IN FORBIDDEN TERRITORY—a conversation with Angie and Ty

Harlequin has reissued 16 of my backlist titles in ebook.  I've persuaded Angelina Coleman and Tyler Farrell to chat with us today about IN FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print and currently available as a Harlequin Desire in ebook.

Hello, Angie and Ty.  Thanks for being here today.  So…Angie.  Let's start with you.  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Angie:  I grew up in Portland, Oregon, raised by my mother in a single parent house with 5 brothers.  I'm the only girl and I'm also the youngest.  Even though we're mostly scattered across the country these days, we're still emotionally a very close family.  The oldest of my brothers is McConnor…everyone calls him Mac.  He's 13 years older than me and stepped into the role of surrogate father.  It's a responsibility he continues to take very seriously in that he still thinks of me as that little girl who needs his guidance and protection even though I'm 24 years old.

He sounds like a fantastic guy, but the look on your face says there's maybe a little more to it?

Angie:  Don't get me wrong, Mac is an incredible person, I owe him so much…everyone in our family does.  It's just that I had a very difficult time convincing him that I'm an adult and not that scrawny little girl he sees when he looks at me.  I was engaged for a while to a man who came from an influential family with a moneyed background and was highly successful.  But it quickly became apparent that what he wanted was a decoration on his arm to show off at all the appropriate business and society functions.  He objected to my career even though I have degrees in both business and industrial design and was working for a design firm.  When I broke the engagement I wanted to move away from Portland.  I tried to approach Mac about giving me a job at his company, but he treated it as "isn't that cute of little Angie, wanting to work for me."  I knew I needed to prove myself to him.  More than anything, I wanted his approval and respect as an adult capable of taking care of myself.

And that's what brought you from Portland to Seattle?

Tyler:  That's what brought Angie into my life, although at the time I didn't know the underlying reasons behind her move.  Mac did manage to convey that he felt very protective toward her and telegraphed a hands off type warning without actually saying those words.

That must have made things rather awkward for the two of you.  Would you mind telling us a little about your family, Ty, and your background?

Tyler:  My family?  The word dysfunctional immediately leaps to mind.  I'm an only child raised with money in a house where ongoing arguments between my mother and father was the normal daily routine.  They finally divorced when I was in high school, but the constant battles didn't stop.  If I learned one lesson during my formative years it was that money can't buy happiness and the idea of a happy family and a close relationship was too elusive to even consider.  If it hadn't been for my observation of Mac's close relationship with his family, I would have said the concept was pure fiction.  I met Mac the first day of our freshman year at UCLA.  He was just starting college even though he was two years older than the rest of our freshman class.  I learned later that he had to forfeit a scholarship because he needed to work to help support his family.  We immediately became good friends with a mutual interest in sailing and boat design.  After college we went into business together designing and building custom sailboats.  We've been very fortunate and the business is highly successful.

Angie:  I had met Ty once when he and Mac were in college.  He came to the house one weekend when I was 10 years old.  The one thing I remember clearly from that visit was thinking what an arrogant jerk he was.

Tyler:  (chuckles good-naturedly) I obviously made quite a terrific first impression.

Angie:  Then 14 years later we met again.  I had just arrived in Seattle following the breakup of my engagement, intent on getting a job.  I was staying at Mac's house on Bainbridge Island until I could find a place of my own.  Mac was supposed to take me to lunch that first day but he was buried under a deadline for a design project and asked Ty to fill in for him.

Tyler:  Actually, he begged me to take his kid sister off his hands so he could finish the design…just pizza and a movie was his idea of how to entertain his kid sister, as he insisted on calling her.  I had visions of that scrawny 10 year old girl I had met once.  Well…one look was all it took.  He may have thought of his sister as still being a child, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth.

So the two of you met and the rest is history?

Angie:  Not at all!

Tyler:  Not even close!

So how did it all happen?  How did it move beyond pizza and a movie? How did you handle Mac's 'hands off' attitude?

Tyler:  I'm afraid you're going to have to read the book.

Angie:  We do agree on that.  You'll need to read the book.

Well, I can tell by the identical expressions on each of your faces that asking any more questions will be futile.  Thanks Angie and Ty.

IN FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook.  Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com (do a search for author name Shawna Delacorte).  Barnes and Noble for NookBooks at www.nb.com.  Amazon for Kindle at www.amazon.com as well as other online vendors.

Check out my website for additional excerpts from IN FORBIDDEN TERRITORY and information on my other Silhouette/Harlequin ebook reissues.  www.shawnadelacorte.com

Blurb:

The Danger Zone:

Filling in as a guide and companion for his best friend's kid sister was cramping Tyler Farrell's bachelor lifestyle. At least, until a drop-dead-gorgeous, very-grown-up Angie melted his bones with one searing kiss. She was supposed to be off-limits…but Tyler liked playing with fire.

Angie wanted to prove she wasn't a child anymore. And what better way to do so than a no-strings affair with Tyler-the perfect love 'em and leave 'em guy? Except that the closer she got to Tyler, the hotter the attraction burned and the harder she fell in love. Somehow she had to convince commitment-phobic Tyler that she was his to claim—permanently!

G-rated excerpt #1:

Tyler Farrell's business partner barged into his office, panic covering his face as he pleaded, "You've got to help me out, Ty. Take her off my hands for the next few days."

"Take who off your hands?"

"It won't take that much of your time. She's just a kid."

"Who's just a kid?" Tyler's confusion began to turn to irritation. "What are you talking about, Mac?"

McConnor Coleman paused a moment as he took a calming breath. "All I know is what Mom said when she called the other day. It seems that my kid sister wants to move from Portland to Seattle, get a job and her own apartment. She arrived last night and is staying with me until I can help her get settled. I promised Mom I'd keep my eye on her. You know, maybe take her to a movie one evening and buy her some pizza. Take her on the harbor tour or to the top of the Space Needle. Stuff like that."

Mac renewed his determination. "It's not like you'll have to put your busy social life on hold so you can wine and dine her. Like I said, she's just a kid. You know the kind of long hours I'm going to be putting in until this new design is finished. The pivotal point of our company's expansion plans is dependent on this design. I don't want her sitting all alone at my house and I certainly don't want her going out at night by herself."

Ty made a valiant attempt to put some logic to Mac's obviously frazzled state of mind. "We're on Bainbridge Island, not in Seattle. There's no reason why she can't go out alone."

"A young girl should not be out on the streets alone." Mac's tone of voice said there was no room for discussion of the matter.

Ty allowed a slight frown to wrinkle across his brow. An image popped into his mind of Angelina Coleman, the annoying little girl he had encountered once at Mac's mother's house in Portland, Oregon.

He shook his head and emitted a sigh. "I really don't have time—"

"Am I too early for lunch?"

Ty whirled around in the direction of the sound. The sultry voice perfectly matched the beautiful blond vision framed in the doorway. A quick surge of desire shoved aside Ty's initial shock. Could this gorgeous vision be the same person Mac had been referring to as his kid sister?

Mac rushed toward her. "Angie...is it noon already?" He glanced at his watch, a sheepish expression covering his features. "I guess the morning got away from me."

She shot a teasing grin at her brother. "Why am I not surprised?"

Recovering from his initial shock, Ty leaped into action. He grabbed Angie's hand, kissed the back of it and made a courtly bow. "Angelina Coleman...Tyler Farrell at your service. You probably don't remember, but we met several years ago." A jolt of charged energy emanated from their clasped hands. A heated surge of desire swept up his arm and through his body. Her unwavering gaze, combined with the vibrancy of her expressive green eyes, sent another ripple coursing through him—a strange combination of lustful desire and caution.

"I most certainly do remember you. It was fourteen years ago, a month or so before you and Mac graduated from the University of Washington. Mac was the one worrying about finals. I was the scrawny ten-year-old with braces on my teeth." A dazzling smile lit her beautiful face and a touch of humor surrounded her words. "And you were the arrogant jerk."

Ty released her hand, clutched at his chest and staggered back a couple of steps as if he had been hit by a mortal blow, his action eliciting a spontaneous laugh from her. It was an enchanting sound, one that left him wanting to hear it again and again. The moment he broke the physical contact with her a strange sense of loss made its way into his consciousness. Her words startled him, but they had been said more in fun than with any show of malice. At least that was the way he chose to take it.