CLAIMED BY A STEELE
by BRENDA JACKSON
Release Date: May 5, 2020
New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson brings you a brand-new story in the Forged of Steele series. Perfect for fans of the popular Westmoreland series and readers of passionate contemporary romances!
This Steele man is always in the driver’s seat…but is this playboy ready for the wildest ride of his life?
Agreeing a PR stunt would be good for business, trucking CEO Gannon Steele invites reporter Delphine Ryland to hitch a ride cross-country. Soon, he’s keeping his eyes on his sexy passenger instead of on the destination ahead, and when the trip turns from strictly business to strictly pleasure, the consequences might be more than this rough-and-ready bachelor can handle…
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REVIEW: CLAIMED BY A STEELE (FORGED OF STEELE) BY BRENDA JACKSON
Claimed by a Steele by Brenda Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Gannon and Delphine proved to be bittersweet. In the midst of giving my heart to another one of those "Bad News Steeles", I realized it was finally time to say goodbye to another one of my favorite Brenda Jackson families. Claimed by a Steele is the culmination of years of mischief, tons of romance and the beauty of what family is all about. Whether it be falling in love with a bad boy, celebrating a moment not easy to forget or chasing after a fantasy, Jackson welcomes readers in with open arms, leaving them better for the experience. Gannon and Delphine make a hard goodbye, a little less painful with a beautiful swan song that is worthy of a Steele.
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EXCERPT
CLAIMED BY A STEELE by BRENDA JACKSON
“Mr. Steele has arrived, Ms. Ryland, and he’s ready to see you.”
Delphine smiled over at Gannon’s secretary, not sure if she was ready to see him. “Thanks.”
In reality, she’d already seen him. From where she sat in the lobby, she had a good view of the parking lot. She had known the exact moment Gannon had parked his car in his designated CEO spot, and later entered the building through a side door.
She had sat there fascinated by seeing him wearing a dark suit and could barely keep her heart from racing. The man looked good no matter what he wore. Drawing in a deep breath, she stood and headed down the long corridor to his office. When she reached the closed door bearing his name in huge print, she in-haled and then exhaled before knocking.
“Come in, Ms. Ryland.”
He’d called her “Ms. Ryland” instead of “Delphine.” Did that mean they were back to being for-mal again? Was that how it was supposed to work when he was in more businesslike attire? she wondered. She would find out soon enough and decided to follow his lead.
When she opened the door, their gazes connected.
For a second, Delphine felt weak in the knees. He stood when she walked in and she immediately noticed that he had removed his jacket and loosened the tie around his neck. And, of course, she didn’t miss the one button at the top of his white dress shirt that was undone. Why did seeing him so relaxed have an effect on her?
But then, she could say the same for him. He was staring at her the same way she was staring at him. She knew she was fully dressed and the last time she checked her hair was in place. What was going on here?
She knew the answer. Lust. Something she definitely wasn’t used to. It was kicking both their butts. Lustful vibes had been strong yesterday, but they were even stronger today.
That wasn’t good. Whenever he looked at her, she got overheated. Today his look was almost setting her on fire. This was her last day and she needed to take control of the situation or burn to a crisp right in front of him.
Clearing her throat, she said, “I hope things went well at the meeting you had this morning with your shipper.”
As if the sound of her voice broke whatever spell he’d been in, he blinked and then said, “Yes, they did.” Then, shoving his hands into his pockets, he added, “However, there’s a matter I need to handle.”
She nodded. “I understand. I can come back—” “No. Let’s wrap things up with the interview now because I’ll be busy for the rest of the day.”
Was that his way of letting her know he was tired of this process? Tired of her doing the interview? More than anything, she wanted to believe his change in attitude had nothing to do with her, but was connected somehow to that meeting he’d had earlier.
“I’ll be quick,” she said, taking the chair in front of his desk. The same one she’d sat in yesterday. “I just have a few more questions.”
“Fine,” he said, moving to sit down at his desk. “Ask away.”
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SEDUCED BY A STEELE (FORGED OF STEELE) BY BRENDA JACKSON
Release Date: April 7, 2020
SYNOPSIS
Will a damsel in distress
be his redemption?
A notorious heartbreaker
is about to meet his match…
When the “thief” caught driving his stolen vintage car turns out to be a stunning runaway heiress, Mercury Steele is conflicted. On the one hand, Sloan Donahue, penniless and on the run from her tyrannical family, triggers the billionaire playboy’s protective instincts. But she also triggers red-hot desire. Mercury refuses to think his simple seduction is becoming something deeper, especially when Sloan is keeping secrets…
New York Times Bestselling Author
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REVIEW: SEDUCED BY A STEELE (FORGED OF STEELE) BY BRENDA JACKSON
Seduced by a Steele by Brenda Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Chance and ever after collide to create unforgettable. Sloane and Mercury are like fire to gasoline. Combustible in every way. He's a planner. For Mercury his mind is his greatest asset. She's a doer. Sloane refuses to let anything get in the way of her independence. The choices she makes puts her on a collision course with danger. Seduced by a Steele is a high-octane, unpredictable, steamy, irresistible, adventure of the heart, that you'll want to experience again and again.
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About Brenda Jackson:
Brenda Jackson is a New York Times bestselling author of more than one hundred romance titles. Brenda lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and divides her time between family, writing and traveling. Email Brenda at authorbrendajackson@gmail.com or visit her on her website at brendajackson.net.
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- Website: https://www.brendajackson.net/
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******
A HIDDEN HEIR TO REDEEM HIM
by DANI COLLINS
Release Date: April 21, 2020
She kept their child hidden…now the secret’s out!
Valentino Casale is outraged to find Kiara kept their daughter a secret from him for two years! Forever branded by his own illegitimacy, the hardened billionaire wants to do things differently…
Kiara could never regret the consequence of her one delicious night with Val. Even if he turned out to be every bit as coldhearted as their night was hot! Yet behind Val’s reputation is another man—revealed only in their passionate moments alone. Could she give that man a second chance?
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REVIEW: A HIDDEN HEIR TO REDEEM HIM (FEUDING BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS) BY DANI COLLINS
A Hidden Heir to Redeem Him by Dani Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
One of the reasons that I love Dani Collins is that her characters are so unpredictable. Val and Kiara seem to take that to the extreme. It's hard to get lost in the story when you don't like the characters very much, but I it is possible. A Hidden Heir to Redeem Him is a battlefield for secrets and heartache. Manipulation proves to be a constant theme. Emotions run high with ever page. Val is anything but hero material which makes him all the more intriguing. Kiara is more than a little naive when it comes to matters of the heart and that does a disservice to what could have been an interesting character.
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EXCERPT
A HIDDEN HEIR TO REDEEM HIM by DANI COLLINS
“You knew she was pregnant? And you didn’t tell me?” he demanded of her.
“You were on your honeymoon.” His mother’s voice dropped to the syrupy, conciliatory tone that wheedled for him to take her side. “You didn’t need an ugly scandal.”
“Like the one I grew up in?” When had he last bothered to be angry? Truly furious? Maybe his last visit to this tower? Maybe it was the air in here that stoked his rage. The fetid stench of manipulation and jealousy and profound selfishness. “You live for making a scene. Blaming Niko for my shortcomings is your bread and butter. You could have used the baby for leverage all this time if you had— Oh, my God.”
Val hooked his hands on his hips and laughed drily toward the ceiling as he realized why she had preferred his baby be erased from existence.
“This is a new low for you, Mother.” He was un-characteristically, profoundly astounded. And sickened. “Or should I say… Nonna?”
“Do not…” she warned in shaken outrage.
“Oh, I will. Because your precious vanity sent her to him.” He pointed at Kiara then the folder rep-resenting the fortune that had been the reason for, and the bane of, his very existence.
This situation was abhorrently reminiscent of his childhood, when something clean and precious and his would be sullied and used as leverage and snapped apart in the struggle between his parents and his half brother and his father’s ex-wife, Paloma. Val’s wants and needs had never been part of any conversation. If they had, they’d been dismissed as irrelevant.
And Kiara had played along with all of that.
“Why did you tell her instead of me?” he demanded of Kiara.
Whatever culpability flickered into Kiara’s face was quickly schooled into something more facetious. “I guess I could have left a message with your wife?”
It was a darling effort at shaming him, but, “I’ve been divorced a year. You’ve had time.”
“There were circumstances.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Niko was ill and needed us there.”
“You’ve been living with him? This whole time?” If Val believed people were capable of true remorse, he might have thought the way Kiara bit her lip might have signaled regret.
He had played this game too long to believe she felt anything but glee, however, at claiming the pot of gold.
Walk away, he thought. Just. Walk. Away.
“He thought if you knew Aurelia existed, you would pressure me to leave the island instead of staying with him.”
Aurelia. It was the name of the villa in Venice where they’d spent their night together. The site of their lovemaking and, apparently, the conception of their daughter.
Every morning, when he gazed on Kiara’s sketch, he was back there on the bed with her, seated behind her in the rumpled sheets, teasing her into continuing with her study of the open balcony doors while he sampled the scent in her neck and tasted the smooth-ness of her shoulders and felt her breast rise and fall in growing excitement against his palm.
He swallowed, trying to dismiss any profundity in her bestowing that villa’s name on their child. He didn’t buckle to sentiment. It was a manipulation tactic. Everything was.
Even so, he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she turned her attention to his mother, showing no fear as she said baldly, “Niko didn’t want you or Paloma to know about her or about Scarlett’s pregnancy. He thought it would create more conflict than he could deal with in his weakened condition. Since he was terminal, we respected his wishes.”
It was so poetic, it bordered on sappy, but to keep the knowledge of his daughter from him for three years? He would never forgive any of them for this.
“We’ll wait for a DNA test before we continue this discussion.” Evelina took care to tuck her cashier’s check into her clutch. “Niko can’t overlook his son in favor of a child we’ve never seen. We’ll fight this.”
“You’ll be wasting your money,” Davin said. “There’s already a DNA test that proves Aurelia is Niko’s descendant. Her sample was correlated with the DNA test that proved Mr. Casale’s paternity. Niko was of sound mind. Further tests won’t change anything.”
Val didn’t need a test. He wasn’t so gullible as to take Kiara’s word, but his father had always been diligent about such fine points.
He didn’t care anyway, he assured himself. Not beyond how galling it was that Niko had gotten the last laugh, but so what? Val had never wanted offspring—one of the reasons his marriage had tanked—and he hadn’t wanted his father’s money, either. He had no desire to take responsibility for the child in possession of that fortune— Oh, wait. The girl was only entrusted with half. That meant any involvement he had with her would mean dealing with Javiero on some level, as well.
And all the while, his mother would continue to claw at him for her piece of the pie.
Definitely time to exit stage right. He certainly could. Kiara was financially equipped to meet the needs of his child. Nothing in his life had to change. In fact, his mother would become Kiara’s problem. The solution was elegantly simple and utterly freeing.
Yet, he remained where he was, coldly enraged. His insides were gripped by a wrath that swelled his chest with the pressure of a primal yell he couldn’t release.
He could hardly pick apart why this provoked such a volcanic rise of fury in him. It had something to do with the grotesque replay of history. While he’d been married to Tina, Kiara had been having his child, sentencing an innocent to the label he’d worn like a dead albatross until he was old enough to make damn sure he deserved the slur.
No. He might not have crafted himself into the most upstanding of men, but he was decent enough to pluck a child out of a toxic spill before she was lethally poisoned and scarred forever.
“Refuse that money,” he told Kiara. “My daughter will inherit my fortune, not his.”
“A minute ago you didn’t even want to know her name.”
“She can have mine,” he shot back. “You’re going to marry me. Today.”
About Dani Collins: When Dani Collins found romance novels in high school she wondered how one trained for such an awesome job. She wrote for over two decades without publishing, but remained inspired by the romance message that if you hang in there you'll find a happy ending. In May of 2012, Harlequin Presents bought her manuscript in a two-book deal. She's since published more than thirty books with them and is definitely living happily ever after.
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Original post: ishacoleman7.booklikes.com/post/2248397/harlequin-spotlight-may-edition
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