Good morning, readers!  Crazy month – lots of boring, mind-numbing work that keeps me from all of my lovely characters!  I’m sneaking in time where I can.  Here’s an excerpt of something new! Stay tuned for cover art…

KISS OF THE WILD WOLF

All Nina O’Rourke wants is a baby, a child to bring joy to her husband in his final  days before he succumbs to a ravaging illness, and comfort and happiness as she faces the future alone.  She never thought she’d be the kind of woman to pick up a gorgeous stranger on the side of the road for a night of incredible sex and intense passion, the likes of which she’s never known.  However, when Nina finds herself pregnant and widowed, at the mercy of greedy former in-laws, her future seems more than a little uncertain.  Crossing paths with her hot one night stand is humiliating enough, but maybe he can explain these strange symptoms she’s having…

Billionaire CEO and wolf shifter Malcolm Trask has never been used for sex and dumped before, and the feeling isn’t pleasant.  When the pretty little human who rocked his world stumbles into his life again, he is shocked to find her pregnant and in distress.  Knowing that bringing her into the family will cause tension, not to mention a possible war with a neighboring pack, Malcolm is still determined to protect her and figure out a way to tell her that the baby she’s carrying is less than human.  And hopefully find a way to deal with the situation without losing his heart to her completely.

EXCERPT:

“Are you going to stand there all night?” asked the young woman, and Malcolm pulled himself together enough to give her an easy, hopefully innocent-looking smile.

“Thanks for stopping.  I was out for a walk and the sky just opened up.”

It was a run, actually.  After hours of wining and dining, strip clubs and shots, Malcolm had had more than enough.   It wasn’t his scene, and if Jonathan hadn’t asked him to play nice, he would have headed for the hills.  Grayson, his right hand man, had suggested a run, and driven him up to a remote spot in the woods, arranging to meet him a few miles away, on the other side.  Malcolm had wasted no time, stripping to his skin, stashing his clothes in the backpack he slung over his shoulders, and shifting into the powerful creature that lay just under the surface.

It felt so good to race through the woods at top speed, muscles burning, lungs full of the scent of pine and lush earth, power coursing through his body, all the tension of playing the gracious human host gone.  Bliss.  An hour later, he strolled out of the woods again, fully dressed, and called Grayson…only to discover that the SUV had blown a tire.  Grayson apologized profusely.  He would be along as soon as it was feasible.

Malcolm was just debating his options when the deluge began, and five minutes later, the sedan had pulled up, offering an even more intriguing possibility.

“You were out for a walk?  Out here?”

The woman sounded skeptical, and Malcolm realized she was probably still uncertain.  What woman wouldn’t be, encountering a strange man on the side of the road?

“I like the woods.  My driver was going to meet me, but he got a flat.”

She worried her lower lip, obviously considering the veracity of his story, and Malcolm wanted to groan.  He could spend hours on that mouth.

“There’s a motel a few miles up the road.  I’m sure you can get a room there and wait for your friend.  If you want a lift…”

“I’d appreciate that.  It doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon.”

On cue, lightning cracked the sky and buckets of icy water seemed to course down Malcolm’s neck.

“Okay.”

Thank God.

As a shifter, cold and wet were minor irritations, but Malcolm had grown up in the human world, and now that he was disgustingly rich, he saw no reason not to live the good life whenever possible.  The very good life.

He climbed in the passenger seat, shutting the door, and nearly reeled.  The woman’s delicate rose scent teased his senses and seemed to stroke every inch of his throbbing dick.  His mouth was actually watering.  Though it was dark, he could see that though she was tiny, she was delightfully curvy in all the right places – perfect handfuls of warm, rose-scented flesh wrapped in a red rubber band of a dress.

“I’m Malcolm, by the way,” he said, trying to keep his voice from coming out as a lusty growl.

“Nina,” she said, darting occasional wary looks at him as they started moving.

“You’re perfectly safe with me,” said Malcolm, as gently as he could.

Flustered, Nina seemed to tense more, but after a few minutes, as Malcolm made no sudden moves, she relaxed. Malcolm wanted to smile as she let the mace slip back into the bag in her lap.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt your evening,” he ventured, studying her.

“No, it was pretty much over,” Nina sighed.

“A date?” asked Malcolm, and wanted to kick himself even as she shook her head a little frantically.

Of course it was a date.  No woman dressed like that for herself.  His eyes slid up the generous length of bare golden thigh, and Malcolm was surprised by the sudden possessiveness he felt toward his rescuer.

Not for you, Trask, he warned himself, She’s human and you’re engaged.  Well, spoken for at the very least.

But Malcolm couldn’t stop the vision of pulling the car to the side of the road, draping this gorgeous creature over the hood, and peeling down her dress by light of the headlights so that he could lick away every drop of rain as it fell before wrapping those shapely thighs around his hips.  He growled internally at the thought that she might have been entertaining another man in drier, if similar fashion, earlier tonight, and inhaled deeply.  Roses, woman, and yes, there was the scent of another man, though muted.  If she’d touched him, it wasn’t recently, and it certainly wasn’t sexual. Malcolm would know.

This sudden attraction bothered him.  He didn’t sleep with human women, not even in his younger days before his arrangement with Eliana.  Wolf shifter women were stunning in an Amazonian warrior kind of way – all sleek strength and lithe femininity.  When he looked at Nina, all Malcolm could think was soft.

Lush. 

Tasty.

And aroused, unless his sniffer was very much mistaken.

Malcolm dug his fingers into his thighs, his claws emerging just slightly to dig into the denim.  The bite of pain centered him.  It was only a few miles to the motel.  They’d part ways and he’d never have to worry about this pretty little human unsettling him ever again.