Guess the Book #7

Can you guess the book this passage came from?

Before she could retreat, he cupped the back of her neck, easing the canteen to just before her lips. Apparently, he wanted to hand-feed her the water.

She didn't trust the demon, didn't like him. He was brutish, possibly a hardened murderer. She was tempted to tell him where he could shove that canteen, but she needed the contents too badly.

Humans could die after three days without water-- indoors. C--- had been in hell for more than a day, mostly running, and she was feeling it.

"Very well." She parted her lips, and he pressed the opening against them. Water flowed, hot and metallic. Never had she tasted anything as good.

As she drank, she could feel the liquid already hitting her system, the effects washing over her with the force and speed of a drug rush. Her eyelids slid shut.

Within moments, her headache and twinges ebbed.

He drew the canteen away, but only to let her breathe for a second. "So good," she murmured.

He hastily pressed it back to her lips. She peeked at him, saw how he stared at her, his gaze hooded. He was probably growing aroused by how greedily she hit that canteen.

But she couldn't worry about that. Water ran down her chin and neck, wetting her halter over one of her breasts. Doesn't matter.

What was wrong with her? She was being manipulated by a demon, was captive to his whims. He could bite her at any time. And I can barely keep my eyes open.

He pulled it away much too soon, his eyes glued to her sodden top. He got a sinful look in his eyes...then he poured water over her other breast. She jerked back, out of his hold, gasping, "Stop that!"

In the middle of a place like this, purposely spilling water seemed extravagant and wicked. She couldn't contain a shiver, and her nipples hardened beneath her halter, right before his transfixed gaze.

He gave a husky growl, emanating a weird sense of happiness. Like awe. Like wonder.

"Ara, minde jart," he finally said, hitting his hand against his chest. His voice had gotten hoarse.

"Female, my...heart?" Again, he tried to make her understand that she was his. So he thought that was the only reason she hadn't surrendered to him?

What do you think? Any ideas??

Guess the Book #6

It's time once again to play "Guess the book". I give you a passage out of a book and you try to guess which book it came out of. The names have been omitted to make it harder. Good Luck!

K--- nodded, looking up at him. His eyes were black in the torchlight, his cheekbones drawn, and his wet hair slicked straight back from his head. He looked like a Cossack warrior, the kind who pillaged villages and stole maidens.

Maidens like her, milkmaids and poor relations and women with few relatives.

She cleared her throat and quickly shifted off his lap to the seat next to him. "Thank you for warming me," she said, starting to shiver immediately.

An odd look passed through his eyes and she followed his gaze downward. Her gown was utterly soaked, of course, and unfortunately her wax breasts had not survived their bath unscathed. One was still in place, perkily holding up K---'s meager offering. But the one on the right, where G---'s arm had towed her through the water, had been squished. The misshapen remains had migrated down and were positioned just above her waistline.

She looked down, thinnking desperately what to say. "H--- calls them her 'bosom friends,'" she blurted out, saying the first thing that came to her head. "If you would please close your eyes..."

He did. "A gentleman would not be grinning like that," she scolded, plucking the freezing ball of wax from her ruined gown. The crushed one was a bit trickier, but she was able to pull her destroyed bodice down enough to pull it out through her stays.

The boat was close to shore by the time she had restored her bosom to its natural state. Luckily they were obscured from view by the fact that their torch had at last spluttered out, though she could make out curious faces lining the marble basin.

"All right," she said, hauling her bodice into a reasonable approximation of its former self.

He opened his eyes.

"Take that expression off your face!" she said crossly.

"It's this or look at you in such a way that everyone would know exactly what I'm thinking about," he said softly.

She glanced down and saw her nipples poking straight through the wet silk. Heat rose in her face. "You'd better give the discards to me," he said. "If the servants find them, they'd never be able to keep it to themselves."

She had them hidden at her side, but she reluctantly handed them over. G--- turned over the blobs of wax. "You don't need these," he said. "But they're fascinating, all the same."

Guess the Book #6

I think I might make Guess the Book a regular post on my blog. I haven't decided how frequently, but expect to see them more often. They are a lot of fun.

This excerpt is a particular favorite of mine. The scene I really wanted to post was much longer. I had to just take a small portion of it or I would have given too much away. Can you guess which book it came from?

I was almost to the wall. My room to maneuver shrank to nothing.

I smashed my knuckles into his solar plexus. He exhaled in a sharp breath and drove me into the wall. His forearm pinned my left arm. I hammered my right fist into his ear. He growled, caught my wrist, and locked it against the wall above my head.

I had no room to move. Game over.

He crushed me against the wall, bracing me with his body. I strained, trying to break free. He might have been made of stone for all the good it did me. Except he was made of flesh and he was stark naked.

I strained every muscle I had. Nothing. Outmuscling him was beyond me.

"Feel better?" he inquired.

"Lean over to the left, Your Majesty."

"Want a shot at my jugular with your teeth?" He leaned to the right, exposing his thick neck. "Carotid's better."

"My teeth are too small. I wouldn't cause enough damage for you to bleed out. Jugular is better---if I rip it a bit and get air bubbles into the bloodstream, they'll be in your heart in two breaths. You would pass out at my feet." A normal human would die, but it took more than an air embolism to bring a shapeshifter down permanently.

"Here you go." He leaned his head to me, his neck so close to my lips, I felt the heat coming off his skin. His breath was warm against my ear. His voice was a ragged snarl. "I miss you."

This wasn't happening.

"I worry about you." He dipped his head and looked into my eyes. "I worry something stupid will happen and I won't be there and you'll be gone. I worry we won't ever get a chance and it's driving me out of my skull."

No, no, no, no...

We stared at each other. The tiny space between us felt to hot. Muscles bulged on his naked frame. He looked feral.

Mad gold eyes stared into mine. "Do you miss me, K---?'

I closed my eyes, trying to shut him out. I could lie and then we'd be back to square one. Nothing would be resolved. I'd still be alone, hating him and wanting him.

He grabbed my sholders and shook me once. "Do you miss me?"

I took the plunge. "Yes."

He kissed me. The taste of him was like an explosion of color in a gray room. It was a fierce, possessive kiss and I melted into it. His tongue brushed mine, eager and hot. I licked at it, tasting him again. My arms slid around his neck.

Guess the Book #5

It's been a while since I did a Guess the Book post. Can you guess which book this excerpt is from? The names have been removed to make it a little harder.

C--- gasped for breath, while her heart thumped madly. "You would have me in the same position as Miss D---," she said. "Pregnant and pleading for you to marry me."

"God, yes, I would love that."

She nearly choked with indignation, while his long fingers teased her inside and out. Her body began to clench in a slow, steady pulse of desire. There were great swaths of fabric caught between their bodies, layers of remaining clothing, and all she could feel was his mouth at the back of her neck, and that devilishly persuasive hand.

"I have never said this to anyone before." L---'s voice was like ragged velvet. "But the idea of you with child is the most insanely arousing thing I've ever imagined. Your belly all swollen, your breasts heavy, the funny little way you would walk... I would worship you. I would take care of your every need. And everyone would know that I'd made you that way, that you belonged to me."

"You...you are so..." She couldn't even think of a suitable word.

"I know. Woefully primitive." Laughter threaded through his voice. "But I must be tolerated, because I'm a man and I really can't help it."

Guess the Book #4

Since I had so much fun with the last one, I thought I would play again. Can you guess out of which book this passage came?

Instantly his spine stiffened, his eyes narrowed, and a prickly ball bounced around in his gut.

"Smells good," B--- said easily and sniffed the air. "Would that be crubeens you're doing there? I doubt we'll have such fare in Waterford City."

She was wearing paint, and sparkly things at her ears. And for God's sake a dress - one that didn't leave the matter of curves to a man's imagination and showed a great deal of slim, well muscled leg.

"What are you doing, done up like that?"

"Having dinner with D--- and her Dubliners." She'd rather, much rather pull up a chair at the table, snag a portion and tuck into the crubeens, but she'd given her word. And that was that.

"You're going out with a man you've never laid eyes on."

"D--- has, and I'd best go up and drag her away from her mirror or she'll primp another hour and I'll never get my dinner."

"Just a damn minute."

His tone alone would have stopped her, it was very sharp and un-S---like. But even before she could turn back, he had her arm. "Well, what's lit into you, then?"

"Perfume, too," he said in disgust, as he got a good, heady whiff of her scent. "I should've known it. Well, you can just turn staight around and go back home. I'm not having you go off dressed like this."

Temper would have snapped out, would have bitten him on the neck, but it couldn't get through the thick wall of shock. "You're not having it? Dressed like what?"

"I'm not, no. And you know very well dressed like what. It's surprised I am that your mother let you out of the house this way."

"I'm twenty-four, if you've forgotten. My mother stopped approving my choice of attire some years ago. And it's surely no business of yours what I'm wearing."

"I'm making it my business. Now go home and wash that stuff off your face."

"I'll do nothing of the sort." The fact was, she'd used the lipstick and so forth only because she knew D--- would have slathered twice as much on her if she'd shown up without it. But there was no reason to mention that, especially since that temper was busily gnawing through the shock.

"Fine, then, I'll do for you here and now." He hauled her up under one arm, ignoring her shrieked curse and the fist that swiped at his temple and carted her toward the sink. He had a vision through the black haze of his fury of dumping her in headfirst and turning the water on full and ice cold.

Are you clammoring for more, yet?

Guess the Book...

Here is a passage from a book. Can you guess which one?

He spoke calmly, deliberately. "Take off your clothes."

Though he had said them quietly, R--'s words seemed to echo in the chamber. Take off your clothes...your clothes...your clothes... M-- stared at him, not moving.

R-- took a step toward her. There was nothing menacing or threatening in his approach, yet it prompted M-- to throw out a question as her first defense.

"Why?" she demanded.

His approach halted. He stared at her for a long moment. Her complexion was markedly paler now, and her hands had stopped twisting the bandana. Tension kept her body rigid and rooted to her spot. "I believe I've already told you that you don't have to understand my orders to obey them."

M-- sucked in a breath as if she'd been slapped. The first wave of anger had to pass before she trusted herself to speak. "There's something you should understand about me, Mr. M--," she said quietly. "I obey no man uquestioningly. Blind obedience is for my God alone."

R-- felt heat rush into his face as M--'s green eyes narrowed on him coldly.

M-- was satisfied with his reaction. "Now tell me why I should take off my clothes."

He held up a hand and began ticking off the reasons. "They're damp. They're mine. They don't fit you. They look ridiculous."

M-- stared at his hand. Four fingers had already come up and now the thumb was slowly being raised. "And?" she asked, her eyes going from his hand to his face.

"And I want you naked."

Good stuff, eh? If you haven't read this one, trust me you are going to want to!