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

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.”

Book reading wise, I finished Mark Henry’s Happy Hour of the Damned: Happy Hour is so wrong, so very, very wrong that it’s right. It’s twisted and hilarious and sick and dark and also just great fun. Anyway, I haven’t read anything like it before and the combo of all that dark (read – scenes of zombies eating people, bodily fluids of all sorts) and all that hilarity and snark – works.

It’s alchemy in an insane, gonzo sense. Also? I usually hate it when men write female protags – they often get the inner dialog incorrect or it’s so stereotypical it makes me want to hit someone) but Mark Henry doesn’t write her down, doesn’t make her a bimbo and she’s genuine even if I’m not sure I’d want her to be my friend, I’m sure there’s a part of me in her and every other woman I’ve admired too.

Happy Hour is also not a romance, but I think if you’re looking for something unusal and you’re not squeamish, Happy Hour is a great book. I’m totally looking forward to Amanda’s next book!

Book writing wise: I hit 15K on Relentless last night! Wheee! I’d like to have a very productive weekend since I’ll be in Ohio next weekend for the Lori Foster Reader Get Together.

From Wikipedia: With its origins in nineteenth century music hall entertainments and vaudeville, in the early twentieth century burlesque emerged as a populist blend of satire, performance art, and adult entertainment, that featured strip tease and broad comedy acts that derived their name from the low comedy aspects of the literary genre known as burlesque.

In burlesque, performers, usually female, often create elaborate sets with lush, colorful costumes, mood-appropriate music, and dramatic lighting, and may even include novelty acts, such as fire-breathing or demonstrations of unusual flexibility, to enhance the impact of their performance.

Put simply, burlesque means “in an upside down style”. Like its cousin, commedia dell’arte, burlesque turns social norms head over heels. Burlesque is a style of live entertainment that encompasses pastiche, parody, and wit. The genre traditionally encompasses a variety of acts such as dancing girls, chanson singers, comedians, mime artists, and strip tease artistes, all satirical and with a saucy edge. The strip tease element of burlesque became subject to extensive local legislation, leading to a theatrical form that titillated without falling foul of censors.

It is absolutely sexy. The dancing is sexy and it’s meant to titilate. But it’s an accentuation of the feminine, a play on sensuality rather than raw sex. It’s not better or worse than stripping, it’s just different.

No pole in sight. No lap dances. This is a strip tease – as in no actual nakedness – it’s the art of the tease.

From Stripped: Sensual smoke and mirrors. Dahlia didn’t show the audience any more than she’d show at the beach. They wouldn’t see her nipples and her panties would stay right on her booty with the fishnets below that.

Playing coy, she waved with one hand, pretending to almost drop the hat as she took the first step back up to the dressing room. And another step and two more. Once her body was in the doorway she turned and tossed the hat back to Timmy. With a hand over her mouth stifling a pretend giggle, she kicked up her leg and was gone behind the curtain.

Dahlia isn’t ashamed of what she’s doing. It’s part artistic expression, part good paycheck and part expression of a part of herself she had trouble expressing in her daily life. This isn’t a woman lap dancing to pay for books (although I do have a friend who stripped to pay for law school). Her story is far more complicated than that.

Burlesque is far more theatrical than stripping is (although some strippers do put a lot of energy into their routines). There’s quite frequently a live jazz band on the stage.

The idea for Stripped came to me after my husband and I went to Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce in Las Vegas in 2006. The Dollhouse is a lot like this place with differences of course, but the feel is similar in that the women are dancers and perfomers.

And tomorrow/Wednesday the 30th, I’m doing an Author Day at the Raven (Mandy and Michelle’s place!) from noon to three eastern/nine to twelve pacific. I’ll be talking about Stripped, my story in the What Happens in Vegas anthology as well as Celebration for the Dead and my upcoming release, Fated from Samhain. Come by and hang out for a while, say hello and hopefully win something too!

Behind closed doors, the real games begin…

Winning it big.

That’s the name of the game at Las Vegas’s Liege Hotel and Casino, where the hottest fantasies hinge on a roll of the dice…and the tantalizing knowledge that anything could happen before sunrise.

Cocktail waitress Carinna wants a man to tie her up, not tie her down. Little does she know that her most willing partner yet has something else planned for this fiery Latina bombshell.

Dahlia is a burlesque dancer with a brain for business and a bod for sin. Her latest admirer may be a sweet-talking Casanova, but despite what he thinks she’s not giving anything away free.

Meanwhile, Amy has the perfect plan to rob the Liege Casino blind…until the intimidating owner catches her red-handed. Now she knows she’s going to pay… with both pleasure and pain.

Professional shill Cassidy is ready to experience a breathless rendezvous with her “friend with benefits.” But when he proposes five delicious nights of sexy blackjack, the stakes have never been so high.

My story is Stripped. I came up with the idea while, not so surprisingly, I was on a trip with my husband to Las Vegas and we went to Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce – a fabulous old style burlesque show/lounge in the Mandalay Bay. I came back, ready to write the book and my agent called and asked if I’d be interested in being part of a Vegas themed anthology pitch. I think for me, it was meant to happen and I’m glad it did.

Anyway – an excerpt of Stripped exists right behind the cut!

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS: STRIPPED BY LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2008, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Harlequin Enterprises
Releasing May 1

After dinner, they cleaned the kitchen as a team and retired to her couch, which thankfully, was cozy enough to keep her close.

“I talked an awful lot about myself tonight. I want to know more about you and your family. Your brother. What you were like growing up. I know you grew up in Boston but also said you spent a lot of time here in Las Vegas. What was that like? You’ve told me some but I’d like to know more.”

He took her wine glass and put it on the end table and turned her chin so that she faced him. “That’s for our next date. Right now, I need to kiss you. I’ve thought about little else since last night about five seconds after I kissed you last.”

“Oh.” Not for the first time, Dahlia wondered at his ability to render her speechless and giddy. It made her wary, she wasn’t sure she liked anyone having that much of an affect on her. At the same time, it felt wonderful to drop her guard and let someone get close. The intensity and depth of the things he made her feel brought everything to do with him into vivid focus. She’d locked herself away for years after the experience at Warner Industries. Since then she’d just stayed focused on school.

Her gaze locked with his for long moments as his thumb brushed along the space on her neck just below her ear.

Leaning in, he took her lips.

He started slow, his mouth brushing lightly over hers, his lips warm and soft. The edge of his beard tickled her but it wasn’t scratchy. A shiver went through her as she imagined how it would feel against the soft skin of her inner thighs.

Without meaning to, a soft moan escaped her and he pulled her closer as his tongue slipped into her mouth. The kiss was sure without being overly aggressive. His taste marked her, filled her.

“God, more,” he gasped, bringing her astride him.

Her skirt rose up to her thighs and pleasure arced up her spine as her pussy settled over the hard line of his cock. He rolled his hips, grinding himself into her as his tongue lazily stroked into her mouth.

The cool silk of his hair tickled her hands as she held him. With a last tug of her bottom lip between his teeth, he moved to her chin and across her jaw line to her ear. His palms slid down her back to her waist, holding her to him as he rolled himself into her.

Heat began to build as his movements brought him over her clit through her panties. She was so damned turned on she wondered if she’d come just from that contact. That brief concern melted as he moved his mouth down her neck and her head fell back.

I did update my website with excerpts for Taking Care of Business and Undercover should anyone be interested in checking those out and also, I put up a page for my next Cascadia Wolves book, Fated. Yes, Unexpected is now Fated because as the very clever Angie pointed out, Unexpected sounds a lot like Undercover and we didn’t want readers to confuse the two. Anyway, there’s a loose blurb up now.

AND…I’m told the author copies of What Happens in Vegas are on their way! Which means I’m going to be doing some contests soon so keep an eye out. I didn’t want to start a contest until the books were actually here though, LOL. I can’t wait to see them. Anya has hers already and she said they were very pretty so I can’t wait.

That’s about it. I need to deal with laundry and get some writing work done. It’s sunny today so I’d like to get out and plant some of the seeds the kids and I picked up last week as well.

Enjoy your Saturday afternoon!