So great to have you visit with me again...Eliza - is that okay if I call you that? Or do you prefer Elizabeth? Tell you what, we'll stick to Eliza, LOL!! So generous for you to be giving away a chosen ebook from your back catalogue too, thank you.
Read on lovely readers to see how you can win!
Hi Rachel, thanks for having me back.
I’ve been writing under a new pseudonym, Elizabeth Marchat. Recently, I’ve two new books to introduce, one is a novella that came out from The Wild Rose Press last Friday (More Than a Stud by Eliza March) and the other is a novel from Siren publishing.
My new full length novel, Across a Crowded Room, is available as an eBook or a paperback. I’m going to include an exclusive excerpt from each for your readers today and offer one reader, randomly chosen from comments, a choice of an eBook from my back list. Please remember to include your email address to qualify.
Across A Crowded Room
By: Elizabeth Marchat
Other books by Elizabeth Marchat
Published by Siren-Bookstrand, Inc.
After anti-terrorist agent Jason DesJardin survived the explosion that killed Emily Holmes’s father, he went deep undercover. Guilt and his dark past kept him from returning for her. When Emily discovers ties between the old bombing and the terrorists, she finagles an assignment to Jason’s next mission. The balance of world power drops into her inexperienced hands, and she is forced to play a dangerous game of seduction with Mosel Reinhardt, the notorious international arms dealer. Is Reinhardt peddling the nanotech chip technology, or are Emily’s instincts about him correct?
The mission heats up when Jason finds he can’t resist Emily—agency computer genius gone femme fatale—any more than Mosel can. After years of waiting to have her again, the tables turn. Jason is unwilling to share her now, but will he be able to watch her seduce Mosel in order to find her father’s killer? Would she stop if he asked her?
A Siren Erotic Romance
Exclusive Excerpt:
All Jason could focus on was her soft skin and that glint of gold.
Emily said, “We have plenty of time before dinner. Let’s go check it out.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay,” he agreed. Anything to get her off that bed before he lost it. Swimming? What harm would come from a nice cold pool? Perhaps he sounded a little too enthusiastic, because Emily crinkled her brow at him, and looked perplexed. With all his blood pooling ever lower in his body, he had to remind himself to act normal.
He wouldn’t think about her that way. He shook his head to clear his wayward thoughts. “I haven’t been in yet, but I heard the weather’s been pretty warm this spring. I guess we could test it out.”
He headed to the door, sure she was already suspicious about his stupid behavior.
Following behind him, she stayed on target. “The water should be warm. That solar panel Dad installed last year better come in handy for more than ugly roof décor.”
He rushed down the rear stairs, heading straight to the poolside cabana in the back yard. She chased after him, barely able to keep up. She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind, shook her head, and grabbed her spare suit from the locker. Emily padded past him into the bathroom with a look of bewilderment on her face. He grabbed his suit and without a word rounded the patio into the other bathroom.
Although he was quick, hoping to get in the pool before she did, Emily rounded the corner at the same time he did, bumping into him. When he saw her long legs in the bathing suit, the lump forming in his throat was impossible to swallow. His body quickened.
Maybe he should have rethought this diversion idea. A horrible question popped into his head. What if he couldn’t resist her? He was suddenly afraid, very afraid.
This pool idea seemed like another big mistake, until he jumped into the water, the cool water. With a sigh of relief, he thought, Thank God. The cold water helped.
Instead of getting in the pool right away, Emily grabbed a bottle of Chardonnay from the refrigerator under the poolside bar, opened it, and poured two plastic glasses with the dexterity of someone well practiced. He frowned, “A little too adept at that, don’t you think? At least for someone whose twenty-first birthday was only last week.”
“Give me a break, Jason. It was a long drive down here. And where do you think I’ve been, in a convent?”
He rolled his eyes. I wish.
“I’ve been in New York City for four years. You know, the Big Apple? Besides, I already did the drunken coming of age thing last week. You know, shots and all-night clubbing. Now, do you want something, or are you just going to treat me like a baby and nag me about my behavior?”
A bowl of strawberries with a chocolate crème dip was in the refrigerator. She slowly picked out a strawberry, licked the crème from the juicy fruit, and bit into it. She swirled her tongue over her lips and popped the rest into her mouth, then tossed one at him. He caught the fruit in the air and ate it.
Maybe a relaxing drink was what he needed. “I’d rather have a beer if there’s one in there. Give me the bottle and keep the glass.” His voice was beginning to sound sharp even to his own ears. Her body in that bathing suit was going to kill him.
What was wrong with him? She was totally covered. It was a one piece, conservative on someone else’s body. However, on her it was killing him, and she didn’t even realize it. Or did she?
Was that it? Her ultimate power? She was so unaware.
“Get in here, please. We don’t have all day.”
She took a sip of her wine and walked over to him as he watched her. “I’m coming,” she answered, and he wanted to groan at the innuendo.
She bent over, giving him an unobstructed view of her cleavage as she handed him the beer. She kept her eyes on his as he took it from her. Their hands touched, and she didn’t move away. When his lips kissed the mouth of the bottle, he wished he could take the pert nipple peaking through the material of the suit into his mouth. The muscles in his throat contracted with desire. He swallowed. He put the half-empty bottle on the pool deck as he slid underwater, floating just below the surface, still looking up at her.
She went to the shallow end and tested the temperature of the water with her toes before she slowly slipped in and under.
Jason watched the water sluice through her hair, turning it to burgundy, stretching the untamable curls down her back, calming the wildness. When the curls were wet, her hair reached well past her waist. She looked like an ephemeral mermaid. Sometimes when he looked in her eyes he saw the Caribbean, sometimes a shallow sea green, sometimes the deep teal of the marine waters. They were always an interesting mix of ocean colors. Chameleon colored.
He wanted to run his hands over her soft pale skin, cream colored against the turquoise of the bathing suit.
The coolness of the water wasn’t going to be enough to temper his growing desire. But as long as he kept her attention on his face, he was safe.
Emily looked at him. “Are you grimacing or squinting? Is this still about the wine?” She didn’t even pause as she continued. “Look, you’re not my brother, I have a father, and I’m a big girl now. What’s bothering you? I’m twenty-one, a grown woman. You’re only seven years older.”
She interrupted the next words out of his mouth. “Okay, okay, almost eight,” she conceded. “Big deal! It’s time you stopped trying to act like some ancient elder. She forced him to accept her point of view.
“Okay, I apologize, you’re right,” Jason said. After watching her grow from an imp to a beauty, that “woman” stuff she mentioned was hard to miss. Standing before him, waist high in water, there was no doubt about that
Her eyes widened at his admission. She continued walking in the shallow water, moving toward him, until she stepped right up against him. His gaze drifted down to where he knew he would see her nipples pebbling beneath the thin material of her suit. He didn’t want to get caught staring at her, but he couldn’t take his eyes off them. Why was he torturing himself like this?
In spite of the water temperature, he grew painfully erect. Hoping she wouldn’t notice what was becoming impossible for him to hide— and knowing Emily, she would look. The knowing made him harder still.
God, what’s wrong with me? I’m not some horny teenager.
He could only croak, “Okay, okay, you’re a big girl now. I’ll leave you alone about all that stuff.” It was easier to concede and retreat than to try to deal with the power she had over his body. He wanted to disengage the arms she draped around his neck. The vain attempt was weak at best, but her body made his arms feel heavy, paralyzed. She pressed her body against him, rubbing her mound against his erection just to let him know she knew the effect she was having on him. The smirk on her face said it all. Then, while holding onto him, with the lightest touch, she brought her lips to his.
His heart raced, his breathing stopped. He panicked as a big smile started to form on her lips.
She dunked him.
He came up, sputtering and relieved. This, he could handle. Grabbing for her, Jason announced, “You know you just declared war, don’t you?”
~~~Now here’s an excerpt from my short contemporary erotic released this week.
More Than a Stud by Eliza March
Published by The Wild Rose Press
With her biological clock ticking away, Carina Roth, CEO and owner of a corporate security company, wants a child. On the night of her forty-second birthday, Carina's 35-year-old corporate intel officer, Evan Douglas, offers to be her baby's daddy. Evan not only wants to father Carina's child, he's ready to prove he can fulfill her every need and that, for Carina, he wants to be...more than a stud.
Exclusive excerpt:
“You? You want them all to think you and I…? But you’re—”
“Yeah. Younger. So what? You’re younger than Daniel, and Cynthia’s younger than you. You’re the CEO. When older men date younger chicks, their reps go up a notch. I don’t mind being the CEO’s boy toy if that CEO is you.” The timber of his voice dropped an octave, and his interest sounded sincere.
Man, he’s good.
“Right,” she murmured beneath her breath. “Ha. Ha.”
When he kissed her cheek and nuzzled her neck, she couldn’t decide whether to surrender to her embarrassment and play along with his chivalry or not. She decided to go along with him for the moment, taking advantage of her young knight in shining armor because it felt so damn good, but she wouldn’t let him think she’d consider his offer for real.
She backed up and looked him up and down. “Humph, like anyone would ever take you for a boy toy.”
“Sounds perfect, boss.”
No matter how hard Cari tried to sound casual, her voice sounded breathless when her words filtered through her constricted throat, “Thanks for the offer, anyway.”
He chuckled, but she thought she’d made a good point. He was six-six and two-hundred and twenty pounds of lean muscle. Most women couldn’t get past ogling his body to discover he had a genius IQ. The day she’d seen his resume come through, she snatched it up before human resources filed it away. He sounded like just what the company needed, and then she practically choked when she saw him, all beauty, brains, and brawn.
“You’re thinking too much.” He put his hands of her shoulders.
“Can’t help it.” She stiffened and gently shrugged off his hands. She turned to study his expression.
He was sincere. The surfer length blond hair didn’t soften the hard planes and angles of his face, but his pale blue eyes were the sharpest she’d ever encountered. The fact that he never flaunted the full package he brought to the table was one of the most endearing things about him. After the interview, resume, and field tests, he was her number one choice for the position, and having his cock pressed against her ass wasn’t what she’d had in mind at the time.
Although, in retrospect, she had to admit he was perfect for that position, too. Maybe she should rethink their relationship. She needed a sperm donor. He’d be perfect, but would asking him be fair? From the way his body and hers were reacting, their hormones had intentions of their own and would make the question moot if she allowed them to pursue this path to its logical conclusion. While her mind followed the high road, her body wanted to slum.
“I can see that brain of yours evaluating everything. Stop. Not everything needs to be analyzed down to the last detail, Cari.”
“Yes, sometimes it does.” She didn’t know what made her even consider what she was thinking. Perhaps those hormone shots they’d given her yesterday had something to do with her body going haywire, and everyone knew that unbridled horniness could lead to acts of indiscretion. She shook her head and turned aside. “I’m not thinking nearly enough.” God, she still sounded breathless.
He turned her by the shoulders and stared hard at her. “Cari, I want you. Believe it.”
“Why?” she asked, truly puzzled by his declaration. As she waited for his answer, she broke her subconscious rule and wondered for one brief moment why she’d fought back sexual thoughts about Evan over the past year. Probably for the same reason she still doubted his motives tonight. He was almost a decade younger—oh, God, that sounded worse than eight or nine years. No, he was the one fondling her, the one making all the moves. Actually, she hadn’t touched him…yet.
Evan cocked his head at her registering disbelief. “Apparently you don’t see yourself the way I see you or you wouldn’t have to ask.”
And she wouldn’t ask again, because she felt a certain level of insecurity rearing its ugly head, reminding her that he was never without a slim, gorgeous woman clinging to him. What would a prime specimen like him want with her—a woman who might have already passed her child bearing years?
God, I’m becoming obsessive with this child bearing thing. But really, a guy like Evan should procreate, reproduce…and often. What if it’s too late for me?
“I’m not just saying all this.” He moved them back a few steps, into a dark, private corner where no one could see them, then lowered his head to hers and whispered, “Come with me somewhere we won’t be disturbed.”
~~~ I hope you enjoyed these excerpts. I’m going to add a new page to my blog called ON WRITING. It will included all the editorial advice I’ve garnered over recent years. Not everyone knows that I’ve been a content editor for a major ePublisher for the past four years. If you send an email to me at elizamarch@gmail.com stating my secret profession, I’ll enter you in a drawing for one of my back list eBooks of your choice.
BIO: Ever since I could read, the written word has captivated me. I’ve worked in libraries, written for newspapers, done copy edits, magazine copy and screenplays, but the one thing that always intrigues me is choosing just the right word to express myself.
I write erotic romance as ELIZA MARCH and romantic suspense [Across A Crowded Room] under the name ELIZABETH MARCHAT. To prevent boredom from setting in, I keep my hands in several pots at the same time. Perhaps the characters in my head satisfy my needs to be and do all the things I don't have time for, or wouldn't dare to do. Or would I?
My recent release The Moon, The Madness, and The Magic is a finalist for the Golden Quill and a sequel to first book in The Enchanted Mountain series The Lion, The Leopard, and The Wolf. They are now available at Bookstrand as ebooks, along with my other books, and at Amazon and Barnes & Noble in both eBook and print format.
Great contest for a great prize - thanks, Eliza! Bring on your answers...
