I’m taking some of the heavier items out of your bag. If I re-jig things, we’ll still fit everything in, but you’ll have a lighter load. Would you mind making some tea for us both while I do this?” He indicated the miniature camping stove, metal cups and other tea-making paraphernalia.

“No, of course not,” she said. “But there’s no need for you to do that. I’m perfectly okay with carrying my share of the weight.”

“I know you are. But I’m not. You’ve enough to put up with on this crazy project. I don’t want you getting injured or ill on me—I need you. Not to mention my conscience wouldn’t take it.” He sat beside her, looked at the large pile he’d made, and began sorting it into their respective rucksacks.

Shaking her head, Celine lit the stove and set about making the hot drinks. “Sugar?”

“Yes, please. Three.”

She shot him a look. “Three?”

His eyes glinted with amusement. “Yes, three. What can I say, I like my tea sweet. And while we’re on this project I’ve got a good excuse—I need the energy. You should try it, it’s delicious.”

Wrinkling her nose, Celine nevertheless added three sugars to each of the mugs of tea. “Here you go.” She handed Edward his, then cradled hers, blowing on the liquid until it was cool enough to drink. “So, what did you mean when you said I’ve enough to put up with?”

Frowning, Edward took a gulp of his tea before replying. “I know this project isn’t ideal, Celine, not for you. For me, it’s wonderful—the melding together of several of my passions. But for you, it’s trekking through often unforgiving countryside with a shed load of gear and filming an old fart going on about big black cats, the ghosts of Roman soldiers and mysterious lights in the sky. And I know your wages aren’t very good, either. Believe me, if I could have offered you more, I would have.”

Gazing intently at the surface of the tea, she mumbled, “You’re not an old fart.”

Edward threw his head back and laughed loudly. The joyous sound rang across the lonely hillside for several long moments. Then he said, “But you’re not denying any of the rest of it!”

Lucy Felthouse Author Bio:

Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

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