As promised (threatened?), I’m going to highlight my 2010 releases. First up is LEAVE ME BREATHLESS. This book is not related to any other book I’ve written. It’s one I’ve been wanting to write for about two years. The plot kept playing in the back of my head. I took some notes, jotted down a page-long synopsis and then tried to forget about it. Then last year I thought why the heck not?
The book follows hottie prosecutor-turned-judge Ben Walker. Seems someone is trying to kill him. He’s in denial and refusing anything other than minimal protection provided by the courthouse. After all, he’s a former Army sharpshooter. And then there’s the part where he thinks he’s not the target. He’s more concerned about a friend and fellow judge who’s gotten into trouble lately. Callie Robbins isn’t impressed with any of that. She’s been hired by Ben’s brother as private security protection for Ben. Her job is to cover Ben. What she really wants to do most of the time is strangle him. She thinks he’s arrogant and annoying. He thinks she’s wasting her time and in the way. For example:
“I already cleared the assignment with Judge Samson,” Mark said. “Callie will move in here under the guise of a new judges’ assistant program. She’ll share your office-”
Ben’s eyes bulged. “What?”
“Where else would I put her?” Mark asked.
Callie really wasn’t in the mood to be “put” anywhere. “Could we not refer to me as if I were a plant?”
Ben ignored her. He was too busy grabbing the edge of his desk with enough force to snap off the wood trim. “That is never going to happen.”
“I can’t really protect you effectively from the hallway,” she pointed out.
“No one will buy that you’re working for me.” Ben held up both hands and shrugged his shoulders in what Callie assumed was some sort of peace offering. “No offense.”
“How could I possibly be offended by that,” she mumbled.
He shook his head, as if giving up the fight was beyond him. “There’s security here. We’ve got a metal detector and there are emergency call buttons hidden everywhere in the office.”
“Which will be very helpful if you’re shot in the head before you can reach it.” Callie knew the guy had to be smarter than this. He passed the Bar and managed to get appointed by the governor. That suggested there was a working brain in that head somewhere.
Ben finally agrees to let Callie stay. He assumes he can control the situation and maneuver her right back out of his life as soon as his brother stops worrying, but Callie is not really the type to be ordered around:
She needed to understand how this arrangement was going to work. Her pushy demanding act was not the right answer. “The governor who appointed me and the electorate that keeps me here would disagree.”
She rolled her eyes. Made quite the dramatic scene of it, too. “Must you talk like that?”
“Like what?”
“All hoity and superior.”
He tried to remember the last time someone fought him this hard and showed so little respect for his position. He came up with an answer fast: never. “Was it the word ‘electorate’ that upset you?”
She threw her notebook on his desk. “To be honest, most everything you say annoys me.”
But fighting is not all they do…
“Are you flirting with me, your Honor?”
“Of course not.” The hitch to his voice said differently.
That would be a disaster. Fun but dangerous. She knew how this scenario played out. She went through these cycles of attraction. Someone would appeal to her, they’d connect, the sex would consume her and then she’d lose.
One of them had to exercise some common sense. From the way her palms started sweating and the rush of excitement that just shot through her stomach, it better be her before she lost all control. “In addition to the fact I don’t like you all that much and have been tempted to shoot you several times since meeting you-”
“Thanks for refraining.”
“-it would be a conflict for you to be involved with anyone who works for you.”
He nodded in that superior way that threatened to pop the top of her head off. “Well argued. You could be a lawyer with that reasoning. Except that you’ve forgotten one very important fact.”
That was quite possible since she couldn’t remember anything at the moment. “Which is?”
“You work for my brother, not me.”
You like? I hope so. Here’s the book information:
Leave Me Breathless
Kensington Brava
Release date: February 23, 2010 (officially listed as March 2010)
You can pre-order from a bunch of sites, including Borders, Books-A-Million, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
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