Friday, August 10, 2012

WOO HOO! RE-RELEASE OF THE TEXAN'S IRISH BRIDE

When an author's rights on a previously published book reverts to him/her, the  process of publication begins anew. This time, I wanted to self-publish. Please don't think I have any complaints about the previous publisher, The Wild Rose Press. In fact, the staff and other authors at The Wild Rose Press are wonderful people. However, I'm trying to view my writing as a business, and I can make more money by self-publishing.

Hero and I planned the cover and Hero put it together. I love the result.What do you think?




Here's the blurb:
Cenora Rose O’Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She’d do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the bully Tom Williams. A fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Tom Williams.    

Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he’s trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family’s wagon to be tended.  He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who goes back on his word. His wife has a silly superstition for everything, but passion-filled nights with her make up for everything—even when her wild, eccentric family drives crazy. 

Here's and excerpt from the first night on Dallas's ranch:
Her rose scent filled him, and he thought he would never tire of it. She fumbled with his shirt buttons then pushed it from his shoulders. 
“Yours is a very broad chest.” 
Her fingers skimmed across him, and his need for her magnified. When she traced the whorls of his nipple, he thought his knees might give way. He stilled her hand.
“There’s something I want from you, have wanted since we met.”
Fear sprang into her widened emerald eyes and she paled. Dang, he cursed himself for frightening her and her for not trusting him. 
Her voice trembled. “Wh—What would you be asking?” 
“Dance for me.” He knew it sounded crazy, but he’d imagined this for days.
She looked askance. “Here? But ‘tis your bedroom, and not a note ‘o music playing.”
“This is our bedroom, and you can sing or hear the music in your head to keep time.”
“But—” 
“Please? Not for coins or where others can see, but only for me.”
A slow smile spread across her face, and she cocked her head to one side. “Aye, I see now. If ‘tis for your pleasure, then ‘twill be mine.”
After she took off her shoes and stockings, she spun away. But not in the regimented dance he’d seen when other women accompanied her. This time she took the red scarf from her waist and used it as an instrument meant to entice a man. 
Her man. 
Him.
She twirled as if to a measured rhythm only she heard. Her green skirt and white petticoats billowed out to reveal long, perfect legs. Legs he wanted around him. She slid the scarf in imitation of a caress along her slender arms. Then she moved the red silk along her body. 
Dang, he was hot as a gunslinger’s pistol and just as hard. His manhood strained against his britches until he thought he’d pop through the fabric. He loosened the buttons and stepped from his clothes, never taking his gaze from her. Reaching behind him, he turned back the bedding and sat on the sheet.
Before his heat warmed the cool fabric, she pulled him to the middle of the room and circled around him. He pivoted, naked as a newborn, and watched her every move. Dipping, fluttering, and arching her lithe frame, she lured him with each sinuous flow of her body. 
Flush with the throbbing pulsating through him, he pictured himself plunging into her again and again as she wound around him. Her erotic gyrations set his already heated blood at a boil, but he stood mesmerized by her and the dance. 
Her flaming hair streamed around her in a fiery cloud. She looped the scarf over his head, and the red silk left a tingling trail across his shoulders and down his right arm. Then she threaded it around her own shoulders and sawed it while she shrugged first one shoulder up and then the other one. Fabric of her blouse pulled taut against her full breasts and pushed the peaked nipples into view. 
Dallas McClintock
iStock Photo
Dang, he couldn’t take much more of this, or he’d explode like fireworks on the Fourth of July. On and on she whirled and kicked, first coming near to brush against him, then moving back with a captivating smile. Teasing him with the piece of silk as she pulled it across his body, she seared him with her touch and made him part of her beguiling ritual. 
When he could stand it no longer, he said, “Come here, let’s dance together in bed.” To his ears, his voice rasped hoarse with the need that burned inside him.
She approached slowly, seductively, with fluid grace. As she moved, she drew off her remaining clothes. Twining the scarf around his wrists, she pulled his arms high until she slid under them, imprisoning him and herself in their circle.
“Now we are truly bound together,” she said, her voice breathy from her exotic dance.
“Am I your prisoner, then?” he asked, amused at her tempting play even as her touch fueled his need.
“Yes, and I am yours.” She met his gaze, but her jewel eyes held uncertainty. “Did I please you then, or was I too forward with meself?”
“You are beautiful and graceful, and your dance was even more special than I’d hoped.”
She breathed a big sigh. “Then you approve and will be taking me to bed now?”
“I suppose I must do as you say, since I’m your prisoner.” He nibbled at her neck, and she released the scarf binding him. The silk fell from his skin as her arms slid around his shoulders. 
Their lips met, and he delved his tongue to sample her nectar. She responded with fervor. He rejoiced that if he must be tied to this woman, at least she shared his apparently boundless passion. He pulled her with him across the bed, then scooted her until she lay cushioned in the center of the thick mattress. 
“Finally, I can see and taste all of you.”
“I’m hoping ‘tis all right for us to act so heathen.”
He lay propped on an elbow beside her, content for a moment to look his fill of her. “It isn’t heathen for a husband and wife to enjoy one another. Doesn’t it feel right?” 
In the golden lamplight, her skin gleamed like ivory. 
“Aye, it feels more than right. It’s as if being with you is where I was meant to be.”
He smoothed her auburn hair across the pillow. It looked even more glorious there than he had dreamed. Desire darkened her emerald eyes, and the pink of exertion tinged her cheeks. 
“No woman will ever be more beautiful than you are right now.”
“If you think that, then we’re well matched, for never lived a more handsome man than you are.”
He took her graceful hand in his and brought it to his lips. After he pressed a kiss to her palm, he suckled each fingertip. 
She pulled away and put her hands under her. “You’ll be driving me mad with wanting. Hurry.”
He smiled down at her and shook his head. “Nope. I’ve thought about this night since we wed. Reckon we might not get much sleep, for I intend to take my time.” 
“But ‘tis torture waiting.” She reached for his manhood.
He twisted away. “Let me give you something to think about, then.” Starting with her beautiful eyes, he rained kisses on her face, her neck, and her shoulders. He cradled one of her ample breasts while his mouth suckled the other. 
She moaned and clutched him to her. 
In spite of his throbbing need, he restrained his own urgency and slowly trailed kisses down her ribs, her stomach, to her mound of curls. He slid a finger inside her moist heat. 
“Now, Dallas, now. I can’t wait another second.”
Desire won, and he stretched himself over her. “Nor can I,” he said and slid into her. “Let’s begin our own dance.

If you haven't read this book, I hope you will. It's available in print and ebook from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and in ebook from Smashwords:

In print from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Texans-Irish-Bride-McClintocks-Book/dp/1478351675/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344613910&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Texan%27s+Irish+Bride

As an ebook from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/TEXANS-IRISH-BRIDE-McClintocks-ebook/dp/B008V1UG54/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1344613991&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Texan%27s+Irish+Bride


Thanks for stopping by!

6 comments:

Earl Staggs said...

Loved the excerpt, Caroline, and the cover is fantastic. I hope you'll loan out that Hero sometime. Best wishes with the new issue of THE TEXAN'S IRISH BRIDE.

Carra Copelin said...

Caroline, so nice to have the rights, I know you're happy. This cover is beautiful. Please tell Hero he done good! This is on my TBR list. I'm still reading and loving Brazos Bride.

Jacquie Rogers said...

Caroline, this series is gonna sell like gangbusters! Love the cover. You've got it goin', girl. :)

Caroline Clemmons said...

Thanks, folks, for stopping by. You are very kind. Thanks for stopping by.

Beth Trissel said...

Congrats Caroline and many sales.

Unknown said...

The cover is beautiful. I love the story too.