The daughter pulled her wet, filthy horse from the field at the stable and we carted him to his new home. And he liked it!

I’ve emailed the winner of the deck of cards. There’s still time to write a mini-reader-review for a chance to win the USB key!

And check this out! Oprah has a Kindle!

A Slave of My Own Desire
by Eve Summers
Erotic Romance
(MC/IR Contemporary Romance)
ISBN: 978-1-60435-110-1
Word Count: 10,000
Price: $1.99
www.redrosepublishing.com

BLURB:
How fast would you fall for a guy who can make you do everything you’ve ever wanted to experience, but were too embarrassed to ask for?

EXCERPT:

He’s gorgeous, but he doesn’t know the first thing about poker. Study your opponent, not your hand, my first boyfriend always told me. In poker, your cards are largely irrelevant: it’s the psychology of the bluff that matters.

Mr. Danger folds a few times, gets lucky with three sevens, then I make him fold. The heap of chips on his end of the bed is beginning to shrink, but he evens it out with a full house on which he bids hopelessly too low.

That’s when I get my four hearts, straight up. I discard the single spade and the replacement brings me the fifth to suit.

Excitement barely allows me to register that he’s thrown out one card too. His shoulders stoop when he inspects his new card. I’m guessing he must have been trying for a flush or a straight, and failed.

Now, as I said, in poker a good hand means nothing if your partner has rubbish, especially if he suspects that you have something better. So I stoop my shoulders too, just a fraction, and bite on my lip.

“I’m in,” he says cautiously. So he’s going for a bluff. Yes!

The betting is a slow affair, but eventually all the chips are in the game.

“I will see you,” I say as I lay down my hand. “I can’t wait to hear the name that comes before Danger.”

“I’m afraid you will have to wait for that,” says he, brandishing four tens.

I’m speechless. He bluffed me into thinking that he was bluffing. He had good cards all along.

“In poker, whether it’s Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi or Seven Card Stud, the most important rule to remember is Do Not Underestimate Your Opponent,” he says as he moves the pot to his side and stacks up the chips with a practiced hand. “Now, take off your stockings.”

“What -”

“Off.”

Fascinating tidbits about the book:

* This book started as an email fantasy between myself and a man for whom I did some freelance work. We live continents apart and have never met face to face.
* My first experience at writing erotica was a monthly members’ only newsletter distributed among subscribers of a porn site. The pay was fantastic, and I got to review their movies, too.
* Question to the readers: does anybody else also think that sex is better with arrogant bad boys than with the modern sensitive men?

You can find Eve at Red Rose Publishing!

I'm giving away a deck of TOK2 cards!

The contest starts NOW, even though the book won’t be live until October 20th at www.liquidsilverbooks.com, and will run until October 23rd. One winner, drawn at random.  However, if you promise to buy it, read it and send me your mini-review, and then you do so before October 31st, I’ll enter your name into the hat to win a TOK2 1gb USB key!

Horsey responded to antibiotics, but his gums and eyes are yellow.  Jaundice.  When he was all shocky his gums and eyes were gray.  Then he started feeling better and they turned pink again (the eyelid–not the eye!) and now they’re yellow.

My daughter is responsible for all horsey costs.  She works to pay for the stable fees and hay.  She’s 16–so how is she going to pay for a 1100.00 vet bill?  We certainly don’t have an extra grand!

My daughter was raised Buddhist (SGI-USA) but has always scoffed at practicing consistently.  For awhile now she’s been having a self-directed practice (which pleases me immensely!).  She chanted about her horse’s health and the vet bill.  She didn’t ask anyone for any money.  She knew she had to pay the bill and probably put in extra hours to earn the funds.  While we were eating dinner, her grandmother phoned and said that since she knows the kid has to pay for her own horse, and that she didn’t want her granddaughter saddled (no pun intended) with a huge bill, that she was going to cash one of the savings bonds she has for my daughter’s higher education so that we can pay the vet off.

The bill is paid.

The horse is not yet out of the woods, but any more visits by the vet should be manageable.

We’re all chanting for Kayak’s good health and chanting appreciation for the protective functions in our environment (like grandparents and mobile veteranarians).

Darr

Nim’s Island depicts Jodie Foster as a writer with issues.  Like, OMG!  I’m so there!  Her rugged, daring, handsome character shows up in her flat and talks to her.  Mine have been tossing shoes at me.  Adanto (whom I have patterned mentally while writing him to look like Antonio Banderas) is waiting for me to figure out how to get him out of the treadmill and into Maggie’s arms.  I thought I had it plotted, but then I thought the novella would be less than 10,000 words, too.  It’s pushing 18,000 and is about 3/4 finished.

Maggie needs to perform a compassionate act to “free” Adanto from his “Djinn” status.  I thought I’d have her compassionate act be toward Adanto.  But now I’m emotionally invested in a secondary character who is suffering (Turhan) and I’m thinking maybe Maggie’s actions should be for his benefit.  Either way, the compassionate act is what will free Adanto.  At least the High Ghul (Boss Jinni) and I are in agreement about that.

So, what’s a writer to do?

Darragha

It’s enough to make you dizzy, huh?

This sister-in-law, the “matriarch” (although she has kind of given up that title now) gave me the BEST gift this week.  Because I pulled her son’s Buddhist wedding together for her, she came over and cleaned and organized my kitchen for me!  She spent 9 hours cleaning out my cupboards and going through eigtheen years’ worth of stuff.  She found things I didn’t even know I had!  And the food I had tucked away all over the place!  OMG!  I had no idea I had so much canned fruit, etc.

You know what she said to me?  You go write.  You go do what you do best.  I love to clean and organize and couldn’t write a book if I tried, but you can.  Go do it. I love her!  She opened a bag of BBQ potato chips, a bottle of white wine and went to work.  She is amazing.

We made a box for the food bank, tossed a lot of stuff (she wouldn’t let me keep three can openers or two tea kettles) and she’s coming back next week to trade my food and dish cupboards.  My husband orginally put the stuff in the shelves and I’ve never re-arranged it.  My SIL is going to switch stuff for me while I’m at the day job.

I have had six glorious weeks off.  I wrote three books and have an offer to submit the fourth (partially completed) directly to the editor of the publisher when it’s ready.  But soon, I must return to my day-time persona as a school secretary.  The real me is here, however.  Right here at www.darragha.com.

I truly appreciate having a day job with benefits and umpteen days off per year, but I love staying home and writing, too.  Someday, I hope to find a balance between the two.  Someday, I will find a balance