Masters of Seduction

An Anthology featuring NYT & USA Today bestselling authors:

Marsha Canham
Virginia Henley
Jacquie D’Alessandro
Jill Gregory
Sherri Browning Erwin
Julie Ortolon (Excerpt to Julie’s story below)

ISBN: 978-0-9877023-5-7
Price: $5.99, for 6 original stories

On Sale Now at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBookstore, and Smashwords for all ereaders
Coming Soon to: Sony Reader Store, Kobo Books, and Diesel Bookstore

The Anthology

Master storytellers Marsha Canham, Virginia Henley, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Jill Gregory, Sherri Browning Erwin, and Julie Ortolon deliver six sizzling new short stories featuring a magic mirror pendant that guides couples on a seductive path to their own true love destiny, from Middle Ages to modern day.

What the Heart Sees, by Marsha Canham: A knight defying Prince John’s edicts risks all with a forester’s daughter whose chance encounter with a blind jeweler offers the only possibility for escape… and for love.

A Rough Wooing, by Virginia Henley: After Scottish beauty Douglas Elliot takes advantage of a raid on English Border Warden Sir Lancelot Greystoke’s lands to steal his antique mirror pendant, only a pardon from the new king can effect a union between these two reckless lovers.

Heart’s Desire, by Jacquie D’Alessandro: On her way to London to attend Queen Victoria’s coronation and to announce her own engagement, Callie Albright’s stop in the village where she spent her childhood brings her in contact with a man and an antique mirror––and both will change her destiny.

And Then There Was You, by Jill Gregory: When childhood friends Georgianna and Gabe, separated by the years, meet again at a Wyoming ranch, the woman wounded by love and the gunslinger who’s vowed never to marry find in each other the one thing they weren’t searching for––love

All That Glitters, by Sherri Browning Erwin: Seventies socialite Elyse Fontaine, obsessed with immortality, finds that things aren’t always what they seem when she meets mysterious rocker Bastian Blaze on the run from the law.

Happily Ever After, by Julie Ortolon: When Chloe Davis finds an ancient mirror pendant on the beach at Pearl Island, she sees it as a gift of acceptance from the B&B’s star-crossed ghosts––until childhood acquaintance Luc Renard arrives from New Orleans with a tale about the mirror that could steal Chloe’s happiness––or lead to her own happy ending.

Follow the mirror and fall in love with Masters of Seduction.

Excerpt to Happily Ever After by Julie Ortolon

Note from Julie: Chloe Davis first appeared as Scott Lawrence’s twelve-year-old niece in Lead Me On, book two of the Pearl Island trilogy. She has also been in the bonus chapters to all three books in the series. Well, Chloe is all grown up now, and ready for a romance of her own.

CHAPTER ONE

Pearl Island, Texas
2011

…Destiny was a real bitch. If it actually existed. Luc clung to some uncharacteristic doubts on that subject as he drove his black vintage Porsche into the oyster-shell parking lot of the Pearl Island Inn. Just because he’d given in and made this trip when everything in him had rebelled at the thought, didn’t mean destiny had brought him here. He’d come to this small, private island near Galveston, Texas to retrieve his grandmother’s pendant, a tiny silver-framed mirror encrusted with emeralds and diamonds. The second he accomplished that, he’d head straight back to New Orleans.
…With his dignity intact if it killed him.Finding a parking place, he climbed from the sports car and slammed the door.…Mid-day sun blasted down on his head, but a coastal breeze took the edge off the heat. A perfect spring day. Too bad his mood churned like a hurricane brewing in the Gulf. Tipping his head back, he took in the pink granite mansion that now served as a bed and breakfast. The inn’s Website certainly hadn’t exaggerated its grandeur. The place looked straight out of a gothic novel, complete with a spire-topped turret. Gargoyles snarled down at him from the corners of the multi-pitched roof.
…Gargoyles? That piqued his interest.
…Under different circumstances, the stone beasts would have thrilled him. Hell, the whole place would have thrilled him. As the founder of a gaming software company, what could be more up his alley than medieval beasts on a fanciful mansion that had welcomed pirates during its heyday? From what he’d read online, the current owners descended directly from the notorious shipping baron who’d built the place as an extravagant wedding gift to his bride, Marguerite Bouchard, an opera singer known as the Pearl of New Orleans.
…Unfortunately, according to their legend, the famed beauty met with an unpleasant end when her jealous husband shoved her down the grand stairs. Her ghost, along with that of her pirate lover, supposedly still haunted the inn. The story, true or not, stirred his imagination. As a native to New Orleans, he had a fine appreciation for extravagance, drama, and legends. Too bad the circumstances that brought him to Pearl Island dampened his enthusiasm.
…Shifting his thoughts from ghostly beauties to a woman far more flesh and blood, a woman living in the here and now, he lowered his gaze to the windows on the ground floor. Would she be inside? Was this the moment he’d come face-to-face with Chloe Davis after nearly ten years? Since that shocking instant when he learned that she, of all the people in the world, had found his grandmother’s pendant, he’d tried to figure out a way to claim the pendant without dealing directly with her.
…Nothing had come to him.
…Talking to her in person gave him the best chance of success.
…Why am I even worrying about it? he wondered in self-disgust. Chloe Davis was nothing more than a small blip from his past. So what if he’d suffered through a humiliating teen crush? As a grown man, he should laugh it off.
…Striving for confidence, he thrust on a pair of sunglasses, raked hands through his blond hair, and realized he’d forgotten to have it trimmed. Again. As in the last six months. How was he supposed to remember something as mundane as a haircut when he had far more fascinating things buzzing in his brain, like creating a whole new skill level for Vortal?
…He headed down a path toward the front of the house, which faced the cove, since original visitors to the island would have arrived by ship, not car. A veranda wrapped around the base of the turret and extended across the front. There he spotted a middle-aged couple sitting in wicker chairs enjoying the veranda’s panoramic view of the island’s private cove. Guests of the inn, he assumed, from the leisurely way they lounged, sipping tall glasses of iced tea.
…Lush green lawn sloped down a long hill to the beach, where seagulls shrieked over the heads of three young boys splashing in the waves. On the beach, a teenaged girl with long golden ringlets helped a dark-haired toddler build a sandcastle. A few yards away from the girls, a lone woman lay face up on a colorful beach towel with a magazine draped over her face—a woman with a seriously hot-looking body in a bright red string bikini, he noted over the tops of his shades.
…A bolt of admiration shot through him.
…Too bad he had more important things to do than enjoy the view. Turning toward the wide stone steps to the veranda he started up, but stopped when a ripple of awareness shimmied down his spine.
…He hadn’t felt that particular buzz beneath his skin in years, but he recognized it instantly. Chloe. He focused his senses, trying to locate the source of the hum, expecting it to be coming from inside the inn, since Chloe managed the gift shop.
…To his surprise, the tug of awareness came from behind him.
…He turned back toward the beach. And the woman on the towel.
…No. That long, leggy goddess couldn’t possibly be the tomboy who had tormented his teen years. While he’d certainly glimpsed the potential for beauty beneath the ball caps and baggy clothes, this woman could grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, Swimsuit Edition. The magazine shielded her face from his view.
…Yet, every instinct told him she was Chloe. He remembered too well his sweaty palms and churning stomach the few times he’d dared to approach her, moments that ended in icy humiliation when she’d looked at him in horrified disgust.
…Feeling his palms go damp, his dread at seeing her again increased tenfold even as his grandmother’s voice whispered in his memory: She’s your destiny.
…He rolled his eyes at the notion. His grandmother might be one of the most respected fortunetellers in the French Quarter but she’d always been dead wrong about Chloe. She thinks I’m a dork with two left feet, he remembered telling Mimi.
…Fast on the heels of that thought came another one: What would Chloe think of him today? Mentally, he might still be the geek-brain he’d always been. Physically, however, he’d come a long way from the pudgy kid in horn-rimmed glasses who couldn’t hit a softball to save his life. He probably still couldn’t hit a softball, but thanks to a late growth spurt, the discovery that lifting weights didn’t require athletic skill, and LASik surgery, at least he no longer looked like a nerd.
…How sweet would life be if Chloe saw him now and regretted what she’d passed up? Okay, that was probably stretching things, but to have her look at him and see something other than a nerd? Yeah, that would be sweet.
…His palms dried and a smile tugged at his lips as he started down the trail. He probably had a one-in-five thousand, three hundred and fifty-six chance of succeeding without suffering renewed humiliation, but as Captain Blade, his alter ego in the gaming world, would say, “No glory for the gutless.”
…When he reached the beach, the two girls looked up from their architectural sand endeavors.
…“Hello,” the older girl said with a bright smile. About twelve years old, she already had a face destined to break hearts, combined with those long, golden curls.
…“We’re building a princess castle,” the dark-haired toddler announced. Her big blue eyes and sun-kissed cheeks matched the polka dots on her swimsuit.
…“I see that.” He nodded, his New Orleans roots turning the sound of the word “I” to “Ah.”
…“It’s beautemous!” The little cutie flung her arms open wide.
…“Absolutely,” he agreed, moving past them toward his goal, the goddess on the beach towel.
…She lay on her back, allowing the sun to wash over miles of bare skin on her long, toned body. He gave it the admiration it deserved, from the shapely legs to the taut stomach. The tropical scent of suntan lotion teased his nostrils. Was she really Chloe, though? Maybe life had tossed him a bone and dropped a delectable woman in his path who had no memory of how he’d looked during his nerd years. Not that he would have a clue how to talk to any woman who lay stretched before him on a beach towel looking like the opening to a “Dear Penthouse” letter.
…“You’re blocking my sun,” came a lazy female voice from under the magazine. The slightly husky, adult timbre didn’t match the voice he remembered. This voice belonged to a woman, not a teenaged girl.
…Before he could respond or step out of her light, a shriek from the older girl split the air. “Derrick, Rafe, don’t you dare!”
…He glanced over his shoulder to see two of the boys–dark-haired, nine-ish, and obviously twins–charging toward the girls, one of them holding a wiggling fish. Screams ensued as the little girl took off running.
…“You boys!” The older girl leapt to her feet. “Leave Nicki alone. I mean it!”
…The race continued along the water’s edge, with the little girl screaming as if she were being chased by an axe murderer.
…Luc cringed, wondering how a child so small and sweet-looking could emit a sound shrill enough to peel paint. He looked down, expecting the woman at his feet to jump into action. She didn’t even twitch.
…As the screams turned to wails of distress, he saw the boys had caught the girl and dropped the fish down her swimsuit. The third boy held his sides as he doubled over with laughter. Wet, blond hair curled about his tan face. Luc gauged him to be about six, but what did he know about kids?
…“Derrick, Rafe, you little beasts!” The older girl raced along the wet sand to rescue the girl she’d called Nicki. “AJ, it is not funny!”
…Luc frowned down at the supine figure on the towel. How could any adult hear such a ruckus and not react? He could see the little girl wasn’t in serious danger, but this woman had her eyes covered. “Are you even going to look and see if everything’s okay?”
…“Is anyone bleeding?”
…“No.”
…“Any broken bones sticking through skin?”
…“No.”
…“Are either Nicki or Lauren asking me to help?”
…He scratched the back of his head, realizing she had a point. “No.”
…“Then they can obviously handle it. And you’re still blocking my sun.”
…He studied how his shadow stretched across her body, molding to the curves, and felt a jolt of arousal as he imagined his actual body laying intimately atop hers. His voice thickened. “Just enjoying the view.”
…She visibly tensed at those words, then slowly lifted a corner of the magazine to peek up at him. Hazel brown eyes–Chloe’s eyes–flew wide.
…“Oh my God!” She jerked upright. “I thought you were my uncle. You sound just like him, or I wouldn’t have been so rude.”
…Luc cocked a brow, not surprised he had the same accent as her uncle, since they all hailed from New Orleans, but the comparison flattered him. He remembered Chloe’s uncle, a famous thriller author, as being a man’s man.
…As Chloe stood, however, rational thought fled. She’d matured into a true knockout. He had the satisfaction of topping her in height by several inches, but his heart nearly stopped at seeing her perfect, sexy body standing before him in nothing but a string bikini, her thick, sable hair falling to her waist.
…“Are you here to check in?” she asked, scrambling for a white shirt lying by a beach bag. “Rory or Chance should be in the office.”
…“I’m not here as a guest,” he managed.
…“Oh, I’m sorry; are you here for the gift shop?” Thrusting her arms through the shirt sleeves, she gave him a smile so enchanting he blinked in surprise. Chloe Davis, the girl who’d once looked at him with horror, was smiling at him? “If you don’t mind how I’m dressed, I’ll be happy to open up for you.”
…She didn’t recognize him. The realization blazed into his brain. Followed by scenarios that started with a little flirtation that led to a date, and—eventually, hopefully—wild sex, then ended with her slapping his face for the deception. As much as he liked the middle part of that fantasy, it wouldn’t help him get his grandmother’s pendant back. “Hmm. You, ah, don’t remember me, do you?”
…A frown drew her winged brows together as she buttoned the shirt. “Should I?”
…“I’m Luc,” he supplied with a resigned sigh. “Luc Renard? We went to high school together.”
…“Luc!” Chloe gaped at the man before her. The short-sleeved plaid shirt and cargo pants fit her memory of the boy who’d always hid his face behind the latest gaming device, but the similarity ended there. He’d shot up at least a foot and slimmed down as if he’d been stretched. No, more than merely stretched: He’d acquired a nice set of shoulders and a trim torso. His boyishly cute face had morphed into that of a man’s—a rather stunning man with blond hair long enough to tempt a woman’s fingers. A laugh escaped her. “Wow, you’ve changed.”
…“Well, it’s been a few years.” A crooked smile kicked up one corner of his surprisingly sensual mouth.
…“So it has.” Her cheeks heated as she remembered what a clueless kid she’d been, trying to bluff her way through life with sarcasm and bravado. “I guess a lot has changed since then. Would you care to come inside?”
…“Inside?” He frowned, glancing back and forth between her and the inn, letting her know one thing hadn’t changed. Luc Renard, the smartest boy in school, still looked adorably befuddled at the thought of talking to a girl. “Yes, um, inside would be good.”
…“Great. I’ll, um, just get my bag.” She nearly laughed at herself for how her own tongue tangled, as if she were fourteen again and unsure of how to act around a boy she secretly admired. She’d have died of embarrassment back in high school if any of her friends had guessed she’d had the hots for “Renard the Retard.” Why did kids say mean things like that about a boy who’d probably scored off-the-charts genius on his IQ test? She didn’t know or care. Her idiot friends weren’t here, but Luc was. Her heart fluttered as she straightened, clutching her beach bag to her chest. “Okay, ready.”
…“Chloe!” The high-pitched scream split the air. Irritated at the interruption, she turned to scowl at Lauren. Couldn’t the kids stay out of trouble for five minutes? Lauren pointed toward the end of the pier. “Stop AJ!”
…She glanced in that direction but saw no sign of the little rascal. Instead she saw her cousins, Derrick and Rafe, standing at the end of the pier staring into the water. Which meant AJ must have jumped in. But why the panic? AJ could swim like a fish. Still, Lauren’s little brother had a knack for turning the simplest outing into a life-threatening adventure.
…“He’s trying to swim to the shipwreck!” Lauren screamed. “They dared him!”
…“Shit!” Chloe dropped the bag and took off across the sand like a sprinter off the starting block. By the time she reached the pier, her heart was pounding as loudly as her feet against the wood.
…The twins jumped with guilt when they saw her charging toward them. “We didn’t think he’d do it!”
…Without breaking stride, she dove straight into the water, angling down for a fast descent. The saltwater stung her eyes, but she didn’t dare close them. Swimming hard, she continued down until her lungs ached. Just when she feared she’d reached the point of no return, she spotted AJ swimming back up, his eyes frantic. Grabbing his arm, she turned and kicked for all she was worth. The burn in her lungs turned to fire by the time she broke the surface, where she sputtered and gasped for breath. The silence beside her drove her panic higher.
…With one arm wrapped about his limp body, she kicked for the pier. The second she reached the ladder, a pair of big hands reached down to grab AJ and hoist him out of the water.
…She scurried up the ladder to find Luc kneeling over AJ, his mouth covering the boy’s. The other children hovered in a circle, with little Nicki clinging to Lauren, both girls crying, the twins staring with wide eyes. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight as her mind raced with a million thoughts, imagining AJ dead.
…The instant Luc lifted his head and pressed a hand to AJ’s diaphragm, the boy spewed water from his mouth. Luc rolled him to his side so he could expel water all over the deck.
…As AJ convulsed in a fit of coughing, she scrambled over on her hands and knees. “Is he okay?”
…“He’s fine.” Luc laid a hand on her shoulder to hold her back. “Just give him some room to catch his breath.”
…“Oh my God. Oh my God!” Her whole body shook as she watched the boy struggle to breathe.
…Finally, AJ rolled to his back and let his arms flop to his side. Blond curls stuck to his face as his bare chest rose and fell, his oversized swim trunks clinging to his legs. He managed a laugh through labored breathing. “Wow, that was sick!” —AJ’s way of saying something was super cool.
…“You brat!” his sister Lauren shouted through her tears. “I’m telling Mom.” Lifting a sobbing Nicki onto her hip, Lauren marched off toward the inn.
…Chloe looked at the twins as fury replaced fear. “You two are toast when your father hears about this.”
…“It wasn’t our fault,” Derrick insisted, the picture of innocence. “AJ’s the one who bet us he could swim to the shipwreck. Honest. All we did was say no way.”
…“So you dared him to do it?” She fought the urge to strangle them.
…“We didn’t think he actually would,” Derrick said.
…“When has he ever not taken you up on a dare?” she demanded.
…“We didn’t ‘dare’ him. Honest!” Derrick crossed a finger over his heart.
…“Never mind,” Chloe snapped. “I don’t want to hear it. Everybody up to the inn. Now!”

Order Masters of Seduction Now at: Amazon for Kindle and Smashwords for all ereaders
Coming Soon to: B&N, Apple iBookstore, Sony Reader Store, Kobo Books, and Diesel Bookstore

Learn More About the Pearl Island Trilogy