“Before I knew it, Sexual Susan had taken over. She didn’t care if it was a dream; she was going to make the most of it.

My lips met his in an explosion of passion. Our lips squashed together as our arms encircled each other, pulling our bodies together, roughly. I felt his fingers at my zip then was faintly aware of the rough sound of it unzipping and the feel of his fingers against my bare skin. My tongue dived between his lips, found his and playfully poked it into a passionate riposte.

I was in a daze, in a dream, in one of the many fantasies I had created around this man. His hands grasped at my dress and pulled down, encouraging me to move my arms and aid him in the removal of this barrier between us. The beautiful velvet pooled around my waist and I felt his hands fiddling with my bra clasp. My hands were busy too, untying his tie, unbuttoning the front of his shirt and reaching in to feel the soft warmth of his chest, the smattering of hair tickling my finger tips.

“Our mouths were still locked, our kisses still fevered as we battled with each other’s clothes. I felt the bra give and his hands were suddenly there, cupping my dropping breasts, squeezing and tweaking them, making me groan and gasp. Our lips parted, I needed to gulp in air, and I felt light-headed with sexual frenzy and lust. I watched his chest rising and falling rapidly then I set about removing his jacket and shirt completely after pulling free of the loose bra draped over my shoulders.” Till the End.

“I kissed him then. Up until that moment I’d been determined to give him a quick snuggle and a kiss and to send him back off to his dad’s place so we could both get some sleep before the big day. His declaration touched me and I kissed him. That was my mistake because once his lips were on mine all sane thought and common sense went out of the window. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and pulled him against me. I wanted him, this wonderful man who’d done so much to make me happy.

I was overwhelmed by how much good John brought to my life. Tears decorated my cheeks because the joy I felt was just too huge to contain.

‘Hey now, no more tears,’ he whispered and wiped them away with his thumbs. ‘We’re done with those.’ ‘Happy tears,’ I sniffed, unable to articulate anything approaching a whole sentence. ‘Oh, OK, I’ll let you off then.’ ‘I’d prefer you get me off!’ I winked and he chuckled throatily, a sexy sound that sent a surge of lust from my fingertips to my toes.” Getting Hitched.

“I held my breath.

He looked at my lips, and I darted my tongue out instinctively to wet the dried flesh that I had suddenly become intensely aware of.

It was just like my favourite moment from any Bollywood film. Time slowed, colours intensified and I noticed the ice shock of his blue corneas against the jet black, widened pools of lust that were his pupils.

I could hear the softened, romantic music. It might have been real or imagined, I wasn’t sure, but everything in the background faded away, and it became as if Rahul and I were the only people in all the world.

The moment his lips touched mine, I felt as if I had been switched on. Turned on, certainly, but I was also fully functioning. Every little brush of his lips on mine registered in every last, little nerve. Every movement excited me. I realised I had been left on standby since I had been dumped by Danny, my body just going through the motions. Rahul’s kiss brought me back to life.”

When Gianetta Poe takes a governess position in 1782 for young Willa MacGregor at Lochlorn, she thinks her life will become more stable, if dull. However, a risque late night summons from the master of the estate and someone crying in the night at Lochlorn prove otherwise. She soon learns that the master, Gawain MacGregor, plans to marry her even if it is against her will, but first he will teach her what he wants her to learn in order to please him. The question is whether she will survive his lessons or the being that stalks her in the night. Will Gianetta survive the dark forces that threaten her life and sanity? And who is the woman with red hair who haunts her nights?

And an excerpt:

November 1, 1782 * * * I had no sooner put my quill away and made my toilette for the evening, slipping into my cream-colored wool chemise—a special gift from my father some years before that was almost worn out now. But I held onto it stubbornly—and warm mule slippers—when I heard a knock at my door. Who could it be at this hour? It must be nearly bedtime for the household, but perhaps things were done differently in the country. I wanted no company after the long, tiring journey, but what could I do but answer the door? I was a simple governess here and would no longer have a will of my own in how I passed my days and nights. That realization came swiftly with this late night visitor.

I rose from the bed quickly, glad of the fire roaring in the grate on such a cold evening. I opened the door cautiously, poking my head out.

“Master wants to see you in the library.” The woman’s face was pockmarked and lined. She did not smile.

“At this hour? But I’ll need to get dressed again.” I felt flustered. What in heaven’s name could the man want at this time of night? I hadn’t even met him yet, and a meeting now would be quite unseemly.

“Master says no. Just come along. He requires it, and you’ll soon learn his will is as good as law ‘round here.” The woman rolled her eyes and frowned as she opened the door wider and jerked her head to the left, indicating I should follow her. She waved her candle my way, and I opened the heavy door all the way, stepping into the cold, dim hall. The old stones of the floor were hard under my slipper-clad feet, and the candlelight flickered as we walked down the seemingly endless hallway, and traversed the winding staircase toward the first floor of the castle.

On the ground floor, faces of the MacGregor forebears glared down at me, light hitting their portraits, illuminating a cold, blue eye here and a sharp nose there, along the walls. I shivered inadvertently, the sheer number of oil paintings made me want to shriek and run. There must have been a hundred of them—most of them men. The castle was disturbing. A dark undercurrent ran through its dank walls, chilling me to my soul. The servant led me along another short hallway and stopped at a heavy, dark door.

“The master will be in here. Well, don’t just stand there, girl. Go in.” She cracked a frightening grin and scampered off. My heart flipping in my chest, I turned the knob on the door and it squeaked open. I was frightened and confused. What honorable man would ask me to his library at this time of night—in my chemise, no less? I flushed, knowing none would. I feared my fate here would be like that of Louise Rust—a girl from my community who had come home to her widowed mother in disgrace and noticeably with child after a stint as governess for a lord.

The room was dimly lit, wall sconces illuminating gold lettered bindings on cracked leather spines. Books were everywhere on tall shelves. In the middle of the room was a large mahogany desk with lions’ faces, teeth and clawed feet that I could see from ten yards away. The room was large and warm, a fire glowing in the grate behind the desk.

In all of this my gaze had skipped over the figure seated there, so taken was I with the grandeur of the room, but it was arrested at the sound of his voice.

“Come.” The snarl was a command, and my breath hitched in my throat. What manner of man was Gawain MacGregor? I was not sure I had ever been spoken to by a man in my life in such an insolent tone.

I took a few faltering steps toward him, my near nakedness making my face flush crimson. As I drew nearer, he shone in front of the firelight as if he were a devil at the door to hell; perhaps he was Lucifer, that angel of light, for he was lovely other than a slight cleft—or was it a scar—in his upper lip? His nut-brown hair fell in waves like flaming strands in the firelight. Either he eschewed a wig, or had just taken his off for the evening. I saw his dark, shapely brows and crystalline blue eyes right down to the gold shading in the bottoms of them.