A Warm Welcome to Dani Collins

Give a big GLIAS welcome to Dani Collins—an all-around multi-talented author with accolades galore and wonderful stories to share! I’m so happy to be hosting her today so she can tell you about her book “An Heir to Bind Them.”

After a brilliant debut in the UK with No Longer Forbidden, a Mills & Boon Modern Book Of The Month January 2013, Dani’s first Harlequin Presents, Proof Of Their Sin, won the Reviewer’s Choice by Romantic Times Book Reviews for Best First In Series. While her focus is Harlequin Presents, Dani also writes romantic comedy, medieval fantasy, and coming August of 2014, erotic romance. Whatever the genre, she always delivers sexy alpha heroes, witty, spirited heroines, complex emotions and loads of passion.

HERE’S A BIT ABOUT “AN HEIR TO BIND THEM”

Off the boss's payroll…and into his bed

Jaya. Her name reverberates around Theo Makricosta's head in time to the

whirring blades of his private helicopter. He must find her; only Jaya can help with the care of his infant niece and nephew…. It's not because he hasn't stopped thinking about the single night of mind-blowing passion he shared with the exotic beauty.

Jaya Powers couldn't refuse her gorgeous millionaire Greek boss when she worked for him, and she can't refuse him now! Only this time she has a secret. Their night together had consequences that will change Theo's perfectly ordered existence forever!

EXCERPT:

“There’s not a woman in the world with enough training to fix me. Don’t try.” Another warning, his tone a little cooler.

She shook her head. This was about fixing herself, not him. “I just keep thinking that if I leave without kissing you, I’ll always wonder what it would have been like.”

That sounded too ingenuous, too needy, but his quietly loaded, “Yeah,” seemed to put them on the same page, which was remarkable. He stared at her mouth and hot tingles made her lips feel plump. She tried to lick the sensation away.

His breath rushed out in a ragged exhale. He loomed closer, so tall and broad, blocking out her vision, nearly overwhelming her. But when his fingers lightly caressed her jaw and his mouth came down, she was paralyzed with anticipation.

There’d been a few kisses in her life, none very memorable, but when his mouth settled on hers, unhurried and hot, she knew she’d remember this for the rest of her life.

The smooth texture of his lips sealed to hers. He didn’t force her mouth open. She softened and welcomed his confident possession, weakening despite the nervous flutters accosting her. He rocked the fit, deepening the kiss so she opened her mouth wider, bathed in delicious waves of heat. Their lips dampened and slid erotically. His tongue was almost there, then not, then—

He licked into her mouth and she moaned, lashed with exquisite delight. This was the kind of kiss she’d only read about and now she knew there was a reason they called it a soul kiss. Her hand went to his shoulder for balance. She lifted on her toes, wanting more pressure, more of him settling into her inner being.

With a groan he slid his arm around her and pulled her tight against him, softly crushing her mouth while digging his fingers into her bound hair. It was good, so good. She reached her arms around his neck, loving how it felt to be kissed and held so tightly against his hard chest and—

He was hard everywhere.

Like hitting a wall, she pushed back, perturbed by how intensely she had been responding and the dicey situation she’d put herself in.

He didn’t let her go right away, kind of steadied her first while staggering one step himself, then he ran a hand through his hair and swore under his breath. “Hellfire, Jaya. I suspected it’d be good, but I didn’t know it’d be that good. Are you sure you don’t want to spend the night?”

A Q&A WITH DANI:

LIZ: How often do you get lost in a story?

DANI:  Not often enough! Until the end of April, I was working full time as well as writing and raising a family. One of my big stumbling blocks to reading is actually the part where you sit down to do it. Sounds silly, but when I had that much sitting going on in my life, if I took a break, I wanted to move—go for a walk, even clean house. I know, sounds like I’m running a temperature, doesn’t it? But one of my very favorite places to read is an airplane and fortunately I’ve booked a lot of travel this year. I went to New Orleans for the RT Convention and I’ll be in San Antonio, then the Sydney Rocks conference in Australia. Loads of time for reading on that flight!

LIZ: What’s the first book you remember reading? 

DANI:  Alice, the cat who was haunted

LIZ: What’s your favorite “love” word?

DANI: Sumptuous

LIZ: What are the next five books on your ‘to be read’ pile?

DANI: I recently read Maisey Yates’ prequel to the Fifth Avenue series with Presents. I have Avenge Me calling to me from its place on the pile and expect the other two will be promptly downloaded once I read it. I’m in the middle of Megan Crane’s I Love The 80’s—I’m totally in love with it. I have Nalini Singh’s Wild Invitation anthology of which I’ve only read one and am hungry for the rest (pun intended!) Finally, Abby Green’s When Da Silva Breaks The Rules is sitting at my elbow. She’s a bit of a passive mentor to me. By that I mean I love her books and keep them handy as study tools.

LIZ: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

DANI: Beauty and the Beast

LIZ: What’s your favorite cartoon character?

DANI: Bugs Bunny

LIZ: Cast your book using fairy tale or cartoon characters.

DANI: Oh. Hmm. Well, since Theo winds up taking temporary care of his niece and nephew, then discovers he’s a father, we might call Jaya Snow White and he is Grumpy, lol.

LIZ: Write us a haiku about your book or one of your characters!

DANI: Homework! Yikes! Okay:

Bring babies to her,

Jaya, natural mother

Makes him a father

LIZ: That is AWESOME!

 

LIZ: What one thing about your hero drives his heroine crazy? And what one thing about your heroine drives her hero nuts?

DANI: Theo underestimates his ability to rise to fatherhood. Jaya sees more in him than he sees in himself. Theo sees the vulnerability in Jaya’s warmth and empathy. He fears she can be hurt and wants to protect her from everything, but she’s too independent to let him.

LIZ: Name three things that are, at this moment, in your heroine’s purse.

DANI: Jaya would always carry a headscarf, her phone, and wipes for the baby.

LIZ: What sound or noise do you love?

DANI:  We have a spring storm brewing outside. I opened all the windows earlier because the sun was out, but now I can hear the wind in the trees and scattered drops of rain. LOVE IT. Might even get some distant thunder and lightning. Bliss.

LIZ: I am completely with you on this—thunderstorms are bliss to me too!

   

LIZ: If you were given a chance to travel to the past where would you go and specifically why?

DANI: I honestly try not to have too many thoughts like that. I’d drive myself crazy second guessing if I should have done this or that. But if I had a chance to visit with my grandmother again, I’d take it.

LIZ: What will always make you smile, even on a bad day?

DANI: My kids are hysterical. So is my husband, for that matter. When we’re at our worst, we’re almost always laughing about it. Ranting and swearing, but finding the absurdity and laughing at it.

LIZ: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

DANI: Of all time? That’s a lot to commit to. I do watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries two or three times a year. That might be it.

LIZ: Who’s your favorite villain?

DANI: Alan Rickman – I don’t care who he’s being viciously sarcastic toward, but he’s delightfully fun to watch when he is

LIZ: What is your biggest vice?

DANI: I’m currently eating a bowl of lime-flavored corn chips, but wine is probably my worst vice. I’m starting to like the expensive stuff, not that I’m any kind of sommelier. I just really like it and could easily drink it every day if I wasn’t conscious of what an expensive and really bad habit it could turn into.

LIZ: What’s your favorite kid joke?

DANI: It was my first dirty joke: A white horse fell into a mud puddle. My dad told it to me.

LIZ: What do you hope for the future of romance publishing?

DANI: A feasible way to stop piracy. I’m fine with sharing a copy of a book. I’ve given copies off my shelf to a friend. Even selling a few used copies at the bookstore doesn’t bother me, but wide scale stealing ticks me off.

LIZ HAS GOTTA ASK: What’s the most personal thing you’ve ever put in one of your books?

DANI: That’s a really great question, but I think I steal from other people’s lives more than my own. I feel like I live a really boring life (happy to, in fact!) But the argument could be made that everything I put in a book is personal to me. I can’t write authentically if I don’t already think something is sexy or hurtful or admirable. Years ago, when I was first starting out as a writer, I heard one writer say to another, “I can’t wait to read your book and find out what you’re really like.” Our inner workings are right there on the page, I think. That’s why it’s so uncomfortable to submit and receive rejections.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?

I’m always looking for wine recommendations, lol! Questions about my current book, do you mean? Or about anything? I’m always looking for market research answers so I know whether my Facebook posts and designing of bookmarks has any impact on readers at all. Do you like giveaways? What makes you interested in trying a new author? Do you buy series books all the time? Sometimes? Only some authors? I have a feeling we’re all individuals with unique answers to those, but I’ll ask anyway.

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?

For sure! I’d be happy to mail a signed copy of An Heir To Bind Them to one commenter. I also invite you to join in my Rafflecopter contest for a chance to win my August books. 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?

Please watch for The Ultimate Seduction from Harlequin Presents and The Dani Collins Erotic Romance Collection from HarelquinE, both releasing in August. I have a contest running to celebrate these hot summer reads with their sexy, hidden identity themes. Enter Dani Collins’ Masked Desires Contest here for a chance to express your secret desires from behind a masquerade mask or win a signed copy of The Ultimate

                            Seduction.

DANI’S PREVIOUS RELEASES:

An Heir To Bind Them is Book Three in the Makricosta saga. Book One, No Longer Forbidden?, and Book Two, More Than A Convenient Marriage, released as a 2in1 last December.

Readers might also like to pick up Proof Of Their Sin, the Reviewer’s Choice from RT Book Reviews for Best First In Series. My Harlequin Presents, A Debt Paid In Passion, was one of RT’s Top Pick’s for February.

 Stay current with Dani’s new releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here:

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PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon: US | Canada | UK 

eHarlequin | Mills & Boon Aus | Mills & Boon UK 

Chapters | Nook | Kobo | ARe | BooksaMillion