Ellora's Cavemen: Flavors of Ecstasy I

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Excerpts From: ELLORA’S CAVEMEN:
FLAVORS OF ECSTASY I

An Excerpt From: EXTRA SENSUAL PERCEPTION

“All you have to do is tell us what you see.”

Iris Thompson pulled her oversized sweater closer and stared at Bill, the detective who’d requested her assistance—her psychic assistance. Bill’s wife was one of Iris’ clients and although Bill was clearly skeptical of Iris’ abilities, he’d called her at his wife’s encouragement to help him solve a recent string of suspicious suicides.

Iris was just as nervous as Bill. She’d never worked with the police before although she’d been psychic all her life. She’d only recently moved to Nashville from Atlanta, where the police hadn’t wanted anything to do with her brand of help. Her intuition had brought her here and as her gaze scanned Bill’s tiny office, she wondered if this was why—this new direction with her psychic ability.

“I suspect foul play.” Bill’s chair creaked when he leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. “I have no leads. Nothing to go on. I was wondering if you’d be able to find anything to link these deaths.”

“You mean like the murderer?” Iris blurted. She scooted to the edge of her chair. Common sense told her to snatch up her purse and get the hell out of here but something in her intuition niggled at her to stay.

Bill’s eyebrow arched. “Precisely.” He pursed his lips.

“But why use a psychic? Why me?” she asked. “Haven’t you consulted a criminal profiler?” Her gaze dropped to the file on his desk. She could see the corners of the photographs inside peeping out from under the edge of a manila folder.

Bill pushed the file toward her, tempting her to take it. “We’ve consulted two profilers. Nada. Zip. Zilch. They independently and collectively came to the educated conclusion that these were copycat deaths.”

Iris swallowed thickly. She brushed her fingertips over the folder. Chills broke out at her wrist and skittered up her arm. She willed her psychic senses to calm. “That’s what the papers say—that these men killed themselves.”

Tapping his foot on the floor impatiently, Bill stared. “I’m interested in what you think.”

When she’d read the account of the first man’s death in the paper, her gut instinct had told her there was more to the story than the authorities knew. Now that three men had died under suspiciously similar circumstances, she knew the deaths were connected. They’d died—one each week—on Friday afternoons, all seemingly by their own hands. Still, there was more. Iris could tell because psychic energy crackled in the area of her solar plexus so fiercely she found it difficult to breathe.

An Excerpt From: FRENCH KISS

Hiding in the ladies’ cloakroom for the duration of the Endicotts’ ball was simply not a possibility. Yet Amaryllis Gardner knew if she left the safety of the dark alcove, one of her catty friends would pounce and make sly remarks about her fiancé’s absence this evening.

Hearing the click of approaching heels, Amaryllis backed into the deepest corner of the room, concealing herself behind a velvet cape. Her nose twitched at the overpowering scent of gardenia perfume.

“I feel sorry for Amaryllis,” Laura Lodge said to Maude Winthrop as they entered the cloakroom. Laura delved into a coat pocket. “Good, I knew I’d brought my extra hankie.” She tucked the handkerchief into her bosom. “How humiliating for her to be sitting with the dowagers when she has a fiancé. Not that my parents would have consented to an engagement with such a man—even one as handsome as Dr. Bradford.”

Amaryllis’ cheeks burned. Eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves. She should make her presence known.

Giggling, Maude said, “Perhaps her parents are glad to get Amaryllis out of the house. She’s almost twenty-six, isn’t she?”

“On the shelf for years. I can scarcely blame her for accepting him. Still, Dr. Bradford is not our kind. One can only assume his gold makes up for that clinic in the back slums.”

Amaryllis squared her shoulders, steeling herself to charge out and defend her fiancé.

“But what do you suppose he sees in her?” Maude wondered. “She’s too plump for fashion and she’s never been pretty.”

Hearing the facts stated so baldly, Amaryllis shrank back, biting her lip.

“Isn’t it obvious? Married to one of the Gardner girls, he’ll be accepted by the people who matter.” Laura took her friend’s arm. “Let’s get a glass of punch.” The two women left the cloakroom.

On the shelf. Such an unpleasant phrase, as though one were a cheese left too long in a grocery store, spotted with mold.

If only her shyness had permitted, she’d have come out of hiding and told them she was marrying for love, not money. Nor had she been swayed by her fiancé’s handsome face. She loved him for his keen intelligence, his concern for the poor and his devotion to his profession.

An Excerpt From: HAVING IT ALL

Daisy Giles flipped down the sun visor in her brother’s SUV and checked her makeup for what was probably the tenth time. Satisfied that she’d done as good a job as possible, she blew out a breath and sat back in the passenger seat. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. It was just a dinner.

Right. With a man who broke my heart. A man I’ve hated for ten years. A man who has a lot to make up for.

A man who, even now, she wasn’t sure she was ready to see after all the pain and all the years.

Her brother, Jimmy, reached over and squeezed her hand. “Relax, kiddo. You look great.”

She fiddled with the purse resting in her lap. “I don’t know why I care anyway,” she told him. “How did I let you talk me into this?”

“You’re an event planner, right? He wants you to plan an event for him.”

“Plan an event.” She snapped and unsnapped the clasp of her purse. “Yeah, right. Like I’m the only one around.”

“Daisy.” His voice was calm and matter-of-fact. “You and Mac haven’t seen each other in ten years. The way you parted was terrible and I think it’s left a cloud on both your lives. I can’t speak for you but Mac’s regretted it every minute of every day of his life since then.”

“So you say,” she retorted.

“Who’s in a better position to know than I am?”

Which was true. Mac Fontana had left town without her but with his band and with her brother Jimmy as his manager. Mac, who had a voice like golden honey, and Jimmy, who had a steel-trap mind and a knack for always knowing which deal to make, had ridden the glory train together to the top of the heap. Now Mac was an icon of country rock music, wealthy beyond anything they’d imagined when the two of them used to daydream under the big tree in her backyard. And like herself, he had a short unhappy marriage in his history book.

“You’re right.” Her fingers moved restlessly, smoothing the fabric of her dress. “But some pain never goes away. This just seems so…so…”

“So what? He knows he did a terrible thing, but you never gave him a chance to make amends.”

“Make amends?” Her voice almost squeaked. “How can you make amends for destroying trust? For falling into bed naked with three equally naked groupies, drunk out of your mind? And when your girlfriend comes into your room to celebrate your success with you, just lying there with a goofy grin?”

An Excerpt From: HUNGRY LIKE A WOLF

I looked behind me once more. He was back there, I knew he was. But he wouldn’t show himself. He wanted to scare me. And was doing a damn good job of it, too.

A branch cracked. Shit! He was closer than I thought. The growl sent shivers up my spine, urging me to run as fast as I could. It wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done, but dammit, there was no way I going to hang around and let him catch me.

I ran through the trees, weaving in and out, ducking under branches, hoping I would make it, that I could get away. I knew if I could reach the cabin, I’d be safe.

Pausing long enough to figure out where I was, I breathed a sigh of relief. Just around the cluster of boulders on my left was the clearing. Once there, it was one hundred yards to the cabin. The length of a football field. I could make it. I had to make it.

With a deep breath and a last surge of energy, I made for the boulders, darting out into the clearing and around the cabin. Seventy-five yards, fifty. I was almost there. Almost to—

“Oof.”

A heavy, furry body hit me from behind, knocking me to my stomach. Hot breath spilled across my neck as a long tongue licked me from the nape of my neck to my ear. The wolf edged my hair aside and sniffed. His front paws were on either side of my head, and I could feel his back paws bracketing my thighs. I couldn’t move.

Trapped, like the prey I was.

“Get off, you big lug.”

“Woof.”

I laughed.

“Okay, okay, you caught me fair and square, now let me up.”

His weight pressed down and I inhaled sharply as he sniffed again. Then the voice. “You think I’m gonna give in that easily?” Warmth grew deep in my belly as I heard his voice. It didn’t matter where we were or what we were doing, I grew wet every time.

“You won. You can let me up.” I tried to raise myself up by my arms, and promptly came into contact with hard human male flesh. Naked human male flesh. And from the feel of the cock pressing into my ass, a highly aroused naked male. My pussy clenched.

An Excerpt From: RESISTING REED

Sonja Lunsford raised her glass of champagne in a celebratory toast. “Here’s to you, Marilee. You finally lost that extra two hundred pounds.”

Marilee’s flute met her friend’s with a singsong clink. “And who would have thought it would only take one of Chicago’s priciest lawyers to do it?”

“Well, I say good riddance.” Sonja took a delicate sip of Cristal. “Any lawyer who can get rid of all that extra weight with a divorce settlement as good as yours is worth any price.”

“Amen.” Marilee Reynolds leaned back in the patio chair and lifted her face to the sun. “You can’t imagine how wonderful it feels to finally be rid of the lying bastard.”

Sonja’s festive tone changed to melancholy remembrance. “Oh yes, I can. You’re forgetting all the stories I’d told you about my first husband. He was just as bad as your Peter, worse actually.”

Marilee studied her friend and mentor, recalling her stories of fear and abuse. At least Peter never raised his hand to her.

“I was so young, only twenty-two when I got pregnant. And way too trusting.” Sonja took a deep breath and smiled. “But it’s all in the past now, and I’m not one to dwell. Besides, I ended up with the best part of him when it was all said and done.”

Reed. Sonja’s pride and joy.

Sonja picked up a strawberry from a plate on the table. “I’m just thankful Everett wanted to adopt Reed when we got married. He was so little at the time, lost. Everett molded him into the man he is today.”

And what a man he turned out to be. Six foot two of nothing but pure male sensuality.

Oh, God.

Heaven help Marilee if her best friend ever found out how she truly felt about her son.

He showed up in her dreams, a recollection of that night so long ago. In her sleep they had continued where reality hadn’t, and it never failed to wake her with an intolerable need. The way his tongue plunged deep inside her while his cock slid in and out of her mouth left her awake and aching. She would often end up reaching for her vibrator to try to imitate his actions. And damn, if that wasn’t a poor substitute for the real thing.

Marilee cleared her throat and ran her hands through her long hair. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen him. How does he like living in the city again?”

Sonja took another sip of the champagne. “From what he tells me, he’s enjoying it. You know, it took Everett a year to talk him into coming home and taking the VP position. To this day, I still don’t know why Reed waited so long to agree. It’s a wonderful opportunity for him.”

Marilee knew why.

She could still recall the incident as if it were yesterday.

An Excerpt From: TRAPPED

“Die, bitch!”

Tabrin Jones ducked behind a bulkhead as blaster fire slammed into the wall behind her. It was only a moderate energy pulse that wouldn’t puncture the hull of the ship or breach the pressure seal but it would’ve done a number on her unarmored skull.

Damn that thug, Thosis Dinse. She should’ve known he’d manage to smuggle an illegal blaster on board the inter-system shuttle. All she had was a stun-gun, paralysis cuffs and a monofilament dagger in her left boot. Nothing with any range to speak of.

Another shot cracked open a crate of apples just to her right. At least she’d run him down in the cargo hold and not out where he might start shooting around innocent passengers. Tab didn’t mind putting herself at risk but the thought of accidentally shooting a noncombatant made her sick to her stomach.

“You’ll never take me alive, you Keisian freak.” Dinse was backing up toward the airlock leading up to the main part of the ship. The wall in here was lined with escape pods. There was always the possibility he’d take one of those and jettison himself. Tomorrow’s shuttle would pick him up and hand him over to the authorities. He’d still be caught but she wouldn’t get the bounty and Tab needed that money.

“Oh please,” she called, throwing her voice to the left. It was an old theatre trick, one she’d learned from her magician father, but Dinse was just stupid enough to fall for it. Meanwhile she slowly eased her way around the bulkhead to the right, trying to cut him off. “Could you be a bigger cliché, you stupid fuck? Maybe ask me if I want a saucer of milk?” A lot of so-called “pure” humans got all superior just because her Keisian ancestors had added a bit of feline DNA into the mix. She was a little more limber than the average person and could see better in the dark but other than that, she was as human as anyone. It pissed her off when people couldn’t see that.

She slipped around the end of the bulkhead with her stun-gun raised and ready. A few more steps, if she could keep him looking the other direction. He was a small-time counterfeiter who occasionally moonlighted as hired muscle. The bounty on the bastard was up to sixty thousand credits and that would go a long way toward her kid sister’s tuition for the year. Meika wanted to be a doctor, of all things. And if that’s what the kid wanted, then Tab was damn sure she was going to get it. Since their parents’ deaths ten years earlier, Meika was all the family Tab had left. Tabrin was determined to provide the best education money could buy, even if it meant risking her life to capture losers like Dinse.

Just two more steps. Her bare toes moved silently across the rubberized floor. Being half-Keisian might get her kicked out of swanky society events on some planets but that feline agility sure helped when it came to sneaking up on people.

But Dinse must’ve had some sort of enhanced perception implant going. Right as she was about to trigger her weapon, he spun and fired the damn blaster.