Blog Party -- Never Seen Before Excerpt!

Since you guys have been great about stopping by and posting during my blog party, I thought I'd put up an excerpt that hasn't been posted ANYWHERE yet. Enjoy!

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

e-book, December 18, Samhain Publishing

Now in print in THE PERFECT GIFT anthology

(c) 2007 Kate Davies

She still couldn’t believe he was here, on board the ship. Her first glimpse of him had told her more about her own feelings than she had acknowledged up until that point. Because as much as she pretended to be angry with him for intruding on her act of independence, the first emotion she’d felt when she saw him was pure, unadulterated relief.

Followed very closely by a hefty dose of lust.

Sophia pressed a hand to her middle, trying to hold back the attack of nerves that threatened to overtake her. She was in her mid-forties, for heaven’s sake. She was a widow with a grown

daughter. She wasn’t supposed to be panting after good old reliable Ethan.

But “supposed to” had all but disappeared from her vocabulary over the past few weeks as she’d planned her trip. She’d made a conscious choice to grab hold of what she wanted, to make it happen.

What she wanted, she had to admit, was Ethan. The fact that he was here was a hint that he might not object to being grabbed.

What if she was misreading the situation? What if he really was only here out of some misplaced sense of obligation to her—or, worse, to her late husband?

Oh, God, if he was here to keep an eye on her because he felt it was what Dan would have wanted…

No. She wouldn’t think like that. She couldn’t.

A knock at the door pulled her attention away from the swirling turmoil of her thoughts. “Just a minute,” she called, picking her wrap up from the bed where she’d discarded it. Then she opened the door.

Ethan was standing there, looking at her with a combination of intensity and something she couldn’t quite name. “You look beautiful.”

“So do you,” she replied, then laughed. “Or, well, handsome.”

“Thanks.” He smiled. “Either works for me.”

He wore a long-sleeved, cranberry-colored knit shirt with black slacks, maybe a bit too warm for the humid night, but the combination of casual and pulled together just looked right on him. His hair, still a little damp from the shower, curled a bit at the temples. A rush of desire, so strong she could almost touch it, washed through her.

He smiled, a slow, lazy grin that warmed her from the inside out. “Ready to go?”

“Sure,” she said, slipping past him through the doorway. It was a tight fit, and her shoulder brushed against his chest as she exited the room.

Even that little touch made her a bit weak in the knees, and he put a hand on her elbow to steady her. “I’ve heard it takes a while to get your sea legs,” he murmured.

She smiled weakly and closed the door behind her. The seismic shift in their relationship was so big, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever find her balance again.