MYLA BY MOONLIGHT

Taric knelt before her and opened the drawstring. “Again, close your eyes.”

“Taric, I am able to feed myself.”

“I know, but I want to. Let me?” Held by his bronze gaze, she looked deep into his eyes and nodded. How could she deny him this simple request? She closed her eyes and parted her lips. One frosty berry landed on her tongue. The flavor had changed, like he’d promised. Before sweet succulence had filled her mouth but this chilled morsel had a bite. Zest and tang overshadowed the sensual flavor, spiked the sugar and increased the richness to near wine-like taste. An appreciative sound grew in her throat.

“I don’t think I’ve ever envied a berry before.” His murmur opened her eyes and the rapture on his face silenced her.

Perhaps the coldness made the fruit hard to swallow or maybe it was way he stared into her eyes. She read hunger in his gaze and acted instinctively, delving her fingers into his pouch and pulling a blackberry free. Her fingers shook, touching his lips. Tilting his head, he took the offered bite but drew her finger inside his mouth with it, his tongue skating along her skin.

Rough bark scratched into her behind as she pressed down against a sudden ache deep in her hips. Her fingertip left the warmth of his mouth too slowly. Another firm fruit rose and she felt powerless to refuse it. Mimicking him, she flicked her tongue over his skin as the berry entered her mouth. Taric drew a harsh breath. Against her lip, his finger strayed, tracing the fullness along the bottom.

“I like the chilled berries.” She didn’t know she spoke until her voice whispered out. The sound broke whatever haze surrounded them and he dropped his hand. Loss rushed around her like a winter’s breath.

Taric avoided her face and tugged his boots over his wet feet. “I’m glad. I wanted to leave on a pleasant note. I ride for Claverham tomorrow.”

His words chilled her, an icy river on her sun-heated flesh. “Yes, I know. The treaty is vital to ensure the safety of the southland border but I do not trust the Lutas. How many men do you take?”

With a weary sigh, he cupped her elbow and drew her back into the meadow. “A half crew I believe will be enough. It doesn’t seem fitting to ride into peace talks with a full war battalion.”

Myla reviewed the men mentally and nodded her approval. “Yes, it should. I shall be on guard as well.”

“When aren’t you?” he laughed. “Half a crew in full regal dress and a series of long, boring meals, chess games and archery exhibitions when fifteen minutes of frank conversation could accomplish the same. Sometimes it just seems like a waste of energy, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but the civil tone will be aided by the formality. You like the pageantry of the crown, do you not?”

“Most times.” Taric plucked a stray stalk of grass and whirled it idly while they walked. “The rituals are…grounding, familiar. I know what’s expected, what’s been done by a hundred generations before me and my role in the play. Sometimes that’s exactly what I feel like, a performer repeating lines and scenes cast long ago and known by everyone. It’s not me, Taric the man, speaking then, but Prince Taric Batu, Heir Apparent to the Segur throne. He’s the one who wears a diadem and speaks with formal tones and civic duty. I’m just along to swing the sword and clean up the blood.”

“Would you cease to be prince if you had a choice?”

“It’s not a choice I was ever given. No, I like the role enough, have been taught from birth what’s required of me and don’t know any other way. I just wonder what being a prince in a time of quiet is like or will I always be a ruler in wartime?” He flung the blade of grass, now twisted and limp, far into the wind. “But enough war talk. Tell me about you.”

“Me?” Myla halted abruptly and he walked a pace ahead before turning to her. “You know all there is to know of me.”

Tall butter-yellow wildflowers danced in the breeze and he ran a skimming hand over the tops, stirring them further. A bright orange-and-black butterfly flitted about his head and he batted it away with a flick.

The play of colors around him—the shading of a single hue into a million dimensions—captivated her. Somewhere in her breast a fire grew, cast from those same brilliant tones from copper to cream. It warmed her from within like the sunbeams warmed her flesh. Taric was beautiful, golden among the yellow.

One delicate bloom plucked from a willowy stalk appeared before her eyes, held in a hand she longed to feel touch her once more. She took his offering with hesitant fingers.

“I know nothing about you, Myla. Well, I know you’re fierce and stronger than any man. You’re a beautiful woman or a massive cat. Strawberries and blackberries make you close your eyes in pleasure. If needed, you have and will kill to protect me.” His curious eyes searched her face for more. “But tell me about you. Do you dream, Myla? When you’re part of me, do you miss the sunshine? Are you ever apart from me without my knowing? Have you ever thought of me in any other way than a duty?”

Words locked in her throat and choked her. She existed for no reason other than to serve as his guardian. She knew everything about him yet nothing of what made him how he was. They were closer than two beings ever should be and yet separate and alone. Sadness touched her, a butterfly of rainbowed beauty drenched by a sudden rainfall. Steeling her face to hide her emotion, she cocked her head to the side.

“I do not dream within you. I accepted this duty and I stand guard. Sunshine touches your flesh and I know of its warmth through you. I am with you every minute, Taric, even if you do not behold me with your eyes.”

Something close to anger colored his face and he jumped in front of her, his chest brushing her breasts. Vehemence emanated from his body in sheets of blistering heat. No, not anger, something… close… burning…needing. “But have you ever thought about me as other than a prize to be protected?”

Myla didn’t have the ability to lie to him but strategic maneuvers could be employed. The wilting flower became a tool of distraction and she twirled it between her fingers. The spinning buttery color quivered with her fraud. “I do not allow those thoughts to linger in my mind.”

A dimple appeared above his jaw and the right side of his lip inched upward. “But you have felt…something for me other than protectiveness?”

Lips parted, she remained silent. For all the strength in her supernatural structure, she couldn’t break from his gaze. She saw herself reflected in pools of burnt umber, reminding her she belonged within him. Then the image was gone as he angled his head. His mouth pressed to hers, the burst of blackberry vivid and potent.

So this is how his kiss feels…like magic. Without thought, she mimicked his motion, tasting his lips and then allowing her tongue to touch and stroke his. Heat arced between them, a power she didn’t recognize but one that consumed her. He nibbled the lip he’d touched earlier, his fingers straying to her cheek, firm and gentle. A quiver grew from her marrow and spread, wracking her bones, and she trembled in sudden fear.

The pale yellow flower fell to the ground. Taric was her charge, her responsibility. She should not behave in this manner with him. Only the magnetic lure of his touch held her within this realm, halting her escape. He felt so…right. It was so wrong.

Taric shifted and tried to pull her closer, his arm around her waist, but she pushed away from him. “Do not. I should not have allowed that to happen. It can not happen again.”

“Why?”

The question threw her. Why? Because… She floundered, searching for why his touch should be forbidden, why she could not submit to the raging beat of her pulse, why she could not bask in the taste of his kiss. He was long past the age of manhood and could choose his own path. If he wanted a woman, he had the right to take her be she willing. Myla reluctantly admitted she was most willing to step into his kiss once more. But she was not a woman. Not really.

“I am not real, Taric. I am an enchantment, a spell designed for your protection, not your pleasure.”

Flushed color drained from his face at her breathless words.

“I bid you farewell, my charge.” She drew on every smidgeon of control not to zing back inside his mark. A tiny breath of lilac vapor swirled regretfully through the yellow blossoms before it too trickled into his body. Sorrow turned the last wisps to dark violet.

********************************

JINXED

“I’m not so sure about Christmas with your family.” Grabbing the damp towel from him, she avoided his eyes but felt him shift on the bed, become more alert and defensive.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just I feel weird intruding. Besides, with Tracey’s mom overseas and Steve’s sister so close to having her baby, we thought about doing brunch here, just the three of us.” Guiltily, she headed toward the bathroom, distancing herself from him. She barely had time to plug in the hair dryer before he was standing inside the doorway.

“You said you’d come. Everyone’s looking forward to meeting you.”

“Jinx, Christmas is for families. You should go and be with yours. I don’t want to impose.” I don’t want to meet your family. I don’t want to see what I can’t have and pretend it’s all okay.

“Frannie, I want you there. You promised.”

“That’s not fair, I accepted in a weak moment. You shouldn’t ask questions like that right after mind-blowing sex, it scrambles the brain. Really, just go and have fun. I’ll see you the day after or so.”

His eyebrows popped up and he stared at her. “You thought it was mind-blowing? Brain-scrambling?”

His self-satisfied purely masculine grin perturbed her. Good lawd, like he needed the ego boost. “It worked. It had been a while. Let’s just say it was better than battery-operated and leave it alone, okay?”

“Better than batteries?”

“Yes, okay. Better than batteries but not quite as good as a half-price shoe sale, alright?”

“Ouch, Frannie, aim a little lower next time, you almost missed my balls completely with that one.”

“Trust me, Fruit-loop, if I wanted to bust your balls, I would have.”

That wiped the smug look from his face and his brows scrunched. “Okay, forget my balls. Back to Christmas. You’re coming to my place and meeting my family.”

Frannie snorted. “Uhm, let go of that bossy vine Tarzan, this Jane don’t swing that way. I said I’m not going.”

The sudden roar of the hair dryer meant an end to the discussion. He was supposed to accept her decision and go back to the bedroom. He was not supposed to get irritated, cross his arms and cock that damned left eyebrow at her. The screeching drone of the ancient appliance had been known to drown out smoke alarms, children crying and the occasional drunken neighbor. She should have known it wouldn’t work on Jinx.

“Mtttkichouuuuu.” In the mirror, she watched his mouth move but only heard a garbled string of nonsense. Perfect.

“I can’t hear you.” Blatantly ignoring him, she flipped her head over and switched the hair dryer on high. “You’re going to have to wait until I’m done.” And then I’m going to jump your bones and make you forget about my ducking out on your family.

Pleased with her game plan, she shuffled the hot air over her scalp. The fine wisps danced like Bambi on ice, flying this way and that. From this vantage point, she could see the faded denim of his crotch and legs. He leaned with one hip on the doorframe, unmoving. Inspired, she turned her back to the door, bent at the waist. He should have a clear view of her bare ass this way. That should get his mind on other things.

The hair dryer died. Still bent over, Frannie shook it then flipped the switches. Nothing. Swiping her hair back, she stood and froze at the reflection in the mirror. Jinx had not moved. Except now he held the hair dryer plug in his hands, twirling it absently.

“You said you would come, I told my parents they would meet you and you’re coming. End of discussion.”

Irritation swelled and she spun around to face him. Hair dryer pointed like a gun, she poked him in the chest. “What in the hell are you doing? That was rude!”

“Rude is backing out on a promise. You’re going and that’s it.”

“I don’t want to go, okay? I don’t want to meet your family and get all cozy, like Little House on the freaking Prairie.”

“I carried you once and I’ll do it again.”

Stubborn crashed in to obstinate and they glared at each other. Her eyebrows tightened and his scrunched. Her lips pursed and his flattened. Her shoulders squared and his straightened. Light brown eyes bored into black ones and black ones bored back. He was not giving up. Thrusting the small machine into his chest, she complained.

“You’re stubborn.”

“And you’re headstrong.”

“You’re being a pain in the ass.”

A devilish grin erupted on his face. He looked down at the still warm nozzle pressed against his chest and then back at her.

“So what are you going to do, blow me?”

“You wish.” She jabbed the hair dryer into his chest once more. “Fine, I’ll go. But do not expect me to be pleasant.”

“Never. I expect you to be yourself.”

**PLEASE NOTE: The above excerpt is an unedited version**

The Good, The bad and The Unread scores JINXED a B!

Written by Laura J – August 9, 2009

I think every woman wants to find a man who is “perfect” (and it’s okay if your idea of perfect is different than mine, etc) and in this light-hearted romance I think Ms. Kelley has managed to get at least several “perfect man” qualifications on most women’s checklists in the hero Francis “Jinx“ Sullivan. Yes that is his name and how he got the name is quite cute, especially if you are the older sister of younger brothers.

Seriously, Jinx is the dream man we all want. He is handsome, has a great job, has money, says all the right things, is patient, kind to children, he’s funny and charming, takes care of those he cares about, and he willingly shops for feminine products for the woman of his dreams. He has suffered pain in the past and when he meets Frances “Frannie“ Sullivan, he believes that he has been given a second chance at love and he is willing to give a reluctant (very reluctant) Frannie all the time she needs to realize that she is “the one” for him.

Frannie, however, believes that Jinx is “a few fries short of a happy meal” (also a fruit loop, nut job, whacko and a few other terms used to describe crazy people). How could someone possibly fall in love at first sight and then propose marriage almost immediately (don’t worry, I’m not giving away any plot spoilers–it happens very early in the story)? Frannie feels that she is just plain, ordinary and someone like Jinx could never fall in love with her. She thinks that, just like her ex-husband, Jinx will get bored with her eventually and move on leaving her to nurse another broken heart. Eventually Frannie begins to fall for him, but she still thinks she can guard her heart. Break his before he breaks hers. But Jinx hangs in there, trying patiently to wait for Francis to come around and believe that he does truly love her.

Like I said, Jinx is the perfect hero, but really not in a overly obnoxious way. Frannie is also very likeable. You can understand her hesitation about getting in a relationship. Her ex-husband (we see him through “flashbacks” of things he said to her) was emotionally abusive and Frannie hasn’t gotten past that yet. Frannie keeps from Jinx why she is so hesitant about getting serious with him. He wants it all with her, but he never pushes her to reveal why she is so hesitant, but waits patiently for her to open up to him.

Although at first the story was lively and upbeat, it hit a spot that seemed to be a little long and dragged a bit, but soon I didn’t care because I really enjoyed Jinx and Frannie. Towards the end I also thought Ms. Kelley was going to let me down with the ending, but I’m very happy to say after reading it, she handled the ending very well.

I hope I see more books like this one by Ms. Kelley in the future.

Long and Short Romance Reviews gives JINXED 4.5 books!

Length: Full Length (197 pgs)
Heat Level: Hot
Rating: 4.5 Books
Review by Water Lily

Jinx (Francis Sullivan) falls in love with Frannie (Frances Sullivan) the first time he sees her. She doesn’t. Of course, he calls her “dollface,” so what does he expect? He’s too hot for his own good and she’s been burned by a hot ex-husband. There’s no way she’s going to fall for his slick lines—and he’s slinging those lines everywhere. He even has the nerve to blurt out the dreaded three words (I love you) when they are about to get naked for the first time. The liar. He’s known her all of an hour and, while Frannie may think it’s fine to hit the sheets, she knows he doesn’t love her. She certainly doesn’t love him.

She will though. But he’s going to have to work at it.

I fell in love with Jinx when he “purchased a plethora of period paraphernalia.” Who wouldn’t? My darling hubby will pick up “the necessities” if he must, but he’d really rather not. When Frannie admits she needs tampons, Jinx gets tampons and pads and Midol and zit cream (she admitted to having a humungous zit) and chocolate and potato chips and tissues and a heating pad and anything else he could think of to make her feel better. Both Frannie and I laughed aloud. I fell in love. Frannie already had, but she was still fighting it.

Jinxed is a fun book that will have you panting and laughing on alternating pages. It’s the perfect steamy read for that weekend at the beach. The passionate love scenes will have you sweating even if the weekend turns cold and rainy.

Just Erotic Romance Review gives JINXED 4.5 stars!!!

Reviewer: T.S. Peters
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Heat level: Simmering

This is truly a book you should not judge by its lackluster, deceptive cover. What you will find beneath it is a man fighting to convince the woman he loves that they are meant to be together; meanwhile she is running as fast and as hard as she can away from commitment. When you are not laughing over their antics or the strange coincidences between them, you’ll be in tears over Frannie’s narcoleptic cat. I know that this really shouldn’t be funny…but it really, really is! If that isn’t enough for you, the well written cast of characters, which include Jinxes family, will definitely win your heart. Granted Frannie’s ex is a complete jackass who should be put down, but he is still very well written. I recommend that you do not read this book for the sex, which is just a bit on the vanilla side. I could have stood a lot more dirt and heat during these scenes. But honestly, between the characters, emotions, and cat moments there is never a dull scene. The pace flows so fast and seamlessly that before you know it their story is told. It’s not very often that you see a man work THIS hard to get the girl. It’s refreshing. Like many stories Jinx has its faults. But overall it is a book that I would feel good recommending to anyone.

BOOKWENCHES give JINXED 4.5 Stars!!!

Reviewed by: Teagan S. Boyd
Sensuality Level: 3
Rating: 4.25

Jinxed will tickle your funny bone while giving you a warm fuzzy feeling. It combines humor, romance, and steamy sex to create a memorable story, and I found myself giggling out loud on numerous occasions as I read it. The narcoleptic cat is one of my particular favorites. Frannie is a complex character; she has emotional scarring that stands in the way of her and Jinx’s happiness. Jinx, on the other hand, is a fabulously colorful and delightful character, and his happiness is infectious. There are particular parts of the book that stand out and that I won’t forget soon. Jinx buying feminine products for Frannie is downright hilarious. While the humor is wonderful, I can’t neglect to mention the sweet, romantic aspect of the story. This is an entertaining book that I would recommend to anyone wanting a humorous, sweet romance. Ms. Kelley has a wonderful knack for telling a tale.