Not long before
Night Shift is out!! Here's an excerpt from my
novella to whet your appetites. Release date is November 25th.
(This excerpt is also available in back of
Archangel's Shadows).
Excerpt from Secrets At Midnight
by Nalini Singh
Release date: November 25th
Vivid green eyes watched her with an unwavering focus that raised the tiny
hairs on Kirby’s arms and made her stomach go tight, a strange breathlessness
in her chest. She didn’t recognize the tall, muscled male with skin tanned a
beautiful gold, but he had to be part of the DarkRiver leopard pack—there was
something feline about the way he stood, a stealthy predator at rest. She had
the insane urge to go up to him,touch him,
curl naked against him, skin to
skin.
The uncharacteristic nature of the forceful sensual compulsion snapped her back
to her senses, and all at once, she was aware of Vera looking at her with a
distinctly quizzical expression on her face. Not sure how long she’d been
standing stock still staring at the stranger, Kirby held up the small white box
in her arms and said, “I baked yesterday.” Her pulse thudded hard and fast, her
words huskier than they should’ve been. “I thought I’d drop off half the cake
for you, since I know you like black forest.”
“I like black forest, too.” A deep male voice that brushed over her senses like
the most luxuriant fur, the lips that had shaped the words curved in a teasing
smile, until she could almost believe she’d imagined the feral intensity of him
when he’d first looked at her.
Tapping her cane on the ground, Vera looked up into that green-eyed face
that had twisted Kirby’s insides into a tangled snarl. “I suppose you want
some?”
“Yes, please.” Hands behind his back, expression as innocent as a five-year-old’s.
Snorting, Vera jerked her head at Kirby. “This is Bastien. Don’t let him charm
you—next thing you know, you’ll be naked.”
Kirby’s face filled with heat, the rush of blood so loud in her ears that she
almost missed Bastien’s protests. Ignoring them both, Vera walked toward her
door at a spry pace, a grace to her movements even at this age that made it
clear she was changeling.
Not able to look Bastien in the face when her own was no doubt the color of an
overripe tomato, Kirby began to follow the older woman . . . and realized she’d
acquired a six-foot-plus shadow.
“I feel I have to defend myself,” he murmured, the words a purr of sound
against her ears.
Cat, very definitely a cat. A big, gorgeous, stalking cat.
“Really?” she managed to say, her nape prickling at his proximity, the scent of
clean, fresh soap and warm-blooded male in her every breath. “You don’t like
making women naked?” It was a response driven by some hereto hidden part of her
that told her to show him her claws, despite the fact she was
human, didn’t have claws. No matter if it felt as if the sharply curved tips
were shoving against her skin.
A pause.
Kirby had the feeling she’d surprised the leopard at her side, but he recovered
quickly. “Oh, I do.” His voice had dropped, acquired a rougher edge that threw
her stomach into dangerous freefall. “However, and despite Vera’s refusal to
believe me, I’m very particular about who I make naked now that I’m no longer a hormone-driven teenager. Of course, when I was a teenager,
a naked woman would’ve ended things rather abruptly, physically speaking.”
Skin burning again when it had just settled, Kirby nonetheless refused to back
down. “I hope your ability to stand . . .firm”—
Was she really saying
this?—“against temptation has improved with time?” She’d never flirted in such
a sinfully sexual way, hadn’t known she could.
A hand on her lower back, the touch searing her through her cardigan and the
camisole she wore beneath, and his breath warm against her earlobe as he bent
close to say, “You have no idea, little cat.”
Fighting the shiver that threatened, she walked into Vera’s house and to the
kitchen, where she placed the cake on the counter, and said, “I’ll make the
coffee,” before either Bastien or Vera could make the offer themselves. The
routine task gave her something to do, though if she’d thought it’d help her
ignore Bastien, that proved a futile effort.
Sprawled in a chair at the kitchen table opposite Vera, he was saying something
that had the older woman laughing.“Why are you dressed up so spiffy?” Vera
asked once her laughter had faded, lifting her fashionable but unnecessary cane
to tap Bastien’s forearm. “Was it for the girl selection?”
Bastien dropped his head in his hands, the stunning dark red of his hair
catching the sunlight pouring through the kitchen windows, all of which
overlooked woods filled with verdant green firs. His white shirt was pulled
taut over his shoulders in this position, his strength apparent. “I thought Mom
needed a few minutes help moving furniture for a book club lunch,” he growled
when he raised his head. “If I’d known it was about matchmaking, I’d have worn
my rattiest jeans and a stained T‑shirt.”
Ears straining to catch every snarly word, Kirby found the cups as the coffee
began to perk.
“Your mother loves you.” Vera glared at Bastien. “You’re in fine form, prime of
your life, you should find a girl before you get old and crinkly.”
“Gee, thanks, Vera.” A masculine mutter as he leaned back again, one arm braced
lazily against the back of his chair, his big body loose limbed, very much a
cat at rest. “I was hoping I had a few more years yet.”
Vera’s response was a grin bright and full of anticipation. “I’ll enjoy
watching you fall, Bastien Smith. I bet she wraps you around her finger.”
A shrug, those deliciously broad shoulders catching Kirby’s attention again.
“Of course she will.” Impossible as it was, it felt as if his voice was pitched
to stroke over her senses. “What would be the point otherwise?”
Vera’s smile turned affectionate. “I’m glad to see you understand that.”
Glancing up as Kirby brought across the tray holding the coffee, Vera’s
expression softened. “And you, Kirby?” She tugged Kirby into a seat. “Have you
found someone yet?”
“I’ve only been in the city two weeks,” she said, conscious of Bastien going
preternaturally still for a single, taut moment, the green of his eyes no
longer human, before he rose to get the cake.
“From the accent,” he said, “I’m guessing . . . Georgia?”
Kirby nodded, happy he’d changed the subject, but Vera wasn’t done.
“Two weeks, schmoo weeks. It’s never too early to start looking.” The older
woman’s eyes glinted, flicking from Kirby to Bastien. “You two would make
pretty cubs together.”
Kirby wanted to die. Dig a hole, jump inside, bury herself for good measure.
Bastien on the other hand—now standing between her and Vera—served up the cake
without missing a beat, his body
heat lapping against her like a tactile caress. “Undoubtedly,” he said, “but
not if you terrify Kirby away with warnings about the likelihood of ending up
naked while with me.”
Kirby responded in pure self-defense, driven by that strangeness in her that
said she couldn’t permit him to overwhelm her. Not now, not ever. She might not
be a dominant, but it was critical he didn’t see her as weak. The tips of her
fingers stung on that fierce thought, the pain sharp, biting.
Putting down the coffee cup that was clearly hotter than she’d realized, she
said, “That likelihood is getting less and less with every word you speak.”
Laughing, Vera slapped her thigh. Bastien retook his seat with a meek
expression belied by the fact he’d shifted his chair so that his thigh pressed
against Kirby’s own. It incited an escalation in her clawing awareness of him,
her skin prickling in a way that felt as if it came from inside and out both.
Almost as if she had a leopard under her skin, too, one that was rubbing up
against it in an effort to get closer to this gorgeous cat who made her nerve
endings go haywire.
Shaking off the curious sensation, she focused on his conversation with Vera.
Intelligent, witty, a little bit wicked, Bastien was the kind of man who’d
never have trouble attracting a woman. Kirby was far from immune. If she was
brutally honest, she’d never reacted to anyone as strongly as she’d done to
Bastien.
That violent wave of need, of want at the start, followed by an increasing
desire to know more about him, know everything. . . it was profoundly
unsettling. As was the tearing disappointment that had her nails digging into
her palms and her eyes threatening to burn when he glanced at his watch and
said, “I better get into the office. With the instability caused by the Psy
political situation, I have to keep an extra-sharp eye on things.”
“All work and no play.” Vera shook her head as Kirby stared deliberately into
her half-empty coffee cup in an effort to hide her disturbing reaction, her
skin flushing alternately hot then cold. “Be careful you don’t become a dull
boy.”
“I thought I was making women naked on a regular basis?” Rising with that quip,
Bastien went around to kiss Vera on the cheek. “Can I give you a ride
somewhere, Kirby?” he asked, his hand on the back of her chair.
Scared by how much she wanted to lean back, rub her cheek against his arm, tug
him down to her mouth, she shook her head.
“Don’t be silly,” Vera said. “You haven’t got a car.”
Her fingers flexed, the tingling in her fingertips increasing in strength.
“It’s no trouble to catch the—”
Bastien’s breath whispered hot and silken over her ear, his face a caress away
from her own. “I promise I don’t bite.” It was a dare.
Available November 25th!
This is the thread where you can discussion the stories in WILD EMBRACE with *spoilers*. As always, be generous and polite to your fellow readers and have fun!
Unedited advance excerpt from Whisper of Sin
Also, if you entered the contest yesterday, I've edited the post to add the winner's name :)
