Hi, everyone! I’m typing this in pain…I hurt my shoulder this weekend. Actually, it’s been hurt since my car accident on the 4th of July, but now it’s unbearable enough that I’m back with doctors trying to figure out what’s what. Had an MRI yesterday and hopefully, we’ll get a handle on exactly what the problem is and how to fix it.
On the good news front, the second book in my Legendary Lovers series was released last week! TOO WILD TO HOLD is set in one of my favorite cities…New Orleans! Michael Murrieta (half-brother of Alejandro, the hero of last month’s TOO HOT TO TOUCH) is an FBI agent on the trail of a serial rapist…a rapist that has been using his family legend in order to hunt down women. He’s tracked down the next likeliest victim, a private investigator named Claire Lecuyer. Michael wants to protect her, but Claire’s only really interested in solving her current case. If she doesn’t, the woman she’s been after will disappear for good.
It’s a game of cat and mouse in the Crescent City. The book is on sale now and will be available for Kindle and Nook tomorrow. If you like hot contemporary romance, I hope you’ll check it out. Here’s an exclusive Plotmonkey excerpt to whet your appetite! (Sidenote: Try staring at that cover with sighing…if you can, you’re stronger than I am. He mesmerizes me! I said Nathan Fillion…and the Art Dept at Harlequin listened!)
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The ride back to New Orleans took no more than an hour, but as Claire watched the sensual Louisiana countryside with its towering oaks and draping moss turn first into a stark industrial area and then into boxy neighborhoods that ranged from high end to low rent, she found it easy to imagine that days instead of hours had gone by since she’d driven with her aunt in the opposite direction. She definitely wasn’t the same woman she’d been when she’d headed to the Nouvelle Placage gathering—and not because of the ménage a trios she’d witnessed or the orgasm she’d experienced while hidden in the dark foliage or the fact that she’d found the woman she’d been looking for, but failed at getting her signature because of a rookie mistake.
It was all of that.
It was more than that.
It was Michael.
Without turning her head, she watched his profile flash in and out, illuminated by the headlights from passing cars. His strong, dimpled chin added a quirky charm to what otherwise would have been a hard, classically handsome face. He had broad shoulders, strong hands and a chest she could imagine herself lying across naked for hours. His dark blue gaze, which twinkled with humor one minute and then burned with intense drive the next, was trained solely on the road, both in front of them and behind.
He was in the zone. Full-on, FBI-honed protection mode.
It was exhilarating.
And terrifying.
In many ways, Michael was her polar opposite. He was an FBI agent, which in and of itself meant that he played by a seriously strict rule book and had standards above and beyond a private investigator like herself. She’d been booted from the local police force because she’d been unable to adopt a black-and-white outlook on law enforcement and criminal behavior. Rampaged by scandal and corruption in the past, the brass in her precinct had skewed in the complete opposite direction. Any investigation that might draw them out of a comfortable delineation between right and wrong was ignored. Any case that might put her fellow officers in a questionable spotlight was passed over for crimes that made good and evil as easily distinguishable as hot and cold.
If only life were that simple—that cut and dried.
And yet, despite his professional position, Michael’s behavior betrayed a man who would rebel if the right situation presented itself. Whatever Bureau rules he’d ignored tonight, he’d done so for the sole purpose of tracking her down so he could catch his crazed kidnapper. And at the same time that he appeared to embody every one of the basic rules of decorum—hell, the basic rules of dating—he’d touched her intimately less than an hour after they’d met.
And she’d loved every second of it.
Michael pulled off the main highway and negotiated a maze of back roads until they reached a local hotel with a blinking neon sign exclaiming “No Vacancy” even though the parking lot had only two cars—one of which was missing a left front tire. The maelstrom of emotions she’d experienced tonight, from fear to curiosity to invigoration to utter orgasmic release had sapped her energy. But when Michael shoved the gear into park, she felt a renewed zing, as if she’d just spotted the finish line after a wickedly long run.
“You okay?”
Michael had turned off the ignition. With his arm draped on the steering wheel and his eyes dark with concern, she had a brief flash of herself climbing across lap and curling against his chest. His concern wrapped around her like a fleece blanket on a chilly night—an unfamiliar sensation to a woman who’d grown up in Louisiana and who had never relied on a man—any man—to give her southern comfort unless it came in a glass with ice.
But Michael put her safety first. He’d put her case first. Her pleasure first. He’d asked how she was a half dozen times since the garden tête-à-tête with Josslyn Granger and yet, she didn’t find his questions cloying or constricting.
Of course, she’d only answered once, insisting she was fine. The rest of time, she’d waved away his worry, completely caught up in everything that had happened…everything she’d learned. About Josslyn. About the man who was after her.
About herself.
“I’m just exhausted,” she confessed.
“Probably just low blood sugar,” he concluded, giving the abandoned parking lot a once over before he reached into the backseat and retrieved the sandwiches, beer and bottled water they’d picked up at a local deli a half mile from the hotel. “This will fix it.”
Michael insisted she remain in the car while he gathered their food and the bag she’d retrieved from the dressing area at Nouvelle Placage from his trunk. Once sure there was no one around, he led her up the open stairway that zig-zagged on the side of the hotel.
The room he’d rented was at the end, next to a room marked off with crime scene tape.
She stared at the criss-crossed doorway apprehensively while he used his key.
“Nice digs,” she said.
He grinned at her unapologetically. “Only the best.”
Inside, the room proved, at the very least, clean. The unmistakable scent of pine disinfectant permeated the room, but once he switched on the air conditioning unit under the window, it dissipated, leaving behind the vague mustiness that only a New Orleans hotel room could possess. Michael waited for her to walk completely inside, then bolted the door behind them, dropped the food off on the pock-marked table between the two double beds and then deposited her bag next to the door to the bathroom.
“Want to eat first or shower?” he asked.
She eyed the two beds and with a snicker, pictured the scene from in It Happened One Night. There wasn’t much use to erecting a Wall of Jericho between her and Michael tonight, even if they were still relative strangers.
He might not have seen her completely naked, but he’d had open access to every sensitive curve and crevice in her body. Twice.
And he’d made the most of it both times, without the benefit of a horizontally flat surface. When she started to imagine how he might utilize a mattress to his advantage, she decided to take him up on the shower first—preferably, a cold one.
She bee-lined straight for the bathroom.
*****
Hey all! Carly here! As you probably know, SERENDIPITY is in stores in one short week – and I’m kicking off my SERENDIPITY BLOG TOUR today!
I hope you’ll visit me at the sites below and look out for info often in the posts over the next few weeks for other places to see me! Thanks!
Lauren Dane’s Blog – Carly’s Guest Post and a Serendipity Giveaway! Click HERE!
Everybody Needs a Little Romance – Carly’s Q and A! Click HERE!
Carly Phillips would like to take 100% credit for all her stories but the truth is, Carly’s strength is writing family, emotion, funky elderly people and animals. She couldn’t plot her way out of a paper bag, which is why she smartly found her plotmonkey pals early on in her writing career. Thanks to their support, Carly is now a NYT Bestselling author of 23 plus novels. Because writing doesn’t keep her busy enough, Carly is also a wife, a mother of one preteen and one teenage daughter, the primary care giver of her soft coated Wheaten terrier and an expert carpool mom.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Jules, sorry to hear about your shoulder. I hope nothing too crazy is going on with it and that a little rehab will get you going again. Take care. I’ve missed you guys.
Congrats on the book release. I’ve been waiting to get this and the other Blazes as well. Have a wonderful day.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Hope your shoulder feels better soon, Julie. CAT scans freak me out, so not sure I would do well with an MRI machine.
Julie, you won the cover lottery with your Legendary Lovers series. Can’t wait to read both Michael’s and Danny’s books this weekend. I love having a long holiday weekend with no plans…means I can spend the whole weekend reading.
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I hope your shoulder gets better…
Love the cover….
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Hope you feel better soon Julie!
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Sorry to hear about your shoulder, keep going to the doctors, I’ve had a shoulder problem for 4 years with no solution, so keep hounding them.
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Julie get better soon.
Loving the book, only 4 chapters to go.
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Julie, I don’t remember you being in an accident. I’m so sorry to hear about your shoulder. Hopefully they will find a solution soon once the test results are in.
Meantime take very good care of yourself.
I’m looking forward to this book as I enjoyed the first one. I’m so glad you all keep us up to date on releases as I seem to be a bit behind on that!
I’ve been doing a lot of reading which means I’ll be needing more books! 
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Oh, I hope there is nothing seriously wrong and that a little PT will get things back to normal for you.
Sending good thoughts and gentle cyber hugs your way!!
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Keep us posted, Julie! Sending healing thoughts your way. I have this all set to download automatically tomorrow. I love the first one and can’t wait to dive into this one! Get better soon!
And Carly, can’t wait for next week! I have much
in my future!
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Wishing you a speedy recovery, Julie!
Great excerpt and cover.
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So sorry about your shoulder – hope you’re feeling better soon. Will be waiting to download your new release on my Kindle tomorrow. :)
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Thanks so much, everyone. Got the results of the MRI and I have tendinitis and calcification in my shoulder muscles/tendons. I have to go see an orthopedist, but in the meantime, I’m on major painkillers, heating pads, anti-inflammatories, etc.
I really appreciate all the healing thoughts you can send…and thanks so much to those of you who already have or will be getting the book!
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Hope the shoulder feels better soon.
As a girl from NOLA, I cannot wait to read this book. Claire and Michael’s adventure is on the top of my wish list.
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Wow, thanks for the snippet and that cover, Julie! Happy release!