Hi all!  I’ve been so busy on my blog tour that I’ve been ignoring my own blog.  Sorry about that!  I thought it’d be a nice change to add a brand new excerpt from CLAIMED available only right here.  So, here it is:

She ran her palms down the hard muscles of his chest to his tight abs.  Finally.  She was finally touching him.  So much strength—truly worthy of a king. 

She yanked free the button of his pants, and her gaze met his while she released his zipper.  Her breath came in short pants.  She was more than a match for the leader, as he would soon see.  Emma leaned forward to nibble on the sizzling skin she’d dreamt about.  The reality tasted even better.  Smooth, salty man tantalized her when she nipped at his collarbone.  Then bit.

He growled low, hands going to her waist to tug her to the ground.  She opened her senses to him.  His heartbeat echoed throughout her own head, and then…he stilled.

His head lifted and he scented the air.  Slamming his metallic eyes shut, he swore.  He grabbed her shirt and yanked it up her arms, holding tight to the front.

“What is it?”  Her stomach dropped in fear.  “Did the Kurjans find us?”

“Worse.”  Dage shifted her to the side and stood, lending a hand to help her up.

Two men crowded the entrance to the cave—the men from her dreams.  “Your brothers?”

“Yes.”

Her mind spun.  A hollowness echoed throughout her body that may never be filled. “How is that worse?”  She took his hand, holding her shirt together with trembling fingers. 

“Because I can’t kill them,” Dage said grimly, pulling her forward.  He nodded at the green eyed brother in the lead.  “It’s nice to know you followed orders and went to secure the facilities as needed.”  He shifted his focus to the copper eyed brother.  “One word Jase, and I’ll rip out your jugular.”

Jase wisely kept silent, though the twinkle in those eyes laughed hard enough to make sound. 

The first man threw caution to the wind.  “Hi Emma.  I’m Conn.”  He clapped Dage on the back.  “We couldn’t let the king miss the ball, now could we?” 

Ball?  What ball?

Well…I’m back from New York and have been working on page proofs for CLAIMED, which will be released in November.  I thought I’d take a break and talk about New York and the conference.

LOVED IT!

I went a few days early with Debbie and Stephanie (you’ve met them in earlier happy birthday blogs) and Jessica, our friend. We toured Ground Zero (Cried and am so humbled by the heroism of many Americans), the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building; Macy’s…Time Square and so on. 

We also went to Rock of Ages, which was awesome!  The singing rocked (pun intended)—and I’d go again right now.  Here’s a rather funny picture of Jessica and Debbie – I hadn’t read the sign on the wall when I sent the picture to Tony.  He thought it was hilarious.

© Paul Hakimata

Debbie and I jumped on a train (the wrong train) to head to New Haven, Connecticut to see our cousins Neil and Jennie.  Turns out we had to change trains.  We couldn’t
find the other train…ran all over the station in Stamford…up and down nonworking escalators…and finally found it. Yeah, Neil…it was no big deal.  🙂

We hung out with our cousins Jimmie and Molly in NYC.  Molly is friends with the owner of an Irish pub, SWIG – so we spent some time there with the Irish folk and ah, vodka.  Lots of vodka.

The girls left and the conference began.  The literacy autographing was amazing—it was held on the sixth floor and the line started on the first floor of the Marriott Marquis.  I sat next to the wonderful Rebecca York, and we chatted in between people buying our books. 

Being a Zanetti, I was at the end, which worked out quite nicely because the really big authors are against the far wall, and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s line went by my table.  Many of her fans stopped by, intrigued by the cover of FATED.  Yeah, Kensington’s graphic arts department does an amazing job.

The opening session was awesome with questions answered by Best-Selling Authors Steve Berry, Diana Gabaldon, and Tess Gerritsen—who all said…don’t give up.  I sat with my buddies from the Pacific Northwest, Åsa Marie Bradley and Teresa Woodworth–see pic.  We tried to meet up again, but our schedules were crazy.  I’m hoping to see these two at the IECRWA meeting this weekend and compare notes.

I went to lunch with my editor, the magnificent Megan Records…who always manages to find a fun restaurant with amazing food. I even had apple pie.  The Kensington party was held at the Kensington offices and it was AMAZING.  It was the first time I really saw how tight-knit the company is and how it is a family owned company.  I toured the offices, saw the excellent art work…and all the books. The views of NYC are spectacular.   Books are everywhere in the office.  I knew they would be…but it’s different seeing books lining every hallway, on every desk, in every corner.  I could live there.  Seriously.  Here’s a rather blurry picture taken at the event with my phone.

At the party, I hung out with the uber-talented Erin Kellison…and even managed to snag an ARC of her upcoming SHADOWMAN release from her editor, Alicia Condon.  If you haven’t read Erin yet, you really should.  Her books are
fantastic.  She’s also a sweetheart and a lot of fun to hang with.

I finally met Caitlin in person, too!  She’s been my agent for about a year and a half…so it was wonderful to sit down and talk to her.  We talked about my characters like they’re real people…which was so much fun!  My sisters gently remind me once in a while that my characters aren’t real.  Caitlin thinks they are!  🙂  After lunch we walked down to the Liza Dawson Agency, where there was a tea with Nancy Yost and her clients.  I got a chance to chat with both Robyn Carr and Marie Bostwick—very funny ladies, and a bunch of editors showed up as well.

The Kensington book signing on Friday was the first ever Kensington book signing at
RWA, and I was very honored to be included in the signing.   Here’s a picture of Kate Douglas I managed to take before things got crazy.  I sat next to MingMei Yip, and her books were gone before I could grab one.  Mine went pretty fast, too.

With all of the meetings and lunches (yeah, it was rough :] ), I didn’t make it to as many workshops as usual.  But I did sit in on Jennifer Crusie’s workshop on writing and Wonder Woman.  It was fantastic.  If you ever have a chance to see Jennifer speak, GO!  She’s one of the most inspirational and just plain funny presenters I’ve ever seen—you walk away with tons of new knowledge and a smile every time.  She reminded us all that we’re Wonder Woman (in full uniform) and we put on the business suit to go out and promote…but that underneath it all, we always have brass boobs.

It was a wonderful trip—though I’m glad to be home.  🙂