My Dangerous Pleasure (42 page)
After a heart-stopping series of turns, Iskander parked the car up on the old Nike missile range. They got out to gaze at the distant East Bay hills and the dense fog that obscured all but the tips of the two red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“About?”
“Maybe I don’t want a tenant anymore.”
“I hear they’re a real pain. Always complaining about things being broken.”
He shifted to get a better look at her. “Ain’t that the truth. There’s paperwork, too. Taxes and shit. Insurance. So here’s the deal. I think you should just keep living with me.”
She took Iskander’s hand, and when he looked down, his smile broke her heart wide open. “Do you think you can stand to have me around all the time?”
“I’m not saying it won’t be a trial,” he said. “All that girl stuff in my house. But you’re fantastic in bed.”
She grinned. “You too.”
“And you’re okay in the kitchen.” His smile slowly faded. He leaned in and wrapped an arm around her, bringing her in close. “I want you to stay with me,” he said. “If you want to go down to city hall to make it official for your family and all that, I’ll do it.” He brought her closer. “I want you with me, kicking ass and living with me and putting up with me.”
“We could do that.” She touched his face. “I don’t want to be your tenant anymore, either, and I surely do not need a landlord. They’re a pain.”
He drew in a breath. “I love you, Paisley.”
The words settled around her; they were right and true. “I love you, too.”
“All right, then. He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to her palm. “Welcome home, cupcake,” he said.
blood-twin:
A bonded pair of fiends who share a permanent magical connection. They may be biologically related and/or same sex. Antisocial and prone to psychosis.
copa:
A plant derivative, of a yellow-ochre color when processed. Has a mild psychotropic effect on the kin, who use it for relaxation. On mages, the drug increases magical abilities and is highly addictive.
cracking (a talisman):
A mage or witch may crack open a talisman in order to absorb the life force therein and magically prolong his or her life. Requires a sacrificial murder.
demon:
Any one of a number of shape-shifting magical beings whose chief characteristic is, as far as the magekind are concerned, the ability to possess and control a human.
fiend:
A subspecies of demon. Before relations with the magekind exploded into war, fiends frequently bonded with them.
kin:
What fiends collectively call each other. Socially divided into various factions constantly seeking power over other warlord-led factions. The kin communicate with other kin via psychic connections. They typically possess multiple physical forms, at least one of which is recognizably human.
mage:
A male who possesses magic. A sorcerer. See also
magekind
.
mageheld:
A fiend or other demon who is under the complete control of one of the magekind.
magekind:
Humans who possess magic. The magekind arose to protect vanilla humans from the depredations of demons, a very real threat.
sever:
The act of removing a mageheld from the control of a mage or a witch.
talisman:
A usually small object into which a mage has enclosed a fiend’s life force, typically against the fiend’s will. A talisman confers additional magical power to the mage who has it. Sometimes requires an additional sacrifice. See also
cracking
(a talisman).
vanilla:
A human with no magic or, pejoratively, one of the magekind with little power.
warlord:
A fiend who leads other fiends who have sworn fealty. Usually a natural leader possessing far more magic than others of the kin.
witch:
A human female who possesses magic. A sorceress. See also
magekind
.
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Jami Alden
Dear Reader,
Whenever I start a new project, people inevitably ask me, “what’s it about?” With BEG FOR MERCY, my answer seemed simple. This book is about Megan Flynn’s desperate quest to get her wrongfully convicted brother off death row before he’s executed. It’s about a woman who is so determined she’ll risk anything: her heart, when she begs Detective Cole Williams, the man who broke her heart when he arrested her brother, for help as she tracks down the real killer. And her life, when she herself becomes the target of a brutal killer’s twisted desires.
But as I got further into Megan and Cole’s journey, I realized that’s
not
really what this book is about. Scratch beneath the surface, and you’ll see that this book is really about faith. Not necessarily the religious kind, but the kind of faith you have in the people you love. It’s also about the faith you have in yourself, in your gut, your instincts—whatever you want to call it. It’s about listening to yourself and the truth that you cannot deny, even when the rest of the world tries to convince you that you’re wrong.
No matter the evidence that points to her brother’s guilt, Megan knows, deep down in her core, that her brother is not capable of the kind of brutal murder for which he was convicted. Nothing will convince her otherwise, her belief in her brother’s innocence and faith in his true nature is absolutely unshakeable.
It’s so strong that it can even convince a skeptic like by the book, just the facts ma’am detective like Cole Williams to put aside everything he thinks he knows about this case. It will drive him to risk a career that means everything to him in order to help the woman he loves.
Megan and Cole’s journey to happily ever after isn’t an easy one, but nothing worth having comes easily. I hope you enjoy their story, and as you read, ask yourself, how deep is your faith in yourself and the people around you? How far would you go for someone you love?
Enjoy!
From the desk of Carolyn Jewel
Dear Reader,
Paisley Nichols, the heroine of MY DANGEROUS PLEASURE, is living her dream. She owns a bakery in San Francisco’s financial district, and she’s making a go of it. It’s hard work and long hours, but she loves what she does. I had some real life inspiration for her character. When I was a kid, my mother baked from scratch; bread, cinnamon rolls and delicious cookies, which my siblings and I took for granted. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that not every mother baked like that. Now I bake goodies for my son, and if I have to taste test what I bake, well, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
My youngest brother worked as a pastry chef for a while (he now does catering on the side) and there was a time when he was training when he’d drive up from Santa Barbara where he lived, spend the weekend at our house, bake up a storm and leave us with a refrigerator full of whatever he was practicing at the time; creme brulee, chocolate soufflé, chocolate mousse and what have you. When he got married, the restaurant threw a party for him, and if you’ve never been around a slew of professional chefs, let me tell you, you are missing out on great food and lots of fun.
With my brother as an example, I got more ambitious with my own baking. He taught me that quality ingredients make an enormous difference in the outcome, but there are also any number of little tips and tricks that get left out of many recipes that can transform a dessert from great to amazing or from decent looking to professional looking. For example, when making pie crust, use ice water, not room temperature water. Not even the
Joy of Cooking
mentions that crucial fact. Suddenly, my pie crusts were a success! I’ve also picked up and shared lots of recipes and tips from people on Twitter (I’m @cjewel).
Lest you think my story is nothing but sweetness and 70% (or higher) pure cocoa chocolate, Iskander, the demon hero of MY DANGEROUS PLEASURE, has a very dark side to him. He’s been tasked with keeping Paisley safe from the mage who’s stalking her, and when she develops some unusual magical abilities, his job gets even more difficult. There are people after them both, and they aren’t very nice. But in between the enslaved demons and magic using humans chasing them, Paisley and Iskander do find the time and place to indulge themselves with delicious sweets and each other.
Enjoy!
From the desk of Laurel McKee
Dear Reader,
I have a confession to make—I am totally addicted to dark, brooding, tortured heroes with complicated pasts! I blame
Jane Eyre
. This is still one of my all-time favorite books, and I first came across it when I was ten or eleven years old. It was a battered, old paperback copy from a box of books from a garage sale, and I stayed up all night reading it. I was shocked by the wife in the attic! And when I had finished, I started reading it all over again. I then snatched up every Gothic romance I could find. I guess I’ve never gotten over the “Mr. Rochester thing.”
When I started writing the second book in The Daughters of Erin series, DUCHESS OF SIN, I had planned for Sir Grant Dunmore to be part of a love triangle in the story, who would probably die in the end. But as I wrote his scenes, he showed me that he was much more complicated than that. His scenes with Caroline seemed to take on a life of their own, and I wanted to find out more about him. I wanted to see what would happen between Grant and Caroline and where their unexpected attraction would take them. The answer became LADY OF SEDUCTION. And their passion for each other caused a
lot
of trouble for them, and fun for me!
I’ve loved spending time with the Blacknall sisters and their heroes, and I’m sorry to say good-bye to them in this book. But I’m very happy they’ve all found their happy-ever-afters. For excerpts, behind-the-book information on the history of this era, and some fun extras, you can visit my website at
http://laurelmckee.net
.
And if you’d like to put together your own Irish feast, here is a recipe for one of my favorite dishes—Shepherd’s Pie! (The first two books featured Irish Soda Bread and Sticky Toffee Pudding, all great when served with a Guinness…)
Ingredients
• 1½ lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1–2 cups vegetables—chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1½–2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• ½ cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice
1
Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).
2
While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 tablespoons butter (½ a stick) in large frying pan.
3
Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.
4
Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add Worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.
5
Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.
6
Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.
7
Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.
Serves four.
Enjoy!
