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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Excerpt...and Get Out the Vote (well, nominations, really)!!!

I have one final Remember Me excerpt--this will be (publisher willing) the second book in my Atlanta's Heros series, due out sometime in early 2008. Legally Yours will be the bridge book into the new series (bringing along lots of characters you know from the upcoming The Perfect Daugther and The Prodigal's Return), and you should have it in your hot little hands in September. So enjoy Robert's final scene in Chapter 1, and I'll let you know when there's more (just as soon as I finish Legally Yours and have time to write it ;o)

And for those of you who play out on eharliquin.com, it's time to nominate you favorite stories and characters of 2006. Here's the link to the categories...

http://community.eharlequin.com/webx?14@@.4a83fdff

Click whichever category you want to participate in, and you should be taken to the "community" loop where folks are nominating books... There are a lot of fun ways to nominate your favorite Harlequin authors--from favorite books to favorite cover to favorite love scene and so on.

My 2006 titles were The Runaway Daughter and The Prodigal's Return, just in case you were wondering ;o) They are relationships novels, sweet romances, The Runaway Daughter has one of my favorite black moments ever as well as a killer cover (not that The Prodigal's Return cover is all that shabby), The Runaway Daughter was chock full of edge-of-your-seat suspense, and I love all my heros and heroines... you get the idea...

Okay...I know what you're really here for. And I don't blame you. I'm loving Remember Me, too. So here's one more excerpt.

For new visitors, this is the fourth scene from an upcoming manuscript. Scroll back through the last few posts for earlier scenes. For those returning, we're still with Robert...let's see if he could really complete our mystery woman's operation, then put her out of his mind...
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Six hours later at a quarter past four in the morning--exhausted, showered and chugging coffee to keep himself awake--Robert walked off the elevator onto the ICU floor. An unconscious Jane Doe had been moved from recovery to an observation suit a half hour ago, right about the time Robert should have been dragging his ass home for some sleep. He was on call again in just six hours.

But he couldn't leave.

He'd checked with the recovery nurse. No one had materialized, asking to be notified about her condition. There was still no contact information on her chart, except for the police.

She was completely alone.

He turned into the dimly-lit room that was little more than a glass-sided cubicle. She lay propped on a nest of starched, white pillows, her shoulder-length, ebony hair spilling around her face and over the dressing that covered her wound. He picked up her chart and studied her vitals, then double-checked her heart rate and breathing with the stethoscope he'd swung around his neck, even though he'd traded his scrubs for street clothes.

Medically, her condition was listed as guarded, but stable. He'd done a hell of a job, delicately removing debris and patching up the damage as quickly and non-invasively as possible. Still, there was no telling how long it would take until she woke again, or what kind of complications might await them once she did. The brain was a fickle, tricky organ to play with. There would be additional swelling, and there could be potentially deadly side effects. There was no way to tell how many, or for how long they'd last.

The best post-op treatment for traumatic brain injury was rest and gentle stimulation. Having people who knew the patient spend time interacting with her, enticing her to re-attach to the world around her.

Only his Jane Doe didn't have anyone to sit beside her and talk about home, or the family pet, or a child's crazy day at school.

His Jane Doe.

She didn't belong to him, or anyone else for that matter.

Robert glanced at armed APD officer positioned in the hall. The police were impatient to question her.

So they could protect her? Or was her guard there for some other reason?

Taking another sip of his coffee, Robert set the cup aside and sat in the single chair beside the bed. He hesitated, then reached for her hand. It was so tiny in his, and not just because he was a big man. She'd put up a good fight when she'd come to on the table. She'd been stronger than any of them had expected. But the hospital bed, the blankets and sheets, seemed to swallow her slight frame now. She was completely vulnerable.

He threaded his fingers around hers, leaving his professional demeanor behind and focusing on the promise he'd made her--a woman he knew nothing about, whom he had no business promising anything.

Except he had.

Trust me... I'll be here when you wake up.

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5 Comments:

  • At 4:12 PM, Blogger Jennifer Y. said…

    You definitely know how to make a person want to read your books! Can't wait!

     
  • At 11:32 AM, Blogger Fannie said…

    I'm heading over to eharlequin to nominate my favorite author and her books. BTW, congrats to you Maadam President. Am impatiently awating your new series. They sound sooooo good. Have a great day and hugs to all.

     
  • At 4:13 PM, Blogger Carol M said…

    Thank you for letting us enjoy more of Remember Me!

     
  • At 8:45 AM, Blogger CrystalGB said…

    Great excerpt.

     
  • At 3:09 PM, Blogger catslady said…

    Oh, sounds great and I too can't wait!

     

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