About Me
- Pamela Clare
- I grew up in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then lived in Denmark and traveled throughout Europe before coming back to Colorado. I have two adult sons, whom I cherish. I started my writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor of two different papers. Along the way, my team and I won numerous state and several national awards, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, I was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism. Now I write historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense.
Seductive Musings
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Name That Scene — Mystery Excerpt #3
These must not be very difficult. Everyone keeps getting them right. Shucks! I'd like to think the characters are so distinctly drawn and the stories so unique that one couldn't not possibly mistake them, but that would be vanity.
So, yes, yesterday's NTS was from Ride the Fire. The tricky thing about writing that book was that I couldn't really make it sexual until after Bethie's baby was born. Though I personally have nothing against pregnant women having sex, I figured having a pregnant heroine having sex with a hero who isn't the father of the baby would be pushing it for most readers. I needed to ratchet up the sexual tension after Belle's birth, and this scene did that nicely.
Oh, I can so see Nicholas standing there, water sluicing down his scarred skin, his hair long and wet. There's a little thought Nicholas has following this scene that made me laugh. It came from him, I swear. After Bethie sees him bathing in the river, he thinks to himself:
Her gazed had traveled over every inch of him in seemingly innocent appraisal, her eyes growing wide at the sight of his penis. He might have preferred that her first sight of him come elsewhere, out of the icy stream, which tended to humble and wither a man. Still, he’d seen appreciation on her face.
Oh, yes, I do amuse myself. :-)
Ride the Fire is getting a new cover in October, and it will be coming out at a lower price. The idea is to encourage people who haven't read my historicals to try them so that they will (hopefully) read more. Of course, some people were turned off by the violence in my books. What can I say? It's not a ball room or a drawing room but the Colonial American landscape where they take place. And though I'm not a big fan of violence, I do like to see a hero tested and put through his paces... (Bo, are you with me?)
So Amanda won yesterday's signed copy of Surrender.
And now on to today's Name That Scene...
She met his gaze, felt as if she herself were on the drink. He looked so handsome in his fine woolen coat with its brass buttons. His shoulders were so broad, his jaw strong, and the way he looked at her…
He cupped her cheek in his hand, traced a circle on her skin with his thumb.
His touch left a trail of fire on her cheek, drove away all thoughts but one. She wanted to know. She needed to know. “Kiss me. I want … ”
She looked away, shocked and mortified at her own boldness. But the words were out. She could not take them back.
He lifted her chin, forced her to look into his eyes. “What do you want?”
The warmth of his gaze left her weak, spellbound. “I want to know what it feels like … to be kissed when… when I’m not afraid.”
His eyes closed, his brow furrowed. A low sound like a moan came from his throat, as if the idea brought him pain.
And she understood. Shame made her cheeks flame. He didn’t want to kiss her. She was naught but a poor Irish maid in his eyes, a destitute girl dressed in tatters. “I-I’m sorry. You don’t want to. I understand. I was wrong to—”
His eyes opened. He chuckled, and then his voice softened. “I’m afraid you don’t understand, my sweet. I want very much to kiss you. I want it so much it hurts. But be sure it’s what you want.”
Sure and this was not what she had expected him to say. His words made her heart beat faster, made it hard to speak. “That night, I felt… But I was so scared, and … I need to know. Just a kiss.”
His gaze locked with hers. “Aye. Just a kiss.”
She closed her eyes, fisted her hands in the folds of her cloak, unable to breathe. Just standing near him she could feel the enticing masculine strength of his body. She tilted her chin up to him.
She felt his arms enfold her, the hard press of his body against hers. At the first tentative brush of his lips against hers, she thought she would melt. He kissed first her upper lip, then her lower. Then his mouth gently took hers, his lips warm and soft, and she did melt, sinking against him with a whimper, her palms flat against his chest.
But the kiss wasn’t over.
She felt his tongue trace the outline of her lips and found her lips parting of their own accord. Heat flared in her belly as he tasted her, penetrated her. This was much better than what she remembered, much more potent, more thrilling.
When his lips took hers again, all gentleness was gone, replaced by an intensity that almost frightened her. She could not breathe. She could not think. Rather than pulling away, she found herself clinging to him, returning his passion with a fervor of her own. Their tongues twined, caressed, parried.
It was like nothing she could have imagined. She was on fire as he held her, consumed her, ravished her mouth.
He twined his fingers in her hair, pulled her head back and trailed kisses along the sensitive skin of her throat. She gasped at the delicious new sensation. When his tongue traced the whorl of her ear, her knees gave way.
Gently he lowered her to the ground, the thick grass a blanket beneath them. He cradled her head in the crook of his arm, continued to kiss her throat. His body stretched, hard and strong, beside hers.
Through a haze of pleasure, she felt a hint of alarm. “Just a kiss. You said—”
He lifted his lips from her quivering skin, looked down at her, his eyes dark with passion. “My sweet, this is just a kiss.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Follow Me
Seduction Game
11 comments:
Another difficult one. I'd say it's from Carnal Gift because of the "poor Irish maid" but I'm not sure. Anyway I'll go for Brighid and Jamie.... Is that right?
stef
THIS is the scene I was remembering but couldn't find last night. Arg! Am I right?
"She was naught but a poor Irish maid in his eyes, a destitute girl dressed in tatters."
Would lead me to believe this is from Carnal Gift although I haven't read it and am only guessing...... But thats just cause you told me Carnal gift was set in Ireland
Goodness... where in the world have I been lately???? I have been missin' out! (Sorry, I have been in my own world of editing with my manuscript and I am afraid my brain might freeze over staring at my computer screen for hours on end).
I've missed chatting with everyone.
Well, dang it!!! I have got to get better at proofing for clues. LOL!
Yes, you're all right. :-)
What's an author got to do to stump you all?
Amanda hasn't read it. Has everyone else read the story?
Christi, I was wondering about you this morning and hoping that all was well. It's not like you to disappear, but now that I know what you were doing, I'm glad you've been busy. That's important! Good for you!
Ronlyn, I can't remember... I'll have to go check your email.
But, as I told Ronlyn, if any of y'all want to post a scene because it's your favorite, or it's one you remember or it makes you laugh (whatever), let me know. You can send it to me, and I'll post it together with your comments about why you've chosen it.
Am I right to say that everyone here has read SURRENDER and/or has a signed copy of it???
CG all the way!!!!!
This gave it away for me-
“I want to know what it feels like … to be kissed when… when I’m not afraid.”
I just love that part.
And YES,I am with you all the way!!! Bring on the blood & guts,the violence,the lashings,the torture,the harsh realities of the time in which our hero lived!!! Show me he's a man,that he can endure hell,reach deep within to his most primitve self to survive if need be,and come out stronger & smarter for it,while retaining his humanity.That's all I ask *G*
You've always given that.You don't know how to do less,it's not in you :)
Bo, that is exactly how I feel. I want to know the hero is strong in body, mind and heart, that he can take whatever life throws at him, survive it and protect those he loves. You don't find many men today who live up to that description. Most fall apart if they lose the TV remote.
Wow, Blogger is acting strange. I didn't meant to post then...
I meant to say, thanks, Bo, for saying that. I DO try to bring you a hero you can love and lust after, a heroine you can love like a sister, and a story that tears you apart and puts you back together again. That's the best way I know to explain it. Emotional upheaval and catharsis. :-)
OK, so does anyone have any fave scenes to post, or is it up to me?
That is definitly Carnal Gift! Jamie and Brighid my personal fave historical of yours also the first book I ever read of yours lol. I have read that one many times already!
LOL Pamela I think we all know the books so well that its not that you don't choose good scenes its that we all love your writing so much that its easy for us!
Sorry I'm late. You are going to have to work harder at it! We are loyal followers of you and your writing, so we know it well. LOL