FALLING FOR THE ENEMY—a conversation with Paige and Bryce

Harlequin has recently reissued 13 of my 21 backlist titles in ebook.  Today I'm talking with Paige Bradford and Bryce Lexington about FALLING FOR THE ENEMY, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print August 2002 and currently available in ebook.

Hello, Paige and Bryce.  Thank you for making room in your schedule to chat with us today.

Bryce:  It's our pleasure.

My first question is for you, Paige.  You moved from St. Louis, Missouri, to Los Angeles, California, then you went to work for Bryce's company…is that correct?

Paige:  I'm from Los Angeles originally.  After my divorce, I returned to be near my father.  He was my only family.

About your father…I understand that you're the one who found his body after he…

Bryce:  Would you mind skipping that topic?  It's an emotional—

Paige:  It's all right, Bryce.  Yes, I'm the one who found my father's body after he…he shot himself.  In addition to a suicide note, I also found scraps of paper in the fireplace that he had apparently tried to burn.  Bits and pieces of things that didn't make sense, lots of numbers.  (glances at Bryce as if seeking reassurance)  And Bryce's name mentioned several times.

Bryce:  (grasps her hand and holds it)  And that's when she started prying into my life, a situation that quickly came to my attention only I didn't have a clue why she was doing it.

Paige:  Well, what I found led me to believe he was responsible for my father committing suicide.  I was determined to prove it…to bring him down and expose him for what he was.  Or, more accurately, what I believed him to be.  I also wanted to find some way of keeping him from closing down my father's company and putting 100 employees with families out of work.

Really?  Bryce, you actually owned her father's company?

Bryce:  Well, sort of.  By default, actually.  I didn't really want it. 

What happened next?

Bryce:  What else…I hired her as my personal assistant so I could keep my eye on her in order to find out what she was up to.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  LOL.

No, I meant what happened next with her father's company.

Bryce:  You'll need to buy the book to find out about that.

Okay, I'll accept that.  Now let me change the subject.  There's a question I've been dying to ask you.

Bryce:  (laughs softly then flashes a teasing grin)  Uh Oh.  That sounds ominous.  Do I need to consult my attorney?

LOL…I think you'll be okay.

Paige:  Don't worry.  (offers a mischievous grin)  I'll protect you if she gets too rough.

Bryce:  Looks like I'm covered.  Fire away.

From the beginning, I notice you called her Bradford rather than Paige, Ms. Bradford, or Mrs. Bradford, and continued it for quite a while in the same way as guys refer to each other by their last names.  Why did you do that?

Bryce:  That's an easy one.  From the first time we met I knew I had to keep an emotional distance and make sure nothing between us became personal.

Do I detect an immediate attraction?

Bryce:  Definitely.  Calling her Bradford helped me maintain that emotional distance.  At least for a while.

Paige:  I was feeling it, too.  As much as I wanted to believe he was the ruthless shark I had made him out to be, the more I was around him…the more I found out about him…my firm convictions began to rapidly crumble.  There was the Italian family who owned the small neighborhood restaurant in London, the business negotiations for new contracts, his work ethic.  Everything going on around me shot down all my preconceived notions until I didn't know what to think anymore.

Tell me about the avalanche.

Paige:  Plain and simple…Bryce literally saved my life.

What happened?

Paige:  It's all in the book.

Oh, I see.  LOL  Another suggestion to buy the book if you want to know the answers.  Sounds like a good idea.  Thank you for being with us today.

***

Next Sunday, December 4, I'll be back here with Melanie Winslow and Cody Chandler as my guests talking about another of my Silhouette Desire ebook reissues, COWBOY DREAMING.  I hope to see you then.

FALLING FOR THE ENEMY, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format. Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/ (do a search for author or title). Barnes and Nobel for NookBooks at http://www.bn.com/ and Amazon for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/

Blurb:

A Dangerously Desirable Boss:

Paige Bradford intended to expose Bryce Lexington for the ruthless shark he was. But when they started working together, the sparks they gave off jettisoned her best intentions…. Paige knew this corporate hunk wasn't what he seemed—but was she losing her heart…to the enemy?

Hiring oh-so-sexy Paige might have been the biggest mistake Bryce had ever made, but he had to learn what she was after. Especially since she had Bryce—the man with everything—wanting something far more precious: Paige's love.

G-rated excerpt (inside front cover):

The look on Bryce Lexington's handsome face said it all.  He liked what he saw, liked it very much. Paige felt an inexplicable tingle of excitement as he continued to stare at her. She quickly pulled the beach jacket on, covering her body from shoulders to mid thigh.

"Tomorrow, Bradford…" Bryce paused to take a calming breath. "Tomorrow bring your own swimsuit." He quickly turned and left the pool house without even pausing to look back.

Paige closed her eyes. The look of smoldering intensity that Bryce had greeted her with popped back into her mind. A tremor of sensual desire made its way through her body, then settled low inside her.

Paige was not sure what she wanted anymore or why she was still there. She probably should have resigned as she had originally planned, but now it was too late.

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Text Copyright © 2002 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright © 2002 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Check out my Shawna Delacorte website for more excerpts from FALLING FOR THE ENEMY.  www.shawnadelacorte.com

AT THE TYCOON'S COMMAND—a conversation with Kim and Jared

Harlequin has recently reissued 13 of my 21 backlist titles in ebook.  Today I'm talking with Jared Stevens and Kim Donaldson about AT THE TYCOON'S COMMAND, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print February 2003 and currently available in ebook.

Hello, Jared and Kim.  Thanks for stopping by to chat with us.

Kim:  It's our pleasure.

Jared:  It's my understanding that you want to talk about how we got together…the rocky road to love.

LOL…yes, something like that.  You do have to admit that your story smacks of elements from Romeo and Juliet or maybe the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Kim:  Yes, indeed…the family feud.

Jared:  Our grandfathers started a feud that had lasted decades.  And in a small town like Otter Crest, something like that can't be hidden.

Am I correct in my understanding that neither of you stuck around Otter Crest after graduating from high school?  You each left in different directions to attend college then stayed away with your careers?

Jared:  I came back when my father died and I took over the helm of the family empire.  The company is headquartered in San Francisco and that was my legal residence, but I'd spend a couple of months each summer at the family compound in Otter Crest.

Kim:  As for me, upon graduation I accepted a teaching job.  I had returned to Otter Crest when my father died…the funeral and then settling his estate.  I had no intention of staying any longer than necessary.  But the day after the funeral, the Stevens' Enterprises corporate attorney showed up at the door of my father's house with a demand for payment of a long overdue financial obligation he claimed my father owed.  And that moment brought the feud full blown to the third generation.  I had perceived the timing of the demand for payment as purposefully designed by Jared as just another unethical Stevens' tactic.

You said he 'claimed' your father owed the debt.  Was it legitimate?

Kim:  My father had insisted it wasn't so, but it turned out to be real.

Jared:  The corporation had a signed and notarized promissory note.  I had my suspicions about the ethics of how it came about, but the paper work was in order and legal.  My concerns were probably what prompted me to make her an offer to work it off rather than paying it off.  The timing was unfortunate, but it was an attempt to reach Paul Donaldson's heir while she was in town.

So, Kim, that's when Jared offered you a means of settling the debt?

Kim:  Yes…he offered to let me work it off.  I immediately interpreted the offer as nothing more than a sleazy proposition—just another ploy by the high and mighty Stevens' family to belittle and humiliate a Donaldson.

Jared:  She totally misinterpreted my offer, but I understood why she would have made that assumption.

Kim:  I had a legal document drawn up stating that my working in his summer office would settle the debt.  It clearly spelled out a legitimate job situation.

That knowing smile and the glances between you two indicate something a little different than some straight forward office work.

Kim:  I thought I had been so thorough in covering all the bases by spelling out the work arrangement in a legal document, but he was one step ahead of me.  It was a job working as his assistant, but there was very little typing or other office type chores involved.  I picked up his dry cleaning, took his car to be detailed, took his dog to the vet and the groomer.  Well, you get the picture.  I was not a happy camper!

That's certainly understandable.  How about you, Jared?  What was your intention with all the menial chores?

Jared:  Our families had been feuding for three generations.  I had just met her for the first time—lots of tension and a definite adversarial situation.  I had no idea if I could trust her around corporate business and felt uncomfortable about her having access to financial records.  I would have simply dismissed the debt if it had been between my father and her father, but it was a business debt and was on the corporate books as such so I needed to make an earnest effort to settle the obligation.  I had no personal interest in a stupid decades old feud and didn’t want to cause her financial difficulty by demanding she pay the debt.  The work situation seemed like a good compromise to me.

Kim:  I didn't know Jared, but had gone to high school with his younger brother, Terry…an arrogant jerk who embodied all my father had said about the Stevens' family.  That, naturally, made me wary of Jared.

Jared:  That's HALF brother.  My father was married six times and there were also all the mistresses and short term affairs.  I'm lucky there was only one half-sibling for me to deal with.

You and your brother…half-brother…don't get along?

Jared:  That's putting it mildly.  Kim is absolutely right in describing him as an arrogant jerk, but she left out the part about him also being totally irresponsible and believing he was entitled to whatever he wanted.  My father and I were never close, but he knew there was no way he could put Terry in charge of anything which left me heading the corporation.

Sounds like you and Kim had several ups and downs before you settled into a relationship.

Kim:  And one frightening incident that made everything else pale in comparison.

That sounds interesting.  What happened?

Jared:  You'll need to read the book to discover that.

LOL…why am I not surprised?

***

Next Sunday, November 27, I'll be back here with Paige Bradford and Bryce Lexington as my guests talking about another of my Silhouette Desire ebook reissues, FALLING FOR THE ENEMY.  I hope to see you then.

AT THE TYCOON'S COMMAND, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format.  Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/ (do a search for Shawna Delacorte for a complete list of my ebook reissues).  Barnes and Noble for NookBooks at http://www.bn.com/.  And Amazon for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/.

Blurb:

Employed By The Enemy:

Working for Jared Stevens was not how teacher Kim Donaldson wanted to spend her vacation, but doing so would pay off her father's debt and end the long-standing feud begun by their grandfathers.  If only Jared hadn't matured into a handsome man with a magnetic appeal and a smooth, sexy voice that made concentrating extremely difficult.

Reformed playboy Jared was nothing like his unethical father.  He was hard working and responsible...and his attraction to his newest employee was immediate and powerful.  Jared found their passionate battles in the office led to steamy lovemaking in the bedroom.  But could a woman who no longer trusted find love with a man afraid of commitment?

G-rated excerpt (inside front cover):

"I'd be willing to let you, uh...work off the debt."

The shock traveled through Kim's body, followed by a sharp jab of anger, which was compounded by the lascivious gleam in Jared's eyes and the unmistakable challenge in his face.

"You'd what?"

"I'd be willing to make arrangements for you to work off the debt this summer while you're not teaching."

"That type of ludicrous line might work on the many women who frequent your bedroom, but I'm most certainly not one of them!"

"Whoa!  Hold on there.  I don't know what you're assuming, but I'm offering a legitimate position, handling the summer office chores."

It made sense, but did she dare trust what he said?  He was a Stevens.  For as long as she could remember, their families had been enemies...

----------------

Text Copyright © 2003 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Shawna Delacorte website (a work in progress)  http://www.shawnadelacorte.com/

HAVING THE BEST MAN'S BABY—a conversation with Jean and Ryland

Harlequin has reissued 13 of my 21 backlist titles in ebook.  Today I'm talking with Jean Summerfield and Ryland Collier about HAVING THE BEST MAN'S BABY, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print October 2003 and currently available in ebook.

Thank you, Jean and Ry, for joining me today.  The two of you first met in high school where you were good friends.  Then suddenly you were like strangers to each other.  After graduation you each went your separate ways and didn't have any contact for fifteen years.  That seems odd to me.  If you were such good friends, why didn't you stay in touch?

Jean:  That's a tough question that doesn't have an easy answer.

That's an odd statement.  Can you elaborate?

Jean:  (glancing at Ry as if to determine if he agreed with what she was about to say)  I couldn't imagine why he would want to be friends with me.  At sixteen, I was overweight, had a mouth full of metal braces, wore ugly glasses, and my wardrobe consisted of second hand clothes that looked like they belonged to a maiden great-aunt…which wasn't far from the truth.  In other words, I was an awkward mess.  Ry, on the other hand, was star quarterback of the football team, class president, and had people falling all over him wanting to be his friend…especially the cheerleaders.  We had a couple of the same classes and just fell into a pattern of walking from the first class to the second together and struck up a friendship.

Ryland:  Jean was so easy to talk to.  I genuinely enjoyed her company.  She was the only person where I truly felt like I could be myself without needing to guard what I said and did.  As to what happened…well, it was my fault.  I wasn't responsible for the circumstances that set it up, but I take full responsibility for the terrible way I handled it.

You keep referring to 'it' as in set 'it' up…handled 'it'…what is the 'it' you're talking about?

Ryland:  A terrible mistake I made that haunted me for fifteen years.  Not a day went by that I didn't have to deal with the guilt over what I'd done.  When I realized who the maid of honor was at my best friend's wedding, I kept vacillating between the anxiety of having to face up to my guilt and the thrill of finding a long lost friend I thought I'd never see again.

So the two of you reconnected at a wedding after fifteen years.  And the wedding provided a conducive setting for your own romance?

Jean:  Yes and no.

Meaning what, if you don't mind me asking.

Jean:  Certainly the week leading up to the wedding was filled with activities involving us with each other and ongoing contact with a bride and groom obviously head-over-heels in love with each other.  But then a dark cloud descended over things…I thought I was pregnant, we discovered that Ry's consulting contract connected to my job.  And then there was the arrival of his wife on the scene.

His wife?

Ryland:  Not wife…EX-wife.  The situation became confused, things were said in the heat of the moment…

So your path to happiness wasn't as smooth as it might have been?

Ryland:  LOL.  That's for sure.

Jean:  I thought for a while that the path had totally disappeared.

That sounds serious.  What happened?

Jean:  Sorry, you'll need—

I know…LOL, I'll need to read the book to find out.

Ryland:  That's it, exactly.  :)

Then that's exactly what I'll do!

***

On Sunday, November 20, I'll be here with Jared Stevens and Kim Donaldson as my guests talking about another of my Silhouette Desire ebook reissues, AT THE TYCOON'S COMMAND.  I hope to see you then.

HAVING THE BEST MAN'S BABY, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format.  Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/ (do a search for Shawna Delacorte for a complete list of my ebook reissues).  Barnes and Noble for NookBooks at http://www.bn.com/.  And Amazon for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/.

Blurb:

Suddenly With Child:

Fifteen years had passed since Ry Collier broke her teenage heart.  Fifteen years during which the golden boy had amassed a fortune, making a name for the man.  Fifteen years during which she'd blossomed into a woman bearing little resemblance to an awkward schoolgirl, if Ry's searing, searching appraisal in meeting her again was any indication.  But quickly, best man Ry knew why the maid of honor looked familiar.  And despite the past, they shared a bed.

And Jean Summerfield became pregnant.

Now she had to tell Ry that one reckless, remarkable night of passion had made a baby.  And risk history repeating itself...

G-rated excerpt (inside front cover):

The passion of Ry Collier infused her with a heated desire.  Certainly physical desire.  But mere infatuation?  No matter how much she denied it, things had moved far beyond mere infatuation.  Once again she was losing her heart to someone in spite of her intentions never to do it again.  Then all her thoughts stopped and she gave herself over to the exhilaration building inside her.

Tonight, following the rehearsal dinner...

The decision to make love with him would take them down an unknown path, one that could lead to love or disaster.  An uneasiness tried to replace the positive feeling.  She shoved it aside.  If she was falling in love—

If...  That was a laugh.  She knew in her heart that it had gone beyond the "if" stage.  She was far too involved to turn back now.

------------

Text Copyright ©2003 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright ©2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Shawna Delacorte website (a work in progress)

http://www.shawnadelacorte.com/

IN FORBIDDEN TERRITORY—a conversation with Angie and Ty

Harlequin has reissued 13 of my 21 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 January 2005 and currently reissued in ebook and available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com (do search for Shawna Delacorte for a complete list of my ebook reissues), from Barnes and Noble for Nook at www.bn.com, and Amazon for Kindle at www.amazon.com

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 a degree 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 an 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 with Mac at his house on Bainbridge Island until I could find a place to live.  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?

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.

***

Next Sunday, November 13, I'll have Jean Summerfield and Ryland Collier as my guests talking about another of my Silhouette Desire ebook reissues, HAVING THE BEST MAN'S BABY.  I hope to see you then.

IN FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format.  Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com (do a search for author name).  Barnes and Noble for NookBooks at www.nb.com.  And Amazon for Kindle at www.amazon.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 (inside front cover):

"Maybe I need a sign around my neck stating I'm an adult," Angie muttered.  "My brother seems to forget that."

"I don't think a sign will be necessary," Tyler told her as his eyes met hers.  "You certainly look grown up to me."

Ty watched as a slight smile turned the corners of her mouth—the same delicious mouth he'd sampled the previous evening.  He tried to clear his head of the thoughts, of desires that could only lead to trouble.  His blood rushed hot and fast each time he came into physical contact with her.  It was a sensation he wanted to pursue even though he knew it was forbidden territory.  There was something about her.

Something he couldn't seem to put into words—something intangible that scared and excited him more than anything else ever had.

Text Copyright © 2005 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright © 2005 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Shawna Delacorte website (a work in progress):  www.shawnadelacorte.com