Part of Series
Former Green Beret Daniel "Deck" Decker has spent the last five years keeping A-List actress Jane Bowden's body safe - and his hands to himself. A professional to the core, Deck would never mix business with pleasure, especially when Jane has always kept the relationship strictly business. But that all changes one hot night when Jane, dealt a blow by the tabloids, turns to Deck for comfort. What starts as a consoling embrace quickly turns passionate, and Deck's long simmering desire can no longer be controlled. But when harsh reality intrudes, any hope Deck has that their steamy night is the start of a new chapter in their relationship is demolished. Jane Bowden is used to living her life under a microscope. But in the wake of a very public divorce where Jane was made to look - and feel - very much the fool, she's even more careful not to make any wrong moves. She knows that if the press finds out she's sleeping with her bodyguard, they'll paint her as the pathetic woman on the rebound and Deck as a scheming opportunist. But before Jane can talk to Deck about when and how they can reveal the truth, Deck quits. Heartbroken, Jane realizes that while she thought this was the start of something real, Deck only wanted a one night stand. But when disaster strikes and Jane’s most secret fantasies are leaked to the press, Deck is determined to convince Jane that the key to her happiness is making her private passions a reality.
Author
Like so many romance readers, my first romance novel was by Kathleen Woodiwiss - The Flame and the Flower, to be exact. I was thirteen. I spent the next month working my way through her entire back list. Shortly thereafter I discovered Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsey, Karen Robards, Catherine Coulter, Shirlee Busbee among others, and devoured their lavish historical epics full of overbearing alpha males and the women who brought them to their knees. I was hooked. My high school teachers marveled at my ability to read romance novels under the desk and still score straight A's. I started to imagine myself, living in a cabin in the mountains somewhere, writing romance novels. It took me quite awhile to pursue my dream. After graduating from Stanford with a degree in English Literature, I worked in a variety of soul sucking admin jobs before I began my career in marketing. It wasn't exactly my dream job, but at least my writing appeared on several web sites and in many software marketing brochures. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fit the phrase "and her loins melted like hot wax" into any of them. During my stint as the world's surliest receptionist, I took my first stab at writing. The result was a very melodramatic western historical which reads like a bad Elizabeth Lowell rip off. Its currently languishing on my hard drive, forever stuck on page 330. Then in fall 2001 I had an incredible stroke of luck and got laid off from my marketing job. I decided it was time to stop saying I wanted to be a writer and to actually give it a serious go. Fortunately my husband, a socially well adjusted alpha male, is a very generous patron of the arts. Four years later, I sold my first book and I'm pretty much living the dream of getting paid to write romance. I don't live in a cabin in the mountains, but I do live in a rural-ish town near San Francisco (hey, we have deer and bunnies in our yard, along with the occasional coyote) with my husband, sons, and two dogs who patiently listen to my dialogue and help me work out plot points. When I'm not writing sexy romance, I enjoy running, reading, yoga and watching Food Network and bad reality TV.
