Excerpts

Dangerous Prey (December 2008)

If you love Morgan's Mercenaries, then get ready for Kelly Trayhern's book!

"She is the fraternal twin of the family. Expert pilot kelly Trayhern thrives on risk--and nothing's more exciting than fight fires, dropping water from her helicopter onto the blazes below. But on one especially perilous mission, the furious flames change her life in a way she never expected...

Raptor rehabilitator Sky McCoy had his own dream of flying, dreams that were brutally crushed when he was a teenager, and only the quick actions of fearless Kelly Trayhern saved his life. He had to leave her then, but he's never forgotten her--and when she needs him most, nothing will keep him away.

Now, the mysterious native American is determined to heal Kelly's spirit as he heals his birds of prey. But can he save her life despite the evil threat h knows is looming, waiting to destroy everything he loves?"

Mission: Christmas

THE CHRISTMAS WILD BUNCH by Lindsay McKenna.

This short story is about an executive office for the Black Jaguar Squadron. Major Dallas Klein finally leaves Peru and their secret base run solely by officers and enlisted women, for a border assignment. Dallas is asked to become executive officer for the Border Patrol and will be in charge of flying Cessna aircraft over well known drug corridors in Mexico to the US border. Mike Murdoch, ATF agent, is the head of the "wild bunch" at the Border Patrol airfield just inside the US boundary. Murdoch does not want to have a woman for a boss. The sparks fly immediately between them and Dallas doesn't tread lightly. She's been in charge for years and knows what it takes to whip the Wild Bunch into shape to chase the bad guys, the drug smugglers. Will Mike bend his iron will to her steel will? Or not? These two get along like a cat and dog warily circling one another. And yet, they are inexplicably drawn to one another. Will Dallas be able to tame this group of challenging ATF pilots? Or not?

SNOWBOUND WITH A PRINCE by Susan Grant

During an unprecedented cold wave causing death, injury, and extensive damage to property throughout most of Northern Europe, Major Kat Wallace volunteers to fly a humanitarian Christmas drop to assist those affected by record-breaking snow. Stranded in bad weather, she soon finds herself battling off hostiles.

Kat’s reason for taking a mission so close to Christmas is quite sentimental. While serving as a young pilot training instructor, she met Prince Alek, crown prince to one of the oldest, unbroken lines of royalty, second only to the Danes, who is attending pilot training at her base. Despite her attraction to the impossibly cocky prince, when put in the position to pass or fail him on a check ride for which he’d obviously not prepared despite his undeniable, natural flying skills, she busts him, causing him to meet a review board to determine whether he stays or goes. Recognizing his potential that he doesn’t seem to see or accept in himself, she recommends that he get a second chance. But it’s too late. He’s called back home to face revolution, never to be heard from again. In the years since, she’s often wondered what happened to him.

Alek is anything but dead. For years he’s been fighting as a rebel leader, determined to restore the monarchy in his homeland as well as his people’s freedom and honor. He’s made many mistakes, not the least of which was refusing to accept that there are consequences for bad behavior. From the bastard son he fathered when he was eighteen (a motherless boy he now at 31 cares for) to his not educating himself on the problems of his kingdom, he has made many mistakes. Now he’s set out to right those wrongs, even if it means losing his life in the process. He owes part of his epiphany to the gorgeous, fast-talking, and (to his confusion and dismay) totally unaffected by his charms USAF pilot Kat Wallace, who (rightfully so) bounced his ass out of pilot training. She changed his life, even if he didn’t yet recognize it. Somehow she saw in him what he didn’t, or couldn’t, but what he hoped to God he could call on now in the battle for his homeland, his people, and the chance to reverse his failing them.

Kat is more than wary of the wannabe prodigal prince’s intentions. She’s not entirely convinced he’s done playing with life as if it were a silly game. But with communications cut off, weather moving in and her own crew to protect, Kat forms a way-outside-the box (not to mention protocol) alliance with Alek. With forces joined, and their fiery attraction melting the wintry ice, Kat and Alek wonder if trust alone will be enough to survive the dangers looming ahead.

The Quest (February 2008)

Have you ever wondered about crop circles?

These mystical symbols appear magically in fields of wheat, rape, and other grains over in Europe. In fact, crop circles appear the world over, with the greatest amount of them in the southwestern part of England. I have walked in and investigated crop circles with my good friend, Michele Burdet, a world class dowser from Switzerland in 2004. The book is a result of those forays into just created crop circles in the Wiltshire area of England.

And, for those of you who love Warriors for the Light, this is book three of the series! I do hope you enjoy it as archeologists Kendra Johnson and Nolan Galloway go on an Indiana Jones-like expedition to southwest England. They are in search of the third emerald sphere. But the Dark Lord of the Tupay, the heavy energy, wants it, too. And this time, he is not going to be denied.

If you love crop circles, danger, life-death struggles, then THE QUEST is for you! I hope you enjoy it.

Heart of the Storm (December 2007)

An audio version of HEART OF THE STORM is available through audible.com for those who would rather listen to a book instead of reading it. In our busy every day world, reading is an exotic pleasure at times that we just don’t have because of our hectic, stress-filled lives. Doubleday bookclub romance section, Rhapsody, will featured it as an alternate selection . And of course, Harlequin is putting out the ebook for ebook lovers.

Dark Truth (July 2007)

An Excerpt from Dark Truth

"Get outta my way! Move! Move!" a young Peruvian boy barked, pushing aggressively against her.

Ana Elena Rafael gave a small cry of surprise as she fought the grogginess of her dream and tried to disembark from the airliner. The aisle was jammed with a crush of restless passengers. The child shoved against her hip and then wriggled past. Ana had been patiently waiting to deplane at the Cuzco airport, when the abrupt attack occurred.

Stunned, she didn't have time to think or move. She'd been standing in the aisle of the first-class section when the pushy child launched himself into her. The boy and his father had sat right behind her during the Lima to Cuzco flight, the child shrieking and pummeling her chair.

Nerves raw, she threw out her hands now, completely off balance. To her dismay, she realized she was going to fall right into the arms of a passenger sitting on the opposite side of the aisle.

Ana saw the man turn and look up as she cried out, a surprised expression in his alert blue eyes. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she awkwardly pitched forward and he caught her.

She had been vaguely aware of the thirtysomething man when he'd boarded the plane in Lima. It was a one-hour flight up and over the mighty Andes to Cuzco, nearly thirteen thousand feet above sea level. He'd gotten up once to go to the restroom, which was located near the cockpit door.

Bothered by the constant hammering on the back of her seat, Ana hadn't take much notice of any other passengers. She recalled that when the man had come out of the restroom, his blue eyes had focused on her like a laser. Or maybe more aptly, because she was a wildlife biologist who studied jaguars, he reminded her of a big cat focused on its prey...

Read more... Available as an eBook from Harlequin

Unforgiven (October 2006)

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Unforgiven

"One shot...one kill. The sixteen-pound sledge hammer came down with such fierce power that the granite boulder beneath shattered instantly. A spray of glittering mica exploded into the air and sparkled momentarily around the man who wielded the tool as if it were a weapon. Sweat ran in rivulets down Reno Manchahi's drawn, intense face. Naked from the waist up, the hot July sun beating down on his back, he hefted the sledge hammer skyward once more. Muscles in his thick forearms leaped and biceps bulged. Even his breath was focused on the boulder. In his mind's eye, he pictured Army General Robert Hampton's fleshy, arrogant fifty-year-old features on the rock's surface. Air exploded from between this thinned lips as he brought the avenging hammer downward. The boulder pulverized beneath his funneled hatred. One shot...one kill...

Nostrils flaring, he inhaled the dank, humid heat and drew it deep into his massive lungs. The only way he felt alive was to picture Hampton on every rock face he destroyed. Revenge allowed Reno to endure his imprisonment at a US Navy brig near San Diego, California. Droplets of sweat were flung in all directions as the crack of his sledge hammer claimed a third boulder victim.

Mouth taut, Reno moved to the next boulder. The other prisoners in the stone yard gave him a wide berth since they instinctively felt his simmering hatred, the revenge that was palpable in his cinnamon-colored eyes.

And they whispered he was different.

Reno enjoyed being a loner for good reason. He came from a medicine family of shapeshifters. The genes of his heritage allowed him to transform from human to jaguar at will. But even this secret power had not protected him--or his family. What life did he have left?"

Read more... Available as an eBook from Harlequin