All last week, I worked on updating the look and layout of my first two books, Mercy and Cait and the Devil. I didn’t touch a word of the text, just updated the author blurb, excerpts, front matter, and other stuff I didn’t have a clue about when I first published these books at Lulu.com many moons ago.

For Cait and the Devil, this also included a new cover, which was long overdue.

I found this photo while trolling for stock art for another book, and it just screamed Duncan to me. The movement, the blond hair. The man chest. Ahh. Anyway, in honor of this book’s new cover, it’s the Seventeen Sentence Selection for this week. Here goes:

     “When Desmond arrives to report my wife missing, relieve him of his duty for the day without prejudice.”

      “Yes, sir,” Ian said, barely disguising his puzzlement.

     Duncan mounted his horse and wheeled towards the orchard, knowing exactly which tree she’d crawled into. He’d promised her punishment the next time she evaded her guard. So be it. When he reached the tree he dismounted. He approached the leafy apple tree and looked up through the branches to find Caitlyn balancing on a bough near the top.

     “Come down,” he said sharply. “If that branch breaks and you fall—”

     “It won’t matter, will it? You don’t want me anyway. If you’re lucky I’ll break my neck.”

     “Caitlyn, come down right now.”

     “No,” she yelled.

     He stared up at her in surprise. Her chin jutted out and she pouted down at him. His little mouse was not so mousy after all.

Aww. Yep. She gets a spanking by the end of the scene. I doubt that’s much of a spoiler, lol. Cait and Duncan have a really neat dynamic, and it’s always sweet to watch people fall in love when they really, really don’t want to fall in love.

One of the things I like about featuring a book each Sunday is the opportunity to reminisce about it. Cait and the Devil is admittedly a hard-to-catagorize book. A “mistorical”? Realistic fantasy? Humor? BDSM? Domestic Discipline? While I was writing it I was thinking, What is this? Even *I* don’t know.

The only thing I really know is that it came to me like a dream, and it’s probably the only book of mine that I read without regrets. I’m an eternal fangirl for the glowering earl, the innocent maiden in peril, the high drama, the castle and the waves crashing against the shore. *swoon*

I’ve been working all night to find good stock art for the cover of Mason’s upcoming book, Command Performance, so I’ve decided to do another snippet from that book this week. My Comfort series fans will know that Mason is the dark haired, boyish-but-sexy movie star who had a hell of a time in Odalisque, the series’ 3rd book.  

Once I publish The Edge of the Earth, hopefully at the end-ish of August, I’ll be working full time on Command Performance, getting it edited and formatted for release.My beta-readers, one of whom is a professed Mason fangirl, have all given it thumbs up so far, so I think that’s good. Without further ado… Mason and Miri in Command Performance:

     She leaned close, right into his personal space, her breath warm and fruity, her lips as red as the cherries in her glass. “I’ll keep playing your sweet, innocent girlfriend to fix your reputation.”

     He nodded. “And?”

     “You catch me up on all the things I’ve missed.”

     Mason blinked and bit his lip. “Catch you up on what exactly?”

     Miri snorted with inebriated laughter, pulling away a little. “You know, all those things you’re supposedly very good at. Those bad things you do, that have your reputation in tatters. Even that kinky stuff. I’m curry– curwus– curious,” she finally spit out.

     Mason would have killed in that moment for privacy. Not just because of what they were discussing, but because of his body’s reaction to her words.

     “Miri.” It sounded like a groan. “You’re drunk.”

And down here is where I’d put the cover for you, but I’m still working on it. Stay tuned! More to come.

I know, I know! Okay, don’t laugh at me. I had to add a few more sentences to the mix. Six or seven sentences just wasn’t enough for a wordy writer like me. What I love about you all is that I KNOW YOU DON’T MIND! Heh heh.

One of the fun things about posting these snippets is going back to my old books and scanning for good ones. I’ve had Mercy on the brain lately, so I thought I’d go back to where it all began and post seven(teen) sentences from this controversial (and bestselling!) book. This is from one of my favorite scenes.

     “Listen to me, Lucy, I’m not a big fan of shame. I know I’m kinky. I know I’m crass. But I’m not ashamed, and I don’t want you to be.”

     He lifted my chin, made me meet his eyes. One broad thumb swept the tears from one cheek and then the other as he spoke.

     “So you like to get roughed up, get fucked, get ordered around. So what? I like doing those things to you. So you being ashamed around me is both annoying and ridiculous. Just go to sleep, instead of lying there crying like an idiot.”

     “I’m not an idiot.” I tried to say it respectfully, but I guess I failed from the look on his face.

     “Listen to me,” he said, his fingers digging into my chin. “You’re whatever the fuck I say you are when you’re with me.” He turned away from me again. “You’ll learn,” he muttered, and turned off the light with a snap of his wrist.

Hope you enjoyed that little snippet. That Matthew Norris can be a pretty big meanie but if you’ve read it, you know there’s much more going on beneath the surface. If you haven’t read Mercy yet, don’t let people scare you off. It is probably my “hardest” book aside from Club Mephisto, but there is a lot of sweetness in it too. Many of my readers claim it is their favorite book. Click the cover below to learn more about Mercy and to find buy links.

Oh, and soon Mercy will have a new cover that looks very much like the old one:

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping in. This is actually the vacation edition of SSS, since we’re heading home from the St. Augustine area today. Love St. Augustine, it’s a wonderful historical place and they do great ghost tours! They also have clean uncrowded beaches. Go there, you’ll love it.

Without further ado, here are seven sentences from my upcoming vanilla book, The Edge of the Earth.

     “Get in,” he said, nodding at the passenger side.

     “No.”

     They faced off, an infuriated Briton and Charlotte Rowe, who just wanted what she’d come for.

     “You have to go home,” he said gruffly. She could tell he was trying to convince himself.

     “You want me to stay.”

     “That doesn’t matter.”

Yes, these two go at it a lot in the book, but that’s only because the sexual tension is so HAWT. If you haven’t heard about Molly Joseph yet, that’s the name under which I write the stories that don’t have a BDSM component. I KNOW, can you believe I come up with stories that don’t have a BDSM component? But it happens. You can see Molly’s website here (click!) and here’s the cover for the upcoming book. I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it comes out!

All right, I changed it. I like having the flexibility of seven sentences rather than six, plus I am an inherently generous person. HAHA! Anyway, this is from my upcoming novel, Disciplining the Duchess. I’m planning to release it in the later part of this year (Nov or Dec).

“I’m not afraid,” she repeated. “I just don’t know what you’re going to do to me.”

He put an arm around her waist and drew her close. “I’ll tell you then. First I’m going to kiss you again, several times, and then I’m going to turn you over my lap.”

“Over your la–” Her protest was swallowed by his avid mouth pressed against hers.

Heh heh. It’s going to be a spanking historical.  I’m guessing most of you figured that out by this point. 🙂

Hi everyone!

I thought I’d start doing some “Six Sentence Sundays” for everyone. I got the idea from this very popular Six Sunday website. The basic idea is that you post six-sentence snippets from something you’re working on, editing, about to publish, or already published. The sentences can be from any part of the book, beginning, middle, or end. I thought it would be a nice way to post teasers for upcoming books, and also revisit some of my fave moments of past books. I can’t promise I’ll remember every Sunday, but I’ll try!

This week the six sentences are from my upcoming book Command Performance. This is Mason’s book, the last book in the Comfort Series. Enjoy!

       He squeezed her hand under the table as the awards broadcast began, and held it for a good bit of the proceedings. Not for photos. No cameras could see under the table. He did it because she was here and she was lovely, and because she had a diamond collar around her neck that she didn’t even realize was a collar. By the end of the night, after the schmoozing and the parties and the additional interviews, she still looked fresh and happy, and Mason found himself eager to make good on his promise. He wanted to kiss her some more.