Welcome to the Hot Autumn Nights Blog Hop! Come and celebrate the season with us and win fabulous prizes. Click the button above to keep hopin’. Remember to leave your email address for a chance to win and tell me, what do you love most about Autumn? Whether it is beautiful foliage or the smell of wood logs burning in the fireplace, I want to know! In addition to the giveaway at each blog, one commenter from the tour will win an $80 gift card to Barnes & Noble.
Enjoy this excerpt from my new paranormal romance Love Entwined as we celebrate the season.
Amelie swiped up the sketch and threw it across the room.
She followed its descent with a withering glare as the drawing landed next to its balled up predecessors near the wastebasket. She turned her back on the drafting table and the sketches she’d started last week. Quiet rage had finally gotten the better of her.
She had hit a brick wall. Her inspiration had fled to parts unknown, and she could not conjure it up.
Harold Jarvis, the head of the design department, had set her a task that proved impossible.
Sweet Life, a local merchandiser, wanted her to create a line of novelty pieces for the poor little rich girl who spent daddy’s money, begged for more and got it. The kind of big, chunky pieces she abhorred. Armbands that looked like shackles studded with rubies.
Platinum chokers, engraved with catch phrases so popular with teenagers, with borders of diamonds in spike settings top and bottom.
Expensive junk jewelry.
She slumped on the loveseat opposite the glass panel. The late February snowstorm obstructed the view of the Manhattan skyline. The weather mimicked her mood as the wind howled and rattled the floor-to-ceiling windowpanes.
She didn’t know how to proceed on this tasteless journey. She knew flowing lines and rich colors, icicle necklaces that dripped on bare shoulders with the perfect gown.
Earrings that made her clients want to walk around in a Grecian bun with trailing curls down their backs every day of the week. Jewelry that evoked desire.
Sighing, she pulled the barrette from her hair. Massaging her temples, she tried her best to rub away three months’ worth of angst.
Three months of him.
Last night, she dreamed they were in a ship’s cabin. Her dream lover rocked her as gently as the ship swayed. His eyes were the color of a storm-tossed ocean when he slid his hand between her thighs. The warm glow of the lantern on his chest illuminated black curls that created a delicious sensation against her breasts. Her lips caressed his shoulder when he covered her. She’d smelled the ocean on his hot skin…“Âme Soeur.”
Something inside her knew this man.
Amelie wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her upper lip. Leaning over the coffee table, she pulled a blood red rose from the vase. She managed to find the most extraordinary roses in winter, a consolation prize for living in her office with sketches and the marketing guys for weeks.
The yellow taxis below on Park Avenue plowed their way through the snow.
Inhaling the rose’s heady perfume, she shook off a disturbing insight. She could almost believe there wasn’t anything going on here a little sleep wouldn’t cure. She was under tremendous pressure right now and he was a fantasy, a message from her subconscious.
All work and no play makes for a dull Amelie…
But she couldn’t help feeling as if she were perched on the edge of a deep chasm and it would swallow her whole if she made the wrong move.
Oui, she was a workaholic, but it was because she loved the designs. She could not fall in love with Sweet Life.
I can’t do this.
It would not sit well with Harold, but he’d have to get one of the other designers to take the account. They were welcome to her preliminary drawings. If Harold pressed her on the matter, she might consider a move to one of the other houses that barely concealed their attempts to steal her away from Penrods. It would put her back to square one, being the new kid on the block, but it was better than tarnishing her reputation with junk jewelry.
Amelie turned on her heel and started toward Harold’s corner suite.
The Cardiff Novels
Love Entwined, A Cardiff Novel Book 2 Amazon Amazon.ca Amazon UK
Falcon’s Angel, A Cardiff Novel Book 1 Amazon Amazon.ca Amazon UK
24 responses to “Hot Autumn Nights Blog Hop!”
The changing of the leaves and snuggling with my honey to keep warm.
anovelgathering2013(at)gmail(dot)com
My favorite thing about autumn is the cooler weather and all the pretty leaves. Thanks for your giveaway!
i_love_books at aol dot com
Hot Autumn night is on the porch with a blanket wrapped up with hot cocoa and your guy. valshemi dot gmail.com
I love the color of the leaves! Thanks for the giveaway.
aprilnu2003 (at) yahoo (dot) com
Rafflecopter name: April B
Being able to spend one more day with my family.
dragonkeep62(at)gmail(dot)com
I love the foliage when I’m home in the South, as well as the change in the smell of the air. It begins to smell crisp and clean and it even feels different – it’s no longer silky in its caress. Its touch is sharper, though still tender. Here in Nevada, I like the clear skies, the clean smell, or sometimes the smell of a neighbor’s log fire. That smell will catapult me back many years to my childhood, standing around the old-fashioned potbellied stove at my loving grandparents’ house. michelle_willms(at)yahoo(dot)com
I love the color of the leaves! Thanks for the giveaway.
parisfan_ca@yahoo.com
l love my fireplace this time of year! angelarosebooks@yahoo.com
I love the cooler weather!
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com
Bloglovin’:: BookAttict
I am thankful for the extra days off to catch up on my reading!
My hot Autumn night involves hot cocoa, my snuggie and a good book! And my honey to cuddle with!
grapeapril75(AT)gmail(DOT)com
My favorite colors are earth tones, especially the oranges and browns, and simply for that reason, I love autumn!
satchmo.says at outlook dot com
I like these hops since I get introduced to a lot of authors i have yet to read.
I’m thankful for everyone in my family being healthy.
spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com
I love the cooling weather and the leaves changing color. Love the excerpt! Thanks for sharing the hop and giveaway. Wishing everyone a wonderful and magical holiday season. evamillien at gmail dot com
the brisk air meandi09@yahoo.com
The thing I love most about autumn is the cooler weather.
jmcgaugh (at) semo (dot) edu
cold weather
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
The cooler weather.
magic5905 at embarqmail dot com
I definitely love when the weather goes from hot summer heat to cooler autumn air, but some of my favorite things about the season is the holidays that come along with.
Thank you for being part of the hop!
caroaz [at] ymail [dot[ com
Even though I love the weather’s change from the hot summer to the cooler autumn, my favorite thing about the season is the holidays. Thank you for being part of the hop!
caroaz [at] ymail [dot] com
What I love best about Autumn is playing in the leaves with my kids! kbinmich AT yahoo DOT com
I love the colorful leaves.
bituin76 at hotmail dot com
Hi! I love the cool weather! Makes me want to snuggle! I do love fires too! The whole season is just full of romance! 😀 Thank you all for the fantastic hop! Its a blast! Im having a great time! Thank you! Happy holidays!
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you all so much for celebrating Autumn with us writer and bloggers! I agree with all of you, from the changing colors of the leaves to the snuggling up – sounds wonderful. 🙂
Congratulations, Michelle Willms you are the winner of this hop! Enjoy 🙂