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.
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Showing posts with label I-Team After Hours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I-Team After Hours. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2015
DEAD BY MIDNIGHT: An I-Team Christmas is OUT!
Happy Holidays!
In a nutshell: After a crazy writing marathon that has left my house looking like a tornado went through it, I finished DEAD BY MIDNIGHT: AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS, edited it, and, with my son Benjamin’s help, got it uploaded.
I love the cover, by the way. There’s been some debate about who this is on the cover. It’s Marc. But if you’re Team Gabe, you could think of him as Gabe. (It’s Marc!)
I had planned on Tuesday, Nov. 17, being release day, but Amazon got the book up within hours. So if you’re a Kindle reader, there’s no waiting. If you prefer Nook or iBooks, it should be out right on time. Kobo and paperback might take a while.
Click here for Amazon UK, Amazon AU, and Amazon CA.
What can I tell you about this book? It’s not even up on my website yet. I was too busy writing it to spend time writing about it.
One reader who just finished it wrote to me to say, “Pamela, this was an amazing, gut-wrenching, crying, scared spitless thriller.” And that about sums it up. It tells the story of one night that brings all of our favorite I-Team couples together in a fight for survival.
Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:
Marc and Sophie Hunter, Gabe and Kat Rossiter, Holly Andris and the rest of the I-Team gang find themselves in the same historic Denver hotel celebrating the approach of Christmas at different holiday parties. What starts out as a fun winter evening with friends soon becomes a brutal fight to survive when the hotel is taken over by a group of ruthless narcoterrorists who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
On the outside, Julian Darcangelo, Zach McBride, Nick Andris, and others join together with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team in a desperate bid to free their friends, knowing that if they fail, the people they love will be…
Dead by Midnight.
Featuring cameo appearances by the men of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, a series by New York Times bestselling author Kaylea Cross.
Yes, DeLuca, Tuck, Evers, Vance, Cruz, Bauer, Schroder, and Blackwell spend some time with my I-Team guys, trying to save lives. It was a fun cross-pollination, and I hope it encourages my readers to try Kaylea Cross's Hostage Rescue Team series.
How about an excerpt?
________________________
From DEAD BY MIDNIGHT: AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS
Marc stopped, fought to catch his breath, pressing a hand against the painful graze on his ribs. His fingers came away bloody. There was nothing he could do about that now. He had bigger problems. He could just hear the bad guys talking to one another somewhere on the roof above. He wouldn’t be able to sneak up on them breathing like he’d just run up seven flights of stairs.
That’s why they call it FAT Tire, Hunter.
Yeah, too much beer—and too little time in the gym.
He’d ditched the idea of taking an elevator when the doors had opened with a loud ding that had made every asshole in the lobby look up. The fuckers had started shooting. He’d been lucky to get out of there alive.
He’d had to take off his fancy dress shoes because the soles made so much noise, every step he took echoing in the stairwell. Now he was running around with a pistol in his hand and wearing nothing but socks, tuxedo pants, a starched white shirt stained red with his own blood—and a fine black tie.
Just like James fucking Bond.
His heartbeat and respiration slowed, Sophie’s lingering scent reminding him with every breath exactly what was at stake tonight. He did his best to put her out of his mind. He wouldn’t be able to help her or anyone else if he didn’t focus.
Sheridan will keep her safe. She’ll be okay.
So now what?
He leaned back against the cold concrete wall, mulled over the possibilities.
There were four of them, and he had four bullets. Even if he snuck up on them, he doubted he’d be able to squeeze off four rounds with absolute accuracy using only a pistol before one of them lit him up. What he needed was a way to eliminate all four of them at once without giving himself away.
Dream on, buddy.
He slowly climbed the last flight of stairs, stopping to the left of the open door, frigid night air pouring in from the darkness. He glanced around the corner.
Nothing.
He stepped outside. It wasn’t as dark as he’d thought it would be, security lights on the parapets casting an eerie yellow glow. He glanced around, pistol raised, finger on the trigger. The hotel’s triangular roof was a maze of external ductwork, enormous ventilation and air conditioning units, what looked like a greenhouse and…
Beehives?
Keeping low, he made his way around the bulkhead and along a long line of ductwork. A movement in the darkness. Voices.
He froze.
All four of them were gathered at the south end of the building, near its prow where The Palace overlooked the star-shaped intersection of Broadway, Seventeenth, and Court Place, with its public park and bus stops. They were bent over something with flashlights. One of them moved, giving Marc a glance.
A Ma Deuce.
The bastards had a fucking Ma Deuce—a Browning M2 machine gun. If they managed to get that thing up and running, they would have enough firepower to take down targets up to two thousand yards away.
Marc’s SWAT team would be fish in a barrel.
He took a moment to think, trying to ignore the fact that he was fucking freezing, the frigid wind cutting right through him. He made his way back along the ductwork to a place he felt was secure, then pulled out his cell phone and sent Irving a quick text.
Four perps on roof setting up a Browning M2 .50 cal. May have RPGs, etc. I’m going to try to take them out.
If he failed, at least Irving and Marc’s teams would be warned.
Quickly and quietly, he retraced his path along the ductwork, moving in closer this time, trying to make up for the limited range of his pistol. He tried to line up a shot, felt himself shivering.
Get a grip, Hunter!
He willed his body to relax, surrendered to the cold, then set it out of his mind.
He lined up his shot and … squeezed the trigger.
Bam!
One down.
Shouting at one another, the others grabbed their weapons, one aiming into the darkness and spraying bullets in Marc’s general direction, rounds slamming into the ductwork around him with a dull thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack.
Bent low, he ran, taking cover behind some AC vents and peering out at the three men, ignoring the vibration of his cell phone. Two perps had gone back to work on the M2, while the third stood sentry, rifle in his hands, cell phone in his hand, thumb moving over the keys. He was probably calling for backup.
Well, Marc couldn’t let him get away with that. He took aim, fired again.
Bam!
Another one down.
The others had laid their weapons aside to work on the Ma Deuce.
Marc saw his chance.
He rushed them, stopping to fire at the first one to aim a rifle at him.
Bam!
A miss.
Shit!
Fueled by a surge of adrenaline, Marc dove for cover.
(c) 2015 Pamela Clare
Friday, November 06, 2015
NEWS — Kaylea Cross's HRT join the I-Team heroes in AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS
Thanks to all of you who helped make the launch of Seduction Game such a great success. No author can please everyone all of the time, but the reviews from readers for this story have been overwhelmingly positive. The book has a 4.9 average on Amazon after 87 reviews and a 4.44 average at Goodreads with more than 300 reviews.
The audiobook should be out soon. There were unavoidable production delays, but things are on track now. For a quick fix of Kaleo Griffith voicing Nick Andris, click here. I expect it will be available before the end of the month. The audiobook cover is quite sexy. I’ll let you know as soon as it’s out.
In other news, Kaleo is busy recording Soul Deep right now for audiobook. It is slated for release on Dec. 29.
After Seduction Game launched, I got focused on AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS, which brings most of the I-Team gang together to fight a madman intent on taking revenge against the US government and freeing his cousin—a convicted killer—from ADX, i.e., Supermax, in Colorado.
As I was working on an outline of the action for the story—that’s being generous, really, because I never outline—I realized the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) would be involved. I mentally tucked that away and focused on writing.
As scenes with the HRT drew closer, I started doing a research, watching documentaries, reading what I could find online. Then, the night before I was supposed to write my first HRT scene, an idea hit me out of the blue. Truly, it was like a lightning strike to the brain.
“Kaylea Cross has an HRT series full of super-sexy alpha males. Wouldn’t it be fun if they got to play with my I-Team heroes?”
I was so freaking excited that I ran down the stairs to email Kaylea that very minute. She responded right away with a “Yes!”
I’m thrilled to be working with Kaylea, whom I consider a fabulous author, and I’m thrilled that her sexy HRT heroes are going to be a part of the action in this novella. Marked, the first book in her HRT series, is currently available for FREE from all ebook retailers, so this is a great chance to get introduced to her writing and her heroes if you’re not familiar with her.
I don’t have a cover for this novella yet, and I’m not even sure about the title. But I do know that AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS will be longer than the average novella, and that it will be out on Nov. 17 in ebook and in print.
Mark your calendars, because this is one installment of the I-Team you won’t want to miss. It’s our farewell to the I-Team—for now at least. And you know they have to go out with a bang.
Seduction Game trivia: I thought I’d share an image of the Clock Tower in Denver (image at top). That’s where Holly and Nick got married at the end of the epilogue. This is how it looks at Christmas. In the story, they got married on the floor with the clock faces, which are huge and which shine both inside and out.
If you haven’t downloaded your copy of Seduction Game, it’s available on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and Google Play, as well as Kindle UK, Kindle AU, and Kindle CA. It will be available in mass market paperback in March 2016.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
SOUL DEEP is out!
I’m back! After a year of hell, I finally have a new story to share with you. I couldn’t be more thrilled. Already, the story has seven five-star reviews on Amazon. And, no, they’re not sock puppet reviews or paid reviews. I have no sock-puppets, and I’ve never paid for a review.
Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:
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Rancher Jack West knows what it means to love a woman with
all his heart and to lose her far too soon. A widower for seven long years, he
thinks love and romance are a thing of the past, nothing more than cherished
memories. He devotes himself to his grown son and his family, the horses they
raise, and the land that has been theirs for three generations. He doesn’t know
that life has a surprise in store for him in the form of Janet Killeen, the
lovely FBI agent he threw off his land last winter.
The bullet that left Janet Killeen seriously wounded also
tore a hole through her life. All she wants is a little peace and quiet in the
mountains, a chance to feel like herself again. That chance comes to an abrupt
end when she goes off the road in a snowstorm and winds up stranded alone in a
ditch. The last person on earth she wants to see is that arrogant jerk Jack
West, no matter how handsome he is. But from the moment Jack finds her and
offers her his hand, she realizes there’s far more to this gruff cowboy than
she had imagined.
But trouble is brewing at Cimarron Ranch. A deranged man
with an inscrutable motive is moving in for the kill, threatening to end Jack
and Janet’s romance before they can claim a love that is … Soul Deep.
Soul Deep is out in Kindle worldwide and in all ebook formats on Smashwords.com.
Kindle: http://amzn.to/1HuxiQj
Kindle AU: http://bit.ly/1Kq18pz
Kindle UK: http://amzn.to/1eWgZzs
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1IpcqJa
iTunes: http://apple.co/1C6Db4c
Nook: http://bit.ly/1ING1rq
We have a couple of steps left before it will be available in paperback, but we’re working hard on making that happen. It is obviously a more involved process, but we’re on top of it. I’ll let you know the moment it’s available.
Soul Deep is also available for reviewers who have accounts with NetGalley. Click here to request your review copy.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their excitement and enthusiasm with me. It feels SO good to be riting again. I hope you’ll love Jack and Janet’s story as much as I do.
Also, here are some answers to FAQs about Seduction Game, Holly’s story.
1. It is coming out in ebook format in the US and the UK/Commonwealth countries on Oct. 20.
2. Yes, it will come out in paperback, too, but the release date for the mass market paperback is March 2016. It’s obviously much easier to publish an ebook than a print book, so that accounts for the time difference. They split the pub dates in order to get the ebook out to readers as soon as possible.
3. I don’t have an audiobook date yet for Seduction Game, and I haven’t had time to work on ebook plans for Soul Deep. I own the audiobook rights to it and will be handling it myself, but I’m one person and can’t write it, publish it and handle the audiobook all at the same time. Penguin owns the audiobook rights to Seduction Game, and I expect Tantor will be producing it soon. I don’t yet know whether they’ll match the October or March release date.
As more news becomes available, I'll share it on my Facebook page, via Twitter, on my website, and here on this blog. Stay tuned!
Thursday, June 25, 2015
SOUL DEEP — First excerpt!
Soul Deep is finished!
Right now, I’m working hard to edit it and get it out to you by next week. This is an indie novella, meaning I’m publishing it myself. But at 50,000 words, it’s as long as some books being sold as novels these days.
I don’t have preorder links for it yet, because I don’t have a clone and can’t seem to get it all done at once.
I realized as I was editing that I haven’t shared any excerpts from this story yet, so I thought I should get in here and change that.
Soul Deep takes place a few weeks after Javier and Laura’s wedding in Puerto Rico (Striking Distance). We meet up with Janet Killeen, the FBI agent who spearheaded Laura’s protection detail, as she tries to pull her life together following the serious gunshot wound she sustained helping Laura. She's about to have an unwanted reunion with a man she despises...
From Chapter 1 of Soul Deep
-->
September
28
Janet Killeen
gripped the steering wheel of her Toyota Corolla, snow falling so thick and
heavy that she couldn’t see the side of the highway. Her windshield wipers were
clumped with ice and snow, the rubber blades no longer making contact with the
glass. She would need to pull over soon to clean the ice off—if only she could
see the shoulder so that she could
pull over.
Leaving Denver had
been a mistake.
She rolled down
her window and scooted forward in her seat, ignoring the sharp pain that shot
through her hip and pelvis at the motion. Reaching outside, she grabbed the
bottom of the wiper blade. Icy flakes hit her face, the cold almost taking her
breath away as she raised the blade and dropped it against her windshield once,
twice, three times. The thick crust of ice and snow broke off.
She rolled up the
window, turned her heater up a notch.
She’d left the
city first thing this morning, hoping to make it to the mountain town of
Scarlet Springs before the storm hit. She’d booked a room for a week at Forest
Creek Inn, a family-run bed and breakfast, and had been looking forward to
seeing the aspens and maybe even sitting on a horse again. It was part of a
promise she’d made herself, her way of celebrating her survival and the end of
rehab.
Having grown up in
Hudson Falls in upstate New York, she always yearned for fall color, and the
only place a person could find that in Colorado was in the high country during
that brief couple of weeks when the aspens turned. It had become her yearly
ritual, the one time of the year she put aside her badge and her duties as an
FBI special agent and let herself go.
Forecasters had predicted
up to eighteen inches in Denver and a good few feet in the mountains, but when
were the forecasters ever right about Colorado’s weather? Last week, they’d
predicted snow, and Denver had gotten hail and funnel clouds instead. Of
course, they’d just had to be right
this time.
You should have turned back.
Yes, well, it was
too late for that now. She needed to reach Scarlet Springs—or find someplace
she could pull off the highway and wait for a break in the storm.
She glanced down
at the speedometer. Ten MPH. At this rate she’d get there faster if she got out
of the car and ran. Except that she couldn’t run. She would probably never run
again. She was lucky to be able to walk.
You’re lucky to be alive.
Last February, a
sniper bullet intended for journalist Laura Nilsson, whose protection detail
Janet had managed, had ripped through Janet’s left hip, shattering the joint,
breaking her pelvis, severing her sciatic nerve, and damaging her vaginal
muscles before exiting through the front. Doctors had replaced her hip, used
plates to put her pelvis back together, reconnected the severed nerve, and
stitched her vagina, but her body would never be the same.
Gone were the days
of running daily 10Ks and rock climbing on the weekends. Though she had learned
to walk with a cane instead of a walker, her left foot still dragged. She didn’t
know whether she’d ever be able to ski or ride a horse or even enjoy sex again.
Little things she’d always taken for granted were difficult now—grocery
shopping, keeping a clean house, getting a full night of pain-free sleep.
And then there
were the nightmares.
Gun shots.
Screams. Pain.
That single bullet
hadn’t just ripped through her body. It had torn a path through her life.
Byron, the skier she’d been dating, had ended things during her second month of
rehab. He’d said that he’d changed and needed to move on, but she’d known he
was turned off by her lack of mobility and had run out of patience waiting for
them to have a sex life. But that wasn’t all of it. When she returned from this
little vacation, she would be going back to work, but not to the position she’d
held before the shooting. She’d be taking a desk job instead. An agent who
couldn’t run or stomach the thought of holding a firearm was an agent who
couldn’t leave the office.
The life she’d
known had vanished in a split second, and she missed it, even grieved for it,
crying tears she didn’t share with anyone.
Melodie, her
younger sister, saw this as a sign that Janet should leave the FBI, find a
husband, and start a family before it was too late. Setting aside the fact that
Janet’s biological clock seemed to have wound down, her injuries would likely
make sex and pregnancy difficult even if by some miracle she could get
pregnant.
Janet and Melodie
were very different people. Melodie had always wanted to be a mother, and Janet
had always wanted to be a superhero and save the world. It wasn’t that Janet
didn’t want a husband or kids, but her life as a special agent had been busy
and fulfilling enough without them.
Besides, finding a
husband wasn’t like shopping for patio furniture. A woman could spend years
looking for the right man and still not find him. Janet had had her share of
boyfriends and lovers, but after Byron, it seemed to her that a woman might be
better off on her own.
Despite whatever
her sister might think, Janet didn’t regret her choices, not even her decision
to volunteer for Laura’s protection detail. She had always admired Laura and
was proud to have played a role in saving her life. Laura had just married
Javier Corbray, that sexy SEAL lover of hers. Seeing her move on from the hell
that had been her life to claim some happiness had been the best reward Janet
could have received.
She would adapt
and find a way to do the things she loved again. That’s exactly why she’d made
this trip—to reclaim some part of her life for herself.
Snow had begun to
build up on the wipers again, the tail lights of the truck that was at most ten
feet in front of her barely visible. Janet rolled down her window once more,
scooted forward, then grabbed the wiper blade and tapped it against the glass,
dislodging the snow and ice.
It seemed to be
coming down even harder now, the wind driving the snow straight into her
windshield. How could the driver in front of her even see where he or she was
going? Were they blindly following someone else’s tail lights like she was? If
so, what was guiding the person in front?
She needed to get
off the road. She tried to remember if there were any gas stations or small
towns between here and Scarlet Springs. She didn’t think so. The only place she
knew of for certain was the Cimarron Ranch, but she wouldn’t stop there even if
she knew where it was. Jack West, the man who owned it, was as big a jerk as he
was handsome. She’d had a less-than-pleasant exchange with him when she’d gone
there as part of Laura’s protection detail to make certain the place was
secured.
I know every man, woman, and child on my
land, SA Killeen. I don’t need you checking IDs or running background on my
people. I understand you want to protect Ms. Nilsson. So do I. But I’ve got
twenty men here, every single one of whom knows how to use a firearm. They’ve
all been made aware of the situation. Laura is safe under my roof. I guarantee
you that. Now, either come inside for a bite to eat, or get the hell off my
property.
She’d only been
trying to do her job, and West had ordered her off his land as if she’d been
nothing more than a trespasser. She’d been furious at—
Ahead of her, the
red tail lights swerved. The highway seemed to vanish from beneath her tires,
the car sliding sideways down a steep embankment, coming to a rest with a
sickening crunch.
Janet found
herself holding the steering wheel in a death grip, her heart slamming in her
chest. She took a few deep breaths, tried to dial back on the adrenaline.
Way to go, Killeen. This was one way to get
off the highway.
She wasn’t hurt,
and the car was no longer moving—two reasons to be grateful. The car had come
to rest at close to a forty-five-degree angle, what looked like a fence post
pressing against her crumpled passenger side door.
She knew there was
no way for her to get back onto the road, not without trading her Corolla for,
say, a M1 Abrams tank. She would have to call for help. The tow would probably
cost a small fortune, to say nothing of the damage to her car and the fence.
Consider it all a tax on stupid.
She turned off the
vehicle, took off her seat belt, and bent down to retrieve her handbag off the
floor. She pulled out her cell phone. No bars. “Damn it!”
She had no choice
but to climb back up to the road. She might be able to flag down a trucker with
a radio who could call for help on her behalf. Or maybe someone would come
along who was willing to give her a ride to Scarlet Springs.
She grabbed her
cane and pulled up the hood on her parka, determined not to be one of those
drivers who wandered from their vehicles high in the mountains and froze to
death. She pushed the door open—lifted it, really—then turned in her seat and
tried to step out of the car into the snow.
Her feet slipped, and she fell, instinctively reaching out with her
hands to stop herself, her legs sliding beneath the car. The door swung down,
almost hitting her in the face before she caught it.
Using her cane to
steady herself and support her weight, she crawled out and got to her feet
again, sidestepping the door and letting it slam behind her. Then she began to
climb the embankment.
There couldn’t be
more than twenty feet between her and the highway, but it might as well have
been a mile. Last winter, she would have been able to do this without
difficulty, but now it was a struggle. Again and again she slipped, gaining
only a few feet despite intense effort, her thigh and hip aching, sharp flakes
of snow biting her face.
Swoosh!
A wave of white
billowed down on her from above, knocking her backward down the embankment,
losing her all the ground she’d gained.
Snow from a Colorado
Department of Transportation snowplow.
Thanks a lot, CDOT.
Chilled to the
bone, she shook off the snow, climbed to her feet, and tried again, this time
setting her cane aside and attempting to crawl up the slope, dragging her left
leg behind her. But the snow was too deep, and she was soon out of breath and
badly chilled.
If she didn’t
stop, she’d soon be hypothermic.
By the time she
was back in the car, she was exhausted, freezing, and in pain. She would have
to wait here until the storm let up. When the snow stopped, she would wave out
the window at passing drivers. Someone would see her and call for help. In the
meantime, she had a space blanket, water, ibuprofen, her Kindle, and chocolate
covered almonds. It wasn’t the Forest Creek Inn, but it would do.
# # #
Jack tossed the
last bale into the bed of his Ford F-250 pickup, the cold biting his nose, the
air fresh with the scent of new snow. A good four feet had fallen overnight,
and the National Weather Service was saying the mountains could expect more
this afternoon. He needed to get hay up to the herd in the high pasture before
the flakes began to fly again.
He’d been working
since before dawn, plowing the road to the ranch’s front gate then seeing to
the horses. His son, Nate, normally took care of these things, but he’d stayed
at the family townhome in Denver, not wanting to drive up the canyon with
Megan, his wife, and Emily, their daughter, in the middle of a blizzard. Jack
supported that decision. He didn’t like taking chances with the lives of those
he loved.
Chuck, the ranch’s
foreman, stepped out of the barn. “Want me to come along?”
Jack frowned. “Is
that your way of saying you think I’m too old for this shit?”
“You kidding,
boss?” Chuck laughed. “You’re in better shape than most of the younger guys.”
“If that’s true, I
ought to fire the lot of you.” Jack grinned, opened the cab door, and climbed
into the driver’s seat. “Say, did you get the last of this business with Kip
resolved? I don’t think ill of the man, but I don’t want him having the keys to
the bunk house now that he’s no longer an employee.”
Jack had been left
with no choice but to fire the man. Kip Henderson was a great cattleman,
skilled with steers and horses, but he was also a slave to the bottle.
“I took care of it
yesterday. I’ve got his key on my desk.”
Jack shut the
door, buckled the seat belt. “I appreciate that.”
Chuck stepped back
to give the truck room. “See you when you get back.”
Jack turned the
key in the ignition, the 385-horsepower engine roaring to life. He headed down
the road toward the main gate, his gaze traveling over the valley. Apart from
his time in the army, he’d lived his entire life here, the third generation to
call this mountain valley home. His family had done well, running black Angus
and breeding quarter horses, managing to hang on through thick and thin to a
way of life that had largely vanished from the state.
The Cimarron had
been transformed overnight into a landscape of white, ribbons of golden aspen,
dark patches of evergreens, and crags of red rock adding color to the
mountainsides. The beauty of it was enough to take a man’s breath away. Then
the sun peered through the clouds on the eastern horizon, sending a shaft of
pink light across the snow, making it sparkle.
Theresa, you would love this.
Whether Theresa
could hear his thoughts, Jack couldn’t say, but after almost forty years of
being married to her, it was hard to experience life and not want to share it
with her. She’d died seven years ago of an aneurysm, and Jack had never stopped
missing her. One moment she’d been inside making lunch, and the next she’d been
gone. He’d found her lying on the kitchen floor, and his world had come
crashing down.
Still, life went
on, and Jack had had no choice but to go on with it. When Nate had been wounded
in Afghanistan, badly burned in an IED explosion, Jack had devoted himself to
helping his son heal and regain his strength. Now Nate was happily married, his
wife Megan and their little Emily bringing joy back into the house.
And if there were
days—and nights especially—when Jack felt lonely, well, that was just the price
he paid for the privilege of having lived so damned long.
Nate had given him
his blessing to remarry and wanted him to join some online dating service, but
Jack couldn’t see how any good could come of that. Not that he didn’t have
anything to offer a woman. There was the ranch, of course, and he had money.
And, unlike a lot of men his age, he didn’t need a pill to get an erection. But
he hadn’t dated in forty years and wasn’t sure he’d even know what to say to a
woman.
Hell, no, that
wasn’t for him. He’d been married once and knew what it was to love a woman and
be loved in return. He and Theresa had made a good life together, and they’d
had a son. Now, she was gone, and Jack’s job, as he saw it, was to be there for
her son and his family.
He reached the
main gate, which he had already opened, and turned onto the highway. The road
was slick and snow-packed—not surprising given how much snow had fallen. It was
unusual for the state to get a blizzard this early in the fall, but this was
Colorado. He’d seen it snow on the Fourth of July.
He was about a
mile east of the turnoff to the high pasture when he saw a fence post out of
alignment with the others. It took a moment longer before he realized why the
post had been knocked to the side. A car had slid off the road, down the
embankment, and struck the fence. The car itself was all but concealed by a big
snowdrift, just a bit of tail light and rear bumper showing. CDOT plows must
have buried it during the course of the night, concealing it under a few feet
of snow and slush.
Someone was going
to have a fun time digging that out.
He continued on to
the access road and turned off the highway, stopping to lower the snowplow. It
was slow going the rest of the way as he cleared the road. By the time he
reached the pasture, the cattle were waiting for him.
He parked the
truck, got out, and climbed up into the bed, cutting the cords that bound the
bales and tossing hay over the fence to the hungry animals, mostly pregnant
cows. They jostled against one another, lowing, their breath sending up clouds
of condensation.
“Mind your
manners, ladies. Someone might think you were raised in a barn.”
When he’d spread
the hay out over the snow, he got back into his truck and headed home, his mind
on a hot shower and strong coffee.
Bitch and moan
though he might, he loved this life. Other people were out there right now
fighting traffic on the highway so they could sit in offices all day doing
bullshit work for other people, and he was out here, breathing mountain air,
being his own boss, and doing the kind of work that left a man’s body tired but
filled his soul.
Back on the
highway, he made a mental note to repair that fence post once the owner of the
car had their vehicle towed. As he passed the car, he saw that the headlights
were on. Was someone down there?
He pulled off onto
the shoulder, parked, then called Chuck on his sat phone. “Hey, I’m on my way
back. There’s a car off the road just past mile marker one-thirty-three. I
think someone’s still in the vehicle. I’m going to check it out.”
He turned on the
truck’s hazard lights and pocketed his keys, then climbed out of the pickup.
Why anyone had gone out in yesterday’s blizzard without all-wheel drive was
beyond him. Didn’t they realize they were in Colorado?
He grabbed a snow
shovel out of the back, then crossed the road, snow squeaking under his boots.
The slope was steep, and he slipped and slid his way down to the vehicle. A few
minutes of shoveling, and he’d managed to dig out the driver’s side window.
Through the
frost-covered glass, he could just make out a woman’s face.
She rolled down
the window. “Jack West?”
He found himself
looking into a pair of familiar green eyes. Her dark hair was a longer than the
last time he’d seen her, and there were lines of weariness on her face. Still,
he recognized her immediately.
“Well, hello,
there, SA Killeen. It seems you’ve run into a little trouble.”
Copyright (C) 2015 Pamela Clare
Soul Deep will be out early next week! Watch for the release announcement here!
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Seduction Game out on Oct. 20!
I’m just popping in with a quick and dirty update.
I have a release date for Seduction Game (I-Team #7). The ebook version will be out on Oct. 20. That’s only four and a half months away. (This is an update with the correct date. I initially got the wrong one from NY.)
My editor loved the story. She made no changes it, but sent it straight off to copy editing. Berkley is releasing the ebook version separately so my readers won’t have to wait so long.
The print edition won’t be out until June 2016 unless a slot opens up earlier, in which case it could be released earlier. I don’t know when the audiobook will be released. I hope to have that information for you soon.
I also have the back cover copy for the book. I thought you might want to see it. How about a little tease?
CIA Officer Nick Andris wants revenge. His last mission failed after a Georgian arms smuggler killed his lover. He’s been tailing a woman for three weeks hoping she will lead him to his target. But there’s a problem with the intel. Holly Elise Bradshaw is nothing more than an entertainment writer with a love for sex and designer clothes. Clearly someone at Langley made a mistake . . .
When Holly finds herself in trouble, the only weapons at her disposal are her brains and her body. But they won’t be enough to handle the man who’s following her. He’s going to turn her world upside-down.
Oh, yes, he is. And, believe me, she returns the favor as only Holly can.
Mark your calendars. Oct. 20 is going to be a very special day for me. It marks my return from a place I never wanted to go. I can’t wait to share this story with you!
Also, watch for a new I-Team After Hours novella on June 23. I’m working on it right now. The hero of the story is Jack West, widower, rancher and former Army Ranger. You met him in Skin Deep and saw a little of him in Striking Distance. He owns the Cimarron Ranch in the mountains west of Denver and is Nate West’s father. He gets a second chance at love when Janet Killeen, the FBI agent he threw off his land in Striking Distance and who was badly wounded later in that story, ends up in a ditch near the ranch during a blizzard.
I don’t have a title yet, but I will soon. This story marks the first time I’ve written about an older couple. Janet is 45, and Jack is 63 (but a fully functional 63). All of my heroes and heroines have been in their late 20s or 30s. I don’t believe romance ends at 40 or 50 or even 60 or 70. I know a lot of romance readers feel that way, too. And Jack is one of a kind—gruff, physically fit, a cowboy with a romantic streak.
Stay tuned for excerpts and more news!
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
SEDUCTION GAME is done! Plus EXCERPT
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| © Mjth | Dreamstime.com |
I don’t have a cover. I don’t have an official title, though I’m willing to mud wrestle my publisher to keep this one. I don’t even have a publication date.
But what I do have is a completed manuscript for Holly and Nick’s story. I sent it to my publisher on Sunday night and am very happy with how the story turned out.
Celebration!
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| © Atustudio | Dreamstime.com |
What do I love about this story? There are so many things!
It’s sexy. It has to be sexy, right? It is Horny Holly’s story, after all. In Nick Andris, she finds a man who matches her libido, but has a very different view of love and sex.
It’s lighter than most of the other I-Team novels. After the past year, I needed some humor and fun in my life, and Holly and Nick brought that, making me laugh almost every day.
It’s poignant. Holly and Nick have had their share of personal tragedies, and with each other they find their way forward to a love they never thought they could have.
It’s exciting. A CIA officer. Terrorists. Holly and Nick...
It has a tear-jerker ending and epilogue. Well, I wrote it, right? And I love tears at the end of a story. Not giving anything away here.
As soon as I have the publication date, I will announce it. We’ll have a big cover reveal, too.
For now, I’m taking a week to clean my house and take care of other things that were neglected during the months that I was writing this story.
Next week, I’ll be starting an I-Team After Hours novella that will be released prior to Seduction Game. It will tell the story of Jack West, the decorated former Army Ranger and father of Nate West, the hero of Skin Deep. Jack owns the Cimarron Ranch, where he runs cattle and breeds horses. A widower, he has put his heart into the ranch and into Nate and his family. The last thing he expects is to fall in love again. But that’s what happens after he finds former FBI agent Janet Killeen off the road near his property in the middle of a Rocky Mountain blizzard.
Jack and Janet have met before. The last time Janet saw him, he was about to kick her off his property. (That scene is in Striking Distance.) Recovering from a gunshot wound she sustained while on a protection detail for journalist Laura Nilsson, Janet has no patience for Jack. But she also doesn’t want to freeze to death in her car.
The chance meeting is a new beginning for them both. For Jack, it’s a second chance at true love. For Janet, it’s the beginning of a new life.
I hope to have Jack and Janet’s story to you by mid-June. It’s my way of giving you some I-Team to chew on before Holly and Nick’s store comes out. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve had a book out. Stay tuned for more information!
When the novella is done, I will be throwing myself into a new contemporary romance series set in the mountains involving members of a mountain rescue team — men and women who are rock climbers, mountaineers, paramedics, wildland fire fighters, and pilots who save lives by rescuing people from life-threatening situations in the mountains or battling the dangers of the mountains. Here are some events from real life that have involved mountain rescue teams: avalanche rescue, people falling while climbing, lost hikers, people who break bones while hiking, people falling down mine shafts, dumb frat boys dragging a keg to the top of one of the Flatirons and then being too drunk to get down (this falls into my favorite category — “Stuck on a rock”); heart attacks or sudden illness on remote mountain trails; and so on.
My own life was saved by a mountain ranger in 1994 after I fell 40 feet climbing. Because of my experience and the fact that I was raised in a mountain climbing family, this is going to be a fun series for me to write. It won’t be romantic suspense, but there will be plenty of excitement and perhaps even some crossover with the I-Team series in the form of Gabe Rossiter and the West family from the Cimarron Ranch. It’s a Colorado mountain series written by someone who grew up in the Colorado mountains.
I hope you’re as excited as I am for all of this!
Thanks for your continued support. I saw a plastic surgeon yesterday and am bolstered by what he said. We’re planning to start the series of surgeries for my reconstruction in September.
Life is slowly returning to normal. After facing cancer, what could be more wonderful than that?
If you’ve read this far, it’s time for an EXCERT! This is from Chapter 10 of Seduction Game.
Holly and Nick enjoy supper outside on her back deck on a summer evening...
“I have a surprise for you.” She scooted her chair away from the table, lifted her dress high up her thighs to reveal the garters, and then did The Leg Cross.
He gave a long, slow exhale, his brow furrowing when he saw that she wasn’t wearing panties. “Please tell me that’s dessert.”
“You’re still hungry?” She stood, picked up her wine glass, and walked slowly toward the door, leaving the plates and silverware for later.
A strong arm shot out, caught her around the waist and drew her back. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She lowered her voice. “Somewhere the neighbors and CIS guys won’t see us.”
He took the wine glass from her hand and set it on the table. “I am the neighbors. Fuck the CIS guys.”
He drew her into his lap so that they sat face to face, her legs straddling him, then drew down his zipper and freed his erect cock from his boxers. “I want you now.”
A shiver ran through her.
“But people—”
“People will be jealous.” He grinned. “Just try not to give us away.”
He reached down with one hand to tease her inner thighs with light brushes of his finger tips that made her skin tingle.
She felt herself grow wet, already wanting him inside her. She took his cock in hand and began to stroke him, felt his hips jerk, heard his breath catch.
But his gaze never wavered.
He caught her clit between his fingers, gave it a little tug, then explored her fully, the tip of one finger making delicious circles over the opening to her vagina before sliding inside her.
“See, that right there is what’s going to give us away, honey. Don’t let your head fall back all sexy like that. Keep your eyes open. Look at me. We’re just having a conversation here.”
And what a conversation.
His fingers caressed her deep inside, taking their time, asking her if she wanted more. Her body answered yes.
He withdrew his fingers and began to tease her clit with his thumb, asking it to join in the game. It swelled beneath his touch—another yes.
Oh, God, she was melting, coming to pieces in his lap, the gliding pressure of his thumb making the ache inside her worse.
He reached into his pocket with his free hand, drew out a condom and handed it to her. She opened it, rolled it over his erection, while his hands reached beneath her dress to grasp her buttocks. When the condom was in place, he shifted in his seat, took his cock in hand, and guided himself inside her.
She couldn’t help but moan, her eyes drifting shut.
He felt so good, as he thrust into her from below, stretching her, filling her, the slick friction already carrying her home.
“Keep it together, honey.”
She opened her eyes, smiled at him.
Two could so play at this game...
(c) Copyright 2015 Pamela Clare
Monday, October 28, 2013
STRIKING DISTANCE — The Last Excerpt! Plus a coupon for FIRST STRIKE
I promised one last excerpt before the Nov. 5 release of Striking Distance, and I am an author of my word. I’ve been a little stingy with excerpts because it’s been hard to find section of the story I can share that don’t contain spoilers, either for First Strike or for this book itself.
Many of you have read First Strike by now, and so you know how Laura and Javier meet. You also know about the connection between Javier and Nate West, the hero from Skin Deep. If you were paying attention, you also got a little time with Nate prior to the IED blast that left him so horribly scarred.
But before we go there, just a reminder that the ebook version of Breaking Point (I-Team 5) is on sale for $1.99 through tomorrow only! That’s only 2 days left on this special deal. Get it for Kindle, Nook, Kobo and at iTunes.
So how does Javier meet the I-Team guys? Let’s check it out...
From Chapter 4 of Striking Distance
Javier shook Zach McBride’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet you. It’s not every day a man gets to drink beer with a Medal of Honor recipient.”
Javier had read about McBride’s heroism and the catastrophic mission that had claimed the lives of McBride’s men and left him for dead. Every SEAL had.
Tall with short dark hair and a strong handshake, McBride met Javier’s gaze through sharp gray eyes. “The honor is mutual. West told me how you were there for him, how you pulled him out of the burning debris, stayed with him.”
And Javier knew that McBride and Nate were close. That wasn’t a story Nate shared with everyone.
Javier grinned. “He talks too damned much.”
McBride chuckled. “How long have you been with the Teams?”
“Fourteen years.”
“Going for twenty?”
“That’s the plan.”
For a while the two of them traded stories—instructors they’d both had in BUD/S, the joys of eating sand with their MREs in Iraq, the scorching heat and freezing cold of Afghanistan. It was always like this when Javier met another SEAL. Each and every one of them was like a brother, the bond between them forged from the unique challenges, risks, and deprivations that came with wearing the Trident.
And for a moment Javier forgot about Laura.
Women’s laughter drew McBride’s gaze. He gestured with a nod of his head toward a pretty dark-haired woman who was sitting next to Megan, the two of them reading something. “That’s my wife, Natalie. She’s decided she wants to write fiction—romance novels. I hope that means I get to help with the research.”
Two heads came up, and Natalie glared at McBride. “The books are not just about sex.”
Javier lowered his voice. “I guess you said the wrong thing, man.”
The doorbell rang again, and Megan rose to answer it.
Javier’s pulse skipped.
You’re excited to see her, chacho. Admit it.
Sure, he was. Not a day had gone since the night he’d helped rescue her when he hadn’t thought of her. Yeah, he was excited to see her again. And more than a little tense.
When Megan returned, it wasn’t Laura walking beside her. Instead, Javier was introduced to Julian Darcangelo, a tall son of a gun with a dark ponytail who’d once worked with the FBI but was now head of Denver’s vice unit. He’d brought his family—his wife, Tessa, a sweet thing with long, curly blond hair and a mother’s soft curves, a little girl and a baby boy.
The doorbell rang again.
This time it was Reece Sheridan, the state’s newly sworn-in lieutenant governor, his wife Kara McMillan, and their three school-aged kids. They were followed not two minutes later by Kat James, a pretty Navajo woman, her husband Gabe Rossiter, and two little ones under the age of two. Then Nate’s brother-in-law, Marc Hunter, Denver’s SWAT captain, and his wife, Sophie, arrived with their two kids.
Between the adults talking and children running and squealing, it was chaos. It might have bothered some guys, but Javier felt right at home. He came from a big family with two brothers, three sisters, six nephews, and nine nieces, not to mention aunts, uncles and a few dozen cousins, most of whom had kids. When they got the whole family together—which they did whenever Javier was on leave—the laughter, music, and conversation were loud and lasted late into the night.
He found himself on the deck shooting the shit with Hunter and Rossiter, while everyone got ready for an afternoon of skiing, snowshoeing, and sleigh rides.
Rossiter, who was a climber and former park ranger, was talking about his grand plan for the afternoon. “You can ski some incredible places with a paragliding sail strapped to your back. It’s like flying, base jumping, and skiing combined.”
Ski paragliding wasn’t a sport that interested Javier, in part because he couldn’t see the point. He shook his head. “I don’t know—strapping some kind of ’chute to your back and letting the wind pull you down the mountain? Either ski or jump.”
Hunter chuckled, pointing to Rossiter. “You wouldn’t believe the sick shit I’ve seen this guy do. If a sport involves gravity, snow in any form, and a high likelihood of death, he’s in.”
A flash of short platinum blond hair—and a body that could kill.
It wasn’t Laura Nilsson, but…
Javier gave a low whistle.
Hunter and Rossiter looked over their shoulders, then back at Javier.
Hunter shook his head. “Oh, no. No, no. Don’t even think about it.”
“He’s human. He’s male. He’s going to think about it.” Rossiter grinned. “That’s Holly Bradshaw. She’s one of the paper’s entertainment writers. She’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
That didn’t sound so bad.
Hunter looked over at her. “What she needs is to fall for a man who refuses to sleep with her.”
Javier was about to say a guy would have to be gay as a daisy to turn down a woman like Holly, when suddenly she was there.
His heart skipped again—and gave a thud.
Wearing jeans and a white blouse beneath a blue angora cardigan, Laura shook hands with Nate and McBride, then Natalie, her pale blond hair catching the light, the smile on her face hitting Javier in the gut. She shook Megan’s hand, knelt down to talk to Emily, giving the little girl her full attention.
¡Ea Diablo! She was beautiful.
Hunter and Rossiter saw her, too.
“Oh, hey, she came.” Hunter sounded surprised to see her. He lowered his voice. “Sophie said she didn’t think Laura was going to make it. Derek Tower—the asshole who owns the security company that was supposed to have kept her safe in Pakistan—accosted her in the parking lot outside the paper last night. He forced his way into her car. She drew on him—a double-deuce—but he tore the weapon out of her hands, even left bruises. She filed a report with DPD last night. Uniforms went looking for him, but haven’t found him.”
Javier had heard of Derek Tower, hadn’t known what to think of him. Now he hated the bastard. His gaze snapped back to Hunter. “Doesn’t she have protection—a bodyguard?”
Hunter shook his head. “Sophie says the FBI doesn’t believe she’s in any real danger, and she can’t afford to pay for protection herself. Sophie wants me to talk to Old Man Irving—Denver’s chief of police—and have our local boys fill in.”
“Not a bad idea.” Javier had never understood how the federal agencies worked. It all seemed like red tape and bullshit to him.
“Let’s go say hello.” Hunter opened the sliding patio door and walked inside, Rossiter behind him.
Javier followed the two men indoors, but hung back, watching while the others introduced themselves.
She probably doesn’t even remember you.
“Welcome to the Cimarron. It’s a real pleasure to meet you. Make yourself at home.” Jack pressed her hand between both of his. “Can I get you something to drink—wine, beer, scotch, soda, some overpriced bubbly water?”
Laura smiled, a genuine bright smile that put dimples in her cheeks. “Overpriced bubbly water would be lovely. Thank you.”
Jack turned back to the kitchen.
Hunter stepped forward, held out his hand. “Marc Hunter. I’m Sophie’s husband. Sophie has said great things about you.”
“Thank you. She’s said good things about you, too.”
“All true, I’m sure.” Hunter grinned.
“I’m Julian Darcangelo. I head up the DPD’s vice squad. My wife, Tessa, is a big fan of yours. She’s an investigative journalist herself and has written a few books. She used to be on the I-Team before she went freelance. I can’t believe she hasn’t found some excuse to visit Sophie at the paper so she can meet you.”
“Sophie has mentioned her.” Laura’s eyes narrowed. “You say she’s written books? Wait—is her name Tessa Novak?”
Darcangelo nodded. “That was her maiden name. She still uses it for journalism.”
“I’m a fan of hers. I read the two books she wrote about human sex trafficking. She inspired me to look into the issue in Pakistan and India.”
“Hearing that is going to make her day—hell, her entire year.”
Rossiter pushed his way forward. “Gabe Rossiter. I’m Kat’s worse half.”
Laura took Rossiter’s hand, smiled that beautiful smile of hers. “I’ve heard about some of your adventures.”
“He’s the most famous one-legged extreme athlete in the world,” Hunter quipped. “Just ask him.”
That made her laugh.
Her gaze shifted to Javier. The color drained from her cheeks, and her eyes went wide, her lips parting as she stared up at him. “It’s... It’s you!”
~~~So there you have it — the last excerpt before the release of Striking Distance on Nov. 5.
Here are the links to preorder. The mass market paperback version is still $4.79 on Amazon at the moment. Not sure how long that will last.
Kindle http://amzn.to/1b8Fhh7
iTunes http://bit.ly/175u3uW
Amazon http://amzn.to/1aAPFfX
Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/1bQClXr
Audible http://bit.ly/16r9kxZ
Books-A-Million http://bit.ly/GYBbPE
Powell's Books http://bit.ly/1bQCv0Y
IndieBound http://bit.ly/1aANlWl +@+800+300dpi.jpg)
And don’t forget First Strike! As a special treat for readers of this blog, I am offering a coupon for a free download of First Strike in the e-reader format of or your choice from Smashwords.com. If you already have the story, you can gift a copy to a friend for free.
Go to Smashwords and use Coupon Code RP24W.
The coupon expires on Nov. 4!
Just remember that First Strike is an erotic short story and ends with a big cliffhanger.
Enjoy!
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