A Halloween Treat

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, no pun intended, I thought I'd offer a small treat...the lost chapter of Seducing Gracie, my latest novella from Changeling Press. I guess that isn't exactly the best way to describe it--more like "cut during the revision process"--but "lost" sounds so much more mysterious and alluring than "cut." lol

The lost (lol) portion was originally Chapter 1; however, it reads more like erotic horror than pure erotica, so after much deliberation, the publisher and I decided to cut it. What follows is a tidbit and a link to my blog to finish it if you like. I'd post more of it here, but it gets a bit sexy in the middle and a little gory--perfect for the upcoming holiday.

Also, on October 31st, I'll be posting a free short story on my blog for erotic horror buffs to enjoy. Until then, here's a bit of Seducing Gracie to satisfy your not-so-sweet tooth. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

He watched her breasts rise and fall, pressing against the clingy peach cloth of her filthy tank top, their motion smooth even though her breathing increased to steady, shallow gasps as he approached. She pressed her face between her white-knuckled grip on the iron bars and peered into the hallway, squinting. The woman sensed him, felt his presence. Too bad for her.

His imagination revved up when he caught her scent. Fresh and human, laced with a hint of fear or excitement. Maybe a blend of both. Her kind thrived on either. He pictured torturing her nipples with his sharp teeth until she moaned, and nipping his way up the tan skin of her calves to her soft thighs and further on.

Read more at Cameo Brown's Erotica.

Halloween Free Read

In honor of Halloween, I'm offering a free read. I hope you enjoy it!

Demon and the Angel

The demon stepped into the dimly lit neonatal intensive care unit. “Good evening, Angel,” he said softly.

The angel looked up from where she was bent over a stainless steel barred crib. “What brings you here, Demon? This is no place for one of your kind.”

“I saw you fly in, Angel. My…appetite was whetted.”

“Take yourself and your appetites elsewhere. I’m busy.”

“The place is deserted.” He glanced around. Emptiness pooled in the corners of the room, reaching its sly fingers towards the one occupied crib. Soft lights haloed the angel and a very still, tightly swaddled baby. The blue and white cap on the baby’s head advertised his sex. The snaking tubes and softly beeping machines signaled his trouble.

“The obstetrical unit of this hospital is closing due to high malpractice rates.” The angel turned back to her task, leaning over the crib again. “This is the last baby born here.”

Demon almost missed her words, focused as he was on her shapely ass outlined by the pale gray uniform that blended so well with the gray hospital walls. Real nurses never wore dresses any more, but her glamour provided both an effective disguise, and an irresistible lure. This angel knew exactly what she was doing.

“That nurse glamour is oddly sexy, dear Angel.”

“Yes,” she snapped, turning back to glare at him. “We angels know how you demons like to get your purity fix every so often.”

He laughed. “Too true, sweetheart. It does cleanse the palate, so to speak.” He let his gaze wander over her, knowing his bold perusal would start a fire simmering within her. “And we demons,” he drawled, “know you angels need some lovin’ from a bad guy every so often to light you up.”

He checked out her shiny brown hair, her wide-spaced gray eyes, her smallish, but determined nose, and her generous mouth. Cute. Adorably cute. He had to have her.

“Hush, Demon.” She turned away from him. “Your voice is too deep. It disturbs the baby.”

He moved to the other side of the crib so he could face her. Now he could savor the sight of her pert breasts, her narrow waist and gently flaring hips. Utterly delectable. His cock ached.

He nodded at the crib. “How much longer ‘til you’re done with the baby?”

“Must you sound so uncaring?”

“I’m a demon, darling. It’s not my job to care.” He grinned at her anger. It would only stoke her appetite.

“I’m not interested in whatever you might be offering tonight.” Her gray eyes snapped at him, told him to go, but her pointy nipples signaled him as effectively as the beeping machines.

“I think you lie, Angel.” Finish the story here.

A Ghost and a Haunted House

This is Halloween Week. A spooky week of ghosts and witches and goblins. Costumes and trick or treating and haunted houses. I thought I'd take a peek at my backlist and feature a couple stories that fit right in with this week's theme.

Ghosts - Quinn's Curse from eRed Sage:



Cursed to wander Logan Point, lusty pirate Nathaniel Quinn must resist the call of the sea. But nobody said anything about resisting a beautiful woman like Miranda Kent, the newest owner of the lighthouse. So what if their love is doomed? Doom is familiar territory for a ghost like Nathaniel....
Where do bad boys go when they die? If the bad boy is a pirate captain, he goes to shore.
Cursed to haunt dry land for three hundred years, forbidden to touch the ocean he loves, Nathaniel Quinn’s spirit lingers near the Logan Point Lighthouse until his sentence is served. All he wants is an end to the three hundred year curse so he can haunt the seas instead of the shores.
That’s all he wants, that is, until the day Miranda Kent buys the lighthouse with the intent to turn it into a bed and breakfast. She hopes the presence of a ghost will bring in the tourists, but Quinn has finally found a benefit to his time on land.
She can hear him. See him. Touch him. He may only have a short time remaining at the lighthouse, but at least now he can enjoy it like a sailor on shore leave.
But pleasure turns to impending pain as these doomed lovers discover they’re touching more than each other’s bodies. They’re touching each other’s hearts. The long-awaited end of Quinn’s shore curse might just mean a different kind of curse…
Because an eternity sailing the seas might also be an eternity separated from the woman he loves.

Haunted House - Nothing to Fear from Ellora's Cave



Mason's dark good looks and domineering personality give Kelly all sorts of forbidden fantasies that frighten her. When she agrees to help out at the community Halloween haunted house, she never expects to be tied to a bed, playing damsel in distress to Mason's masked, whip-wielding villain.

Kelly can't run away from Mason this time. He knows she's fighting her sexual needs and he hopes that a few hours of playing out her fantasies with him will prove to her that bondage — and Mason — are nothing to fear.

If you're in the mood for a little Halloween romance, both Quinn's Curse and Nothing to Fear are still available for download.

So do you have any other recommendations for Halloween related romance?

Natasha
www.natashamoore.com

Sold Another Story to Carina Press

So I’m really excited to announce that I’ve sold my first full length novel to Carina Press. It will come out sometime in the summer of 2011. With this story, I will have a new pen name of Abby Niles. I love having a new pen name to attach to a new genre that I will be published in.

Defying Convention is a contemporary romance full of humor. I loved writing this story, because of the setting.

Why you ask?

Because it is held at a Sci-fi/Fantasty convention.

You just can’t beat being able to play around with a setting like that.

Here is the UNOFFICIAL blurb to Defying Convention:

With a livid boss determined to humiliate her before firing her, reporter Emma Portland goes undercover at the 31st Annual GalaxyCon determined to unearth a news-worthy story and save her career. But what kind of scoop can she possibly find among geeks and freaks? Then she meets Luke Blaster, author of the bestselling Sci-fi series “Farmen” who is besieged by an angry mob of revenge-seeking fans. With each wacky LARP (Live Action Role Playing) she’s forced to participate in, she becomes certain that Luke’s easy smile and twinkling eyes hide a secret that could win back her job. But Luke’s unwillingness to talk about his past isn’t Emma’s only obstacle. The more time she spends with him, the more her feelings for him grow, and she becomes torn between falling in love and saving her career.

Luke Evens, a.k.a Luke Blaster, has more problems than unruly fans attacking him with foam swords and locking him in supply closets—even if he does get locked in with the delectable Emma. If anyone ever his discovered his secret, his life would be ruined. But meeting Emma brings hope for a future he didn’t believe possible. To make her his, Luke must relive a past so horrible even he doesn’t want to face it. Will telling her the truth finally set him free or will his heartfelt revelation pave the way to a betrayal he never saw coming?

Travel to Austria

Today we are traveling to Austria, a country of great charm and beauty. These are typical houses, especially when you go into the mountains or countryside.

This is a street in the old part of the city of Salzburg. The entire area is a pedestrian zone. The inhabitants of the city walk and ride bicycles a lot. Mozart lived in the yellow house on the left.

In the next picture, you can see the river that runs through Salzburg, and the bridge is only for pedestrians. The hotel on the riverbank is the Sacher Hotel, where we stayed. It's a wonderful hotel and I recommend it if you find yourself in Salzburg.

Here's the Palace of the Habsburg dynasty, which comes complete with a sad romantic tale. Franz Joseph was the last significant monarch (after the family ruled for hundreds of years). His only son committed suicide in 1898 in a suicide pact with his 17 year old lover. How's that for drama?

Finally, I have to show a picture of my favorite spot. The National Library in Vienna. And one of the Austrian Alps.

Guest: Leigh Court - Conqueror Vanquished

Call me a romantic, but I’ve always been drawn to history, when men were men and women swooned. Okay, it wasn’t really like that. Throughout history, women had to be strong in order to survive, but there definitely were times when men were stronger. Ancient Rome, for instance. The days of muscled gladiators and fierce Roman centurions. I’m fascinated with ancient Rome, and so it was only natural that I set my latest historical novella in 52 B.C., just as the Roman Empire conquers Gaul (ancient France). And because CONQUEROR VANQUISHED is a romance, of course my hero had to be a powerful, Alpha-male commander of a Roman legion, who meets his match in the newly conquered French healer, Solange!

Here’s the setup:

>>Leonidas Danae Vorenus, commander of Rome’s prestigious Sixth legion, is ordered to establish a strategic outpost in Gaul after its surrender to Julius Caesar. But on the way to his new post, Leonidas is seriously wounded in an ambush. Only one person can save his life, and she’s his sworn enemy.

Solange is a healer. She values every life, even if it belongs to one of the hated Romans who’ve just conquered her land. Bound by her duty and now by her new position as a subject of Rome, she is obliged to tend Leonidas.

But the relationship between conqueror and conquered soon evolves into much more. Their forced intimacy ignites an unexpected attraction, and prompts the two enemies to look beyond the reason for their hatred to explore the powerful emotions simmering just underneath.<<

Oooh, don’t you just love those powerful Alpha males who are brought to their knees, er, I mean, brought to their senses, by love? I know I do!

Since any good historical story needs to be grounded in reality, I did a lot of research for this one. Most of the information I found on ancient Rome is common knowledge, but I did uncover some fascinating, little-known facts:

- Roman soldiers baked their own bread to eat while on campaign. Every group of eight soldiers had an iron skillet that folded away in their pack just for that purpose. A soldier's daily grain ration was about 3 ½ pounds, and the army docked their pay for the grain they were given. Imagine if our army leaders charged soldiers for their meals today!

- Roman soldiers were forbidden to marry, but if they were already married when they enlisted, that was okay. You might think this rule would be a problem for a romance between my unmarried Roman commander, Leonidas, and the woman he loves, but you’ll just have to read CONQUEROR VANQUISHED to see how Leo skirts that particular issue!

- Most of our system of measurements came from ancient Rome. A Roman foot was 11.65 modern inches, a Roman mile was 5000 Roman feet (compared to our modern 5280 feet), and a Roman hand (4 inches) is still used today to measure the height of a horse at the shoulders. Fascinating stuff!

- A typical Roman fort was basically a small, self-sustaining, walled city, with a network of roads that connected several buildings including a house for the Commander, several barracks for the soldiers, stables for horses, a granary, kitchens, a smithy, even a hospital (if needed). With its high rampart walls and wide dirt moats, it was an almost-perfect, defensible stronghold.

- Since my story is a romance, I also had to research ancient Roman weddings. I was amazed at how many traditions of our modern weddings can be traced back to Roman times! Take the wedding cake, for example. After an ancient Roman ceremony, an offering was made to their main god, Jupiter, which usually consisted of cake. Once the priest had made the offering, this cake was eaten by the bride and groom, and then shared with wedding guests. Many more of our modern wedding traditions come from ancient Roman times, including carrying a bride over the threshold!

I enjoyed researching the ancient Roman empire almost as much as I enjoyed writing CONQUEROR VANQUISHED, and I’d love to know what you think of it! You can take a peek here: EXCERPT or here: http://www.leighcourt.com/ . This Roman setting is a departure from my previous two Victorian romances, but I’m obviously drawn to the past, when men were noble, and lived for honor.

What about you? Do you prefer modern men or historical men?

Dunvegan Castle

One of my favorite days on my recent trip to Scotland was exploring Isle of Skye. It was a bright, sunny day and warm by Scottish standards.

We passed the Sligachan Bridge and drove to Dunvegan Castle on the northwest side of the isle. The MacLeod chiefs have lived at Dunvegan for over 700 years, longer than any other line of clan chiefs have possessed their lands and castle. Leod was the youngest son of the last Viking king of the Isle of Man and the Hebrides. In the 1200s he possessed a large portion of the Hebrides. In 1340 the third clan chieftain, Malcolm, built the large square tower at Dunvegan. The tall Fairy Tower was added in 1500 by Alasdair, the 8th clan chieftain. The current look and design of the castle dates from 1840-50.

Upon arriving we found the landscape and gardens beautiful, lush and colorful. Thanks to the warming effects of the Gulf Stream, less hardy plants can grow here. Below is a photo of heather.

The castle was being repaired which didn’t bother me. I’m glad to see important historic buildings being taken care of. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside but I enjoyed the many paintings, old weapons, furniture and the historical atmosphere of the rooms. I was glad to see the Fairy Flag on display.

The Fairy Flag (below) is a tattered and worn banner of silk from the Middle East or Far East. It is said to have mysterious, magical powers to protect the clan during times of war or danger. Legend says the flag was presented to one of the MacLeods by a fairy. One source says it dates from the 4th – 7th centuries. Another says it is at least a thousand years old. (The photo below was taken in the 1920s.)
Another important relic at the castle is Sir Rory Mor’s horn, a drinking horn (above). Legend says before a chieftain can be instated and to prove his manhood, he must drink a horn full of wine without stopping and without falling down. .
Outside in the back were beautiful views over Loch Dunvegan and steps that led down to the sea gate (above). We also observed MacLeod’s Tables, beautiful flat topped mountains, (below) along the way.