SENSUAL MAGIC by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2009, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Harlequin Enterprises

William looked around the lounge area. The dancers were between sets so the lights were up a bit and slow, throbbing electronica filled the air.

He’d missed a woman he’d met two days before and had been with a grand total of perhaps half-an-hour.

His vision snagged on a pair of long-as-sin legs and his gaze traveled up lean thighs to the hem of a very short black dress. He took his time when he arrived at some stellar breasts, up the long line of exposed neck and to a lovely face punctuated by glossy lips and big eyes. Looking right back at him.

One of her brows rose and he realized it was her. “Excuse me, everyone. I’ve got some business to attend to.” He stood and made his way toward Nell with every intention of killing anyone who got in his way.

Taking advantage of the noise, he leaned in close, placing his arm around her waist. “To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

“I’m sorry to bother you at work but I found out some things about Leah and I needed to see if you could help.”

Even though she was speaking about Leah, William’s body, his brain all thrilled to see Nell, hear her velvet voice.

“Come on back.” He kept a hand at her back to guide her through the crowd and down the back hall where his office was located.

Once he’d closed the door after them, his hearing took a moment to adjust. He motioned her to the chairs bracketing a small table in the corner.

“Would you like a drink?” He sure needed one. Seeing her dressed up this way discomfited. She was beautiful sitting there, poised but humming with energy. Still, oddly enough, while he couldn’t object to the amount of bare skin she showed, he apparently preferred her the way she’d been in his office before. Go figure.

“I’ve already had a few but thanks. I’m not good with a lot of alcohol in me.”

He looked at her as he sat, sipping his scotch and taking her measure. Bright green eyes met his, shooting right through him.

“Really now? Good for whom? Do you get wild and dance topless?” William really had no idea why he teased her, she was off his to do list and everything.

She blushed, which, god help him, just made it worse. He hadn’t been around women who genuinely blushed in a long time. Unless you counted his sister-in-law who was one tough woman, despite those blushes she occasionally gave when Nash said something particularly racy.

“Stop that,” she said without any real heat. “You said before you didn’t know of any family Leah might have in the area. But how about friends named Jonah Cutler or Randy Bane?”

Right to the point. He sighed and thought. “I really don’t think so. Randy sounds sort of familiar but not the last name and we’ve got a distributor here named Randy Johaness so I may be thinking about him. Why are you all dressed up?”

Her eyes widened a moment. “Is that like your totally random question for the day or does it have a purpose?”

“I’m not trying to start a fight.” Although if she was mad she wouldn’t be so appealing maybe. Or at least she probably wouldn’t want to get naked with him. Which was a good thing. Absolutely. “It’s just you look so different today than you did the other day when you were here. Just curious. You look lovely.”

“So is patronizing your fallback personality? Can’t a woman dress up? The other day I was in the field, it would have been silly to wear something like this then. But tonight I went out. It’s Las Vegas. I see women out there, including the one who was practically kissing your zipper, dressed in far less.”

“Patronizing? Because I complimented you? Is bitchy your fall back personality? And she wasn’t kissing my zipper.”

Nell stood. “Sure she wasn’t. I’m sure she was looking for her encyclopedia in your pants. Your cock must be taking a class or something. Oh! I know, she’s the cock whisperer, right?”

Be sure to visit today’s other Snippeters!
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
HelenKay Dimon
Jody Wallace
Shelli Stevens

My story is Sensual Magic and it’s a follow up to last year’s Stripped – it features Nash’s brother William

Two years ago, William Emery believed in love. Deciding to make his permanent home in Boston and start a nightclub there, he was locking down funding and approving the font on wedding invitations.
Until he found out his fiancée was little more than a faithless gold digger.

Emotionally devastated, he moved to Las Vegas where his younger brother lived and began work to create the kind of club he’d always wanted to run. And to drown the memories of his idealism in a sea of female flesh. If you didn’t involve your heart, it never got broken.

Nell Hunter is a witch on the trail of a human who’s stolen from her people. This human is working with a group of mages stealing money and power from the clans and cabals, relying on the need for secrecy to keep their victims quiet and from going to the police. But they hadn’t banked on Nell.
She’s a bonded hunter to the court of the Owen clan.

In Vegas, Nell seeks William out, his ex-fiance is the woman she’s looking for. The sparks between them fly immediately and while Nell knows they’re meant to be, William has a harder time with it. They come together as bullets and magic fly – nothing worth having is ever easy

In the narrow alley, Nell crouched, turning her face to the stiflingly hot blast of air apparently referred to as a breeze in these parts. She shut out all other stimulus, simply waiting for the magic to come to her. Tendrils of energy hung in the air, spicy and unique to the individual who worked the spell. The taste of it wove through her system. Nell’s own magic broke it down, analyzed it, identified the owner.

It was her particular talent. Hunting. Tracking. A family trait she inherited from her mother. Not just a gift but a calling. Who she was as well as what she did on behalf of her Clan.

She stood and tapped a finger against her iPod. Music filled her senses, drowning out all other noise. Dio’s Rainbow In The Dark kept her company as she made a few notes before tucking the pad into the back pocket of her jeans.

Mage magic. The metallic flavor identified it as other. Not the earthy tang of her own magic. Witch magic like hers was inherent and came from the earth beneath her feet, from the air around her and the water under and aboveground. Mages weren’t born with magic, they traded for it. Most of the time with the kind of creatures best left alone.

It cost a lot to trade for power. It cost in lives, energy, dark gifts and money too. This Camarilla was on Nell’s shitlist because they were in possession of nearly a hundred thousand dollars belonging to the Owen Clan.

The Owen Clan—a circle of witches and the Clan Nell belonged to and worked for—didn’t take thefts of any kind lightly.

And what they took seriously, Nell took seriously. Frankly, this Camarilla, their little name for a group of them, seriously pissed her off. She’d spent the last two months traveling from city to city until she’d finally locked onto Las Vegas. Summer in Las Vegas was not Nell’s idea of pleasant and she planned to take her annoyance out in someone’s hide.

A man stood just a few feet away, eyes warily scanning the area, body taut, ready to spring should it be necessary. Galen, Nell’s partner and the physical muscle to her magical strength.

“Got it?” he asked as he stalked toward her, golden skin rippling over roped muscle. His hair was close cropped, pale blond against his skull. He slid dark sunglasses up over his eyes, all velvet cool and alluring.

A smile canted the left corner of her mouth. “They’re here. We need to get in to see that ex-boyfriend of hers. It can’t be a coincidence she’s in the same city.”

Galen shrugged, his dark sunglasses reflecting her face. “Dunno, Nell. From all accounts she screwed him over but good. Could be a coincidence. She might not even know he’s here.”

Nell rolled her eyes. “Please. How could she not know? That bitch knows where the money is. He’s got it big time. Of course she knows. Right now though, I have a trail, let’s follow it to see where it leads.”

I finished the revisions on Undercover and got them back to my editor
I reworked a manuscript and synopsis and got it to my agent for a pitch
I edited and finished up Sensual Magic and I’ll mail it to my editor tomorrow

NOW – I can work on Cascadia Wolves: Fated!

My kids are still jacked up on a sugar high from all the chocolate and all my good intentions this last week diet wise have gone out the window in a flurry of mint chocolate chip ice cream. But my husband is home, my kids are going back to school tomorrow, my April 1 deadline has been met and I’m rolling! Wheeee!

I have to say, I got pretty sweaty when I read back over the sex scenes in Undercover. It’s hard when you’re writing something and then editing the first time. You’re very close to the book so you can’t really gauge. But reading it over again, some months later I was like, “wow!” I think this is the hottest book I’ve ever written but also, I was pleased to see the emotional depth in places too. I feel better about it and I already liked it before. Sweet relief.

I ordered some goodies for RT for our Love Shack reader party on Friday (don’t miss it folks!) This party will have goodie bags filled with excellent swag that’ll be exclusive to the party including books from the participating authors. I also ordered postcards for Undercover and Vegas and they turned out so pretty.

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Frauke, the person behind the creation of this website (and also the hosting service for it, Janus Portal Hosting) and a great many other websites you you see around. As well as the person who designs my bookmarks, my RT ads and other various graphics like business cards etc. She is truly wonderful. I will give her a few elements and she always turns them into something wonderful. I’ve been a client of hers for several years now and I’m always just so awed by her talent. Plus she helps me with technical stuff when I just can’t figure it out. She always takes pity on me and with good humor. So thank you, Frauke – truly, you make my job so much easier and you do it with style.

Totally UNconnected to any of the above – did you know there was Fraggle Rock fic? I sat in a corner and rocked for a while once I found that out. And then I saw a guy in a furry suit with black leather assless chaps. Don’t ask where I found it. But, well just don’t ask. I think I may have bad dreams.

Now, I’m off to catch up on the stuff I let slide today to finish up with Undercover. Happy Hump Day!!!

In closing, to combat bad dreams – my dreamboat, let me show you him…

Marcus Patrick

Okay so I’m going to let it sit for a few days while I do my revisions for Undercover and then I’ll do the second draft. After that, it’s on to Unexpected, the next Cascadia Wolves book.

I doubt I’ll be adding much word count on my revisions but once that’s over and I send Sensual Magic in, I’ll be ready to get back to the Wardens and their world of wolves so yay!

It’s Read an E-Book Week and there’s a week long celebration going on over at the Samhain Cafe! Many Sammy authors are hanging out and giving out prizes so get on over there to check it out. Angel is kicking butt this week pulling this together so I wanted to send her my kudos, as always, for a job well done.

I love ebooks and epublishing. It’s where I got my start. Ellora’s Cave gave me my first real break and then Samhain after that. I’ll always appreciate the freedom I’ve had to really stretch and become a better writer and to tell the stories I wanted to tell.

I figure what I’ll do is show up later with some excerpts and prizes – ebooks, natch. If you have any requests for certain books to be excerpted from, holler now.